A lot of running around this morning. Wife and daughter off on their own thing. Morning soccer for the boy falls to me. Hitting the grocery store (thank goodness Ohio allows growler service in them). Grabbing a quick lunch to take home and settle in for the expected massacre.
The game is on FoxSports1. If you have DirecTV it is channel 219. Not sure on the other services. This means no ESPN3.com coverage, so start digging around for this channel.
If you don’t flick away by the end, you will get to see former coach/player Dave Wannstedt on the FS1 college football show afterwards. Wonder if he’ll have anything to say? I caught a bit of him last week in anticipation of the Michigan State-Oregon game. Eh.
My expectations for this game are not exactly a high bar. Get out to a lead quickly. Increase or just maintain through the course of the game. Rest most of the key players for the second half. Avoid injuries, please.
Pitt is looking at a 3-0 start for the first time in 5 years. Of course, that just makes me greedy to see 4-0, and then 5-0 and reach bowl eligibility by the first week in October.
As expected the players and coaches will say all the nice things about FIU they can. The truth is that FIU fell apart quickly — which shouldn’t be a shock when Pete Garcia is your AD.
The guy that could hire Isiah Thomas to coach basketball, fire the only successful football coach after a disappointing, injury filled season to hire Ron Turner, pettily refuse to credential the ONLY beat reporter actually following FIU in Miami — only to back down after one game following national ridicule — and these are just the national highlights. This AD is the floor by which all other ADs can look at and say, “You know, I’m not doing that bad of a job.”
One of the easier picks of the day along with Duke giving 11 points to Kansas (41-3)
UTEP giving the 10 points tonite looks like another good one over NMSU.
Chad ran for over 112 yards on 12 carries for a whopping average of almost 10 ypc.
So he accounted for over 200 total yards. He and Connor (177) were almost the whole offense (422).
Haven’t had a PITT QB who could run like Chad since…..who ?
Rutherford had the ability but they never cut him loose. Might have to go all the way back to Bobby Haygood.
After being at the Steeler debacle Thurs eve, I was looking for a nice easy win today but a game like this teaches so many lessons that it can be invaluable. Cool coaching heads prevailed and keep in mind Chryst is still learning too…
Just watched the UVA game Dvr. They are going to be very tough to beat at home.
On to Iowa ….hope to see many of you there.
Mark May is asked if he agreed with the opinion,,,,,
“ABSOLUTELY”!
Sometimes the coaches throw up a stinker, too. I simply don’t understand why Chryst feels he has to get Trey Anderson some work, but for only one useless series. Our young, brand-new starting QB needs EVERY snap he can get — especially considering his size and skill-set are similar to another young QB Chryst mentored well in WI. (No, I’m not saying Voytik is another Russell Wilson, only that Voytik fits the basic prototype: small, mobile, with a decent arm and ability to throw on the run and a strong rushing attack behind him.) We should be able to win with this kid and that formula, but Voytik needs ALL the reps.
Good teams do what Pitt did to Delaware. Good teams also occasionally sleepwalk through a game against a terrible program in an empty stadium because they are looking forward to an important “statement” game the following week. If we play FIU 20 times, we win all 20 — and probably by at least 25 every other game but this one. Conner was untouched on two of his long TD runs. That tells me this was a “focus” problem, something that fixes itself. I am very “blah” about this stinker performance … which was still a 17-point victory (and would have covered the spread if only one of Conner’s fumbles didn’t happen; gotta clean that up.)
Next week at Iowa has always been circled on the schedule, but the Hawkeyes are turning out to look pretty bad after losing to ISU today. (Indeed, the whole Big Ten is turning into a joke.) I’ll only become concerned if we play this poorly and lose/almost lose next week, because that will mean we could be in some real trouble for the rest of our ACC schedule. If the Pitt that played BC comes back as the regular level of focus and results by the players and the coaches, Kirk Herbstreit’s prediction of Pitt playing in the ACC Championship Game is not so wild.
No one is going to look back at this game as a sign of things falling apart for the Panthers this year.
I vote for Wannstedt as our next AD. How many years are left on Pederson’s contract? That’s the big problem; the money.
Dr. Tom, get Direct TV. It proved itself again today. A HD version of Fox Sport 2 was there. (It did take me a while to find it.) FS2 is an extra $15.00 on Fios and is not HD. Don’t know about the cable companies.
There was good reson Nebraska fired the dude.
Wanny would make a great AD because people like him, Osbourne, Alvarez, Luck and Hayden are the faces of the program and give the football program credibility. We have no credibility with Pederson and haven’t won anything under his management. Plus our brand stinks and uniforms are terrible (although ND did us a great favor by wearing the PItt home jersey today).
Pitt dad there were comments about the Wanny comments earlier in the day. Very funny stuff.
@ upitt
yep Baylor and the OVer was free money. 🙂
BC rolled #9 USC, ran for over 400 yds I think. We would have had over 600 yards.
Don’t think a lot of these teams that play spread teams most all the time are ready for physical games. BC…. if anything is physical and we out-physical’d them.
Creepy Valley State lucked out again. Their first win was over UCF by last sec. FG and UCF was routed by Mizzou(38-10) and they barely got past a middling Rutgers squad. They seem to get a lot of breaks both on and off the field. hmmmm
2 wins and 6 losses today in out of conference play.
Minnesota got routed.
Illinois got routed.
Iowa lost to a winless team.
Indiana lost to a MAC team.
Maryland lost.
Purdue naturally lost.
Only 2 wins of the day (so far) were against MAC schools with of course them playing at home.
The fact that this joke conf. has so many bowl tie-in’s on January 1st and the Rose Bowl, is really a disgrace.
BC helps us save face by beating USC. Also makes me
feel that the heat, lousy atmosphere, and pregame talk about a terrible opponent…..in addition to 2 key fumbles is a learning
experience for a young team.
– PC wanted to give Voytik a different perspective as well as give Anderson some meaningful snaps. (Pitt scored TDs on the next 2 series) Voytik will be the starter next week
– PC said the players held up well in heat / humidity but Maddox had to leave the game (which I assume means cramps, confirming JAM05 above)
– Pitt on the U nest week
I assume there were more people behind Pitt. Can you confirm?
Pitt tops FIU 42-25
Box Score » Conversation »
Whereas the other ACC games all show Game Replay, drive chart, Play-By-Play, etc.
Cherry scores 3 TDs, NC State beats USF 49-17
Box Score » Drive Chart » Play-By-Play » Conversation »
Our QB has only started three games, and he was under a Center who started his first game yesterday, in Officer. We have the youngest squad in FBS football, with new guys like Blair, Maddox and my guy Maclean (that I have a man crush on) all making major contributions in yesterday’s game. This team is finding out, for there own selves, how good they are right now. And with HCPC’S guidance, he’ll push them to aspire to be even better than they think they can be. It’s a process!
This season’s schedule sets up perfectly for this process to evolve successfully. Yesterday’s game turned out to be a real hurdle for the Panthers to overcome. Even though Pitt $hit their own pants on a few specific plays, for example, will Winslow EVER have an opportunity to rocket a punt with absolutely NO PRESSURE on himself more so than executing a kick after a safety? What does he accomplish, a 20 yard shankapodamus, come on! But that is what happens with a team composed of youngsters, they make mistakes.
However, FIU played hard and they were lucky too. That second Conner fumble was extracted from his grip like an impacted third molar, that was a great defensive play from FIU to thwart yet another scoring opportunity by the Panthers! ALWAYS respect your opponent!
So even though Pitt shot themselves in the feet multiple times and had some bad breaks as well, they did not panic, they followed the game plan an turned that momentum 180 degrees around in the 2nd Q. That my friend builds character, and will not be forgotten. That’s the kind of experience that will be drawn on in the future the next time we’re down in a game and have to mount a comeback. You have to be proud of how the Panthers handled that adversity yesterday.
So last night, BC takes it to #9 USC, which make’s Pitt’s win last week look a lot more impressive,yes? And, anyway you cut it, Pitt is still undefeated! Lessons learned while still winning ball games is a formula for success.
How good are these Panthers, is actually a moot question. That more relevant question would be, “how good can they become”?
Hail to Pitt!
I’m still not sure what we have here as our 2014 Panther football team, but I know this team well enough already to have faith in them that they won’t show up for an “entire” game as “the same old Pitt”. These guys are winners by comparison, hoping the best for them going forward.
One thing though, please work on the spelling – Shankopotamus or Shankapotamus. Pfffft, you are a doctor right?
Voytik got dinged a few times and that is why you saw Anderson. He was actually wooozy after one of his hits and if I recall, Anderson came in on the next series. He took a few blind side hits today.
Pitts was terrible except for one defensed pass near the endzone at the end. He doesn’t play with any emotion, had a pass interference and didn’t get physical on a couple WR screens. He was content to hold onto his blocker and hope others made the play. No fight!
Maddox was fine. He got burned on a double move but it wasn’t complete. Mitchell didn’t have a great game in my opinion and Vinopal was not heard from. Blewitt was solid on kickoffs.
Tough footing for alot of the players today. Hopefully no injuries. Hopefully Iowa’s top two players remain out another week, focusing only on the big10. We need all the help we can get because the defense will continue to pinch the field against our running attack and dare the qb to throw deep.