The Iowa game mentioned below is the second of three consecutive away games in the months of September and early October. The teams in the first two of those three games; Akron (5-7 in ’14), Iowa (7-6) and then Virginia Tech (7-6) accounted for two of our seven losses last season. This will be, to me anyway, a benchmark for Narduzzi. If he isn’t 3-1 or at the very least 2-2 after the first four games it will be very disappointing… even if three of those games are away.
Narduzzi is working with 17 returning starters, less any starter changes he makes in fall camp, so that has to work in his favor. Plus he is the best defensive mind ever to coach in college football.
PITT’S GAME AT IOWA TO KICK AT 8 P.M.
PITTSBURGH—The Pitt football team’s Sept. 19 game at Iowa will kick off at 8 p.m. (ET), and be televised by the Big Ten Network, it was announced today.
This is the first kickoff time announced for the Panthers’ 2015 schedule. Additional start times will be announced once television arrangements have been confirmed. Pitt and Iowa have played six prior times and the series is tied, 3-3. The Hawkeyes rallied for a 24-20 win at Heinz Field last year.
Season tickets and mini-plans for the 2015 Pitt football season are now on sale. Call the Pitt Ticket Office at (800) 643-PITT (7488) or log on to PittsburghPanthers.com. First-year head coach Pat Narduzzi will have 17 returning starters at his disposal this fall, including All-America running back James Conner, the reigning ACC Player of the Year, and dynamic wide receiver Tyler Boyd.
For the latest Pitt football news, follow the Panthers on Twitter and Instagram at @GoPittFootball.
In other news here is a piece by DiPaola of the Trib about our newest DT from MSU. “Scarpinato always has been an outstanding student. In his first semester at Michigan State, he compiled a 4.0 grade-point average while taking 18 credits. He graduated in three years with a kinesiology degree. At Pitt, he will work toward a master’s in health administration. “Really what I want to do is run hospitals,” he said.”
Good for him.
In the Post-Gazette we have an article hinting at extending the PITT – PSU football games past that 2019 date. This is a “I will believe it when I see it” issue, especially if the PSU Board of Directors are successful in resurrecting Joe Paterno from the dead. Hey, they have at least four years to work on that and they think he was Jesus Christ anyway. Paterno probably thinks PITT fans were behind the Sandusky revelations so there is great doubt if Joe even wants PSU to play the four games already scheduled.
James Conner is getting ‘post-Spring Game’ attention for the coveted Heisman Trophy which goes to the most popular player no matter how long his arrest record is. Conner weighs in at #14, according to the Bleacher Report anyway. He’s number 1 in the hearts of the PITT fans. If you keep reading that list you’ll see that they listed BOTH OSU QBs and an OSU RB. They love themselves some Buckeyes. While we are on the subject of awards, here is the two part article we posted on here about PITT’s chances at landing the major awards. Here is Part 1 and here is Part 2.
I just found a SI piece about Narduzzi and Recruiting. The article really just reiterates what we all have read and learned about the recruiting so far and the writer touches on the ‘buzz’ around the program. What cracked me up though is this bold and silly statement: “If you are not excited with the direction of the football program, I don’t know if you will ever be excited for Pitt football.”
I think that is some sort of a threat wrapped in a statement. I don’t like being told what to do so I, in return, curse the writer and the website.
BTW here is a good YouTube website to add to your bookmarks. It is all the videos from the PITT Live Wire.
Not thrilled with the 8p start as that means a late night and early rise for the long drive back. We’ll just have to take in all that Iowa City has to offer BEFORE the game…
imagine Pitt v. Iowa will also be on ESPN or
ESPN2.
I’ve seen many games scheduled as Big Ten
or SEC network games, that end up being
“games of the week” or whatever on the main ESPN channels. It will be on both.
In these cases, if you happen to go to the
Big Ten network for example, it will be
blacked out, then you find it on one of the
ESPN networks.
And I don’t mean relegated to ESPN 3 on the computer. It will show up on one of the
ESPN tv stations.
So, more than likely, you’ll be able to see it
even if you don’t have the Big Ten network.
Like I said, I know nothing of the details,
just as a college football junkie, it happens all the time.
I hope everything works out ok.
Thanks – fixed.
–Hope we can add Juco WR Rafael Araujo-Lopez, and Bill Hillgrove has to use his full name, just like “Marc Andre Fleury”…
Go Pitt.
Come on, Narduzzi is going to be light years better than House in developing defensive schemes that are executable but that is a totally off the charts statement to utter if you actually want to appear as an objective blog hoster.
“the best defensive mind ever to coach in college football”
And you of the wait and see attitude.
Also, you have to realize that she lives in Happy Valley, so her whole existence revolves around Ped St. I mean, she has tweeted a blow by blow account of the last 2 or 3 PSU BOT meetings … I am not making this up!
We may need a Lady Panthers blog in the near future … seems like they are surpassing the men
Since when have I ever been an objective blogger? I think that is the first time anyone has associated those words with me.
The one and only Matt OutHouse.
(guy should really change his name, he’s missing out)
“2. Florida AD Jeremy Foley got what he wanted in Mike White.
People close to this search believed that Foley would go with an outside-the-box hire and that’s what he did with White. The 38-year-old coach has never taken a team to the NCAA Tournament, but he did lead Louisiana Tech to three consecutive regular-season conference titles over the past three seasons. White also boasts a 50-16 mark in conference play in four years as a head coach. Foley could have gone after other coaches with better credentials, but out of all the potential candidates for the Florida job White resembled the thing that was most important to the man making the hire. ”
Says a lot on how much Dixon’s stock has dropped.
Should have got out when he was in demand.
FYI – Dan72 is now the best and most knowledgeable poster on here. Why you ask? Because he was a classmate and a fraternity brother to my older brother Clint while they were at PITT together in the late ’60s. Dan and I have been swapping sea stories about our younger lives via email and found that we have an awful lot in common, where we lived, drank, who we knew, etc…
That bit about my brother was greatly welcomed by me for two reasons – Clint died in the mid-’80s after we had lived apart for some years and I haven’t met anyone outside our family who knew him lately, so I miss him greatly AND I got that info from Dan right when UPitt was telling us about his Mom and you all were so graciously responding to that. Made me even more nostalgic and content.
Blather family – go figure, it’s a small and wonderful world.
Please let me know if you’re privy to such inside info.
Unimpressed by his 5’9″ frame and I haven’t seen any reports of a legit 40 time to get excited about but his shiftiness displayed on his highlights video gives me hope that he could fill the apparent void at the slot receiver position.
The JUCO guys are always a question mark until you actually see how they perform against the step up in competition that they have at the next level but this guy passes the eye test in his JUCO highlights video.
J E T S …….JETS JETS JETS
Wayne Chrebet !!
Just saw the posts about your mom. Cheryl is in my prayers. Let’s hope that she is around many more years to keep you in line. Enjoy every moment that you can. My mom’s ashes are here in my office while we wait for a date to get them to Arlington, where my dad’s are already.
H2P
Well I’m seeing a Narduzzi attitude that projects nothing!
NOTHING but winning, and winning right now. Competing for conference championships, right now. And I am not anticipating him fabricating some lame a$$ excuses blaming others for his own shortcomings if those wins don’t all fall into place in an orderly fashion, like some previously Pitt coach that preceeded Coach Chryst.
Nard Dog is standing out there, fully exposed as a newbie HC is apt to appear, earnestly asking the question, “whose coming with me”? So far, I’m seeing a lot of new hands raised up in response, Araujo-Lopes being the most recent.
Winning now, yeah I guess he’s interested in winning now.
Hail to Pitt!
Emell….no facts on JD and Fl. As usual misinformation from you.
That is….. if you can trust my misinformation.
If a guy like Nard Dog can not be successful at Pitt, I think we are in big trouble. He is from a football family, from the right place (Youngstown), has paid his dues in the asst. ranks(25 yrs) and has been very successful in his duties at both major stops he’s been at, especially the latest one.
And while Paulie had some of the same background as Narduzzi, he lacked some vital attributes, ie. the personality, the energy and the seemingly… forcefulness of Narduzzi. Which I think is needed in the geographic place in which Pitt sits.
Certainly…. if you want more than mediocrity, inexplicable losses and meaningless trips to sparsely attended very forgettable bowl games.
You want to close on elite recruits, you got to demonstrate to them that you’re a winner in attitude and expectations. That’s what they want and expect and that is what Narduzzi and staff have successfully projected up to this point. That is why there is a buzz around the program that hasn’t been there for decades.
Now, it doesn’t hurt that Smilie Steve is history and that Chancellor Gallagher has brought in a new AD that is marching in lock step with this new found enthusiasm that the Chancellor is stirring up in Pitt’s Athletic Dept. right now.
But one essential ingredient remains to be added to this recipe, and it’s the one thing that all of the positive spin and enthusiasm in the world can’t overcome in it’s absence, WINNING.
This team has to perform this year like a winner. They don’t have to go 10-2 and win their bowl game, they don’t even have to win their division and therefore play for the conference championship, but they DO have to win the games that their supposed to win, and maybe even steal one that they shouldn’t win on paper.
What they absolutely can’t do though is lose the games that they shouldn’t, and that means the first two games for sure against YSU and Akron. I’m saying right now that probably the Iowa game will be the biggest game on Pitt’s schedule this season for one reason, it is winable and it gets this team to 3-0 with a bye week right after that.
If the Panthers are 3-0 by the end of September then the sky is the limit for this team because then it’s not just “hype” anymore. Then this young team will be backing up the talk with some tangible results.
Winning breeds more winning, get to 3-0 and then hang on for an exciting ride. Hail to Pitt!
Smoke and mirrors equals that school out east.
Delusional
This was exactly Franklinstein’s ‘MO’ at Vanderbilt.
It was all ‘Smoke & Mirror’s’ in Nashville, when you digged into who Vandy played and who they beat.
He had….one (1) top 25 win… in his time at Vandy, yet all this hype about him. Smoke & Mirror’s to the Nth Degree !
But that’s the way it is today, when they want certain ppl in certain positions.
And btw I agree Doc. Nard Dog has a chance to overturn 3 very perplexing losses Pitt has had, in his very first 3 games.
Seems like it was almost planned that way. 😉
But over in Creepy Valley, fans are not so jolly. Franklinstein and his minions have watered down the schedule (just like Pedturdo used to do) – I’m hoping the BIG Joke bottom feeders rise up and bit the Creeps. I have friends who reduced their ticket purchases because of the schedule and the uncertainty of how good the Pedo coaching staff “really” is.
Wisky also has a fluff schedule after the opener with Bama. BA has the puppet strings in hand and Paulie will learn to dance, I’m sure. Thanks again BA – you were a part of the stars aligning…
Congratulations to the Pitt women’s softball team. They made the NCAA tournament for the first time last night.
HTP!
1. PJ Fulmore 5’8 185 – ATH – North Catholic – Duquesne
2. Jordan Whitehead 6’0 175 – CB – Central Valley – Pitt
3. Tre Tipton 6’1 165 – WR – Apollo Ridge – Pitt
4. Tony Pilato 6’7 300 – OT – Hempfield – Pitt
5. Johnny Petrishen 6’3 190 – S – Central Catholic – PSU
6. Tyler Hudanick – OT – Seneca Valley – UCF
7. Sterling Jenkins 6’8 305 – OT – Baldwin – PSU
8. Kevin Givens 6’3 230 – LB – Altoona – PSU
9. Art Thompkins 5’9 175 – RB – Woodland Hills – Toledo
10. Nick Bowers 6’4 242 – TE – Kittanning – PSU
11. Alex Paulina 6’4 280 – OG – Canon Mac – Pitt
12. Brett Zanotto 6’ 215 – OLB – Franklin Regional – Maryland
13. Dane Jackson 6’2 170 – ATH – Quaker Valley – Pitt
14. Pat Anderson 6’5 184 – WR – Aliquippa – Temple
15. Ben DiNucci 6’3 185 – QB – Pine Richland – Pitt
While most of the names would likely appear on the Rivals or Scout list, they would probably be in a different order.
It would bother me more that PSU got Petrishen than Givens and Bowers (not that I didn’t want them) because the latter two grew up in PSU territory and probably were waiting for PSU to offer. I said ‘would’ because safety in not a big priority right now.
I would like to see Pitt get a couple really good prospects in the eastern part of the state this year. They have gotten a few recently (Amara, Stocker, etc) but not the major splash kind.
Chancellor Gallagher just “Gets It.”
As long as Scott Barnes is here he will do nothing but bring in more and more enthusiasm and support (….and Money 🙂 to Pitt Athletics across-the-board.
And as long as Chancellor Gallagher is here he will handle Pitt-business on all fronts. He is probably the man who excites me the most. Everyone knew he had an incredible intellect simply from his prowess and accomplishments in the field of physics, but he is a ‘Go-Getter’ and a genuine man. Exciting.
Next step: Pitt Script Merchandise. The Pitt script needs to get some serious ‘stylings’, and be unleased upon-the-masses.
(Think: Black background with Metallic Charcoal Pitt-Script, and some great color-flairs. Of course, the classic Mustard and Blue combo dry-fits, hats, zip-up hoodies…lots and lots of opportunities. —- “Pitt Is It” designs, etc. My ‘Script’ gets noticed everywhere I go.)
I say Chad Voytik is 2:1 .
So many people are literally chomping-at-the-bit to see Nathan Peterman though.
If he shows up and starts ripping-spirals downfield to Tyler Boyd, and fitting-in bullets to the J.P. Holtz over the middle, the odds are going to shift mighty-quickly.
Everyone knows clearly that Nathan Peterman holds an immense physical size + Arm Strength edge over “The Incumbent” — but will that be enough to unseat him? Peterman didn’t come to Pitt to look-pretty wearing a headset on the sideline, so it’ll be a ferocious competition.
Pitt hasn’t earned it. Yet.
Time to get to work.
UPitt – sorry to hear about your mom. Buried my mom’s ashes on Sat. Guys, hug ’em if ya got them.
Hey, anybody else worried about Chaney changing the offense so much that the kids wont execute as well early on in the season?…new playbook, new terminology, etc
H2P