I’m not saying there should be deep fear of New Hampshire this weekend, but remember that this is the #5 team in 1-AA. Also Ole Miss showed the follies of complacency when thinking the game was over. To say nothing of Temple needing lots of weirdness to beat Villanova.
Oh, and there is this added fun.
As Division I-AA teams go, the Wildcats are exactly the kind of team most Division I-A teams like to avoid because they are capable of pulling an upset.
In each of the past four seasons, the Wildcats have beaten a Division I-A team on the road and, while the list of teams they upset is not a who’s who of college football powers (Northwestern, Marshall, Ball State and Army), the fact that they have won those games means the Panthers will have to play well to win.
Oh, and naturally New Hampshire runs the spread offense.
For all the talk of depth (outside of the O-line), it’s amazing that when there’s an injury suddenly there was none.
“We basically were stuck and couldn’t use all the packages we prepared,” Wannstedt said. “And that means we had to juggle some players and, at times, we got caught with K’Waun Williams and Jason Hendricks — two freshman — and [cornerback] Antwuan Reed — a first-year starter — in the game.”
If the Panthers are in the same bind this week, they will be forced, as they did for most of the game against Utah, to defend the Wildcats out of their base defense, and that means starting linebackers Greg Williams, Max Gruder and Dan Mason would again be forced at times to face difficult matchups.
This is where there is the obligatory comment about rightfully dismissed Elijah Fields being missed. That said, it’s not like Pitt was able to count on him when he wasn’t kicked off the team, suspended or generally being in the doghouse. Plus, it’s not like Pitt hasn’t had the entire offseason to prepare to be without him. Dom DeCicco is improving. I am betting on “probable” when Pitt puts out the injury report.
There is the obligatory local angle to the game. The New Hampshire coaching staff has a former Pitt player in Joe Conlin, the offensive line coach.
“I think it will be exciting to line up against my alma mater at Heinz Field,” he said. “The kids will get a kick out of it. But I don’t think I will have any mixed emotions about what we are down there to do.”
Conlin, in his seventh year on head coach Sean McConnell’s staff, is a 2002 graduate of Pitt and played for the Panthers under Walt Harris from 1997-2002. He was a two-year starter at defensive tackle.
Of course, the people with the most at stake in this game is any and every Pitt fan who has used the Furman OT game as evidence of why Coach Wannstedt is superior to Walt Harris. If that is the baseline, then this had better be at a minimum, a game with the outcome never in doubt. Not trying to turn this into yet another Harris vs. Wannstedt debate, but since people started busting out that argument after the Utah game it is clear that this still rankles people.
Obviously the Big East had a less than stellar opening weekend. Fair or not, the conference will have an even steeper battle for perception after seeing so many teams fail in the first weekend. On the road or not. Against quality opponents or not. The fact that the only Big East win against a 1-A team was Syracuse over Akron is absolutely embarrassing.
In the Utah game, I remain firmly in the camp that Pitt played too conservatively in the final series before the game tying field goal to send it to OT. I also feel that Sunseri showed a lot from the start of the game to the end. I really have no problem with Sunseri as the starter.
Said coach Dave Wannstedt: “I thought he got a little better. He’ll be better next week than he was this week, and he will be better the week after that.”
Pitt will get a chance to rebound when it plays host to Football Championship Subdivision squad New Hampshire on Sept. 11 at Heinz Field. Baldwin, who had only two receptions for 8 yards in the first half before catching two passes for 63 yards in a two-play span in the fourth quarter, said he expects to be a bigger part of the offense in the season’s second game.
“Coach (Frank) Cignetti is a great offensive coordinator,” Baldwin said. “I’m sure whenever we get back on the practice field and do some film study on New Hampshire, they will do the things they need to do to get me the ball.”
I feel relatively confident in the offense. The defense has the question marks to me.
FWIW, I have less of an issue with Wanny playing for the field goal late than with the approach with Sunseri for the first three quarters. If the goal is to put a young quarterback in the situations where he is most likely to succeed, I think the coaches failed. At some point, they are going to have to let him pass on 1st down rather than force him to pass on 3rd and long. Hopefully, they can open it up just a little bit more in the NH game so that the attack is a bit more balanced for Miami.
We had better play to whatever potential we have this weekend.
HAIL TO PITT
But, for those talking about the “wildcat”, “tough divison I-AA”, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blow them the he** out of Heinz Field. No excuses, no learning curves, no “they got some athletes”, blow them out, end of story. The above rhetoric I could deal with during the first, second and third year!!!!!!
Haters keep on being haters. Does it make you feel better to be negative and pessimistic? Talk about a lame way to live.
Bottom line Pitt is a lot better now than when Wanny started (Pitt was embarrassing in the BCS loss to Utah and was probably the worst BCS team ever). I’ll be perfectly happy when Pitt finishes 11-1 or 10-2 this year and upsets Texas in the Fiesta bowl.
Hail to Pitt!
And well said, InRodWeTrust.
The latest being Greg Williams over Tristan Roberts at LB. That nothing like what I mentioned above is even being discussed in the media(I’m not privy to Pgh. radio shows) is quite alarming.
