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December 1, 2008

If you are a “glass half-empty” kind of person, you would likely respond to the positive press on the Pitt secondary with these responses”

  • It was against the Mountaineer receivers. A group that won’t be confused with Texas Tech’s gang or even North Texas.
  • What about the number of drops by the ‘Eers receivers?
  • Did you see the final drive when they nearly let WVU drive the field in a 2-minute drill?

Of course going into this game, most of us weren’t optimistic about the secondary even against the ‘Eers receivers. They held their own and came up with some big plays. As for the final drive, that is on the coaches who had the DBs playing so far off the receivers that there was little they could do at times. Ridiculous, especially along the sidelines. It gave WVU a couple opportunities to catch and get out of bounds. Just dumb. I almost think Wannstedt and Bennett wanted to let WVU get closer so that Pat White couldn’t break off a big run in open space.

The secondary was certainly helped by the play of the WVU WRs, but they did enough. Dom DeCicco had an interception in the game.

The more popular storyline, though, concerns redemption, perseverance, etc. Hello, Jovani Chappel.

The unlikely candidate – Chappel was sacked from the starting lineup in favor of Ricky Gary following a loss to Rutgers last month – emerged when it appeared West Virginia was ready to churn clock while nursing a 15-7 fourth-quarter lead.

Chappel intercepted a Pat White pass deep inside West Virginia territory and it ignited a LeSean McCoy-led offense to two late touchdowns and a 19-15 win Friday at Heinz Field.

“It was a huge play, huge play,” Chappel said of his first career interception. “It definitely was just preparation. … We were in cover two, the guy stopped on the route and I sat on it. I tried to run it back as far as I could.”

Chappel had just as important stop in that final drive by keeping Wes Lyons inbounds.

“We practice it every week,” Chappel said. “We do whatever we can to keep the guy in bounds and keep the clock running. It ended up being pretty crucial to the last play.”

Never mind that Chappel was giving up nearly a foot in height differential to Lyons, or that the junior cornerback had been replaced in the starting lineup the past four games by redshirt sophomore Ricky Gary. Chappel made two of the biggest plays of his career against Pitt’s arch-rival.

If you are going to step-up after a bad year, that would be the time.

Another corner who has had a (to put it delicately) disappointing season, Aaron Berry, has a feature story in his hometown paper.

After a solid 2007, Berry called his performance this season “up and down” and admitted he has to gain size and strength and raise his overall level of play.

McCoy may come back. Berry is definitely coming back. He’s not ready.

The defensive back said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt summoned him to his office for a conversation a few days before Friday’s game. Berry said defensive coordinator Phil Bennett also spoke with him.

“Coach Wannstedt expects so much out of me and I expect so much out of myself,” said Berry, who plays corner on the wide side of the field.

“He called me into his office earlier in the week and he and coach Bennett told me I should be shutting down everybody I see. You know, honors are going to be out there and [NFL] scouts ask about me.”

And later, Berry caught a break. With Pitt leading 7-3, WVU drove to the Panthers 9 on its first possession of the third quarter, and after a long scramble by quarterback Pat White behind the line of scrimmage, his end-zone throw to wideout Dorrell Jalloh was dropped.

Berry was covering Jalloh on the play. The Mountaineers had to settle for three points instead of seven.

“Luckily, he dropped it. It was big, and I was praying he dropped it,” said Berry, who has 36 tackles, an interception and seven pass breakups.

“That was a big play in the game, actually, him dropping that ball.”

It’s been that kind of year for Berry. Every time his name has been mentioned, it’s in connection with something negative. He struggled in coverage during Pitt’s 54-34 upset loss to Rutgers in late October and also was replaced as the team’s punt returner after some fumbles.

“It’s been that kind of year for Berry.” Um, yeah.





In line with the story about Chappel doing a great job keeping Wes Lyons in bounds on his last catch along the sidelines, was I the only one who saw Lyons cost WVU about ten seconds because he stayed on the ground arguing with the refs about whether he actually got out of bounds?

Comment by Stoosh 12.01.08 @ 3:58 pm

Beating the hoopies never gets old. JoePa PsU can poop their pants, WVU is our archrival. The hatred is real and intense. As for the secondary, I was happy to see Thatcher looking like his pre-injury self. DeCicco and Chappel are probably the least talented players on the defense, but I give them credit for trying their hardest every game. Berry has had a rough year, but I think he’s got loads of potential. Also, its nice to be back in the top 20 (according to the CBSsports poll). Here’s hoping for the Sun Bowl!

Comment by hail2pitt 12.01.08 @ 10:26 pm

Personally, beating WVU means more to me than any other football game. If we lost every game BUT the Brawl, and they won every game but the Brawl, that would be fine with me. Beat the hoopies. Everything else is gravy.

Comment by The Prowler 12.01.08 @ 11:03 pm

Hail2Pitt – Saying Berry has ‘loads of potential’ is rather strange. Shouldn’t that be reserved for a underclassman who has his career in front of him. Berry’s a JR with one year left to play, if he hasn’t reached his potential by now he probably won’t. No, it’s more a matter of what we see is what we got in this case – which isn’t bad mind you, he’s done well for us.

It’s more like “let’s be honest as PITT fans, we hyped this kid too much”. As we do with so many young players.

As soon as we have a bona fide star leave this team, for one example Darrelle Revis, we spend the next few years pointing to a younger kid and hyping him up to be the same caliber player.

We did this with Berry, we are doing it with Baldwin (re: Fitz) and we’ll do it with a LB and RB when McKillop and McCoy leave.

Some of that is wishful thinking, and some is just plain wrong – and ratchets the expectations of the fans up so high in some cases it’s impossible for the player to meet them.

I’d rather be pleasantly surprised by a kid’s success than disappointed he doesn’t meet unrealistic expectations.

Comment by Reed 12.02.08 @ 4:27 am

This argument was brought up in our post game tailgate and no one was 100% sure either way. Can Greg Cross receive a redshirt, being he came in from a junior college? Since no one can figure out Coach W’s plan on this kid, I was hoping it was to redshirt him, and then actually “coach him up” a little so that he can become more accurate with his passing and reading defenses. From what I can see thats what the top college coaches in America do. Take the talent they have and get the most out of it (Alabama, Texas Tech). This kid is such a threat running the ball, I really cant believe he is that much worse throwing than what we have now. At least put him in to run the wildcat!

Comment by Z-boy 12.02.08 @ 8:49 am

Hey guys, VOTE FOR PITT IN THE SUN BOWL!

link to sunbowl.org

Poll is on the left hand side of the page. I’m sure those marketing twats will consider this, too!

Comment by James 12.02.08 @ 8:45 pm

Z-boy,

I understand that you can’t believe Cross is that much worse throwing the ball than what we have now – but Wannstedt and Cavanaugh can, and they see this kid in practice. Apparently the coaching staff completely whiffed on Cross’ ability to contribute, and he’s just not equipped to risk putting in the games.

BTW – I also understand Stull misses some pretty needed passes sometimes. It’s very frustrating – but he’s still passing at a 60% completion clip, and averaging 216 yards per game, with few INTs. Not great by any means, but not as poor as most fans would think. Cross isn’t capable of matching that output and if he’s put in just to run the ball – then he’s taking carries away from McCoy and LSH – who have both shown to be excellent rushers.

Bottom line – putting Cross in does not add value to the offense given the level of his abilities….who he’d be replacing is better than who would be going in.

Comment by Reed 12.03.08 @ 4:19 am

If Cross is that bad at passing then I guess we’ll have to buy that. You are right on the coaching staff whiffing on this kid then. I cant believe coach W. wooed him, from I believe a JC in Kansas, with the pitch of coming to Pittsburgh to be a “insurance policy” as he put it. That being said, I cant buy the theory of taking away carries from Shady or LSH. C’mon, how bout one less fade pattern, quick screen, or Stull quarterback draw. I believe Cross touched the ball twice this year and once he ran for a 35 yard touchdown. Doesnt that even tempt your imagination into what he may be able to add to an offense, that for the most part has struggled.

Comment by Z-boy 12.03.08 @ 8:41 am

Z – it was a 17 yard TD. The other plays he was in for he looked completely lost.

Comment by Reed 12.04.08 @ 4:52 am

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