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January 7, 2012

LiveBlog: BBVA Bowl, the Return

Filed under: Bowls,Football — Chas @ 11:44 am

Okay, truly this bowl feels like an exhibition. Make no mistake, I want Pitt to win. It’s always more fun to see Pitt play well — and lord knows we are starving for that sight. It is just that this game has interim coaches heading to other jobs after this game. Pitt players that will be getting to know a new coach — again. And us the fans. Looking to the future and hoping — dare I say, believing — that things will be brighter.

The seniors will be prepping for the next stage in their life. Whether it is going to the myriad of exhibition “senior” bowls where they hope to catch the eyes of NFL scouts. Moving on to graduation and future endeavors. Or to go see their brother play and father coach in the BCS Championship game.

Oh, hell, let’s enjoy this last game. Pop open a nice beer or a good Scotch or bourbon. Toast this team and the coaches finishing the job. Try to keep the stress off, and jokes coming as we mock Fraud Graham one more time.

Everyone knows the rules. It’s a moderated chat. Not every comment is going to be pushed through. Especially when they get repetitive. Over the top abuse won’t help — and may get you banned.

As always, if you need to break the chat from the site, Click Here.

Otherwise, the liveblog is below.





Just got home from the Pitt / SMU game — I left at half time and didn’t miss much as the game was over before the first quarter ended. Chryst maybe a good football coach but he’s not a miracle worker. He certainly will be busy in the winter and spring rejuvenating Pitt’s football team. I wish him luck with recruiting because Pitt needs help in all positions, especially at the quarterback position.

For all those Tino critic’s out there, blame goes all around for this loss. It truly was a team effort — or lack there of.

A disappointing ending to a disappointing season for Pitt. Here’s hoping Paul Chryst can perform some magic for Pitt in 2012.

Hail to Pitt!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.07.12 @ 5:12 pm

You know are DBs play so far off the wr that as old as i am i could catch a pass.
and the OL cant block and tino sucks
EMel we need to recruit more QBs this year so we dont end up like this agein. you will have one more year of tino that sucks and you know it is wannys fult.

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 5:14 pm

2012 season can’t come soon enough!
I have a feeling that Chryst will be playing several true freshman next year.

Tino can’t play//end of story.
O Line needs a major overhaul.
Wide receivers…mediocre.
Defense …line can’t play against the BIG boys.
Linebackers//secondary soft and slow
Kicking game nothing to write home about.
Special teams…we have special teams?

I hope and pray that Graham can return and contribute next year. Shell will be a huge plus.

Chryst is coming at the best possible time because another year of Fraud Graham probably would sink our entire program.

IT WILL GET BETTER!!!

Comment by isnore 01.07.12 @ 5:15 pm

Hopefully we never see those 1 yard passes to the sideline ever again.

Comment by MelbaPlace 01.07.12 @ 5:20 pm

Iknow they will fix the OL but they better hire a good DB coach becuse our DBs suck and they better hire a good wr coach becuse are WR need a lot of work .
if chryst wins more than 6 games next year he will be real lucky

i think he will need 2 years to strighten out this mess of a team half built for spread half built for pro set and no QB to do it with
i am sorry for him.

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 5:25 pm

I don’t know why I expected anything different, but I did. Maybe Tino would improve with Fraudie gone and Patterson dumbing down an already dumbed down O. But it was more of the same anguish. Switch Tino to safety or something. Chrsyt can perform no miracle with No. 12. He has had his shot.

Chryst can rebuild this bad O-line, but I do not see a starting QB on this roster. PC and Bostad have a monumental task ahead of them. For the sake of our collective sanity, they must bring one in or go with the frosh. Voytik overthrew some passes but looked very athletic and much quicker than Tino in that Army All Star game today. I for one would rather endure his growing pains in 2012 than see one more game with Tino at the helm. HTP. Hail to Pitt Football 2012.

Comment by Bossdaws 01.07.12 @ 5:27 pm

Went to play golf after quarter 1. I simply cannot watch Tino. Never, can I remember being so happy a season is over. Anyone know if we have a BE or ACC schedule next year?

My humble assesment is that the Pitt defense will be above average with the personal on hand and those coming in. I will not miss Gruder at all as he simply could not play in space.

The offense on the other hand is a catastrophe.
It’s a good thing that Tino will be QBing at Grove City (wishful thinking…please wish with me). No one can QB this team with THIS abortion of an offensive line. This is where Chryst needs to concentrate. If this isn’t fixed, nothing else will work.

Hail to Pitt…It’s all over…thank God!

Comment by Dan 72 01.07.12 @ 5:29 pm

Year 1 of a new regime….should be about…BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE.

Unless, unless….you inherit some team that has tons of talent, coming off a successful season.
Basically a ready made team. We are CLEARLY NOT THAT !

With that in mind, as well as BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE. There is no reason at all to play Sunseri next season. Our future rests with Chad Voytik not Sunseri. I would rather go 4-8, 5-7, 6-6 or whatever next year, than again have to begin all over again the following year. A possible 3rd trip to some piss ant bowl is not worth hearing these futile words again. ‘Tino gives us our best chance to win’

I think we can beat the New Hampshire’s and Maine’s and Uconn’s and Syracuse’s and whatever lame ass bigeast teams next season. We don’t need Sunseri to beat those middling teams.

PC needs to come in and really start a new era of PITT football. And than means a new QB to go along with that new era.

V e V
H T P !

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 5:29 pm

My elementary observation on today’s game and the 2011 season in general: Pitt played out of shape. For all the talk about high energy this and high energy that from TG, this Pitt football team was in poor shape. It was very apparent in today’s game against SMU where SMU was faster, stronger and better prepared for this game.

Hopefully, Paul will find a good strength coach and toughen up the Panther’s for the 2012 season.

Comment by MariettaMike 01.07.12 @ 5:31 pm

You can blame the o-line all you want BUT when the defense knows you can’t pass the ball down the field they can come with blood in their eyes on every down. The deepest man on the SMU defense lined up 7 yards from the line of scrimmage every play.
Tino makes his offensive line look bad because he his no threat to pass or run the ball just dinks it.

Comment by Spindler's Spirit 01.07.12 @ 5:32 pm

@Dan 72

We’re still in the BigEast for 2012, as far as I know. Which is probably good, since we’d probably compete with Duke for ACC doormat next year.

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 5:38 pm

Marietta, you’re wrong from what I hear. The players are in better shape than last year.

Today it was matter of ability, not effort.

Comment by steve 01.07.12 @ 5:46 pm

Let’s hope chryst can coach up myers. Hopefully that’s the last sat afternoon I suffer thru watching tino.

Comment by Scott 01.07.12 @ 5:52 pm

Comment by steve 01.07.12 @ 6:01 pm

@ steve, I disagree. Last Year’s team was in better shape. But that’s my opinion.

Comment by MariettaMike 01.07.12 @ 6:04 pm

@Spindler

You are exactly right. These teams have been playing 8 guys in the box. Since they know PITT can’t complete a pass longer than 10 yards. Oh they might give up a pass longer than that on a very infrequent occasion. But you can live with the occasional 15 yard completion, when you know that is not likely to happen very much. The rewards(incompletions & sacks & interceptions) far outweigh the risks.

That inability to stretch the field vertically, also allows the DB’s to play much tighter on the WR’s, since they’re not afraid of getting beat long. As you see with ALL of PITT’s game, as the game goes on in the 2nd half and the DB’s realize there is NO DEEP PASS threat, they play even tighter and even the short throws become hard to complete. As PITT’s lack of offense in the 4rth Quarter ALL year shows. (except for the Maine game where Anderson came in) This also accounted for people trying to blame the WR’s (mainly Shanahan & Street) for not being able to separate. They didn’t somehow forget how to play, it was the fact the DB’s weren’t concerned with getting beat long, so they were able to concentrate on staying on them like glue for medium and short passes.
Again as the games went on, in just about EVERY 2nd Half, it was even hard to complete short passes.

Today SMU was so unconcerned with PITT completing any long passes over the middle they brought both their Safety’s up closer to the box, the LB’s were unconcerned with the pass and they totally shut down PITT’s running game, which hadn’t happened all year.

So it all begins and ends with the QB. You have a crappy qb and it compounds any other problems you might have. Now, last year we did have a freak 1rst round NFL draft pick at WR, so that obscured Sunseri’s lack of accuracy and being able to complete a long pass to a certain extent. He would just throw it up for grabs on many occasions and Baldwin would outjump his defender or make some ridiculous one handed catch. Even with Baldwin, Dion Lewis, Pinkston and Hynoski, all playing in the NFL, they weren’t enough to overcome a crappy QB.

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 6:06 pm

Ok, so the season is done. Good riddance too.
For anyone still out there, the reality us that unless Pitt changes more than just coaching staffs, all that will change is the portion of the cycle it us in.
Pitt needs to demand excellence at every level of it’s athletic department. That means marketing, ticketing, fund raising and most importantly, establishing credibility in the entire department.
You do that by telling the truth….even when it hurts…especially when it hurts because when you do that you disarm your critics and Pitt has those in abundance.
We will know if this lessen has been learned as soon as we get the 1st glimpse from the marketing department. Some flashy or cute catch phrase and you get throw Groundhogs Day in the DVD player.

Comment by SFPitt 01.07.12 @ 6:17 pm

I saw a game where SMU completely dominated the line of scrimmage on both ide of the ball.

Note that when they had the ball on 3 different occasions when it was 1st and goal, they had no problem at running it down Pitt’s throat to score easy TDs. Conversely, when Pitt had twice 1st and goal, they gained one yard at the most running the ball.

I will guarantee you this will change next year.

Comment by wbb 01.07.12 @ 6:18 pm

“Also, his size will be a burden at Pittsburgh as he will have to find a way to set up his own passing lanes”

Voytik(6-1 or 6-2) is taller than Russell Wilson(5-11) of Wisconsin and Wilson had no problem finding passing lanes. None at all.

Writer is prolly just a PITT hater. 90% of QB’s are shorter than O-linemen and D-lineman, they ALL have to find passing lanes. Unless you’re like that 6-8 kid from Az State Brock Osweiler (sp). I don’t remember any 6’8″ NFL QB’s.

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 6:21 pm

off topic but I love it when the Godfather loses on his own court .. even when it’s to ND

Comment by wbb 01.07.12 @ 6:31 pm

@SFPitt:

“Pitt needs to demand excellence at every level of it’s athletic department”

Couldn’t agree more, and it starts at the top. If the backstory is to be believed, Pederson was overruled by skeptical and exasperated big donors who demanded Chryst over Cristobal.

An AD who cannot be trusted to hire the HEAD FOOTBALL COACH has lost all credibility. Logically, he must be removed.

Comment by BATR 01.07.12 @ 6:35 pm

EMel voytik is 6 foot even. what he said was voytik is unimpressive and missed simple reads and bad field vision.
what is my point it is this he will not be ready as a freshmen

so unless he can turn myers into something we are stuck with tino.
our he recuits someone we dont know abought who turns out to be really good we are screwed next year just like this year.

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 6:50 pm

I mean this as a joke but maybe not i think i know why TG left he found out voytik would not be ready to play next year.
which ment he would have to play tino and he said fuck no not him agein i am out of here.

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 7:09 pm

Dokish seemed impressed with Voytik today:

“On a bright note, I’m sure more than ever that Chad Voytik is going to be an excellent quarterback for Pitt. In the Army All-American Bowl today he showed great mobility and had a running, jumping touchdown run that was beautiful. As for his arm, the kid has a cannon and was throwing BBs out there all day. I liked everything about the kid before, but now with Chryst coaching him, I think they will combine to at least give Pitt an excellent QB/head coach combo and that’s a great start. So keep the faith, Pitt fans. Your long nightmare may finally be over.”

Comment by SilverPanther in NYC 01.07.12 @ 7:17 pm

Tino was bad, but #60 on the o line was god awful. Getting whipped play after play from an Estonian kid that knows football from playing video games. Hopefully some linemen from Wisconsin start coming here too.

Comment by John 01.07.12 @ 7:51 pm

20 best wr coachs in collegr football 2012

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 8:03 pm

@Frankcan

Voytik can grow a lot as a QB before next August. That is 8 months away. 8 months in a 17 yr’s old life is an eternity and PITT has never had a QB play in the Army-AllAmerican Bowl. (that game wasn’t around back in Marino’s day)

That time and PC’s ability with QB’s should be more than enough to give Voytik the opportunity to start next season.

As from my earlier post, a 1rst year of a new regime should be about the FUTURE.
Unless you have some team loaded with talent that’s only a few missing pieces from being a Top 15 team. We don’t have that. So next year should be a year planning for the future. You have Voytik & Shell coming in together. We’ve haven’t had two such highly rated players coming in the same class for quite a long time.

What we shouldn’t want (and you should be on board with this Frank) is another middling season and a possible (I said possible) trip to another 3rd tier piss ant bowl game. That does not accomplish anything. For the following season we are back a square one, having to break in a new QB.

And lord, let’s not have Voytik watching Sunseri play next year and quite possibly pick up and learn some bad habits of Tino’s.

No a new era in PITT football, MUST BEGIN WITH A NEW QB ! Or we are all going to be here next year posting our doubts about PC after another middling season next year.

On another note, Sunseri with 19 completions today, tied Dan Marino’s record for most completions in a season( a middling 6-7 season). Which just goes to show you, how meaningless some statistics are. And even though he stinks he will be in the Pitt record books with the great Dan the Man. NO MORE !!!

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 8:11 pm

Chad Voytik

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Ht:6’1″
Wt:183 lbsverified
40:4.59 secs
Bench Max:315
Bench Reps:12verified
Shuttle:4.28verified
Vertical:29 inches
GPA:4
ACT:23
Class:2012 (High School

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 8:18 pm

Chad Voytik reminds us of…
Drew Brees – QB Austin, TX Ht: 6’0″Wt: 209 lbs Team: New Orleans Saints

Rivals

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 8:19 pm

Chad Voytik (Scout rankings)

6-0 Wt: 185
Position: QB
Year: Class of 2012
High School: Cleveland HS
(Cleveland, TN)

2012 Scout.com HS Football Rankings (full list):
Pos: QB Pos Rank: #17 Pos Rating:

Scout.com Player Evaluation:
STRENGTHS
Accuracy / Consistency
Intelligence
Running Ability / Mobility

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
Field Vision
Size

Voytik is a true game-manager who can throw and run. He gets rid of the ball quickly, he throws with very good accuracy, and he spins the ball well. He is a true consistent passer. He is barely six feet tall, so he seeing over the offensive line could be an issue. He can throw on the move and him rolling outside the pocket may give him better passing lanes. He brings good mobility, good pocket awareness, and smarts. – Chad Simmons

Comment by Emel 01.07.12 @ 8:24 pm

The average for NFL QBs is 6’3″ to 6’5″, the average for college has to be a bit shorter. Voytik has fine height for the college level.

Comment by deepelemblues 01.07.12 @ 8:27 pm

Time to start a new era of Pitt Football. I still think we have some players, now we have some coaches. Get recruiting some more. Let’s go Pitt!

Comment by gc 01.07.12 @ 8:53 pm

EMel hope you are right you know i dont like tino
was just saying he might not be ready till his second year. hope i am wrong
just throwing a name agenest the wall karl dunbar was just fired bye the vikings he was there DL COACH and coached there same time as are new coach HUEBER

Comment by FRANKCAN 01.07.12 @ 8:55 pm

I feel really bad for this team and especially the seniors. what they have been put through as a team and individuals is pathetic. Shame on all for the debacle.

I also hope this is THE END of the Tiny Tino experiment – I know he is a kid, but he is just simply GOD AWFUL.

Looking forward to Chryst – will be a loooooong off season.

HTP

Comment by Pitt Is IT 01.07.12 @ 9:57 pm

A little late to comment on one great finish to the season. OK, to be candid, I turned the channel after Pitt’s first offensive possession. Play one, Tine throws an inaccurate ball to the ankle of WR, incomplete. Play two, Tino has a misread and goes down. Play three on third and 10, he throws a pass 5 yards to a man that is double teamed. Incomplete. Even if complete, no chance at a first down. Turn channel, Tino makes me ill.

Twenty minutes pass, turn game back on. What a mess. Was anyone watching Gaskins getting abused by a very good defensive linemen all game? Did the coaches notice and give him any assistance or at least provide a “chip” for assistance? NO!

Tino should not have played the second half at all. Did anyone notice all the bad run reads he made today. They were glaring each time he didn’t use the right key. Embarassing. There are some commenting about Myers poor performance but that is just not fair. There were three minutes left in the game and SMU was coming full tilt and we couldn’t pass block.If Patterson could have done something positive for Pitt, he would have prepared Myers by giving him half the snaps in practice and telling him the second half was all his. The Coach did not do the incoming coach any favors there except showcase Tino’s lack of skills (passing,leadership and reading a defense).

I remain hopeful that JJDenman will matriculate to Pitt and perhaps we can bring one other Wisconsin commit to Oakland. I am in the minority here as well, but I am not sure the current freshman tailbacks can get it done and for that reason I think it is key for Shell and possibly Drew Harris to get here asap.

QB next year should be open between Myers, Gonzalez and Voytik. Best man wins so prepare hard fellas. Sunseri is a known commodity and should not be invited to participate. He has failed miserably in the pro offensive style, the low octane style, leadership and mental ability.

Note to Reed and Chas – Can you put spellcheck and grammar check on here so DRW stops looking for a pitty party. “you hurt me with your words”.

Comment by dhuffdaddy 01.07.12 @ 10:35 pm

Sorry I let yinz dahn. Roll tide.

Comment by tino sunseri 01.07.12 @ 10:59 pm

dvr’d the game today and watched late, it was a perfect summary of the season. I just laughed through most of it watching Tino suck it up. Myers 2 throws looked even worse and he was just laughing the entire time like he didn’t care. Just think, we all thought Tino was bad BEFORE this season, who would have thought he would get worse. Voytik with a 315 lb bench max, that is strong for a 183 lb high school kid. I agree with above that there is no real point to have Tino start even if he is the best unless they are undefeated (yeah right!); let Voytik get a year of experience playing, it can only help. Big East sucks so Pitt will still be in it until the last 3 games anyways at .500 no matter who starts.

Comment by Howard 01.07.12 @ 11:26 pm

I wasn’t mad about the game at all.

I was just glad that the game, just like this season, is over.

Comment by Jimbo Covert's My Dad 01.08.12 @ 2:53 am

@ Pitt Is It
For the 1000th time quit referring to Tino as a kid, he is 23 yrs old ! He will be 24 before next season is over . AS Chuck Noll would say it’s time Tino went on to his life’s work (which is not playing QB anywhere).

Comment by Spindler's Spirit 01.08.12 @ 5:26 am

Now that Pitt’s 2011 football season is over, on with planning for 2012. If anything, the 2011 season made Pitt fans realize that DW and TG did not do a very good job in teaching football fundamentals to their teams. Let’s hope Paul Chryst mitigates these flaws and also toughens Pitt up for the up coming season in the Big East which maybe their last before entering the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Pitt has talented football player’s, it just needs good coaching which was missing through out the 2011 season, especially in yesterday’s bowl game. Given the résumé’s of the in coming coaching staff, we Pitt fans should expect a much improved Pitt football team. I said something like this when TG’s staff came on board but I had serious reservations about his “high octane” spiel.

Like most Pitt Blather’s, I’d like to see some stability in Pitt’s football program. Good teams start with good coaching. Let’s hope that Pitt’s administrator’s made the right choice.

It never happened before, I think, that both Pitt and Penn State will be staring their 2012 season’s with new head coaches. It will be interesting to see which head coach makes the biggest positive impact on their respective teams.

The 2012 college football season will be interesting, especially for Pitt and Penn State. Let’s hope Pitt reaps the most benefits from past mistakes – especially in hiring football coaches.

HTP!

Comment by MariettaMike 01.08.12 @ 7:21 am

Marietta Mike, I would prefer a less “interesting” season where more happens in the practice sessions and on the field rather in the news. After watching the game yesterday afternoon, there appears to be a lot to do for Chryst and his new staff. I am optomistic that they can get the job done, but I am not a Polyanna who thinks the Panthers are in for a big season right away. We’re probably looking at a few years to get things rolling. Thank God, that we are done with the Todd Graham era. His bolting for ASU may have been a blessing in disguise. I think we have the right guy in place now. Hopefully we can give him the resources and support that he needs to get the Pitt football program back on track.

Comment by Justinian 01.08.12 @ 7:50 am

Chris dokish said that there may be a few qb candidates for transfer next year. one is marylands danny obrian who, if he transfers would have 2 years of eligibilty and one, ironically is asu’s Brock osweiler. obrien won acc rookie of the year last year

Comment by pk 01.08.12 @ 8:24 am

Justinian, Given Pitt’s performance on game day, it will be interesting to measure their improvement and I’m hoping it’s not a four or five year gig. Most good football players leave after two or three seasons. Given Pitt’s current returning players, I don’t see any one leaving early for the NFL. Having said that, with quality coaching, we should expect to see an improved Pitt team. Stupid penalties hurt Pitt’s momentum through out the season. Good discipline begets good performance, something that has been lacking in Pitt’s last several seasons.

Comment by MariettaMike 01.08.12 @ 8:46 am

I am NOT defending the guy, but after watching the game it became clear to me that one of the reasons TG left in a hurry was because he realized there was NO WAY this team was going to win in the short term, and he never had any intentions of being here for more than a few years. This team has a LOT of work to do across the board; they were over-matched at every position yesterday against a mediocre SMU team. Pitt didn’t have the size, speed, or aptitude to complete with them. I hope Chryst and company are patient men, because this whole thing needs rebooted at its most basic levels.

A note on Tino Sunseri: he’s the worst QB I’ve ever seen play at this level. I literally can’t think of anyone worse. He doesn’t have any of the tools you need to compete at this level. It’s all been noted here before:

– No arm strength
– No size
– Poor mobility
– Poor footwork
– Poor accuracy
– Poor mental acumen for the game/position
– Poor leadership skills

I don’t care how much heart he has, or how hard he works in practice. At this point its sheer futility to put that guy on the field with anything other than a clipboard and a ball cap. The question I can’t seem to come up with an answer to is this: who on the coaching staff over the last few years couldn’t figure this out? It scares me to think that our cupboard is THAT bare that a guy like Tino who has been totally exposed can still win the starting job. It just doesn’t add up, and you have to look past TG back to DRW when you think about it. What the HELL was that kid doing here in the first place??? Is it THAT hard to get a decent QB to come to Pitt these days?

I think I know why TG played him and didn’t look to the future; it was all about TG. When he said it gave “us” the best chance to win now, what he really meant was that it gave “him” the best chance to win now, because he knew he was a short timer from day one. He didn’t care about building for the future because there wasn’t going to be one for him. But how on earth did DRW and his staff get it so wrong? Aren’t these guys paid to assess talent at some level? Haven’t they done this before? It just doesn’t add up. The overall talent level of the team is so thin, that either they were pretty much all bad when they got here, or they got bad/weren’t coached during their stay.

It just all seems very bizarre to me. Like the whole program was 180 degrees out of phase. It’s way beyond “bad luck” or some “Pitt curse”; the who thing has been mismanaged to the point of sheer and utter incompetency. My greatest fear is the Chryst and Co. get here and perhaps discover what TG found; the entire system is so dysfunctional that there’s no way to be successful. I REALLY hope thats not the case – I want the new staff to succeed in a big way. I’d feel better if Stevie P. was fired – that would at least show me that administration was serious about improving the team and not just rebranding it.

Regardless, i wish the incoming crew nothing but the best of luck. I think we are fortunate to have them and they’re going to need every bit of it. I’m not expecting miracles but we’ve got to see some improvement, and I’m not just talking about wins/losses.

Hail to Pitt!

Comment by thestumper 01.08.12 @ 9:12 am

@ thestumper:

Well said! I can handle losing when there is effort and the better team wins. But too many times Pitt ends up losing to a team because of poor execution or discipline on their part — something good coaching should correct.

Pitt’s opponents are no more talented then they are with some exceptions in certain positions. What separates good teams from bad teams is discipline and preparedness.

Having watched the WV vs. Clemson game I was surprised how easily WV handled Clemson. Obviously, WV was prepared to play and Clemson was reading their press clippings and thought that showing up was good enough to win. Wrong.

Let’s hope the 2012 edition of Pitt football will leave us Pitt fans with a good taste in our mouth’s even in defeat.

Comment by MariettaMIke 01.08.12 @ 9:51 am

Spindler – agree completely. Seems everytime i say something, someone always says “hes just a kid”.

Comment by Pitt Is IT 01.08.12 @ 10:04 am

I forgot to comment on that in my rambling post. At 23 I had two car payments, rent and utility payments, and a career that had me traveling around the country. At 24 I was engaged to be married. Pretty much 100% responsible for my own actions from the day I walked off of Pitts campus. No one considered me a kid or coddled me in any way, and I would have been insulted if they had.

Comment by thestumper 01.08.12 @ 10:31 am

Can anyone help me with a technical concern. I DVRed the Compass bowl yesterday, but when I went to watch it this morning the DVR gave the error message “recording blocked due to obscene content, program inappropriate for viewing”. Any help?

Comment by Dr. Tom 01.08.12 @ 11:15 am

My expectations for 2012.
1. Chryst will play within the level of talent
2. Pitt will rely on defense
3. Pitt offense will be 70% run
4. ND is in Oct, Vtech is 3rd game….we lose to VTech, we beat ND
5. The offense will resemble Wanny’s…makes sense since these are guys he recruited.
6. Myers will either quit aftyer spring or start…but there will be no in betweens.
7. Our o-line will be better but not deep.
8. Our wide outs will blocj like wiscy’s
9. We will be better in Nov. than in September
10. Tino will play, but not often
11. Shell will be redshirted

Comment by SFPitt 01.08.12 @ 11:57 am

Dr. Tom,

Good one!

Comment by 66Goat 01.08.12 @ 12:25 pm

Thanks for the nod Goat, I thought I’d get a bigger response to that one. We sure stunk the place out yesterday, didn’t we. Brushed my teeth twice this morning already and still have a rancid taste in there from watching that train wreck.

Comment by Dr. Tom 01.08.12 @ 12:57 pm

Stumper – while I agree with your thought that Graham took of because he saw the handwriting on the wall with Sunseri I’m still not convinced that, had he stayed for 4 years, Graham wouldn’t have been successful at PITT.

He was recruiting very well and getting the kids he wanted for his offense.

That said, I’m glad we aren’t going to find out about that. I’m more than happy so far with our new HC and his staff he’s put together.

The whole Sunseri saga started because DW anointed him the QB without any sort of competition at all. Say what you will about Pat Bostick’s physical attributes, there is no doubt in my mind that 1) the team would have played thier asses off for him and 2) he would have been a much better leader and cerebral QB than Sunseri. He absolutely wouldn’t have been panicking and holding the ball for ages. Bostick knew where his receivers were at all times and pulled a quick trigger.

With the exception of the run component Bostick would have been perfect for Graham’s ‘one, two, go” passing offense. Plus he could throw a deep ball way better than Sunseri.

Sometimes it isn’t always about athletic ability at QB… just ask Bernie Kosar. But DW made his choice without any consideration to anyone else and we’ve been forced to live with that.

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