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November 23, 2013

Open Thread: Pitt-#ARCHRIVALORANGE

Filed under: Football,Open Thread — Chas @ 9:00 am

So, yeah. The ACC’s predetermined protected game for Pitt. With long-time frenemy? old-Eastern-indie-opponent? Meh? It’s Syracuse. I just can’t muster requisite hate for them when it comes to football that the ACC seems to think there is between the two sides. At least not to call it a rivalry game.

I want Pitt to beat them. I want Pitt to get that bowl eligibility completed. After that? Eh.

Here are the ACC affiliates carrying the game. If not in your area, it’s on ESPN3.com.

Let’s hit some links ahead of the game.

Bowl eligibility. Bowl eligibility. Bowl eligibility. Seems like a theme.

Syracuse injuries:

The weekly injury report was distributed Thursday night, and the list was extremely long for Syracuse. Five key players — three offense, two defense — have been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh, including three that play starters’ minutes.

Tailback Prince-Tyson Gulley (lower body), H-back Brisly Estime (upper body) and wide receiver Jarrod West (upper body) are all sidelined for this weekend’s game. Cornerback Julian Whigham (upper body) and defensive lineman Isaiah Johnson (upper body) will be missing on defense.

Reserve wide receiver Ben Lewis (upper body) is also out, and backup center Jason Emerich (lower body) is listed as doubtful.

Lafayette Pitts hasn’t had a good year. Concedes focus has been an issue. Oddly, no mention of handling moving to more of zone coverage.

A recap from Syracuse Head Coach Scott Shafer’s introductory press conference after Doug Marrone left for the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, he was/is/will be a defensive coordinator.

 





zags blog has some tape on are new 6 foot 11 center
shaq doorson if you want a look he moves very good for a big man he is not clumsy and seams fast.

Comment by Frankcan 11.23.13 @ 8:01 pm

Can u guys understand why voytek has not played yet, we Will have another 5th year senior transfer as word has it

Comment by Paul Shannon 11.23.13 @ 8:01 pm

pitt won and psu lost. if you can’t be satisfied with that kind of a saturday, time to reassess.

Comment by deepelemblues 11.23.13 @ 8:04 pm

Would like to hear why coaches did not plunge for the TD when we were first and goal at the 3. We could have thrown a few deep balls also. Special teams better but only one long return.

Comment by Frank MD 11.23.13 @ 8:13 pm

South Fayette upsets Aliquippa 34-28 in wpial championship. Go get a couple of those Quipps, Paul.

Comment by alcofan 11.23.13 @ 8:29 pm

EMel if you are still on the AAC has 6 bowls this year and only 4 teams with 6 or more wins.
guess what 2 bowls they wont be able to fill the beef bowl and the bowl you love best yes it is true
i think it has are name on it i know you would love that.

Comment by Frankcan 11.23.13 @ 8:50 pm

Sorry to see Pitt’s pipeline lost tonight….good article about coach Z in the PG.

link to post-gazette.com

Comment by Jackagain 11.23.13 @ 8:56 pm

Think Pitt is bad….look at UConn….they have to stay the new BE and are losing 21-0 to 1-9 Temple right now.

They won’t win a game this year.

Comment by Jackagain 11.23.13 @ 8:58 pm

well we just got Challingsworth from So Fayette and, who knows, maybe we get Brett Brumbaugh next year … another pipeline?

Comment by wbb 11.23.13 @ 9:01 pm

By the way, this ugly win was our second come from behind victory this year.

Comment by Dr. Tom 11.23.13 @ 9:11 pm

Arizona State and Graham continue to kick ass. May go Top 10 if they will tonight and next week. Couldn’t happen to a bigger asshole but who knows how bad it was working for Smug.

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 9:33 pm

Not over yet Upitt – UCLA kicking back!!!

Comment by TVax 11.23.13 @ 10:02 pm

Yes i see that but he may win Pac 12 south tonight. His D is awesone and so is grice and kelly

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 10:07 pm

You hear that? Going over grahams background and the announcer says yeah, at pitt they promised him somethings and they didn’t cone through so he left. Smug strikes again.

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 10:09 pm

Az D has 8 sacks.

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 10:11 pm

Not sure that South Fayette beating the Quips was much of an upset. SF has developed quite a program over the past 5-10 years, with this team being their best.

Great comments on here tonight, really appreciate the insight, including learning that one knee down for a holder is not down in college football. Thanks wbb.

One comment to Reed – Pitt is thin but truly not that young. We lose a number of key players. Will the replacements be ready? Where would Pitt be this year without Savage, Donald, Street, Hendricks, Williams, Gordon? Hell throw Hollins and Schlieper in there. IMO, the loss of Savage and Donald sets Pitt back a lot next year. The two of the are worth 2-3 wins on their own. They won the game today for sure.

I can actually see Pitt taking a step back next year. If you want to measure Chryst and this staff, 2015 will be their make or break year.

Comment by Iron Duke 11.23.13 @ 10:11 pm

In 2 years he wins the Pac 12. Say what you want but wow they are balanced. D had 9 sacks.

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 10:20 pm

Just got home from syr. No one can ever bad our student section-syr had 40 kids in their student section at their on campus stadium.

Comment by John 11.23.13 @ 11:15 pm

Also play calling was putrid. Syracuse had 3db’s out and we thru 4 passes over 20 yards. And Conner was absent almost entire second half. Date I say House better play called than Chryst and Rudolph??

Comment by John 11.23.13 @ 11:18 pm

*dare I say house a better play caller -damn auto correct

Comment by John 11.23.13 @ 11:20 pm

Graham stepped into a great situation, that’s for sure. Athletes that he needed to run his style up and down the roster.

It will be interesting to see when how things go next year after he loses the 7 starting seniors on defense and 4 starting seniors on offense.

Comment by CNorwoodAZ 11.23.13 @ 11:25 pm

John, to be fair, Syracuse’s semester ended last week. You’d have a hard time convincing me to stay on that campus any longer than needed.

Comment by CNorwoodAZ 11.23.13 @ 11:27 pm

UPitt, I have déjà vu, remember you singing Graham’s praises about this time last year. Look, he’s a decent coach. His best quality is knowing how to surround himself with good assistants, a skill that Chryst seems to lack.

But Graham didn’t recruit Kelly or Grice or really any of the core of that team. That’s another of Todd’s strengths: he knows a good situation when he sees it; hence the early exit from Pitt.

And one of ASU’s losses DID come vs. ND. So…by the transitive property, Pitt crushes ASU…hahaha.

Comment by Iron Duke 11.23.13 @ 11:31 pm

John, bet you can count the number of Pitt students at the UM game on one hand. Ok maybe two hands. Got an email this week imploring me to move my seat to the student section for this game. Bad weather day, Black Friday, meaningless game, there won’t be 30k at the Miami game.

Comment by Iron Duke 11.23.13 @ 11:35 pm

Im not saying he built the team from scratch im saying he is winning big games and the conf in his 2nd year. That’s all.

Comment by Upittbaseball 11.23.13 @ 11:42 pm

I hear you, just saying Graham is a shrewd opportunist, not necessarily a football genius. The worst career decision he made was coming to Pitt. Didn’t take him long to figure that out. Dude is not an idiot.

College football is full of Todd Grahams. In fact the sport rewards the traits that Graham possesses. Brian Kelly, Urban Meyer, Nick Saban. All great coaches, all mercenaries. Graham is certainly in the right line of work.

Comment by Iron Duke 11.24.13 @ 12:07 am

We’ve gotten six straight quarters of great effort from these guys. Hope they have some fire for Miami next week. It’s a national telecast. Great opportunity for Chryst.

Comment by TonyinHouston 11.24.13 @ 12:14 am

Syracuse campus is ugly and nothing to do on it. Pitt’s is beautiful and full of life and energy. A shame visitors probably don’t see it when they attend a game off campus. Most of the Orange students went back downstate for the holidays. The city of Syracuse is a hole. Beautiful country surrounds her however. Texas didn’t always live in Texas. Did I mention Cuse is a basketball school. Pitt better work hard to bring balance and not have that happen to us. We’re already well down that path.

Comment by TX Panther 11.24.13 @ 8:16 am

I’m not sure there is anything we can do about the crowd Friday. I will be there with my son freezing, but I doubt the kids will come and many casual fans will stay home. No surprise just hate that it will be on National TV.

Comment by htp123 11.24.13 @ 8:29 am

I don’t blame fans for not showing on that day. I just don’t want to hear 50k attendance when only 20k are obviously there. There are lies and then there are damn lies and then there is Cornhole.

Comment by TX Panther 11.24.13 @ 8:33 am

Brett Brumbaugh has been mentioned a few times here on Pitt Blather. I live in South Fayette and I took my five year old to see two games this season.

Coach Joe Rossi installed a spread offense at South Fayette, which is a AA class school in the WPIAL – for those who don’t know. Rossi and his coaches – and all the other people who work in SF football- have built an impressive program here. South Fayette is one of the fastest growing districts in all of PA and will certainly be in a higher class in five years. SF has awesome facilities, too.

Brumbaugh has great presence in the pocket. He lets it whip for 50, 60 yards with no problem. He also throws a lot of slants and timing patterns of 15-25 yards. His older brothers are at William & Mary and Robert Morris. And, he’s a junior – a 6′ 4″, 200 lb junior. He should only add muscle as he matures. Temple and Akron have supposedly offered a scholarship already.

I am sure HCPC and his coaches are aware of Brumbaugh. While I don’t think the Pitt pipeline has been hurt at all by the Quips losing, Pitt will likely look more at SF. SF’s linemen and linebackers are too small for Pitt, but their skill positions are something to consider.

As for Chryst – he has had exactly one recruiting class play for him. One. Considering the turmoil Pitt has gone through, I’m happy with 6-5. Two years from now, certainly not, but for now, Pitt won, Penn State (who Ron Shnook praised in his column – go figure) lost and that is a lot to be happy about.

Indiana smashed Penn State this year. Indiana – let that sink in for a moment. Name the last time Indiana went to the Rose Bowl. Pitt probably has more Rose Bowl wins than Indiana.

Comment by Penguins Fan 11.24.13 @ 11:08 am

I think that might have been the first Rose Bowl game I ever watched. Indiana vs. USC or UCLA.
1967 or 1968. Whatever one is was, Purdue(LeRoy Keyes) was in the next one.

I think IU got routed by USC/UCLA.

Comment by EMel 11.24.13 @ 11:01 pm

@Comment by Paul Shannon 11.23.13 @ 8:01 pm “Can u guys understand why voytek has not played yet, we Will have another 5th year senior transfer as word has it”

Savage staying in the game was nothing to do with Voytik and everything to do with Savage being a tough kid. Listen, Savage has gotten his ass kicked and all he does is lead to the team to a come back win while injured. Should Izzo have pulled out Matiene Cleves in the Natioanl Championship game when his ankle was clearly broken in 2000? Of course not.

What you get in Savage is beastly leadership, toughness, and the guys followed that. Read Boyd’s comments about Savage staying in the game. He has the respect of his teammates and the coaches.

As to Voytik next year, he was a 4 star pro-style QB (despite being recruited by Grahm, he was not a spread guy) in high school, so he should be a good fit. We’ve got 2 freshmen coming in as well. I would be surprised if we bring anyone in. I have heard that there aren’t any BCS Qb’s with a 1 year left like the situation Wilson had at Wisco and the consensus seems to be that Chryst has no interest in JUCO players. Do you have any insight that suggests he’s ever had a JUCO player?

Comment by PittHW 11.25.13 @ 3:04 pm

PittHW – I’m not sure what you mean by your comment re: Savage & Voytik above. You can be sure that if Chryst felt he had a back-up QB who could spell Savage, given Savage’s injuries, he’d have done it already. But that isn’t the case at all. This staff obviously feels that Savage will play unless he absolutely physically can not do it.

Savage has been extraordinarily stoic and tough this season, that’s for sure.

Comment by Reed 11.25.13 @ 9:18 pm

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