Noon start. That means leaving before 6:30. Ugh. Supposed to be a surprisingly beautiful day for late October in Pittsburgh. Bringing my daughter with me, assuming I can drag her out and pile her into the car in time. She was excited when I asked her about going. Not so sure about that enthusiasm when I get her up around 6.
Of course that means I definitely stay sober. Always changes the texture of the game.
Luke has offered to run the liveblog from a remote location. Somewhere near Nepal, I believe. He’s been on the run for a while since the incident. He still claims that he was set up to take the blame for that hooker’s death and that it involves a global conspiracy to control the beet sugar market.
I’ll be tweeting throughout the game — which will be on the liveblog. That’s a mostly one-way communication. I’ll try to field some questions at half-time when I can check them.
The liveblog is below and starts around noon.
The liveblog is below and starts around noon. As usual, if you need/want to break out the liveblog from the site, <a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/index.php?option=com_altcaster&task=siteviewaltcast&altcast_code=e00564eb57&height=550&width=405″ target=”_blank” >Click Here</a>.
<iframe src=”http://www.coveritlive.com/index2.php/option=com_altcaster/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=e00564eb57/height=550/width=405″ scrolling=”no” height=”550px” width=”405px” frameBorder =”0″ allowTransparency=”true” ><a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=e00564eb57″ >Knights-Panthers</a></iframe>
Oh well, this is why the Big East is a joke. Teams can’t play, officials can’t officiate.
Hail To Pitt
Go Navy! Beat Army!
We all went through a rough time with the whole non-conference debacle, but now its time for everyone to enjoy the fact that Pitt is the only non-beaten team in conference play, they have destroyed both conference opponents they played, and they have a chance to get on a roll and make this a special season. Can the ridiculous irrational Sunseri bashers please stop posting their nonsense now? Rutgers’ defense was regarded as one of the best in the league and he went 21 of 27 for 300+ and 3TDs…
HAIL TO PITT!
Game ball goes to Phil Bennett for the defensive front line. 7 sacks was impressive and set the tone. They have been consistent all year and Sheard is having a nice season. I have been hard on Decicco all year but I think he has found his spot.
Sunseri is getting comfortable and it is nice to see him linking up with the WR’s on the long ball. Baldwin is playing with more excitement (as Sunseri gets more consistent) and it shows in his performance. The change to the O line after the Miami game is paying dividends. Nice coaching decision.
Lewis had a much better performance this game. He game is directly tied to the O line blocking.
Overall a good win and nice momentum going into an interesting UofL game.
Much credit to the coaching for having the team prepared. Still not feeling good about that ND loss (especially since ND just lost to Navy today). Losing to ranked teams like Utah and Miami is easier to accept but losing to a bad ND team will sting for a while.
Rutgers / Pittsburgh
1st Downs 12 / 24
3rd down efficiency 3-12 / 5-13
4th down efficiency 0-0 / 1-2
Total Yards 203 / 513
Passing 108 / 307
Comp-Att 10-22 / 22-28
Yards per pass 4.9 / 11.0
Rushing 95 / 206
Rushing Attempts 36 / 39
Yards per rush 2.6 / 5.3
Penalties 4-50 / 4-20
Turnovers 2 / 2
Fumbles lost 1 / 1
Interceptions thrown 1 / 1
Possession 26:16 / 32:14
———–C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT
T. Sunseri 21/27 307 11.4 3 1
——–CAR YDS AVG TD LG
D. Lewis 17 130 7.6 1 23
R. Graham 14 56 4.0 1 27
———-REC YDS AVG TD LG
J. Baldwin 5 139 27.8 1 46
M. Shanahan 3 53 17.7 0 22
H. Hynoski 7 51 7.3 0 20
D. Street 2 20 10.0 0 10
R. Graham 1 17 17.0 0 17
M. Cruz 2 14 7.0 2 11
D. Lewis 1 13 13.0 0 13
why do you try and antagonize? Most of the complainers, myself included, are ecstatic about a Pitt win.
I have no problem coming here and admitting when I am wrong.
Season isn’t over, and guess what? If they run the table and win the Big East…I will happily admit I was wrong. As often as you want me too! 🙂
Difference is I bet if Pitt loses to both Cincy and WVU…you will still say Wanny is building something here, lets give him another decade.
As I said when Wanny was hired…I was one of the elated ones. When he recruited like Da Bomb–I was thrilled.
I am starting to get excited about this team again, but everytime I start to get myself into it…a Wanny team has bombed and left me heartbroken.
I am hoping that the scheduling of those tough teams like Utah have helped to make this team competitive not only in BE play but in a BCS game.
But I won’t be blind to the fact that Wanny teams, in the past, have disappointed the most diehard of Pitt fans.
Does that help?
DaveD
Wins………………..Losses
New Hampshire………..Utah
Florida Inter………..Miami
Syracuse…………….Notre Dame
Rutgers
Ya, just bring it back in a little……..
HAIL TO PITT!
Now, as for the o-line (particularly with Nix going down today), who knows…
Miami has better athletes, so don’t give me that crap that Wanny was outcoached.
The only game I think we should have gotten was Notre Dame. We are better than them. I agree that is a combo of poor coaching and lack of confidence.
You are blind if you don’t think Wanny has built a really good program. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what Walt did to take our program out of the abyss, but Wanny has taken this program to a different level. I am not giving Wanny a free pass either. He HAS to win the Big East, and do it on a fairly consistent basis going forward.
BTW, enough with the Boos already. I know I have disagreed with Wanny’s decisions, but you really? THat much booing? Between the piss poor attendance and the constant booing, I can’t imagine why our players would be pumped to be playing a home game.
btw – Student Section just didn’t show up today. Kudos to the ones that did show up. They were great, but man the attendance is poor! Fair weather fans I guess. Which is their right, but being there in the not so great times, make the great times even that much better….
That shows that the Pitt players can’t take any team lightly and we Pitt fans can’t start getting cocky. Like DaveD said, that may only lead to a letdown by the team and heartbreak for us.
Another solid win by the Panthers. They continue to improve as a TEAM. But that’s only 2 down with 5 more to go to reach the goal of a BE championship. Let’s keep that in perspective and hope that some of the bandwagoners turn out for a Homecoming win against the Cardinals.
Hail to PITT!
Or like I mentioned just Wanny haters. I’ve been thru thick (1976-1982) with this team and the vast majority of the time since then, the thin. Going 10-3 & 9-4 is not a disappointment and even when you lose you’re not getting blown out. This is like those that complain constantly about Dixon not getting to the Final Four. They must be young since Pitt basketball has never known such extended heights EVER ! Give it a break !
Including the offensive genius WH years. I know some will love to hear that. LOL
However, in very few of those past 30 years have we had as much talent and as high national expectations as we had going into this season.
I don’t think any objective fan can look at how the three ‘big’ OOC games went down and be anywhere near satisfied – especially when two of those teams went on to be pummeled by later opponents. These were the games we were expected to be able to win this season folks, this was what we had been building to over the last two years and truth be told what we scheduled for – and we promptly went out and shot ourselves in the foot three times in a row against quality opposition.
It doesn’t help a fan’s perception of how the first part of the year was handled when two personnel changes are made at the 1/3 mark of the season and the team starts playing better… after all, isn’t this what training camp is specifically for? We also read that both of those combinations were specifically tried during camp so it wasn’t a big shift in philosophy or schematic systems or anything of that sort. It is that sort of bumbling around that is so frustrating to PITT fans regarding our coaching staff… those changes either should have been made during camp or right after the Miami game at least – probably even sooner.
I do think PITT may have turned a corner, and obviously these last two games have been satisfying. But, it is asking an awful lot of a team to be able to win seven straight games…regardless of what we did or didn’t do in our non-con schedule. If things shake out where we can win the title with one loss – and that may happen – I’ll be satisfied with an 8-4 year.
If for some reason we stumble and finish the season out without a BE crown, which as we all know from last season isn’t out of the realm of possibility at all for our Panthers, then I’ll have to say that this season would be a monumental disappointment of historical proportions given the talent and personnel we have on the roster.
The losses to Utah and Miami were easy to understand, however, the loss to Notre Dame was a typical Wanny coaching mess.
Yes, Tino is improving (as he should), yes, the O line looks as if it is beginning to understand how to play the game and yes, Romeus will be back. No excuses…Pitt should win every game and get an opportunity to get crushed by an SEC team in a BCS Bowl. Based on the first 2-3 weeks of The Big East games it appears that WVU is NOT a bunch of world beaters….UCONN is not ready to win…USF is improving, but probably a year away….Louisville is a no excuse win for Pitt and CINCY of 2010 is a big step below CINCY of 2009. Anything less than a Big East Championship for the Panthers is a coaching disaster. How can I be positive when in every year that Wanny has been head coach we have had at least 1 and often 2 games that we should have won if it had not been for coaching decisions?
Wanny means well, he loves our University and is a strong recruiter….he, however, has not shown that he knows how to navigate a team through a college season. NO MORE EXCUSES IN 2010!!
Virgil, I was in school for Dave Hart and Carl DePasqua, I think we won one game in three years. Some of my friends brought a 15 feet part of the goal post in my apartment when we upset Syracuse. Damn Drunks! I was still there when Billy Knight and Tony Dorsett arrived on campus.
Anyway we have all had our share of ups and downs. I have been in the Wanny camp, but the start this year made me question that support. It is difficult when you start at #15 and don’t live up to the hype.
While things look much better now, trying to look at it objectively, it remains to be seen how well we finish. Anyone that has played sports knows that it is easy to look good against lesser competition, as evidenced by PSU since they moved to the Big Ten. Joe won’t play Pitt or WVU anymore but Temple, a team that has never beat PSU is back on the schedule. But I digress, the true test of quality or greatness is winning against competitive teams and upsetting better teams. This is what we all want. To finish in the top 20, we must win the Big East and win a Bowl game, anything less will be a disappointment considering the pre-season hype and the number of excellant players on the team.
It looked real bad for a while, it looks much better, but objectively, we still don’t know how good we are. Unfortunately, due to the relative weakness of the Big East, we won’t get respect nationally until we beat a ranked team. Let’s hope we earn the opportunity.
For now let’s savor the win and the greatness of Baldwin.
Hail to Pitt!
Losing to Utah, a Top 10 team, at Utah, in overtime is no frickin disgrace and I nor anyone else don’t have to be on a happy pills to realize that. Throw in the fact it was the debut of an untried, untested QB and a 3/5th’s new O-line and Utah hasn’t lost at home for 3 years.
And you have to be kidding about when Pitt is going to have better athletes than Miami. Why you ask, it’s been 6 years? Are you serious. You know the state of Florida, ever hear of the level of HS football there? 95% of FBS teams will never have Miami’s talent level. And they never have to even recruit farther out than 100-200 miles from Miami.
Here’s something else, people like you love to point out when Wanny makes a supposed coaching error and NEVER POINT OUT WHEN HE MAKES A GOOD COACHING DECISION. Two good ones yesterday were taking the FG’s late in the 3rd quarter when we were up 21-14, putting us up 27-14 and keeping the momentum in Pitt’s favor. As Hall of Fame NFL Coach, Chuck Noll, always said, ‘take the points’. But hey what does he know.
Maybe that term should be renamed Pitty Party.
The booing at Heinz Field was uncalled for and showed a lack of general football knowledge on the part of the locals.
If indeed these people are Pitt people, it’s a sad excuse for alumni or supposed fans. They must check to see which way the wind is blowing before exiting their house doors in the morning. True Pitt people do not jump on and off the bandwagon.
Let’s go Pitt !
LMAO!!!!
The boo birds at Heinz Field should just stay home, after watching the tape of the game, they embarrass the team, the University and the City of Pittsburgh.
If they want to boo, attend Pirate games, where ineptness is the norm and massive booing is needed.
It’s true that 3/5ths of the O line was basically brand new and untested this season — a serious challenge…but that’s all the more reason and proof to not rely so heavily on a run attack inspite of it. Its like spitting in a heavy wind and then saying the wind is why my face is wet. Yeah, of course, so do something different to compensate, einstein. Nobody faults Wanny for these challenges, its just his unremitting refusal to adjust when things don’t work out the way he’d hoped. Dominating run blocking is hard to achieve with 3 new young guys on the line (4, counting a new tight end), so give them a break and stop asking them to look like the ’73 Dolphins or ’76 Steelers. Pass protection is easier to get and opens up more draws and counter runs for the backs — instead of ‘pahr’ runs when you ain’t quite ‘pahr-ful’ yet. Look what a well designed pass game did for Dion this week — great job by O and D for the most part v Rutgers!
LMAO!!!
And when Villanova moves up to play us in the conference, we should never ever inflate them as real competition to our program. Never. Ever. Sorry. I struggle with the thought of legitimizing Louisville and Cincy too. The only team we should be proud to beat, that remains on this schedule, is WVU and our bowl team. Once again, IMHO.
I will never celebrate a win against Rutgers.
Puhlleassse!
Cost of doing business for being in the Big East, I know.
It’s done. Move on.
Virgil: Sorry to pick on you. I’ve agreed with many of your comments, and I’ve admired your loyalty to Wanny in the face of many critics. But this sudden bravado after Pitt winning games they were expected to win in a fashion that finally met most fans’ preseason expectations is a bit over the top for me, much in the same way as many were over the top in their criticism after the losses. Just one man’s opinion.
Finally, the definition of a “fan” is an enthusiastic follower of a sport or team. Nowhere in there does it say “with blind loyalty.” As hbgFrank said, “everyone gets frustrated with their team” – even Virgil – and fans tend to voice that frustration in different ways. It goes with the territory, and coaches and players pretty much understand that going in. There will always be the knuckleheads who continue to boo or criticize even in the face of a team’s or player’s success, but those people tend to get overwhelmed by the masses who simply ask their team to make them proud, win or lose, of being a fan.
However let me re-post this from a previous post of mine, on the Pitt/Syracuse Live blog, I believe.
Oh and congrats to Tino Sunseri. I’ve been extremely critical of the decision to play him over Bostick. Tino played great today, I applaud him. Tino’s QB rating was an astronomical number of
223.8. If he keeps improving, this team can still improve and be very good by the end of the season.
Congrats to Devin Street as well for his first career Pitt TD, that was an incredible run after catch
Comment by VirgilSollozzo 10.17.10 @ 12:52 am
So please if you’re going to slam me, at least get it right. Thanks, maybe you just missed this post. Hail to Pitt!
Like you said, you and I agree most of the time, and as one who has been in your corner, I’m just asking you to tone it down a bit. It’s only two games down with five more to go in BE play. A lot can happen, good and bad.
The true whiners and negative bandwagoners will just go into hiding and never respond to outright challenges. The “frustrated fans” – who are often as loyal to Pitt as you and I – will continue to post on their own, admit they were frustrated at that time, and move forward with caution. You’ve seen that here over the course of the past two weeks. There are always exceptions of course, and like I said earlier, those folks tend to get overwhelmed by the masses.
ND-Navy – what else can you say? Losing to ND now looks to be quite an embarassment. As I said before a few times, I had the pleasure of attending this game. Navy’s defense has zero 4 star recruits… yet, somehow, they were able to get into the back field much more than Pitt…ESSENTIAL TO STOPPING A KELLY SPREAD OFFENSE… and were better able to cover underneath routes.
Crist stats:
Navy game – 19/31 178 1 Td 2 INT
Pitt game – 24/39 242 1 Td 0 INT
This game is such an obvious indictment of Wanny’s lack of coaching intelligence. What is the difference between Navy and Pitt on defense?
Let’s look at the talent first:
Navy – link to pittsburgh.scout.com
Pitt – link to pittsburgh.scout.com
just a snapshot of recruiting classes… but you get the idea. Navy has Conference USA level talent… according to scout/rivals we have BCS game level talent.
Let’s instead look at the coaching… hard to quantify that Paul Johnson/Ken Niumatalolo have gotten exponentially more quality on field performance from their players than Wanny has… but thats another argument. Reference 2007 Navy victory at Pitt if you want a coaching comparison (2008/9 Pitt won as expected) Back to this game… its pretty simple. Whereas Pitt stayed in its usual defensive scheme and steadfastly refused to blitz, Navy added a dback and constantly blitzed. This is such an obvious adjustment when playing the spread, and Navy thoroughly crushed ND because it was made. Pitt lost to ND because of its coaching staff, pure and simple. (Tino’s play didnt help… but was enough for w) That is all you need to see as an intelligent football fan. A much less talented team beats a common opponent because it made the veyr obvious coaching adjustment that you chose not to make. How one can defend wanny’s planning or strategy after wathcing these two games is absurd to me. I honestly dont care if he wins out, we will always win in spite of him.
Pitt-Rutgers – Still have not watched game tape yet… but please folks. Relax! This is Rutgers! The team that lost to Tulane. The team that needed overtime to beat Army. I dont care if they win out and beat WVU… this team is below average at best and would get murdered by a real bcs quality team… as they did by our Panthers. The result of this game is in line with the talent spread here. I hope to watch it tonight and also hope to see that Tino has improved… from some reports I have read, however, Wanny showed up in true form in the first half. This would be the ideal result for me… wanny showing how clueless he is, with the team winning in spite of him. The lack of fan approval… both in attendance and emotion (booing) is all Stevey P and Nort need to see. This will help ensure his dismissal post season regardless of results (save a BCS win perhaps)
Dr. Tom- I owe no allegiance to the Big Least… and I will continue to support any movement by alumni/boosters to garner an invite to the Big 10/11/12. Pitt was an independent for much longer… and this football conference is an absolute joke. The performance against BCS opponents was nothing short of an epic disaster. Dr. Tom had to compare us to the Sun Belt because doing so against the Mountain West or WAC would not have a favorable outcome.
Rev George – You seem to have trouble finding the proper usage of the word “courage.” Reconnecting with some of my US Naval Academy classmates as I did this past weekend helps keep things in perspective (attended 2 years, transferred). Thus, I wouldnt label someone who posts to an online message board with questionable opinions the way you did… nor would I use ALL CAPS to stress just how much COURAGE it took to defend Wanny.
We need another laugher today.