Overall, a good game and the kind that makes rivalries all the more exciting. It’s a shame we didn’t pull out the win but the hoopies obviously wanted it more and played like it down the stretch. Just got to focus on Cincy now. The season is far from over.

Overall, a good game and the kind that makes rivalries all the more exciting. It’s a shame we didn’t pull out the win but the hoopies obviously wanted it more and played like it down the stretch. Just got to focus on Cincy now. The season is far from over.

BTW, God bless Adam Gunnfor being able to return to play after breaking his neck. Having said that, he is not a fundamentally sound MLB. For one thing, he overruns too many plays and doesn’t control blocks well. The players having the worst fundamentals on defense in my opinion, however, are the Louisville players. After watching them today, the HC and his DC coach should be given severance and sent on their way.

I didn’t think the defense was that bad. Really, the only terrible play was the Devine run… and boy was that a bad play.

Trying that long field goal was retarded. Hutchins has never shown to have the ability to consistently make 40-45 yarders, so you have him try from 50?!?!

And the big one nobody’s talking about is that WVU’s defensive front was lights out. By the time our line got their stuff together, it was too late.

And ok, Fire Wanny, Fire Bennett, Fire Cav-netti, Bench Stull!!

There, had to get that all out of the way (note obvious sarcasm).

YYEEEEHHHAAAWWWW!!! See whut yu sityslickers git when yu come down hear? So much fore yur so-called “sivilizayshun”!! YEHAW! Now wez gittn moar moneys frum Senoter Byrd tu keep da state of West Virjinya frum bein a crap-hole!

“What the hell defense were we playing ”

Let’s a DB and LB make a misplay and a fast back takes it 84 yards for their only TD, and you criticize the defense and the HC for being lousy? Man, you are a tough critic.

Good comment Dan, and I got a chuckle. I lost it big time. But it doesn’t change my mind. That 53 yard field goal try was a classic – talk about loosing your mind.

Tough loss but I expected nothing less than the effort that WVU gave. They played their (the defense mainly) tails off and made all the plays when they had to.

Not sure if anyone noticed but it took 3 quarters for our offensive staff to figure out that when we pulled Hynoski and split 3 WR’s, we could actually run the ball. WVU stacked all game when we had Hyno in the backfield.

I thought our guys did not come to play tonight but fully believe we can beat Cincy next week since I don’t believe they’ll play with the same emotion WVU did tonight. However, if I see Gruder bite on one more fake as bad as the ones he bit on tonight, I think I mayrip a chair out at Heinz…ay yay yay!
Hail to PITT!

Dear PO’d – I grew up with Wanny in Baldwin and no one has been more critical of him than I…having said that, he has done an outstanding job with this year and with a very mediocre QB (as he always has) has taken this team beyond it’s limits. A play or two and we lose UConn and maybe ND…Wanny took a shot with the wind on that 53 yd FG…and having coached a long time myself, sometimes you have to take a shot. WVU was handing us our ass at the time. Remember Pitt has a ton of freshman who have never experienced the rage of the WVU team at the Brawl. Think Cinncy will be favored by 7.5 next week.

Let’s all take a deep breath and remember…we play for the Big East Championship next week, Cinncy has NO defense at all and we just learned (the hard way) what intensity for 4 quarters is all about. A tough loss yes, the end of the world ..no. We win next week and we will ALL forget about the angst of this week.

Everyone have a good night …tomorrow’s another day. Ok …the scotch is gone now!

Oh …one last thing…did anyone know that Tiger Woods had an accident today?

You guys want some cheese with that whine? We’re playing for the BE Championship next week. We started off playing well but did not score. They got the momentum and “ran” with it. Then, we almost grinded out a victory. the two teams to whom I hate losing are WVU and PSU. So it sucks right now. But we need to focus on Cincy. We have a BCS Bowl within our reach. Perspective fellas. BTW, the replay I watched seemed to show that WVU got a way too favorable spot on that last fourth down. Any toughts?

Dan, I did not hear that.

Anybody hear also know that Jerome Bettis is from Detroit? Levon Kendall can also play the piano!

“We win next week and we will ALL forget about the angst of this week. ”

Dan, if we win next week, I’ll be downing a few brews, celebrating and singing Sweet Caroline, but I’m still gonna be rehashing this game.

Me being a smartass doesn’t work when I use the wrong form of the homophone “hear/here”.

I blame the Lacey family.

C’mon, Jimbo Covert’s my Dad. Be nice.

Yes, Tiger was in an accident around 2:30 AM. Coming out of his house in his SUV. I don’t know where he needed to be in such a hurry at that time of night. It doesn’t sound like all is wedded bliss at the Woods house. For some reason Elin had to take a golf club to the back window to get him out. He is in good condition and resting at home.

Ah, I figure a couple minutes more I will be sufficienty settled so that I can leave this computer and go into the same room as my dearly beloved knowing that I won’t bolt down to Kelly’s Bar if she needles me about the game. Beating up on Youngstown State tomorrow will make me feel a little better.

“How’s that sigle malt going down now that those OVER-RATED chumps flamed out?
Makes you want to bang your head on an air conditioner unit, doesn’t it?

Hail This!”

WOW, kiddies. YorkerDave sure sounds like a p*ssy to me. Think he’s actually ever come to the line at the snap? Doubt it.

Man, I hope that they bug Brian Kelly all week long about the ND job. It can turn into a big distraction if the story gains some steam this week.

Can somebody explain one thing to me? And I say this realizing that Baldwin is a great WR. But why was nearly every motherf#$@ing pass thrown to him, no matter where he was on the field, or how many defenders were around him? Bynham, Turner (or was he hurt), McGee, Dickerson, Shanahan. Yes, Dickerson dropped that pass that would have been a first, but was there secondary that good or is Baldwin almost always the first option and Stull just refused to look at anybody else beside him? IMO, WVU did not want it more. Their senior QB just didn’t commit any stupid motherf@#$ing turnovers. That was the difference.

Ugh. A loss like this should never occur while I’m drinking my holiday beers. Speaking of which, the Anchor Merry Christmas, Happy New Year is quite good this year.

Sorry BigGuy, I love Dan and all the Pitt fans on here.

I actually thought he might’ve been being sarcastic himself, being as though the Woods thing is dominating the news today.

Back to the game, Brown was solid, yet unspectacular BTW (in other words, he didn’t make his usual killer mistakes unfortunately).

And yes, the spot may have been favorable on that big 4th down, but in all fairness that was a REALLY close play and they only got it by the nose of the of the ball.

Honestly, both teams looked they were just coming off a bye and were rusty at first. WVU tried to nick and dime their way down the field, but our defense held them to FGs. Their only TD wasn’t on a drive, but on a friggin 88 yard run, which is really frustrating.

Once again the team we know and love showed its ugly head tonight. With a chance to firmly put their foot on the throat of mediocrity Pitt shit the bed! I think the defense more than did its job tonight they gave up a big play for a td and 4 field goals despite being put in tough positions by the o’s turnovers. That should have been enough for a team that averages over 30 points a game.
The o was just terible the pass protection was suspect as was the play calling. I find it hard to belive that WVU’s gameplan was to blanket every reciever except Baldwin and yet he seemed to be the only guy stull threw to. Was this a case of Stull only looking Baldwins way or was it coach Cigs play calling. Weve been hearing for weeks about all of Pitts weapons on offense. As usual D. Lew was great, the kid is fun to watch.
Unlike pprevious seasons after a big lose Pitt still has chance to do something special, odds are against them and they will be a dog at home not great for the programs natinal perception.
Hopefully D. Dickerson, N. Byham, O. Turner, C. Mcgee, M. Shanahan & H. Hynoski will be reintroduced to Coach Cig and B. Stull in the next 7 days.
Another loss puts them in a garbge bowl game and turns a season full of promise into a huge disappointment.

When did the cav, rhodes and the 2007 team show up? (Minus the win of course). Run the ball every play, cornerbacks playing 10 yards off the receiver on 3d and 4’s? We played to not lose, and lost.

It hurts, but as been stated next week’s game is for the marbles.

Having said that, Stull was not sharp for the first three quarters, and the D let a few too many key plays happen (the Devine run, the 35 yard pass, and just some times where we missed a tackle).

As much as I don’t like to admit it, wvu wanted it more, and though PITT lost, Bill Stewart seems like one the decent guys with class, who you don’t mind if he wins (as opposed to Richrod), except when he plays PITT.

True, this will always be a loss, but the closeness of the game and the true rivalry that exists is good for the Big East.

Already over this game and waiting for next week, plus hoops games tomorrow and next week.

Hail to PITT!
-al-

How is anybody surprised? I told you they would lose when they played somebody halfway decent. Look at Wannstedt’s record against winning teams since he’s been here. It’s well under .500. Their record was only good this year because their schedule was filled with nobodies.

Boy, when we lose it really brings the haters out. When there were five games left, I wrote that we would win three and lose two and we should be satisfied with that. Obviously when we won the first three expectations and goals change. The game last night was pick-um. Nobody should be surprised at the outcome. We had two turnovers, they had none. Their defense came to play. Stull was under more pressure than usual and he did not play well. Dickerson did not show up either (drops).

People who think that this is a bad WVU team (Cook) are wrong. They got a bad call in Cincy and turnovers killed them against Auburn. They had one stinker against South Florida. They owed us big time. Noel Devine, a pretty good player had one big play, No. 8 on defense had a hell of a game and Brown played mistake free.

We can beat Cinci. It will take a great game by our D-line and more aggressive play by the d-backs. Take some chances, jump a route once in a while. Also, ball control. Lewis is a stud. Keep Pike off the field. Hope for real bad weather. Cincy has no running game. Oh yeah, and no more 50 yard field goal attempts.

Pitt fans need to show up and be loud.

Disappointed but still proud of this team.

How does a championship caliber team come into a game against its biggest rival, while clearly a better team, not ready? Coach Dave said Pitt wasn’t ready in today’s Post. Regardless of the standings, the best teams get the win. Alabama managed to beat a game Auburn team. Texas beat Texas A&M. Pitt, conversely, played badly and lost. As much as I want to see Pitt win, I think Cincinnati will win by two touchdowns and Pitt will end-up in one of the many “who cares” bowls.

Valuable thoughts and advices. I read your topic with great interest.

I think the only reason Pitt hasn’t played a ranked team yet is just lack of good timing.

USF was a ranked team, and lost to Cincy the week before Pitt crushed them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if they upset Miami today. They seem to relish the chance to steal the spotlight from their Florida breathren.

WVU was ranked many times this past season, but they also lost to Cincy right before we played them.

Notre Dame(ok just fill in what I wrote above, except this time with Navy).

Rutgers looks like a probable 8 win team, and Navy has consistently been one of the toughest, non-BCS teams in the game and we dominated them.

So, we have had the misfortune of catching teams at the wrong time, but it’s not like we’ve played a bunch of downright horrible teams. I’d say we’ve played quite a few above-average to good teams.

But admittedly, we haven’t played a great one yet. That changes in a week. Make it count, and we’ll all forget about last night.

It seemed that Pitt looked rusty against ‘cuse coming off of their last bye and didn’t really get it going until the 2nd half. That works against ‘cuse, but when you do it against a decent WVU team it doesn’t.

They really seemed to be getting it going in the 4th quarter too. But you can’t sleep walk through the first 3.

I also love how a week ago to some people Pitt was great and the Brawl was meaningless this year, but now that Pitt lost (and by the way, they played easily their 2nd worst game of the year and lost s squeaker, think about that), oh they’re terrible, Wanny needs fired, etc etc etc.

Although I am one, sports fans get on my nerves sometimes.

One poster wrote that all will be forgotten if Pitt wins next week. I’ll feel better, for sure, but would still be concerned about Pitt playing in a “real” bowl game. I was one of the roughly 5,000 Pitt fans at the debacle that was the Fiesta Bowl against Utah. I’m still shell shocked from that one, and after last night’s game, I’m not so sure this Pitt team is much better than the one that got schooled by Utah and Urban Meyer. I would certainly hesitate to travel again to see it. If Pitt had beaten WVU, and beats Cincinnati, I would likely travel anywhere to see Pitt’s bowl game.

Hope we don’t lose a “who cares” bowl by 3-0!

Anybody notice? The Pitt BB is up by only 1 in the 2nd half against YSU.

was at da brawl last night. Reinforced all the sterotypes about WVU/fans. Ignorant,drunken idiots spewing hateful threats at anyone with Pitt gear. Way beyond normal away game taunting. Decent showing from the Pitt faithful who stood in the corner end zone the entire game. Agree with the above comments on play selection, and Stull’s off night. He was throwing off his back foot way too much and the two picks hurt. Other receivers were open but he/Cig cont’d to throw solely to Baldwin. Defense played tough except for the Devine burst and the final winning drive. Difference in a close game: Our kicker missed a makeable FG and theirs made all of his (not counting the 50 + yarder). Remember, Big Guy, Adam Gunn is an OLB playing the Mike because he’s the best we have there —see NCS game with Mason in there. Gunn is also playing on a bad ankle. He is having a good season and showing leadership on and off the field. One big problem on D is Chappell playing 10 yrds off everyone. We need Berry back for Cincy, although Wanny will probably start Chappell over Gary. Tough loss to a bitter rival, but we move on and beat Cincy and head for Bourbon St. Pitt BB won, so the weekend is getting better.

We were beat on one play. If DeCicco makes the tackle on the Devine touchdown, things could have been different. I don’t blame DeCicco for the game but if he made that tackle it could have been the defensive play of the game. Our offense went flat but better now then next week. Stull was not on target all night but things will hopefully change once we prepare for Cincy.

This game hurts our ranking but we still have The Big East Title in our grasp if we win on Saturday. Rankings don’t mean a thing anyways as too much would have to fall our way to get a National Championship shot even if we had beaten N.C. State.

This is still a successful season. We are a few plays away from being undefeated. This program has taken a huge step in the right direction. If we can develop a mobile quarterback with average accuracy then next season we are the clear BE favorites and a top 10 team.

30 teams could say ‘we are a few plays from being undefeated’. 9-3 and a trip to the car fuck bowl is NOT a huge step forward. 10-2, BE championship and a BCS bowl is progress.

scott

Agreed. This is not a step forward if we lose to Cincinnati.

Forbes Avenue:

I was there as well. 5,000 may be generous. That game sucked. I think we’re better than that team for two main reasons: 1) Dion Lewis; 2) the defensive line. We got absolutely no pressure on Alex Smith in that game, and Smith/Warren were able to run free. I think we can get some pressure on a Kellen Moore-type guy, if it wound up being a Fiesta against Boise. Of course, we still couldn’t score enough to keep up with them, but it might not be such a beating.

panthoor said “We are a few plays away from being undefeated”. Also a few plays away from losing to uconn (3 point win) and rutgers (7 point win)…..sorry that was the dumb statement of the YEAR!

Maz:

I think there were actually closer to 3,000 Panthers fans at that Fiesta Bowl, and that still might be generous. We didn’t even get our own tiny section, which makes me dislike the Fiesta Bowl people to this day. There were some Pitt people around us, but my son and I were surrounded by Utah fans; drunken idiot Utah fans. It was the worst game I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been to too many bad ones to list here. I won’t get into the gorey details but it is a small miracle I got out of that stadium without being involved in fight. A Utah guy told me I was “bad ass” just for showing-up. I wasn’t “bad-ass” but spent a lot of time and money to not enjoy the game and it was mostly Pitt’s fault. Pitt stunk.

I agree this Pitt team is better than the one that played in that Fiesta Bowl; markedly better. Pitt backed-into the Fiesta Bowl game. I believe they were ranked 25th and Utah was ranked 5th. I don’t like rankings but even I have to say a 25th ranked team doesn’t belong in a major bowl game with a 5th ranked team. This was born-out on the field where Pitt got shoved-around for four quarters. Utah had a better team, but Pitt had a loooong time to prepare for Utah’s glorified high school offense and was still lost enough to be completely out of the game for four quarters.

I’m still not sure Pitt at present is so much better that I wouldn’t expect a butt-kicking in a top bowl game. Pitt hasn’t looked like a true championship caliber team in next to forever. There are more than a few teams ranked below Pitt that I think would beat Pitt. I believe every team ranked above Pitt would beat Pitt.

After yesterday’s game, and last year’s worst bowl game of all time, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t attend even if Pitt gets to a BCS game. As I said, if Pitt had beaten WVU, which should have happened, and beats Cincinnati, which is certainly possible, I’d likely have traveled anywhere to see the bowl game because I’d be convinced they are “for real” and I’d actually get to see Pitt win and have some fun cheering for my alma mater.

Hope springs eternal, and Pitt may shrug off this loss, beat Cincinnati, and win a BCS bowl game. I’d love to see it happen but doubt I’ll be there for it.

19-16…its the new 13-9.

Sober conclusions after last night:
1.Pitt is a very good team with a QB who is at best average…Kyle Orten in the pros would be a good example. He stared a hole thru Baldwin all night, had happy feet in the first half etc etc.
2. Pitt D line is exceptional…Lbs and safetys average at best
3. Where were the draws and screens last night…I thought Cig had 16 versions of each.
4. I think Wanny gets so caught up in the emotions of the game, he forgets to coach, especially when all around him is falling apart.
See the “no call To’s agains ND” and last night’s blow up on the sideline.
5. Bennett did not have the D ready to play in the first half and on the last drive….the run by Divine was a fluke but cost us the game.

I have always said that teams learn much more from losses than from wins. Last night was a Doctorate Tutorial on how NOT to play next week.

Didnt see too many articles today on Cignetti being a head coach somewhere next season and Stull playing in the pros. I think both teams look very bad. Did not do much for Big East image on a national level. Cant imagine a neutral fan tuning in and actually watching that whole game. Last thing, I know Stull doesnt have the strongest arm, but I have seen him throw some balls pretty hard this season. It seemed like every pass vs. WV was lofted and had no zip to it. Very strange to see us go in the tank all of a sudden and bomb out like that after the way we have been playing.

Weren’t the last two Brawls ugly, snoozefests as well?

Tonight’s game could be a shoot out between Palko and Flacco. A Watt Harris dream matchup.

I can’t wait for the end of the Stull era. Yeah, he’s played all right this season, made some good passes. But I won’t at all miss watching him cower in the face of pressure and duck out of passes with a man in his face (e.g., see second INT). I think I want the end of the Stull era even more than I wanted the end of the Aaron Gray era.

Stull has not won a big road game. All of our big road wins were with Bostick at the helm. Stull gets rattled on the road. We are home against Cincy and you will see our Panthers play four quarters of football an earn a berth into the BCS…
Friday wasnt our day. We didnt get the bounces and WVU did. Dorins 3rd down drop. The flag on the lineman for chop block on a critical 3rd down that lead to the long fg attempt. I thought the play calling was great..excution was off. WVU 3-3-5 eliminated Dorin from the game but put Baldwin in ideal situation. Stull missed some easy strikes that would have lead to points and badly over threw Baldwin on a slant across the middle that should have been a TD.
Everyone has a bad game. We were inchess away from winning. You saw with your own eyes how pitt moved at will in the 2nd half. Inches…Inches.
Wanny will have our young men fired up saturday morning..
HAil To Pitt

Championship games are won by coaches who can react quickly to what their opponents are doing. That is Cincinnati’s strong suit, not necessarily Pitt’s. I hope Pitt can pull it off.

66Goat..
Good Point but the game of football is about execution.. We made the correct adjustments but we did not excute. Stull was off and we were inches away from scoring early and inches away from forcing overtime.
We will beat Cincy in impressive fashion next week.
All of us will be very impressed with our young men and the atmosphere our student body provides..

Get Excited because we are going back to the BCS

cdmoore25,
I agree with you – the team is better than it has been in decades. Quality people – coaches, players, fans. Kelly keeps a big book of clever plays, and he will throw the book at us. I hope you are right about the result.

Big TD by Stephens-Howlings against Tenn.

HTscriptP

Howlings is a special teams machine today! Kickoff return and 2 pinned balls within the 5.

Stephens-Howlings 99 yd TD return
Clint Sessions pick 6
Revis pick 6
McCoy ran well and 2 pt. conversion

Good day for former Panthers
If only Matt Leinart was good enough to get the ball to the best receiver in the game…..FITZ!!!!!

Interesting photo on the home page of the Post-Gazette (it might not be there long). It shows Tyler Palko and and Joe Flacco talking with each other during warmups. From what I remember, there never was any problem between these two guys, even though it was Palko’s play that basically forced Flacco to transfer.

Upon deep reflectionI feel that Pitt will beat Cinn and that they will win the Big East. Get off Dave’s back, he has done a great job brining this team back. We haven’t had the chance to finish 10-2 is so freaking long, so let’s be happy, fill Heinz Field, sing Sweet Caroline and watch the Panthers win the Big East and go to a MAJOR bowl.

HAIL TO PITT.

BTW- If anyone from WVU thinks this was revenge, it wasn’t. You will NEVER be able to get revenge because you lost to a team not going anywhere that cost you a chance at playing for the National Championship. WVU will NEVER see, feel or showcase a Nation Championship trophy.

I hate that Sweet Caroline has become what is has become.

Went to the game. Apparently, eating roadkill gives you the uncanny ability to detect someone’s sexuality. For example, by wearing my J. Baldwin jersey, the Hoopies were able to determine I was homosexual, despite the fact that I live with my long-term girlfriend. This was shocking news to both her and I.

In a related note, now that I am not a student and have a reliable income, there is no way I EVER miss a backyard brawl. Despite the one guy who tried to punch me and my buddies for walking down the street, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Lots of name-calling, but no one messed with my car or tried to hurt us (sans 1 drunk 45 year old).

13-9

HTscriptP

Bryan – you forgot to mention all of the offers from Mountaineer fans to share in what must be one of their repasts – excrement. Seriously, does anyone know if there has ever been an effort by anyone to dissuade the crowd chants of “Eat Shit Pitt”? And it is not just college kids – you have all age groups involved, from adults down to kids. I’ve been down there enough that I just kind of laugh it off, but a few of the folks that I was with were genuinely offended. The truth is that it is really bizarre group behavior, and frankly, if I were a WVU alum, I’d be pretty embarrassed.

Eat shit.

if I were a WVU alum, you’d be pretty embarrassed [period]

Nice to see the trolls are still around. At least the WVU folks don’t put up a facade that they don’t care…

Class, nothing but pure class!

Ok, ok: Please eat shit.

Yeah, I could take the general “eat shit Pitt” chants, but the ones directed specifically at me got old quick. How did I know when it was directed at me? Because it was followed with “f*g” or “p*ssy” or something of the like. My favorite was when I saw an entire fat family wearing their “Eat Shit Pitt” shirts. Very classy.

Two things bothered me most: One, the sheer amount of non-students who said things like this or tried to fight me and my buddies. I would estimate that at least 2/3 the jackass behavior was from people over the age of 40. A special shoutout to the 50 year old guy ran across the aisle and stuck his middle finger directly in the face of everyone on the aisle of the Pitt section after the Noel Devine TD run, including me. Two, how does someone bring their child to this game? Going back to Pantherman’s comment, I was really surprised how many fans acted in front of their young kids. It was appalling.

Yes Bryan, the unending comments about “F**king our relatives” just ooze with class and sophistication.

Grow up you baby! You guys dish it out just as much as anyone else. Maybe you should open your ears and listen to what Pitt fans have to say. They are without question the most bigoted, homophobic fan base in America. The five or six pitt fans that still show up for games are constantly starting fights and making enough noise to make up for the rest that don’t bother. Not to mention constantly using gay slurs to describe West Virginians, and constantly going on and on about incest. What is the Pittsburgh obsession with incest anyway?