With only a few spots left, I wonder which of these kids are Pitt’s top priorities to land?

Lists the whole team. Pat White’s dream of a three-peat snuffed out. Good work Donald Brown.

Nonetheless, it is puzzling that Berry makes the team and Mick Williams didn’t.

“If Stull starts next year, we have to be perfect in all other aspects in order to win the conference. The Cincy game proved that we cannot rely on him one bit to quarterback us to a win.”

You either have a very short memory, or just take the easy way out and agree with everything you read.

Bill Stull needs to get better no doubt – but it was on the strength of his play that we won the Louisville game, his play alone kept us close against RU (until he got hurt) and it was his two TD passes that secured our lead in the UCONN game.

IMO part of the constant criticism of Stull is that it’s the easy thing to do, and especially when you have the wonderful production by our RB to make average QB play look poor in comparison. Here’s an interesting stat for you – in the games McCoy didn’t get 100 yards rushing, we were 4-1. How did we compensate for that below par performance by McCoy offensively – those were some of the better games by Bill Stull.

Take a good look at the details of Stull’s year, not just the poor plays alone. For us frustrated as us fans are with Stull’s up and down play – I’ll bet DW feels differently about it. Stull did some things that before the season started DW stated he needed to see in the QB position.

As I said, he needs to get better and way more consistent with his play, but he also did some good things – so to say that he could never contribute to a win on the strength of his play alone isn’t really correct.

Devlin must really want out, he would have to sit out a full season if he does indeed transfer to a D-1.

I think the thing that people need to realize more than anything else is that this was Stull’s first year as a starter. He made a ton of mistakes but he also made some plays. Its very clear that the team respects him and sees him as a leader and that also cannot be overstated. I think the concussion really set him back and hopefully the extra month of practice leading up to the Sun Bowl and the extra game this season coupled with a productive spring can allow him to develop into a better player next season.

If it was as easy as “just being in the system” then that is a major revalation. There is no comparison to playing in a game at full speed with pressure, in front of a crowd and national tv audiance. There are lots of NFL qb’s that have been in systems for years, even decades, yet cant make it as a starter.

Bostick and Smith looked terrible, so obviously you cant just put anyone in at QB with the weapons we have. And dont forget Bostick was Mr PA everything coming out of HS, had a full year of starts under his belt, a full season to workout, learn the playbook, and he still looked aweful – and by all accounts he worked very hard in the offseason.

By all accounts, Stull did appear to be steadily improving as the year went on, then he was noticably worse after the concussion. For a first year starter who was a little banged up most of the year, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. I was as disappointed with his play late in the year as everyone else was but here is the bottom line: I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and hoping he works hard this off season and he is our BEST OPTION.

I crack up when I read “with average QB play we would be in a BCS bowl”. We had three frigging losses this season! You can’t put the BG loss on Stull – not with the poor coaching choices, the four fumbles, McCoy rushing for 3.0 yards a carry and the defense giving up 27 points to a MAC school. Honestly, if we had to point to one kid as the reason we lost that game, I’ll say McCoy should get the call more than Stull. Stull had 29 completions for 264 yards in that game.

The RU loss was in no way due to Stull’s play – in fact he’s the reason it was close in the beginning of the second half until his injury knocked him out. The play we saw from our QB in that game was the best we’d seen in four years.

Perhaps the Cincy game. But I don’t entirely buy that. Not when an opposing QB scrambles around and passes for a million yards and three TDs at will. Hell, Pike was 81% passing and averaged 12 yards per completion! Sorry, but that loss falls squarely on our defense IMO. Stull should have played better, and his poor play contributed but when you have a total of 35 yards rushing that’s tough to overcome.

So – maybe that’s one game you can point to the QB play as being a major cause for losing. Hell, every team has that happen in a season.

As to “If Palko were on this team…” OK, I’ll counter with “If Revis was on this team…” Of course, both thoughts are wishful thinking anyway.

How’s this – with Palko our QB play would have looked prettier, but we still probably would have won 9 games. After all – you just have to look at the Ohio game a few years back if you want a perfect example of how a QB can lose a game by himself.

The clear asset that Palko has over Stull is improvisation when being pressured – Stull has little mbility and rarely connected on a hot read.

Similarly, Pike’s abaility to make a play when it appeared that he was going to be sacked or have to throw the ball away permeated throughout the game — he is a playmaker — remember that 98 yard drive … it was all him!

Stull can be a real effective QB when not being pressured but that is defintiely the rub!!

Like I said, it’s a moot point and just nit-picking, but I really wish this team had a solid QB.

Devlin is transferring to a D-II school so he doesn’t have to sit out. Probably Delaware, a la Flacco.

I like the fact that Pitt seems to be on the radar of these blue chip recruits, but it’s a shame that we always seem to come up a bit short.

The fact is that when you don’t have an overpowering o-line (like Oklahoma), you neede more than just a game manager for QB to put over the top … in other words, I believe that Cincey would have not have won the BE with Stull at QB but Pitt may have with Pike.

Stull made a few good throws in the Rutgers game and played OK against L-ville, but those examples are things QBs are SUPPOSED TO DO.

His throw to Byham against UConn is another example. He’s SUPPOSED TO make that throw.

When we have to pick pieces of games and individual throws as examples of things Stull did well this year……….that tells how said the QB-ing situation has been.

Sunseri has a way better arm than Stull and is way more mobile. (I’m not even going to mention Bostick and Smith……hopeless.) Does that mean Sunseri deserves the job next year? NO, of course not. But it means he possesses the two most necessary physical tools to be able to do things IN ADDITION TO the things you’re supposed to do. Don’t know if he’s got the mental part, but I hope it’s a fair competition because beating out Bill Stull isn’t exactly like trying to beat out Dan Marino or Palko or even anybody halfway competent.

What irks me is that in the rush to point to Bill Stull as the reason we “aren’t a BCS team” – which I’ve read probably 25 times on here and on message boards – no detractor actually has sat down and taken a good look at how the season, and the team’s actual play, really played out. There are a lot of reasons we aren’t in a BCS game, Stull’s play is only one facet of that situation. Personally I think our defense has a lot more to answer for in our three losses than Bill Stull does – but I also know that everyone plays well sometimes, and poorly sometimes – that’s sports. But if you read some fans posts about Stull’s play you’d think the kid never had any success at all on the field this season – and that’s just not true.

What I’m concerned about the most is the difference between his practice play and his game play. From all reports he tears it up when practicing. That is disturbing in the sense that it points to things other than his actual physical abilities as the reason for his play on Saturdays.

I’m all for an open competition at QB, and for anyone who can rise up and grab the starter’s spot to do so. Honestly, Stull disappointed this season , in that there is no debate.

I have a tough time believing the reports about practice play vs game play.

As you are, I’m just hoping for a fair competition next year. I’ve been surprised all year how low our expectations were for Stull and QB play in general. I was so tired of hearing about how all Pitt needed was a “game manager” and how it was OK that Stull didn’t have a great arm or good mobility because he could run the offense without those things. The fact is, it’s pretty tough to run a D1 offense without those tools.

Let’s raise our expectations for the play at the most important position on the field.

The fact is, those plays aren’t always made. That’s what separates winning and losing. Stull threw a perfect pass to Byham, and yeah it was his job. But don’t belittle it as not making a play. You can certainly continue to criticize and nitpick at the quarterback position. It’s the most easily criticizable position for all Monday morning quarterbacks.

We know Stull isn’t an awesome quarterback. But he doesn’t suck by any means. So what are your expectations for him at quarterback. What plays does he have to make for satisfaction from some fans since throwing touchdowns is simply his job and shouldn’t be praised.

Stull should make throws like the one to Byham consistently. Nice throw……..but it should be almost routine for a D1 QB……..and by routine I mean it should be something that we see happening game after game. (I don’t mean that exact throw……I just mean throws like that.) We remember that play (and a couple other completions) because there weren’t that many pretty plays made between QB and receivers this year. Baldwin’s early catches were mostly him reacting to questionable throws and making plays. Besides that (and the one throw to Kinder), it’s hard to remember Stull hitting guys in stride for big gains.

I’m all in favor of praising TDs and giving credit on a good play, but we didn’t see many of those plays this year from the passing game. The offense scored most of their points because McCoy was incredible.

So my expectations — consistency in the passing game and some mobility. Stull couldn’t seem to get a consistent passing game going this year and couldn’t move to escape the rush.