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.
How much of that is the lingering positive energy of the win and how much is reality remains to be seen. You don’t have to be a blind follower to feel good right now about the team, the coach and the possibilities. You also don’t have have to be a complete hater to see the problems, the holes, the gaping questions that are all over. Both aspects are there. Both aspects are true.
“For the younger guys, for next year, it gives you something to build off of,” said Donald after Pitt’s 30-27 victory against MAC champion Bowling Green. “To know that the program is going to be back on top with coach Chryst. That’s a guarantee.”
Sorry, there are no guarantees in sports.
“Each year is a different year,” Chryst said.
For all the euphoria and smiles from players and coaches after an exhilarating victory, Chryst is a .500 coach (13-13) in his first two Pitt seasons. The team that beat Bowling Green lost four of its final six regular-season games. It also struggled on the local recruiting trail this year.
Still, the 2013 season marked a culture change for Pitt that Chryst should — but won’t — take credit for generating. No longer do players sit around feeling sorry for themselves, waiting for something bad to happen. Their coach won’t tolerate those who worry about matters out of their control.
Pitt played the bowl game without three starting offensive linemen, senior wide receiver Devin Street and junior Bryan Murphy, the team’s best defensive end. No problem. It totaled 487 yards of offense and a season-high seven quarterback sacks, most of it by underclassmen.
Four freshmen — quarterback Chad Voytik (a redshirt), wide receiver Tyler Boyd, running back James Conner and Blewitt — made the decisive plays.
“You definitely feel like the future is bright,” Conner said.
The culture change is important, and underrated. Not with the cleaning out of malcontents and holdovers of other coaches. It is much more about the mindset.
During the last year of Wannstedt’s reign, I remember Paul Zeise writing during a chat session or two — and I’m paraphrasing/working from memory — that the biggest problem with the Pitt team often seemed between the ears. That they were too easy to let something go wrong and snowball. Zeise was of the opinion that until those players were out of the program, there would be problems for this team.
I know many of you will want to default to the perpetual whipping boy (and often deserved and continually unsympathetic) Tino Sunseri. It’s easy to think that. He’s gone and suddenly Pitt had second-half comebacks that were not then given back. He was part of it, no question. But that was more than just the quarterback. The defense had similar issues. It was something the prior coaches couldn’t seem to change.
There has been a large amount of churn in the past year. Kids moving out of the program either by graduation or deciding/being pushed to finish their playing days elsewhere.
This is where I’m taking a leap of faith with Coach Chryst. I want to believe he and the staff has made a big change with that intangible. The “culture” around the team. That there is a perceptible change to the mindset among the players in how they approach the games. The practices. The conditioning. The film room.
Will the mindset make a difference in talent difference? Of course not. But we’ve seen all too often in the Big East that Pitt’s supposed better talent failed at key points. Both are needed to get beyond mediocrity.
Then recognize them at the game.
The logistics would be tough but what an experience for the players and coaches.
and wanny could so the big things like raiseing mony makeing football and basketball great and fireing house.
If the stars didn’t align with Shady and Bostick and RichRod leaving, he would have gone without 13-9.
He lost all the big games including the biggest to Cinci on his own turf.
Hell, he played Tino over Bostick and sealed his own fate.
He inherited a decent team from Harris and had crap results, much worse than Chryst.
His last team made the cover of SI and in the worst possible way.
Revisionist History, Give me a break.
I challenge you to identify an IN-GAME mistake made by Chryst that compares to the MAJOR BLUNDER by Toddy GRAHAM in the midst of the BEAT-DOWN his team took against Texas Tech last night.
In case some are unaware… with time running down in the first half and THIRD DOWN and GOAL from around the seven… GRAHAM, in all of his “GENIUS”… rushed the field goal team out in a frantic state to put three points on the board before time expired. The kick went WIDE LEFT!
Amazingly, it did not occur to GRAHAM to have his Quarterback take another shot at the End Zone or simply Clock the ball to stop the clock and allow plenty of time for the field goal attempt.
It was SO BAD, SO AMATEURISH… that it drew the scorn of not one but all of the ESPN Hosts at Half Time including Mark May.
Who here believes Chryst, on his WORST DAY… would ever be guilty of such a Coaching BLUNDER?
The fact is… few Coaches ever would.
This should put to rest once and for all the RIDICULOUS NOTION put forth by some of the Chryst Doubters and Haters that somehow GRAHAM was the FOOTBALL GENIUS that got away.
I think that Ditka’s no nonsense attiudes could get things done also, although in contrast, he may have to refine his smoozing skill set to keep the traditional Pitt highroller contributors and others happy too.
Last but not least, Chris Blewitt, IMO, was stellar this season as our kicker. Now I think that he still has a way to go to be a great one, not enough kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks and too many low, driving kicks when not needed begging for blocks. However, overall significant proficiency from a true Freshman. Not being on the radar for comments sometimes is a sincere compliment regarding a kicker’s effort though. They tend to be invisible until they miss! Then everbody is screaming about how he Blewitt!(pun intended) Didn’t hear that bad pun much this season.
Yes the future looks promising but I’m still not sold on this recruiting class as it currently stands. An additional DL or LB recruit would have been nice and we have a critical need to land either Kamara or Jennings at the WR position.
If we get just one of those two and it upgrades this class significantly IMO. We get both and I’d consider that a homerun in the WR department! If we miss on both, then I’m concerned, because we dearly need a second premier star WR to compliment Boyd. I don’t see that guy on our current roster or in this recruiting class so far. It has to be a “get” this year too, because unless Boyd loses a year to injury, he goes to the NFL without a doubt after his junior year, just two short years, so we need to develop that complimenting WR next season.
Come on Pitt, sell these guys on the opportunity to play early opposite a future legend and probable Biletnikoff Award winner while you can!
Mark Cuban
Billy Knight
Curtis Martin
Marty Schottenheimer
Susan Arnold
Orrin Hatch
Chip Yablonsky
Yet, when PC came in and returned to the pro style, Sunseri had >3000 yds (more than Savage) with 21 Tds and 3 Ints. He wasn’t a great QB by no means but much better than what he was put through the previous season.
I don’t think that Wanny has any qaulifications for the AD job either, but if that is the premise for selecting an AD, who is a Pitt guy who has been a head coach, who would you prefer, Ditka or Wanny? That was my point. I’d take Ditka any day of the week.
09/15/12 Virginia Tech
W 35-17 28 19 67.9 3 1 180.98
10/05/12 @ Syracuse
L 13-14 33 25 75.8 0 0 156.96
10/13/12 13 Louisville
L 35-45 37 28 75.7 2 0 158.68
11/03/12 @ 4 Notre Dame
L 26-29 29 19 65.5 1 0 124.40
11/24/12 Rutgers
W 27-6 39 21 53.8 2 0 119.67
Bottom line, you see the actual data above … and
Wanny had the best 3 year run that Pitt has had in 3 decades
Pittsburgh Panthers (Big East Conference) (2005–2010)
2005 Pittsburgh 5–6 4–3 T–3rd
2006 Pittsburgh 6–6 2–5 6th
2007 Pittsburgh 5–7 3–4 T–3rd
2008 Pittsburgh 9–4 5–2 T–2nd L Sun
2009 Pittsburgh 10–3 5–2 T–2nd W Meineke Car Care 15 15
2010 Pittsburgh 7–5 5–2 T–1st BBVA Compass BowlA
Pittsburgh: 42–31 24–18
He also, in his first 3 years, had the circumstance of facing WVU, Lousiville and Rutgers … all who had the best 3year run in the history of their programs. And also, Cincy did the very same from 07-09.
But don’t believe me …. LOOK IT UP!!
Coincidentally, the Plain Dealer headlines today are “Browns are finding that hiring a coach is much harder than firing a coach”
something our AD should have learned while at Nebraska
And one more thing: college QB rating means nothing to me. I’m frankly surprised that the metric being used isn’t the same as the pro QB rating.
As it is, doesn’t matter, because the main reason Wanny isn’t Pitt’s coach is because his players couldn’t stop getting arrested. Just ask Jovani Chappel, who nearly ran me over on the sidewalk on Meyran with his car. Don’t believe me? Just look at his arrest record from April 2010, which includes assault on a parking-enforcement officer.
Same for Syracuse which had it best team in years, and dominated Geno, Steamandand Tavon in its bowl
ND last year beat Oklahoma, Stanford, USC, Mich and Mich St
And last year’s Ole Miss would have beaten this year’s Bowling Green by at least 3 TDs … not even close
If you want to make the case that wanny should have been fired because of the off-the-field problems, fine! (I believe he should have been given a year to clean it up) But regardless, don’t throw those stigmas at me when he was more successful that anyother coach we had since the 80s … not to mention his loyalty.
markp, in 05, Pitt was forced to start natural freshmen on both the OL and DL in the very first game (Davis and Mustakas) .. doesn’t sound too stocked up to me. And that ‘BCS” 04 team won a 4-team tiebreaker in a 7-team league, which had 2 doormats (and first year D1 UConn wasn’t even one of thedoormats.) That 04 Pitt team was not good; the 06 team which had to compete with 4 ranked BE teams, 3 of which finished in the Top 12, was better than the 04 team
The one thing Wanny can be credited with is his relentless pursuit of LeSean McCoy after USC, Miami and the others backed off following the ankle injury his senior year in high school.
Take away McCoy… and there’s NO victory in South Bend… NO Upset in Morgantown… NO Contract Extension.
The fact is Wannstedt would have been out the door long before the Sports Illustrated Cover Story… if it weren’t for his good fortune in landing the current NFL Rushing Champ and a likely future first ballot Hall of Famer.
WHAT PART OF HE HAD THE BEST 3 YEAR RUN IN THE PAST 3 DECADES DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?? (faults and all!)
Why is this so hard for people to comprehend – I don’t get it!!
However, his involvement in the Player Arrests Scandal SADLY TRUMP any of the positives that might make him a viable choice… and that’s really a shame.
he has not much better then wanny
Chryst does deserve our support. But he does need help and I’d be upset if no coaching changes occur. Let’s parlay this bowl win into better times to come.
Love Wanny and Ditka as ambassadors. Maybe as lead fundraisers for Pitt’s new OCS? 🙂
and one who while not kicked off was suspened he had a player who choked a female and went to trail and jail. so this shit happens not juat to wanny .
kids get in fights kids get drunk in 1980 it was just covered up give me a brake
Still have some reservations about Chryst and his staff, but we may have lucked out. Could have had some one or two win seasons through this nonsense.
If Chryst cannot get it done and is ultimately let go, we still might.
Happy New Year everyone and Hail to Pitt!
We could take scouting to a new level.
Scotch, Wiskey, vodka etc! Drink to Pitt!
