I agree that the TO was very poor coaching on Wany’s part, however, it had no impact on the game’s outcome epecially due to the fact that Pitt still has a timeout when they got the ball back.

This is the same as the slide play … stupid call by Walt? very much so …. however, while UConn did score before the end of the half, that was due to a very good kickoff return more than sending UConn a message. In fact, that was no way a turning point since the slide play happened before halftime and Pitt took its biggest lead of that game late in the 3rd quarter.

The slide play was silly but just like in the opener this year when they ran Lewis on 3rd down before the tying FG, the chances of scoring a TD were low.

Pitt not being able to score TDs in the red zone is the issue (not that TO) .. and directly attributable to 2 of the 3 losses this year.You may remember that not only did they settle for a FG at the end of regulation vs Utah,they also could not score after they blocked the punt and recovered on the 8 yd line.

Interesting comment in the Big East beat writer in the Star Ledger..This Pitt isn’t good enough to overcome the poor coaching of DW…how do you explain throwing the ball 30+ times and only letting Graham run 8 times one week after he ran for 277?

i can’t explain trotting dan hutchins out time after time. the kid has missed every field goal he has ever attempted outside of 40 yards and he isn’t even that reliable inside of that distance. he missed a field goal against utah to tie and got bailed out. how wannstedt continues to have confidence in that unit is another wonderful question. the red zone offense has been putrid. i don’t understand why they cannot properly execute a fade pass to baldwin or shannahan. what do these kids do at practice? they should practice the play 500 times. these kids are freaking 6’5″ tall. this is a high percentage play. they don’t even try it. every team in the country is able to execute this play and not every team has 6’5″ receivers. why don’t the moron coaches make the kids perfect this? it cannot, CANNOT, be that hard if they rest of the country does it weekly.

Sorry that was Wanny’s Waterloo, he has to go, this “program” is no better off than it was when Wlat was here.

Wlat has less talent but he was a better strategist and tactician.

We will be lucky to finish 6-6, you cannot win we you play not-to-lose!

We can only hope someone in the Pitt administration is reading all of this. I have a feeling they are not. Maybe they are saving their energy to put a spin on the next home game’s attendance.

Sorry wbb- but I think you are way off base. The Walt slide was pathetic. You say the failure to score in the red zone earlier was the problem- yes that was the reason they were losing- but what do you do about it with less than 4 minutes and 90 yards to go? Wannstedt runs the ball twice, gives his guys 1 legitimate shot at a first down, then burns a timeout and punts. A winner gives his guys a chance to win the game. He wasted a golden chance at Utah in the same pathetic way. This guy sucks- the program is in a bad place and he needs to go. Wannstedt needs to go. Fortune favors the bold.

Dan35 e your facts straight — you really mangled them. I said the TO had no impact on the game. Not only do I agree that the playcalling sucked,I even made a comment on the previous blog about bringing back Cavanaugh since the playcalling of the last 2 series looked liKe the gameplan at the Sun Bowl.

The lack of scoring TDs in the red zone is SUBSTANTIALLY more of the reason for Pitt’s problems than a freakin’ ill-timed timeout call.

The failure

and one more thing Dan 72, the slide play was stupid but like Wanny’s TO, it did not impact the game, and especially wasn’t the turning point .. since that slie play happened with about 30seconds left in the half, and Pitt toook its only lead of that game about 9 1/2 minutes AFTER the slide play

wanny is a gutless wonder. plain and simple. you can make the case pitt was mediocre under walt harris ( i big step up from majors2 regime) but at least pitt was exciting to watch. pitt under wanny is no better than mediocre and BORING! wanny doesn’t trust these kids to make plays b/c he’s a fucking dinosaur who doesn’t understand the college game(you only have them for 4-5 years mr. magoo, there aren’t any reliable 8 year veterans in college). that has to eat away at the kids’ confidence and that shows up late in games when someone needs to step up and make a play to win.

“The slide play was silly but just like in the opener this year when they ran Lewis on 3rd down before the tying FG, the chances of scoring a TD were low.”

Doesn’t matter. WHENEVER you get an opportunity to go for a win, you take it. You ever see them send the runner from 3rd on a shallow fly ball in the 9th? The chances of scoring are low then, too.

“Pitt not being able to score TDs in the red zone is the issue (not that TO)”

Pitt’s got a LOAD of issues. These are just two of them. The TO is just as important, because its yet another indication of poor game management, and how the in-game coaching is costing this team games. And Bowl Games. And BE championships.

I want Wanny to be the HC. But as time goes by, there are just fewer and fewer ways to defend him.

Wanny’s time is up at PITT. Poor decision making and an inability to show steady progress speaks for itself. Nice guy who represents to Universitynwell but his eyen is no longer focused on the ball. Losing on the fieldmis one thing but losing off of the field isn’t going to be tolerated at PITT. It cheapens the reputation of a well respected University.

Pederson must LEAD andnthat means making tough decisions about football and coaching. Pedersons performance, outside of basketball, is equally bad. Our olympic sports are below acceptable.

Wanny should go and Pederson should follow.

If you watched Wanny just before calling the timeout, he was pointing to the field and mouthed “Go for it.” It sure looked to me like he had his mind made up at that point, so his comments above don’t really go with what he was saying/doing/motioning in the moment.

There are only a few explanations for him changing from saying, “Go for it” to calling a TO and punting…

1) He wanted to call the bold play in crunch time, but he lost the nerve to do so.
2) He doesn’t have any faith in Tino (or the offense) to make something big happen.
3) Someone questioned the call and he backed down.
4) He was somewhat unaware of the situation (which would actually go along with his comments above).

I have thought about this for awhile now, and I truly cannot come up with any other explanations for the flip-flop that I witnessed.

Omar – We can’t execute the fade in the endzone because the staff has seen this in Sunseri – he’s a thrower, not a passer. In that I mean that he can’t produce any sort of a play that requires finesse in the way of putting ‘touch’ on the ball to get it to a receiver.

We don’t see many screens or crossing slants for this reason and we have seen his very poor results with the deep ball… even on the TD pass of last week when he threw behind a wide open Baldwin.

What is lacking in Sunseri’s QB skills to date is the subtleness of the position, both physically and intellectually – his game is the brute essence of QB, drop back, throw the ball as hard as possible at the play’s primary receiver and hope the it’s caught.

For all of the “Fire Wannstedt” enthusiasts (and somone may have better actual #s info but …):

One thing everyone is missing here is the financial factor… not only will PITT have to buy out Wannstedt’s contract (extended until after the 2014 season) if we fire him (at $1.4M per annum) but we will also have to try to scrape together a buy-in for any new conference affiliation should we get invited somewhere.

So – lets say we have a $5M buy-in and want to get rid of Wannstedt after the 2011 season. That would be $4.2M to DW and $5M for a total of $9.2M just for the PITT football program alone.

Considering it looks like we’ll be making a max of $1M for a bowl this year and probably next year (if anything at all) where in hell is the other $7M going to come from in this economy?

It isn’t as easy as snapping your fingers folks – DW is going to be around until the end of his contract and most probably he’ll either take a ‘retirement’ one year early at most or stay until 2014 when his contract expires a la’ Harris.

One last thing… DW lost millions of dollars in 2008 in bad financial investments when his 71,000+ shares of Orion Bank became worthless overnight – he’s not going to be passing up a chance to hold PITT’s feet to the fire for every penny possible.

He’s our coach for as long as the football program does not embarrass the University in a big way off the field, his contract expires or unless we have a disaster season like 2-10 and some donor ponies up… which again, in this economy I can’t see happening.

Wanny is so horrible that he gets beat by a obviously superior coach who’s using players ill suited for his style of football but knows how to make ends meet. Enough is enough! Wanny can represent the University well be WINNNING!!!!

The way this thing plays out is Wanny coaches till his contract expires since he needs the money ala what Reed said about his Orion shares tanking. They’re never going to fire Wanny since he is such a great ambassador for the U and has mended all the Western Pa. High School football fences that WH had burnt. And then they bring in another ‘Pitt Man’, my friend and your’s Mr. Sal Sunseri. And until then Sonny is your quarterback and we get to witness his large upside(according to NBC announcer & Henry Hynoceras) for the next 2 and half years.
Ain’t life grand !

Maybe Sonny will grow 3-4 inches over the summer and be over 6 feet tall then. Or they could just list him as 6’5″ in the program and order him never to stand anywhere close to Shanahan and hope no one notices he’s only 5’9″.

Rather than piling on the negative, I want to focus on some positives today…

Sheard and Ray Graham really came to play this year….

born loser… no matter what he does

link to naplesnews.com

If we could get Jimmy Johnson to be the coach, then Wanny could show us how much of a winner he is.

Sunseri should be learning to play in the secondary because there is no way he should start ahead of Myers next year. If you were going to have an inexperience QB why not start with a guy with size and talent.

Jesus christ you guys are freaking rediculous. Do you remember the Walt Harris years? Probably not.

The reason the loss to UCONN was so painful was because they were still basically a LCS team at that point. It was a pathetic loss. This was a loss on the road at one of the toughest places to play in the country to a team with one of the best Wideouts in the country. Big freaking deal he called a timeout and then punted. PITT STILL GOT THE BALL BACK WITH ENOUGH TIME TO WIN.

I live in Philadelphia, (Steelers fan) and I get to read about Andy Reid. That dude butchers clock management. This is not Wanny’s problem. If we win the brawl, and contunue with our insane recruiting class, we will be just fine next year.

Proof Ron Cook is a deushbag:

link to post-gazette.com
“Joe Paterno is greatest living coach”

link to post-gazette.com
“PSU’S Greatest Flaw: Joe Paterno”

What a deuschbag. The guy is a bottom feeder reporter and ever since he got a radio show, he seems to be doing every last stereoptypical angry sports radio guy thing. Pay him no mind. He thinks every coach should be fired after a loss and he probably isn’t allowed to write a positive column unless Collier is on vacation

If Wanny stays, next year could be worse, at Iowa and Notre Dame and Utah will be the three losses on a national stage. Now, where it gets tricky, we should be able to beat Maine, I think, but, the sub for FIU is Buffalo, and we may just have a tough time with them. We very well could be
1-4. Yes, I’ve allready skipped this season, and I’m not going to go through another summer of great anticipation like I did this summer next year, so, I’ve allready gotten over the disappointment of next year!!!!!! I might adopt someone new, not a big fan of Spurrier, but, I love watching that freshman running back (Lattimore) that they have. Besides, my sister lives in Rock Hill, SC… maybe I’ll go to the S.Car-Clemson game. Somethings gotta give……

Actually Dave, I believe those two statements are exactly true. Joe Paterno, arguably, is the greatest living coach right now. He is talking about his body of work and the career he has had, there is no dispute he is one of the few living icons around. The second statement is also exactly correct, his staying on at Penn St. is hurting the program and the team in the here and now. They definitely need to have him step aside, to start moving in the next direction. He had a couple good seasons after the debacle years a few years back, but, now, it seems they are almost as bad as Pitt, and he needs to let Tom Bradley or someone else take over. So, yes, he just may be the greatest living coach around, and, he is one of PSU’s main problems. Seems like he hit the nail on the head!!

PITT will never fire Wanny for many of the reasons mentioned by Reed (Contract until 2014, possible exit fee from B.E. and entrance fee to new conference). We got him until 2014 at 1.4 per year (less than what he generates after expenses).

As for the next coach we have 2 PITT guys:
1) Teryl Austin DB PITT 84-87(Florida Gator D-Coordinator)
link to gatorzone.com
or

2) Sal Sunseri LB Pitt late 78-81 (Alabama LB coach / Asst.Coach)
link to rolltide.com

Your guess is as good as mine but here is my take

Both are viewed a good recruiters but with Teryl Austin in the hot bed state of Florida he probably get the nods. Sunseri is 10 years older and is less likely to relate to the kids though winning a National Championship doesnt hurt.
Both have NFL experience though Austin has two Super Bowl appearances coachings Seattle and Arizona (both losses to the STEELERS). Sunseri’s kid is at PITT and the other is headed to Alabama next fall (6ft 190lb undersized LB).

Both have competitive Salaries but nothing to keep us from buying out contracts.
Austin – $440K
Sunseri – $325K

The bigger question is which one could put together a stronger coaching staff ?

If Sunseri, Baldwin, and Shannahan practiced the fade 1,000 times this week, then I’m sure Sunseri might be able to make the throw. He isn’t THAT bad.

Furthermore, they are trying to make him throw timing routes and other difficult passes. What’s the worst case scenario? The ball goes out of bounds on the fade. Big deal, chances are we weren’t going to score on the other play they may have called. Either throw the fade or run the ball on every down in the red-zone. Nothing else is working.

I hear ya, Omar…but people think the fade is the easiest play in the playbook, but it is not. A size advantage does not translate into a jump ball win in every instance (unless, of course, Larry Fitzgerald is going up for the ball). Smaller corners are usually very good leapers and skilled to knock balls out of receivers hands in fade situations. From the QB perspective, you have to find the right balance between hitting the edge and underthrowing (read “touch”)…and Tino struggles with these types of throws. And the threat of an INT is there for a fade as much as any other (sans the 10 yard out/pick 6)…

One area where I think a pass is MUCH easier and MORE effective is the middle of the field. It kills me to see team afeter team after team throwing to a moderately decent athlete across the middle of the field for 7 to 20 yds EVERY TIME; with the WR/TE/HB beating a less skilled LB EVERYTIME. It is mind numbing that we cannot do this for whatever reason (Short QB, Line chaos, Bad TEs, Play calling, etc.)

Middle of the field….where are you?

on the plus side its less than a month until basketball starts.

Honestly who cares if they throw an interception? I would rather see an interception than some bull-shit draw on third down and set-up for a field goal. I’m sick of seeing Dan Hutchins run out and barely sneak in a 25-yard field goal. I’ll take the interception when the team is actually attempting to score a touchdown.

I hate watching this type of football. It is so mundane. It’s not even that Pitt rarely scores TDs. It’s that every unit is so predictable, especially the defense. I sincerely wonder if Dave Wannstedt has an IQ over 100.

The “slide” and this incident are not like-for-like.

I agree that watching us is a miserable experience; however, you can argue our beloved coach in BB does the same thing (and we have the opposite feeling)…could it be the outcome at the end changes our tune?

Jamie’s teams plays team BB, focus on efficiency, focus on defense and Rebounds as opposed to the more popular wide open play of other teams in the country…

So, if Wanny was winning…would you live with this misearble and boring brand of football?

I would happily live with 3 yrds and a cloud of dust if we won

if pitt were winning it wouldn’t be nearly as miserable to watch. i’m not a big fan of the spread offense, like the pro style mix of run and pass. just wish the execution/play calling/game day decisions were more effective and bold.

Pitt basketball is not boring. It’s not uptempo, but neither is Duke. Pitt runs an offense unlike Calipari who recruits studs and rolls out a ball. That is why he has never won a championship when he clearly has some of the best players in the entire country. In the latter stages of a tournament the talent evens out and you actually have to know what you are doing.

Notre Dame at the end of last season was boring. They were taking the air out of the ball. Pitt basketball doesn’t do that.

Agree with Omar. People keep saying that the TO didn’t lose the game- but that is missing the point in my opinion. It’s the same mentality by DW that was shown by WH with the slide. Playing scared. Playing not to lose. No guts.

It will not change while DW is here. We will get the same boring pedestrian bland football. Think of how right everything went last year and we got to 9-3 with a favorable schedule in a less than stellar big east, losing the biggest two games of the year. It seems like DW always has them on the edge between winning and losing no matter who we play. It’s boring and exhausting at the same time.

And can we just stop the “hire a Pitt guy” stuff. I for one want someone who has never even been to the campus. We need a fresh start. Mike Leach??

A coworker of mine (Florida Gator alum) watched the ND game and said that if Kelly and Wanny switched sidelines, Pitt would have won by 21. Your thoughts….

Also, regarding Pitt basketball playing like Pitt football. Did Coach Dixon and Levance Fields play for the tie against Duke at Madison Square Garden? I don’t think they did.

link to youtube.com

What about against Xavier? Did Jamie call a timeout when the play was clearly breaking down?

link to youtube.com

At first sight, you may see some similarities with the football and basketball, but, one big point, I have seen Jamie Dixon adjust to existing conditions time and time again, go with different players, go up tempo at times etc. etc. I guess what I’m saying, I’ve seen Coach Jamie Dixon coach. Ahh, don’t know, ya, I’d be happier if we won, of course, but, I have to say, I, and other friends and family mentioned last year, “for some reason, Pitt isn’t fun to watch”, and they were 10-3. I think the predictability is what gets in the way, winning or losing.

IMHO, the time out call followed by a punt was a non-issue. In fact, it worked. We forced a punt, a punt that was not fielded, which is really the issue here. We went for it on fourth down four times during the game. “Be aggressive”…”Play to Win”…”Oh no, don’t fake a punt from that spot on the field”! A fake punt will always leave your opponent with great field position if it does not work. Why else would you be punting?. News flash, that fake punt was being agressive and playing to win. MSU’s fake FG in OT against ND was only brilliant because it worked. Had that failed, the fire Dantonio cries would have been coming from all points. The really bad calls for me were the two consecutive runs up the middle with 4:55 left and we had the momentum. So what if we throw an incomplete pass, at least we preserve some clock. We should have been playing down hill at that point, instead we apparently were going strive for a nice 4:52 drive. That was really frustrating to watch. I don’t know if Cig or DW called those plays, but they were dumb calls…As for acting like ND has no talent, this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read. One thing Charlie was did well was recruit (I know, sounds familiar). I believe that ND is in the Top 5 in the country for the number of ESPN 150 players on its roster…Talent wise, they had the advantage, they had the home crowd, they had the coach many of you have annointed as a genius, we have, by what I have read here: A terrible head coach, a boring offense, a tiny, candy-arm QB, one RB who just does not have it any more, a WR who is not as talented as advertised, an OL that is horrible, a defense that is basic, unaggressive, and slow…That is why we got blown off of that field. No, we did not. We had our chances to win that game and failed to take advantage of them, on field and on the sideline.

Dan, time after time after time, your posts make more sense than anything you read anywhere about the state of Pitt football (including the Post Gazzette). I am at the point where some of the posts on this board from those wearing their rose colored glasses frustrate me as much as Wanny does. It is no longer debatable, it is SETTLED SCIENCE that Wanny is the problem and anybody with a lick of reality in their brain knows it. We know we are going to have to accept the fact that he is not going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean we have to continue to invest our passion for Pitt sports in a failed experiment any longer. Bring on Jamie and the boys!

I’m still trying to figure out what the hell those weird slant patterns are that they ran for Baldwin, the ones that are almost parallel with the line of scrimmage. That’s supposed to achieve what exactly?

And has Wanny been asked at the press conferences about the pathological fear of blitzing?

Dan35 – the PITT administration will never hire a coach with a reputation like Mike Leach – they just ran out the last HC who embarrassed the University off the field – and they will always have that as a deciding factor.

I think that it’s to early to give up on the season and Wannstedt. Sure, I blame Wanny for the yearly troubles they have on the o-line. That much is unacceptable at this point in his tenure.
If the o-line was as good as last year Pitt would be 4-1. but the fact is their line stinks and Sunseri is still learning to be a big time college QB.
Look at Bill Stull year one vs year two. A mediocre squad that overachieved thanks in large part to the running game, versus a big east contender in a year when there were three legit teams in the league.
I expect Sunseri to continue to improve and Pitt could go 6-1 or 7-0 in a very poor big east if they make some.
Will be easy? No. Will the team and coaches have to do better than their first five games? Hell yeah. But are they a 6-6 team? F-NO!
I guess that makes me brainless dolt, but if they start playing as a team instead of individuals and Sunseri and the o-line make steady improvements, I don’t think it’s unreasonable.