I definitely feel like all that they are saying about there being “no controversy” and “no short leash” is to try to keep sunseri’s confidence up. I think we can all see the controversy brewing since you cant read an article on pitt football without hearing about it and coaches graham and dodge can’t have an interview without having to talk mostly about it. I guess you can never expect a coach to just throw his QB under the bus since this is college football and telling people that his starter might lose his job would kill the kids confidence (although I see no reason for him to have any). Let’s just hope Graham is more open-minded than Wanny on the situation if need be…

Since Anderson is a Dodge recruit (so to speak), he would have no reservation in pulling Tino but of course it is Graham’s decision .. I assume. (Funny how I forgot who the offensive coordinator is!)

Anyway, and I will continue to say this, I see no reason why Graham wouldn’t play the QB who he thinks gives Pitt for best chance for success.

Sunseri wasn’t much better at the end of the season in Wanny’s system and won’t get much better in TGs system. Give someone else a shot.

Coach Graham could in no way start a walk on quarterback without there first being an outcry to do so from the fans. Regardless of whether he wants to put in Trey (I suspect he does), Graham knows that the general consensus must be that Tino is not getting it done. That is now the consensus. People have seen enough to know Tino is not the guy. Graham is now beginning to work in Trey on some packages to get him ready. At this point, I think Graham is not going to be surprised if Tino shows little to no improvement. He’ll be ready, and Trey will be ready once Tino makes a few bad plays. Graham doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to stick with a player if he’s not playing well. Tino is on a very short leash at this point. He can make that leash a lot longer by a good performance tomorrow but don’t expect that to happen. Trey probably won’t see much playing time against Iowa until possibly later in the game. But Notre Dame will be a different story.

Anybody have Brian’s email at Pitt Script blog? Someone needs to tell him that his site bombs when people are going to it. Some kind of script error in Internet Explorer. I like this site, but I think Pitt Script has a lot of good stuff too.

I agree with Jon. Like I said before, that leash is about 1 quarter right now. If Tino shows up poorly in Q1, Anderson will be in there in Q2. Graham is a High Octane guy and it won’t take long for him to combust.

I hope Tino does well. He put in the work, seems like a good kid and a competitor. Just don’t know if he has the tools, the mindset or enough quick decision-making experience to get it done in Graham’s offense.

Like others have said, I want the guy who gives Pitt the best chance to win in there. Don’t really care what his number is or what the name on the back of his jersey says. That goes for every position.

Hail to PITT!

JCE,

Thanks for letting me know. What browser are you using? Could you email me at pittscriptblog@gmail.com?

Thanks for the kind words as well.

I used to live in Albany, NY. Three years ago one of my friends up there called me about how lucky we(Pitt) were to have recruited and signed a kid who played for Albany Academy named Dion Lewis. I had heard very little about this player at that point but my friend e-mailed me a YouTube link of this kid’s game highlights to look at.

After I watched that video, I remember mentioning to my son that I hadn’t seen a HS running back like that since Dorsett, who by the way went to my HS and was two years behind me. I was surprised to learn that Lewis was so lightly recruited and found out that his small size was considered a deficit by many of the major football schools so he was kind of under the radar. I told my son, “you just watch this kid, he is going to light it up”!

Well, we all know the rest of that story now, don’t we? Onto our next lucky find, diamond in the rough, under sized and under recruited player. I find it hard to comprehend how anybody who understands college football could look at Trey Anderson’s highlight video and Not recognize the natural talent that this kid exhibits and the confidence level that he operates. The concept of Trey taking this no huddle system of Todd Graham’s and operating it to it’s full potential appears obvious to me.

The only spin that I can put on why the coaching staff is still sticking with Sunseri at this point is that he was on board way before Anderson showed up and they just want to give him the best shot possible to perform well if for no other reason than to validate their coaching investment in him before they say NEXT. A secondary reason might be that he has put in the time and effort and has earned the trust of his team mates becoming one of the team leaders.

That being said, I find nothing demeaning about such a player providing a secure back-up roll at such a critical position as QB IF another underclassman player with more natural talent is available.

If I were Todd Graham I would be pinching myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming with such a QB recruit coming on board just when such a dramatic 1st year coaching transition was taking place. IMO, the sooner this kid gets meaningful game reps the sooner Graham’s no huddle offensive system starts looking like the “High Octane” offensive he’s advertised. Tomorrow’s game may serve as Anderson’s coming out party, time will tell. I sure hope so, because all that I know is, I haven’t been this excited about a new Pitt QB since a guy named Marino came on board. Of course, a totally different guy and situation but no less of a potential to take Pitt football to the next level just like we used to enjoy during that era. Mark my words, same as I said about Dion Lewis, for God’s sake, get this kid on the field because he is going to LIGHT IT UP!!

This is a great topic of conversation and I don’t really think it’s just ‘always wanting the back-up QB’. One thing to note is that we all know that Iowa is the litmus test for Sunseri.

The quote Chas inserted tells the story line here; to repeat:

“Added Anderson: “I’ve been doing that since eighth grade. The up-tempo, the spread offense, a lot of the zone-read type deals — we did all of that in high school.”

That is the separator at this point between the two guys. Graham (and fans) have to balance Sunseri’s college gameday experience against Anderson’s five years (8-12th grade) experience in this same offense.

We all saw the difference between Sunseri’s tentative play and how Anderson took control of the offense as soon as he hit the fielde. The other offensive players aren’t stupid, they know the difference between hesitation and confidence. Anderson has confidence in spades.

It really doesn’t matter what any of us think should of or could of been done. We are not the coaches we just have to live with who they are. We do have a choice if we don’t like what we see….TURN off the game, quit going to the games, get a life to fill up your Saturdays and if you really can’t stand it don’t be a Pitt fan. I will never agree 100% with every decision a coach no matter who they are. Frankly all the nah saying is just flat out unproductive. But i do defend your right to say just not sure I get why you need to say it. I am Pitt fan and have been for over 50 years and no matter who is coaching or playing I always will be. If in a few years I may be the first one to complain if we are not winning but until then i will give TG a chance and will live with it and all of us should as well.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!!!!

Bryan, there have been many complaints about Pitt Scipt from others about on this site over the past few days. I got two messages back on Sunday to shutdown then I tried it again on Monday from my work computer and got the same message. There is n prblem getting to your site but after that, it’s trouble

giveitarest, Give it a rest! (Almost) all of us are ardent Pitt fans on this site and, as such, we air our beefs to each other .. but very few, if any, will give up on the team or coach. And I would have to believe that there are similar sites for every other D1 team … that’s just what fans do no matter how successful or unsuccesful teams are.

Note that there is a blog on the Post-Gazette for the Pirates and for the Steelers, and there are just as high a percentage of complaints for one team as the other.

@giveitarest, please explain how to “don’t be a Pitt fan”. This addiction seems to be one that I can’t seem to kick. Unlike Charlie Sheen, I can’t just cure myself with my mind, using my brain. Myself, I’m filled with PANTHER BLOOD, and I always seem to bleed BLUE & GOLD after Pitt losses. I would appreciate any help that you could offer otherwise my fall Saturdays will apparently continue to be occupied by following my Pitt Panther addiction to the bitter end. What a pathetic life I lead.

It does matter giveitarest.

Most of the people on this blog, are alumni and are contributors to Pitt athletics. The kids(players) & coaches come & go, WE ARE IN FOR THE LONG HAUL.

Hail to Pitt!

Our offense will take off like a rocket if we can find a QB who can play within TG’s system….simple answer….more balance means that our PREMIER running game will have more openings to move the ball. With Tino dillydallying around it limits Graham’s running
opportunities.
One more bad quarter of Tino missing receivers and getting sacked because he has no idea as to where to throw a pass and it is time to pull the plug.

When there is no one posting on this blog and when no one cares, you can then say PITT football is dead. Which by the way it has come close to being.
So please give it a rest yourself !

Glad to hear we are all in for the long haul. I know you can’t “not be a Pitt fan” that was just me making a point as we will always be Pitt fans. While I will vent my frustrations with Tino and others i get frustrated when some complain so much and to such a degree that I swear the world in coming to an end. Just trying to interject some realism I guess. If we don’t go 12 -0 and beat everyone by 40 points it just seems that some or many who post here will not be satisfied. Personally somewhere between 8-4 and 12 -0 with a bowl appearance is a good year give the number of changes. Just seeing the glass half full not half empty.
Go PITT

@isnore
Agree with all of that. This offense is running at like half speed maybe less. The 2nd Quarter could begin a new Dawn in Pitt football. TG is very lucky to have a kid the caliber of Anderson on the roster, being that he is the perfect QB for this triple option spread offense. How he got to Pitt and is in this position is very fascinating.

It’s already been a Long Haul since 1982 brother !

Can we still blame King Wes Posvar and his Jester Ed Bozik for most of this since 1982? Not sure we would have what we do now if the jester didn’t always want to take his ball and go home when people disagreed with him.

Don’t forget Dennis O’Connor and Oval Jaynes.

In case you forgot about the Big O.

link to www2.morganton.com

I worked in lived in Morgantown in the late 80s and the 1st half of the 90s. The Hoopies really got a hoot out of Oval Jaynes .. they made about as much fun of him as we do with their affection for cousins and sheep

giveitarest – if you think we are cynical on here please do yourself a favor and never go on the Scouts.com or Rivals.com message boards.

Your head will explode. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I do remember Dennis and Ovaltine and not fondly. Reed thanks for the warning as I have not gone to Scouts or Rivals. I prefer the info and banter here and like the others like to get peoples dander up all in good fun.

I was impressed with Trey Anderson when he came in game last weekend. He makes quick reads and he looked very good running the offence. He is obviously more comfortable with the offence than Tino Sunseri is. One of the biggest issues that I had with Wannasadt was that he wouldn’t make the change at quarterback, when it obvious to everyone that a change had to made. You can’t worry about someone’s feelings when there is still a possibility of winning.

I hope Tino throws for over 300 yds and 4 TD’s and leads Pitt to a big win. I also hope for World peace and that Republicans and Democrats will actually work together in solving America’s problems.

@melvinbennett, and they say there is no such thing as a optimistic Pitt Fan, where’s giveita rest? BTW, giveitarest, after reading your first post I went looking for my dander and there it was, right above me.

Hey Dr Tom glad you found it, my dander has been in the same spot back since the Dave Hart days. Even if i am the one trying to get everyone’s dander up as do many others here. I hope @melvinbennett is right on for what could actually happen since we know the the GOP and Dem thing has no chance.

Thanks, WBB. I’m going to email the Bloguin people tonight. I don’t have any problems loading it, but I’ll be sure to look in to it.

If we are going to be discussing our two QBs, and we are, we need to look closely at Sunseri’s rookie year as a starter. People tend to look at his stats and say “He did well for a first year starter.” But they don’t look at what actually transpired…

Here is Sunseri’s stats for the whole 13 games of 2010:

223/346 for 2572 yards (194 ypg); 64.5% completion rate and 15 TD vs 9 INTs. Sounds good on the face of it, right?

However, if you take away the two games that he blew up in against the worst pass defenses in the BE, SYR and RU, he is left with these over the other 11 games:

185/295 for 1984 yards (180 ypg); 62% completion rate and 8 TDs vs 8 INTs.

Point being that for the vast majority of games (11) he had .72 TDs per game and 180 ypg. If I could figure out the QB rating for those 11 games I would, but I’m sure it would have been a lot less than his 137.0 season rating.

This is why PITT fans who follow our team closely realized that we had to see a substantial jump in production from him on a game by game basis for us to succeed in this new offense… and that hasn’t happened. So far, he has 1 TD vs 2 INTs with a 111 QB rating – no so great and it is scary to think we could go forward with a QB who hasn’t progressed.

We’ll know more after Saturday but this trend can’t continue.

For the love of God Reed, and I thought I got a headache from talkin conference realignment. Your number crunching has given me a frickin migraine.

Thanks for the stats in any case. Conclusion? Tino is Toast! Trey may be the way. What can I say? Hopefully, Graham will save the day, and by that I mean Ray…….again!

What, what, look just happened, Ain’t I sounding like M & M rappin????

Sorry, just got done watching 8 Mile and couldn’t resist the temptation.

Dr. Tom: You rap like Eminem. You eat M&Ms. 🙂

So you went to Hopewell? I went to that little high school down the river that doesn’t exist anymore. Sucked up in a merger with Center and now has no identity at all. Funny, but I will be up there later this month for a 40 year reunion for a non-existent high school.

Never got to play football against TD because of the school class differential, but I did play hoops against him, both in HS and at Pitt intramurals. He was a pretty good baller too.

@TampaT, would that be Monaca(sp?)HS? BTW, M&M less key strokes. 🙂

Yep, the once mighty Monaca Indians. They’re even featured in the Heinz History Center Sports Museum for the rivalry “Bridge Game” with Rochester, which will never happen again.

I get it on the M&M. I was actually going to ask you whether you were talking about Plain or Peanut. Plain is the more mainstream rapper, while Peanut is a gangsta. LOL

As good as Anderson looked, we were up two touchdowns, at home with good field position, against Maine. While I never have been in love with Sunseri ( I though Bostick should have got a real in game chance) Sunseri has to start today and is our best hope for a win. I also think Anderson needs to get a couple of series with good field position to see how he does.

GC, I agree with you that Bostic got a raw deal. When he finally did a chance to come in, it was at the end of games, where had to throw on every down. I thought he also made quicker reads than Tino. You don’t have to a Pro prospect to a good college quarterback. It’s more about managing your on field opportunities and making good decisions.