It’s New Year’s Eve. Time for the Pitt tradition unlike any other in college athletics. The annual New Years Eve monitoring of media outlets out of fear of learning that a coach has been arrested.
It’s a rich tradition that dates back to 2010.
I know I have been vigilant ever since that fateful evening.
Happy New Years, everyone.
Final Pitt game of 2013. Final non-con game.
1 pm start time. No real TV, just the ESPN3.com internet feed.
It’s been ten days since Pitt last played.
They are going up against the Albany Marmadukes. Albany is not particularly good. A 6-6 record which includes beating the New Jersey Institute of Technology (twice?). They have lost to Duquesne. Their best win would be taking out… Brown.
Ending the season with a win in a bowl game — regardless of the level of the bowl — provides a certain level of positive energy. Heck, just finishing with a big win even without a bowl helps (13-9 being the ultimate proof).
Next season may be 9 months away. Training camp, 8 months from now. Spring practices aren’t until March. Signing day is about six weeks out.
But right now, it is a good feeling. Finishing the year 7-6 feels a lot better than 6-7. A 3-5 record in the ACC has more positives than a 3-4 record from the final year of the Big East. They aren’t huge steps forward, but there is some sense that there is improvement.
I have to start with this, because I swear, I may have written or read something exactly like it after the UNC game.
The Falcons fell behind early thanks to breakdowns in all three phases of the game, then forged an impressive second-half comeback, only to see the University of Pittsburgh kick a field goal with 1:17 left and claim a 30-27 victory in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
Hell, if Pitt had lost this game we could have pointed to key breakdowns of our own in all three phases of the game.
Are there still reasons to angst? Oh, hell yeah.
Do I care for at least a day?
No. No, I do not. Tonight and tomorrow, I’m going positive.
I don’t care if it was “only” a MAC team in Detroit that Pitt just beat. I don’t care if it was “only” a minor bowl game. It was a win.
Pitt was undermanned on its offensive line as it was for most of the second half of the season. Pitt lost its starting QB for the entire second half. Devin Street couldn’t go. Pitt had an officiating crew that did its best not to call penalties that might have gone Pitt’s way for most of the game (two offensive linemen blatantly tackling Aaron Donald and no call?).
There were the key breakdowns in special teams and defense that we have come to expect. The offensive line couldn’t pass protect — per usual.
Yet, Pitt came away with the win.
James Connor did everything he could to carry Pitt to a victory. Chad Voytik got through the shakes to show why he will be the starting QB. Tyler Boyd is Tyler Boyd.
Pitt was a 7 point underdog by kickoff. Still, the Panthers came away with a win and it didn’t have to happen in Birmingham.
There’s 7 weeks of angst for signing day. Plenty to worry over for the team up to and through spring practices. But, I’m going to enjoy this for a little while.
Man, getting home in time will be tight. That means keeping this brief so I can get crap done to make this work.
6pm on ESPN.
Focus continues to be about ending the season with something resembling positive energy.
A few weeks back, Pitt coach Paul Chryst said he was talking to redshirt senior nose tackle Tyrone Ezell when Ezell recalled the Panthers’ most recent bowl win, a 27-10 victory in the BBVA Compass Bowl against Kentucky to end the 2010 season.
Ezell was a redshirt freshman on that team and told Chryst what it felt like to end the season with a victory, the sense of accomplishment and positive momentum heading into the offseason. It’s something that the freshmen, sophomores and juniors have not experienced, with the past two seasons coming to an end with a 6-7 record and a loss in Birmingham, Ala.
The Panthers have a chance to put a positive cap on the up-and-down 2013 season today when they play Bowling Green in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
“There’s a big difference in our room between going 7-6 and 6-7,” Chryst said. “There’s a lot of reasons. The senior class, they want to finish it out right and I think they want to send the young guys into next year with some momentum. Every team’s the same way. Bowling Green’s probably got the same mantra. We’re looking forward to going up, getting one more chance to play and our goal is to play the best game we’ve played to this point.”
Not that anyone is implying the effort was less than 100% in the past two years in Birmingham. Well, maybe it’s being implied a little.
From a storyline, perspective this bowl has all three.
Merry Christmas everyone.
I still don’t have a handle on this day. I’m Jewish, which meant Christmas was just a really dull day other than watching NBA games on TV. The wife is Christian, though, so there has been a shift in how I have to treat the day. I’ve been doing Christmas with her family or just her and our kids for 17 years (Holy crap! It really has been that long?). You would think I would have a better approach by now. Yet, I still find myself looking at what movie theaters are open and something else to do. At the very least, I shouldn’t let myself whine about it any longer. Yeesh.
Okay. Time for a media run-through. There’s a bowl game tomorrow evening.
Bad news for Chas everyone. I finally found the incriminating photos he has of me and was able to break free of the virtual shackles that go along with someone owning a picture of you in a speedo. Just kidding, no human being, my wife included, could even look at that picture long enough to consider using it as blackmail. Not that one exists (thankfully).
As I’m sure many of you have noticed, I’m writing for Pitt247 now. A friend introduced me to Greg Croft, the site publisher, and there was mutual interest in me joining the team. I’ll still be here from time to time, but less frequently. I’m very sad to leave. Chas has been a phenomenal benefit to me as a writer not only in helping me improve my craft, but by giving me the platform to get my name out there. If Chas is interested in taking on a new writer, you won’t find anyone more willing to let you express your thoughts without any interference. If he ever edited anything, it was probably to fix a stupid mistake I made.
Merry Christmas to everyone and thanks for listening to my rambling over the past year or so!
It’s been over five years since Bowling Green upset Pitt to start the 2008 season. Yet some of us still remember that loss vividly. Quite a set of bookends to what otherwise should have been a very positive year. Start with a loss to Bowling Green at home. End with a 3-0 shutout in El Paso. 9-2 in between. Amazing how easy it is to forget that 9-2 part.
For Bowling Green, this is also a return to Ford Field, where they upset Northern Illinois in the MAC Championship — and cost the MAC a lot of cash by knocking NIU from an at-large BCS spot.
So far Bowling Green has sold roughly 7,500 tickets for the bowl game, and the Falcon players said they hope a large crowd of BG fans will have the same effect it had two weeks ago.
“The first drive of the MAC championship game, the D-line couldn’t hear my calls,” Lynch said. “It was a mess that first drive; it’s loud in there.”
Goble confirmed Lynch’s words, adding, “I messed up a call because I couldn’t hear what the linebackers were saying. We didn’t need to bring any ‘juice’ to that game.
“And it was exciting to see all the orange. In fact, that will be one of my favorite football memories: Being able to go up to the stands and [interact] with fans that were leaning over the brick walls.”
Not sure what Pitt’s ticket sales are doing at this point, but I’m guessing Bowling Green might have a slight edge in crowd.
Well I imagine a lot of you have seen the recent news of some certain WPIAL kids going elsewhere. You’ve witnessed the meltdown on message boards, Twitter, and probably read some columns from the local papers. Here’s some things we should already know as Pitt fans: (more…)
It’s not a great game by any stretch, but it is the last basketball game for Pitt for 10 days. Winter break and all that.
Cal-Poly isn’t a particularly good Big West Conference team. Couple that with what was likely some very spirited practices after that game that happened earlier in the week. This one has the potential to get out of hand quickly.
To the surprise of no one, this 4pm game is internet broadcast only on ESPN3.com.
And no, this has nothing to do with Fraud Graham.
Pitt has shed it’s strength and conditioning coach.
Strength and conditioning coach Todd Rice has resigned from his position, a Pitt spokesman confirmed tonight. Rice spent the last two years as Pitt’s head strength and conditioning coach, and previously held the same title at N.C. State, Boston College and Cal.
Pitt did not provide a reason for the resignation, and said that it will hire a full-time replacement some time after Jan. 1.
Most of the reviews I heard from current and former players about Rice were not necessarily glowing, and Pitt dealt with a spate of back injuries (usually, though not always, indicative of a conditioning issue) along the offensive line. Left guard Cory King and left tackle Adam Bisnowaty both missed multiple games with back injuries this season.
Not glowing reviews. That may be putting it mildly considering the first source that put out word that Rice was out.
Even before the recruiting miss yesterday there was going to be pressure on Matt House and the defense. There was the Miami game to end the season.
The defense allowed the same amount of points it surrendered in the opener against Florida State, a team that advanced to the national championship game.
Miami is good, but far from the Seminoles’ caliber, and the poor performance could be seen as an indication of a lack of progress on Pitt’s defense this season.
“I feel like we got embarrassed out there,” Donald said of an effort in which Pitt (6-6) allowed five touchdowns and 476 yards of total offense in its 12th game.
“Could be seen as an indication of a lack of progress?” Could be?
Defensive back Montae Nicholson. A 4-star stud that Pitt really needed for the secondary opted for Michigan State today. If it wasn’t for the loss of Dravon Henry, I probably wouldn’t be too upset. Losing two potential big-time players from your own backyard. At a position you know will need help very soon. That isn’t good.
In Nicholson’s case, there was the extra knife twisting that he mentioned that his final two were Michigan State and Florida State.
I can’t fault a defensive player for choosing Michigan State. They play a hellacious defense and it is a huge emphasis. But it is impossible not to be disappointed.
And along with that disappointment, the urge to cast blame.
After watching the quarterback be pounded over the last couple years, there isn’t a Pitt fan with a pulse unaware of the need to significantly improve the offensive line. Steps have been taken over the last couple of years, but 2014 is the first year Pitt has landed two studs for the O-line in the same year. Mike Grimm committed a while ago, and after a long courtship Alex Bookser verbaled to Pitt.
Mt. Lebanon offensive lineman Alex Booker made a verbal commitment to Pitt. It is a good catch for Pitt as Bookser is rated a four-star offensive lineman by Rivals.com. Bookser also made official visits to Penn State, Ohio State and Tennessee.
Bookser is 6 feet 6, 295 pounds. He was a Post-Gazette Fabulous 22 selection and was named all-state today.
What’s funny about Bookser is he was recruited as an offensive lineman, but coaches in the WPIAL Class AAAA Southeastern Conference selected him first-team all-conference as a defensive lineman.
Yeah, but he is staying on the O-line. Ohio State was considered the other team he was really considering, so this is a big verbal. Bookser isn’t just a 4-star on Rivals.com. He is a universal 4-star on 247, Scout.com and ESPN.
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