Time to hit the road, but I’ll put this out before leaving.
The convergence of the start of school for the kids and the start of football season has been brutal. Just trying to get everything cleared away so I can get to Pittsburgh and enjoy the game and a night out. That’s my excuse for the dearth of posting leading up to the start of a new season and a (hopefully) new era under Paul Chryst.
We’ll see if Ray Graham gets any playing time. How the offensive line looks in pass protection. What Tino Sunseri can do (and how long it takes for someone to start booing him). Are the receivers going to be better when they run actual routes? And try to get a feel for what kind of head coach Paul Chryst will be on gameday.
Gametime is at 6pm. It is on ESPN3 (online) only.
How can the Students care about a football team when players are partying the night before? The PLAYERS don’t give a shit about the team, and neither do the fans because the program sucks.
It’s sucked for years. Nordenberg and Pederson have destroyed any hope for Pitt to be a future strong football school. It’s over until they’re gone.
I am a more recent grad, so I am defensive on this one, and I wasn’t there for the glory days, but I can definitely say the student sections were the only sections that were packed and making any semblance of noise Saturday night.
I thought the spread would be 10.
Fans don’t cheer for their team getting crushed. God, some people on here are simply misguided. Yea, keep cheering when you’re getting steamrolled by YSU. Keep cheering when your program is in shambles.
Come on, get real. Pitt Football sucks and doesn’t deserve to be cheered for.
“I have resigned as head coach at Pitt, and accepted the head coaching position at Texas A&M university.” J. Sherrill circa late ’81
“this has to be, YSU is a div 1-aa team (ya, I’m tired of all the fbs crap, I’ll call it what I want to),
“no, Bowling Green was a momentum killer”
“Ohio, are you friggin kidding me, Ohio”
“Holy Toledo, I can’t believe this”
“oh, you have to throw in those 76-0 and 63-17 drubbings from JM II”
LMAO!!!!!!
What a sad state of affairs, discussing (again, INCLUDING MYSELF) which loss was worse!!!!!!!!
Wow, I’ve not given up yet, bet if you looked up the word buzzkill, this would be it.
After waiting all summer. I have to ask, what have you been doing???
Don’t want to hear about talent, or changing this or changing that, this was pathetic, from the word “go”.
It’s football, not rocket science. Absolutely no push from either line, no fire from anyone, no one getting pissed off.
This just may be the year I end this love affair. I always say a coach gets a couple of years, but, wow, I am thoroughly disgusted.
Growing pains, ya, I understand that.
Getting embarrassed, literally beat up, AT HOME, against Youngstown State.
There is nothin’ you can sell me on this one.
Don’t try to sell it, cause I ain’t buyin’ it!!
I mean, if someone didn’t watch the game, and just saw the score come across the crawler, they’d think, “oh, what an upset”.
Any of us that were there, or those that watched on the computer know quite differently.
We got are effin’ asses kicked up and down the field.
I see more emotion from the gallon of milk in my fridge.
This killed all of the glee of the PSU problems and them losing to Ohio.
Killed the excitement of trying to win the BE championship going out the door.
And it killed any excitement of going to the ACC.
Sad, disgusted and I have no more answers on coaching, offenses, defenses, I got nothin’ left.
It’s almost just about time to say “UNCLE”.
Call me disloyal, I could give a rat’s ass.
That’s friggin’ fine. If our goal is to be an Ivy League school, or Duke, Stanford or Vanderbilt, that’s teriffic.
If that’s the case, then let the fans know. Don’t come out about winning, “we’re here to win”, switch conferences to the ACC to go after championships.
Just call it what it is. Seriously, just come out and let the fans know, football is way down the list on our agenda.
The chancellor, the trustees, the athletic department, just come out and say it!!
We’re big boys, if we aren’t here to try to field a great football team, then just effin’ say so!!
That way, we can all make our decisions, should we get excited about Pitt, or, our we in with CMU, Case Western and the Univ. of Chicago.
That’s fine, then it’s up to us as to what to do with our money, time and heart!!
1. Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat, and
2. Give me an occaisional upset.
Oh, one more thing. Look like you’re trying to win.
Anyway, my friend, who is an ex high school football coach found two things striking (1 – how can a senior qb be that bad?, 2 why is the student section empty after the 3rd quarter?).
I never had really paid much attention to anything other than the empty end zone before and attributed it to the fact that Pitt has been typically losing at that point in games and so they left.
So as were are leaving Heinz AFTER the fireworks, I mistakenly took the wrong escalator and left via the wrong gate and had to circle back around the stadium to get to Green 22. The line of students still waiting to get on buses to go back to Oakland was still almost up to the casino!
I know when I was at Pitt, it didn’t take me that long after a game to try and get the first seat at the Wooden Keg. These kids don’t want to wait in a 2 hour line to start partying of pitching woo and I, frankly, don’t blame them.
This AD is amazing. He can’t even design public transportation on a Saturday for crying out loud. I know we will never have Pitt Stadium back but after what I saw Saturday, it put a whole new perspective on why these kids leave early. And fireworks won’t keep a 19 year old in the stands, Steve.
Seems like a lot to fix in five days.
he didn’t do anything that badly… no interceptions… no fumbles… no running out of bounds 10 yds back… etc Completion rate was ok.
The ground and pound game may work in Wisky… but not at Pitt when you don’t have an Oline… the short passing was working… why not more of it??
Shanny should lineup at Tight End on some plays.
Don’t be surprised if this team completely loses its psych after three games……
Nice thing about this game is that the Panthers now have hit bottom right off the bat. ANY win this season from this point forward has to be viewed as a step in the right direction.
And to think that most of us were worried about how Sunseri would play. LOL, he is the least of our problems. DEFENSE! Lets get some?
Forget about next year in the ACC, let’s start now to build momentum for next year with players who want to play football at Pitt.
It’s time for a change…
HTP!
@Wally. Initially, I was on the students case the past few years, but, after talking to a few of them, just what you said. If they don’t leave early, they wait in line for several hours. Thought they may be making it out to be a bigger deal than it is, but you confirming it lets me believe what they said.
Remember that age too, sure some are sports fans, but a lot go to the game for the fun, and the booze and chicks afterwards. That was always part of the fun.
If you’re on campus, you can stumble out of the stadium at the end right into the bars of choice. Have to get in a line, for a ride, to get on a bus, to take you back to school???
I know there is no room on campus, not bringing that argument up. I hate this phrase “it is what it is”, but that’s it. You’re miles from campus and have to bus there, ya, I’m probably leaving early, if I even go at all. If the games on tv, definitely would have found me at the Keg, Zelda’s or Calicos watching the game, getting primed for the evening.
Just very disappointed. I didn’t expect him to “coach up” this group to beat Va Tech or ND or even Louisville (who looked pretty good yesterday when they had their starting qb in), but……..
getting hammered by YSU, and the lack of any inspiration at all, has me pretty deflated on the whole season.
Especially the lack of inspiration for the opening game. These guys should have been coming out like they were shot out of cannons.
As for talent, I wasn’t at camp, and frankly I don’t care. These are Div 1 players, even if the cupboard is somewhat bare, to come out with that steaming pile of crap of a game was inexcusable, no matter the talent level.
Maybe you start out 2-5, 3-6, then I could listen to someone tell me “hey, I told you we didn’t have much”.
Opening day against that team, to soil the field like they did. NO EXCUSES!! Absolutely horrible!
Pederson is cheap and always has been. We could have kept the OL coach if Pederson would have paid. Return on Investment occurs when you invest. Pederson doesn’t do that. He is cheap. When will people see that he hurt pitt his first time here, nearly killed Nebraska and is now killing pitt again. It starts at the top people and he is unfortunately, the top. He got to go, we got to stay!
Russ Grimm as AD? Mark May? TD? Tom Clement? Is there anyone out there that Steve P hasn’t alienated that we could bring back with open arms and let them run a program? Anyone? …..Damn crickets!
KK Smith was OK at best last season; Clemmings has shown nothing; Manny Williams and Eric Williams have shown nothing; Grigsby hasn’t every played before so we know nothing about him; Tags hasn’t played that well as a starter, Lippert is a journeyman, Ezell hasn’t shown anything during play, Hendricks has been up and down, Vinopal (who I really like) hadn’t played at PITT yet, etc…
Sorry but IMO we aren’t that talented and certainly not talented enough to overcome the real lack of experience going into 2012. That said, I think this group will be better in the future than we saw against YSU. Get some experience actually playing and we’ll see how talented they actually are but it may take half a season.
I am a football nut and will go no matter what. The typical college kid wants to get loaded and laid and the team will have to win to get them interested and in the stadium for the whole game.
I agree with Reed and others. What did the veteran players prove the previous two years, not much. What top shelf talent was in the Pitt Football cupboard for PC, not much. What did the veteran players prove last evening, not much.
It is childish to say the least to crucify PC after one game in light of the above. It is shortsighted and is only magnified through the looking glass of the last two years of Pitt Football.
Will PC change the defeated culture of this program, only time will tell. But I want him to weed out any vestiges of accepted mediocrity, piss-poor/self-entitled/non-hard working players and any visions of grandeur for a team with as many holes as this one.
On a side note Reed, while TS was not terrible his limitations were there for all to see…
And BTW, Arizona St ran the ball an incredible 51 times the other night (for > 300 yds) vs 20 passes. Do you think that OL matters??
Is it any wonder that Pitt on Saturday night played laid-back, tired, and nice?
And those of you who (still) say Chryst must stay, is THAT what you want? Really?? And if so, why?
Contrast that with lowly Colorado State out here, on nobody’s map, not even in Colorado. But they hired Jim McIlwain, the OC at Alabama, as their first-time head coach.
And CSU was amazingly inspired on Saturday, feeding off their amped-up coach to beat a much more talented Colorado Buffs team.
Looks like we hired the wrong OC…
– Well 475 comments in and I think all agree that wasn’t a good game by Pitt.
– I haven’t seen PC full interview but wonder if anyone asked why they didn’t seem to adjust the D to what YSU was doing. Was it due to them as coaches just missing it or do they feel the players can only do what’s been asked. Either way, the lack of making ingame adjustments has been Pitt’s biggest trouble and that didn’t seem to be fixed with the new guys.
– I see some already want to fire PC. Well, you might want to start watching a different team then since that’s not going to, nor should it, happen. He’s going to at least get 3 and more likely 5 years to build the team the way he wants it.
– And let’s be honest, the players they’re working with are mainly leftovers by the past coaches. Any of the really good ones are already in the NFL. If DW was still the coach today, I’d say 3/4 of these guys wouldn’t even be starting. That doesn’t mean I think DW was the greatest coach in the world, but to me, this highlights the damage from inconsisent recruiting for the past couple years.
– For this year, it is what it is…unless either Graham or Shell become top 5 RB’s in the country or the D somehow figures out how to play football. Guess we’ll all find out on Thursday.
Second – for those who complain about Sunseri’s arm strength – watch that TD pass again. Sunseri throws a frozen rope 35 yards IN THE AIR between two defenders and perfectly into Brinson’s hands.
That was one of the best passes we’ve seen in years.
So yes, we say some poor plays but we also saw him complete 66% of his passes, no TOs and he took no sacks.
We had one three & out during that game. Our other three play drive ended only because of Street’s fumble.
Was it a great game? No, but he played well and to point to him for that loss is insane. Especially when our defense gives up drives of 10, 15, 15, and 12 plays. YSU scored on five of the six actual drives (not including running out the clock at each half). Five of six!
That is where the finger should point.
Are you’re talking about the overthrow to Street in the first half?
Watching the replay, I believe Sunseri threw the ball to the outside and not right on top of the angle in which Street is running.
Chryst (and Rudolph) did design a safe conservative gameplan tailored to give Sunseri the best chance of success, a lot of short outside throws and sitdown routes for the TEs.
But give Tino credit. He executed it pretty well.
The problem with his performance is that he did not make any plays with his feet, not just running but also buying time in order to find a secondary receiver breaking free.
Sunseri simply doesn’t have the ability to make a big play out of an extended play. That really limits the big play ability of an offense.
I sit in section 523 and watch the students leave at halftime and after sweet caroline…they were dead sat…and mostly all gone in the 4th quarter (and thats every game for that matter)
..if that is support then u guys are the “loaded ones”…College football is all about spirit and being proud of your university…these kids have six maybe seven home games a year…do your job and stay for the whole game..and scream your lungs out until they bleed!!
He has no goals for the coaches, players, etc.
Just get better…
That is not CEO/HC material…
Then regarding play calling… lol… 4th and 1 got the play in with 8 secs… snapped on 1 sec.. cluster fuck.
He wouldn’t commit to who was calling the plays… on offense or defense.
He is your typical control freak who can’t delegate… I noticed Chryst was running the practices with very little delegation to the DC or OC.
(Chryst)…said the six suspended players will get to practice this week. He said he won’t decide until later in the week if they get to play at Cincinnati.
Move the song to either halftime or better yet save it for after the game for a “Fifth Quarter” performance by the Pitt Band.
Have the Pitt Band play Sweet Caroline in collaboration with the Pitt student section.
A Fifth Quarter featuring Sweet Caroline should help solve the problem of students leaving early for the gates.
For those who have not seen it, Fifth Quarters involving the school band are pretty popular at some schools.
One that comes to mind is Wisconsin were the tradition is for the band to play the Budweiser Thems song among others.
Win or lose it keeps the majority of fans and students in the stadium until the band has finished playing.
Comment by Dan 09.02.12 @ 11:40 pm
RFLMAO
One of the classic lines EVER posted on PIttblather Dan-o
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
(you have to laugh as to not breakdown and cry when thinking of Pitt football these days )
Oy Vey
GRP !!
1. No bus leaves until game is over.
2. Pass out a card after the game to anyone leaving. Card holders have priority on the bus over anyone in line.
As to control freaks. President Carter was a control freak. He personally spent time deciding the White House tennis court schedule.
And he was a pretty good President. Oh, wait a minute, never mind.
We will offer counseling and other things(massive quantities of booze) to deal with the fortunes of following PITT football !!
Oy Vey (the new school motto)
GRP !! (get rid of Pederson)
Great idea I love it, a 5th Quarter.
Only problem is somebody like Wisconsin usually wins 95% of their home games. So people are in a celebatory spirit for some 5th quarter fun.
Somebody like us (pITT) we lose 50% of our home games and usually always against anyone of note.
So while i love the idea, I can’t imagine staying after, say the latest home loss to YSU, to sing Sweet Caroline or anything else, how about We are the Champions (not).
Maybe the theme to Charlie Brown would me more appropriate, we could all hum along since it’s instrumental. 🙂
Oy Vey
GRP
GREAT! Then NO ONE WILL GO. No one wants to see these pathetic losers get drunk the night before a game, get suspended, and get their asses handed to them.
You CANT force fans to like their team. You have to EARN fans. Fans want to cheer-they’ve wanted to for years-but we fail year after year. Fans are sick of it. Students don’t care-why should they? The team sucks
There is no emotional attachment. How are you supposed to build positive emotions when the whole thing is just a terrible experience? Get up early as hell so you can take a bus to Heinz Field for a noon kickoff to watch Pitt struggle to beat terrible teams or to get blown out buy the good ones. Even the kids from Western PA would have absolutely no positive memories of this team growing up.
I’m from Jersey and only went to Pitt because a scholarship made it cheaper than Rutgers (a school with a very similar fan base, just missing the decade of success and the old timers holding on to a dead in state rivalry). The only reason I even care is because I love football, I saw some great wins (VT leaving BE, ND so proud of this fucking football team, and WVU dagger) and I enjoy stuffing my face and binge drinking in parking lots.
inside, outside, nowhere is home
inside, outside, where have I been
out of my brain, on the 5:15”
This is the 4th quarter pass I’m talking about – not the poor throw on the 1st half pass where Street was wide open and Sunseri blew it. That was a typical Sunseri muff.
1) the team improves greatly over the course of the season
2) they don’t embarrass me again
Odds anyone?