For some reason, knowing that Pitt lost its last two games by only 4 points will remain a bitter pill in the offseason. Especially when you consider that it also came down to special teams screwing up and a defense that couldn’t make the stops when needed. The team just didn’t finish.

Disappointment isn’t the right word to describe the way I feel about how the season finished. Frustration probably is the better choice. There is an undercurrent not of anger so much as annoyance — or some setting lower than outright anger. It wasn’t that the team underachieved from preseason expectations as much as it underachieved from what it showed it could do. Zeise sums most of it up.

…expectations always change as the facts change. And given that, let me rephrase my statement and see if you think you can come up with any other way to describe it than disappointing – what if I told you before the season that all of these things would go right for Pitt……

• Bill Stull would have by far the best season a quarterback has had at Pitt since Tyler Palko in 2004.
• Dion Lewis will be better than LeSean McCoy was, at least production wise.
• Dorin Dickerson would turn into Shannon Sharpe.
• Dan Hutchins would turn into a very reliable kicker from 40 yards and in.
• The entire starting offensive line would be healthy and start every game together.
• Matt Grothe would blow out his knee and thus USF was a much less dangerous team plus N.C. State, Buffalo and Notre Dame would all stink, Rutgers would be very mediocre (and awful on offense), West Virginia would be ordinary AND you’d have a 21-point lead at home against Cincinnati.

I’m sure some will argue that this is moving the goal posts, but we don’t jump from preseason expectations (i.e., guessing) to the end of the season without enduring or enjoying the games.

The offense surpassed expectations. Special teams disappointed — especially in November and the beginning of December. Defense really, really struggled with stopping the pass — which was somewhat expected but not this badly and when it counted the d-line couldn’t get the pressure up front to help.

Of special note in Zeise’s post is this.

It is almost certain that defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, as has long been suspected, will head back closer to his home in Texas. But even though he is a good coach, if he does leave, it is not a big blow because defensive line coach Greg Gattuso has been groomed for the job the past three years and would almost certainly be promoted into the job as Dave Wannstedt is a big fan of keeping the momentum going and believes continuity is a big part of that. If Bennett goes, perhaps linebackers coach Joe Tumpkin could follow him as Bennett brought him here but that is purely rumor mill kind of stuff and not a given.

The Bennett stuff has been very quiet, news-wise all season. It strikes me as one of those things the beat writers and those around the program knew as an open secret but (1) didn’t want to create a distracting story out of respect for Bennett who stayed after last year when he could have gone back to K-State, and (2) no one has any hard feelings about him doing it to be with his family.

Gattuso makes sense on all the reasons mentioned, but also because finding or mining for a good DC this offseason may be a lot tougher. Other programs looking for a new DC include FSU, Florida, Georgia and ND. All with a lot of money to toss around. I would expect that WVU could be looking for a new DC because Casteel has a good shot at being a target for one of those programs.

I think most Pitt fans, while dismayed by the missed extra point, hardly lost their head at Andrew Janocko. The holder who fumbled the snap. It wasn’t like he dropped it in perfect conditions. Plus at that point I think a lot of Pitt fans knew that even if it hadn’t happened if the defense couldn’t stop Cinci in the final minute-and-a-half, then it would have at best prolonged what would have felt like an inevitable Cinci win in OT.  A couple sympathy pieces on him were very nice and interesting (and expected), though.