This weekend may get a little more boring for Pitt fans — assuming you don’t live on the East Coast, especially Virginia.

Hurricane Joaquin continues to strengthen northeast of the Bahamas. As of 8 p.m. Joaquin has sustained winds of 105 mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane. It continues to move southwest at 7 mph.

Gov. McAuliffe declared a state of emergency for Virginia Wednesday afternoon, followed by the City of Norfolk also declaring a state of emergency.

Hurricane Joaquin will likely drift west over the next few days before being picked up by a cold front. At the same time, a developing coastal low will try to strengthen over the area this weekend.

The latest track strengthens the storm into a major hurricane, a category 3 storm. The center of the storm in this latest update would make landfall somewhere along the Outer Banks Sunday afternoon.

Joaquin is just one part of a complex weather pattern that is setting up for the end of the week.

If the state of emergency lasts into the weekend the Pit-VT game in Blacksburg is assuredly cancelled.

This creates a real issue for the ACC. Pitt has already had it’s bye week. It is slated to play 8 straight weeks. There is no open date for Pitt.

There have been instances of non-con games not being made up, but I can’t recall an instance in recent years where a conference game has not been played or made up at some point.

The ACC may be forced to schedule the game on a Monday or some other awkward day if the game is postponed this Saturday.

Here is Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi’s mid-week press conference for our game against VT this weekend in Blacksburg, VA, tarted up a bit for your reading pleasure..  It is a noon start on Saturday and looks to be a rainy day.

Official Virginia Tech Week Game Notes issued by the Pitt Media Dept.

PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO: Narduzzi Virginia Tech Preview

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT (HTML LINK): Narduzzi Text Transcript

 Opening Statement:

“We had a couple practices last week to focus on ourselves and become a better football team. We’re cranked up. It’s always rough on a Saturday to watch all of those games and not being able to go out and play. I think our kids are anxious to get back on the field. We’re getting ready for a great football team down at Virginia Tech.

(more…)

Here are the Pitt Media Game Notes for the visiting Panthers and the Virginia Tech Hokies.

LINK (PDF): Where to Watch Pitt-VT (RSN stations)

LINK (PDF): Pitt Game Notes (VT) – These are the multi-page, in-depth notes on the game.

GAME STORYLINES

Pitt opens Atlantic Coast Conference play this Saturday when it travels to Virginia Tech. The 2-1 Panthers are coming off an open week. The Hokies played at East Carolina and dropped a 35-28 decision to fall to 2-2.

Pitt and Virginia Tech meet annually as members of the Coastal Division. The series, however, dates back to 1993 when both schools were in the Big East. The Hokies lead the series, 8-6, but Pitt has won five of the last six encounters, including 21-16 at Heinz Field last year.

There has been a distinct home field advantage in the series. Pitt is 4-0 against Virginia Tech at Heinz Field but just 1-5 in games played in Blacksburg.

The Panthers’ lone win at Virginia Tech occurred in 2002, a 28-21 victory sparked by Larry Fitzgerald’s three touchdown catches. In its last visit to Lane Stadium, Pitt dropped a 19-9 decision in 2013.

(more…)

Like every year since Pitt joined the ACC, the Coastal division appears wide open. In 2013, Duke had their best season in most of our lifetimes and won the division with a 10-2 regular season (6-2 in the ACC). In 2014, a 10-2 (6-2 in ACC) Georgia Tech had a season for the ages which culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over a top 10 SEC team (Mississippi State). Each season had a 5-3 team in second place (2013 had three), so there was no wiggle room; they had to win six for the outright title. (more…)

Well, it has been nine months since Paul Chryst left for northern pastures and Pitt hired Pat Narduzzi in his place and this may be a good time to review what has happened since then.

We’ve seen some big changes surrounding the Pitt football program as Narduzzi hired a new staff and Pitt hired a new Athletic Director who came with a fatter checkbook.  We’ve gone back to the ‘Script on the helmets and our season ticket sales and fundraising numbers have both gone up.  You have to attribute those last items to Narduzzi and the energy he’s brought to the program so far.

(more…)

Here are some links and such.

The Trib’s article on Peterman:

At the outset of his Pitt career, Nathan Peterman faced the daunting task of wrestling the starting job from an incumbent quarterback who has the support of his teammates.It took him no longer than one training camp and the first two weeks of the season to get it done.

Then, in his first start, he encountered a large, hostile crowd in Iowa and was asked to save the game by driving the offense 75 yards to a game-tying touchdown. With 52 seconds to spare — too much time, as it turned out — he did it.

“He definitely shows poise in the moment,” tight end J.P. Holtz said. “He doesn’t get scared.”

(more…)

Pitt lost to Iowa in dramatic fashion. This feels like the norm, but it was different this year. First off, it was Pitt that came back in the fourth quarter after a rough start. Second, Pitt is still finding its footing without James Conner. Third, the defense, while not perfect, forced Iowa to earn every single point. There were no gimmes, no luck other than the 57 yards FG, and it ended up a hard fought contest between two good football teams.

I can live with that. There was no choke or horrific mistake. Sometimes you play a good football team and you lose. Instead of looking back, I want to look forward. What can Pitt do during the bye week to prepare for a tough road game against Virginia Tech? Here’s my list. (more…)

Here are the latest Team and Individual statistics for Pitt through the Iowa Game.

We had a close loss yesterday to a Big Ten Iowa team in their hometown Kinnick Field.  The final score was 27-24 and was determined by a last second 57 yard field goal Iowa’s placekicker.

To keep all the game links in one place here they are… then we’ll move on to background issues later in the article:

Fittipaldo’s report Post-Gazette 9/20; and  DiPaloa’s Trib after game article.

There were missed opportunities to win this game, or at the very least actions could have been taken that would have given us a better shot at a win.

(more…)

Here is the official game thread for the game tonight. The predictions are in the record book and we start in about one hour.

There are a lot of things to look for but for me two things are key; how do the QBs play and can our CBs stay in man one-on-one coverage against a better passing attack and hold their own?

Let’s hear your thoughts….

LINK (PDF): Pitt Game Notes (Iowa)

GAME STORYLINES

• Pitt continues non-conference play this week when it travels to face Big Ten foe Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. The Panthers and Hawkeyes are both 2-0 and looking to continue their early season momentum. Pitt is coming off a 24-7 victory at Akron, while Iowa defeated rival Iowa State, 31-17.
• Close calls and fourth-quarter drama have ruled recent Pitt-Iowa series history. In the past three meetings, the average margin of victory has been three points. The Hawkeyes rallied from double-digit deficits to win each of the past two games, 31-27 in 2011 and 24-20 in 2014. The Panthers won in 2008, 21-20.
• The Panthers are seeking a 3-0 start for the second consecutive year and fourth time since 2000. Pitt previously opened a season with three victories in 2000, 2009 and 2014. Those quick starts ultimately resulted in bowl invitations in each of those years.
• Although only two games into the season, Pitt’s play on defense has been very encouraging. The Panthers boast national top 25 rankings in quarterback sacks (fourth, 4.50 sacks/game), third-down defense (10th, 19%), total defense (20th, 258.5 yds./game) and rush defense (22nd, 88.0 yards/game).
• The Panthers have nine sacks in two games. Last year Pitt had only 19 sacks in 13 games.
• With All-America tailback James Conner out for the year due to injury, Pitt is relying on a youthful backfield to carry the running game.
• Redshirt freshman Qadree Ollison and true frosh Darrin Hall combined for 133 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries in the Akron victory. A week prior, Ollison rushed for 207 yards in just two quarters of play against Youngstown State.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

(more…)

I’m sorry to be so late with this piece.

Here is where your log your official Pitt vs Iowa game predictions… winner, score and if you feel like it why.

Here’s mine….

I think this is the game Peterman cements the starting role going into the ACC season. He throws for two TD and our run game kicks in for two more.

Pitt 27 – Iowa 24

Have relatives in town and off to DC for touristy stuff, will check in later.

Reed

To quote Pat Narduzzi: the preseason is over. With wins over YSU and Akron, Pitt overcame some of the demons of the Chryst era with one last hurdle: beating Iowa. To be more specific, don’t blow a fourth quarter lead against Iowa, something both Paul Chryst and Fraud Graham did. Unfortunately, Iowa is already well-versed in the art of a fourth quarter comeback as the Hawkeyes broke a 17-17 tie late in the fourth quarter against Iowa State last week.

Let’s breakdown the Hawkeyes to see if they have another fourth quarter comeback in them. (more…)

(This is a long look at the current QB situation so far this season)

Pitt is in the midst of something we haven’t had in a very long time and that is a genuine quarterback competition being played out in real time and for the world to see.  We have been told there were competitions in the past but those were lip service to the media. This season however we are being treated to something this new staff feels is of uppermost priority, finding the QB which is the best overall for the team.  Here is background on the issue and some Q & As that may help to enlighten our fans as to what is and has been transpiring in this interesting development.

How did Pitt get the two principal QBs, Chad Voytik and Nate Peterman, on the roster?

For that we have to go back to 2011 when both Voytik and Peterman were in their senior years in high school.  Both players were star high school QBs and one left his hometown state of Tennessee to go to Pitt and the other kid left Florida to go to play his college ball in Tennessee.

In high school Chad Voytik was a 6’0” 192 lb running QB and played for the Cleveland Blue Raiders, located in Cleveland, TN, a small town of 42,000 located 30 miles northeast of Chattanooga and in the western foothill of the southern Great Smokey Mountains.

Voytik had a very good career there being named both an All-State player and a high school All-American.  He was a dual threat QB at Cleveland, passing for over 5,000 yards in his three years starting and was also a prolific runner.

Voytik was a Rivals.com four star (4*) player who was also ranked 4^th nationally among senior QBs and the #1 player at any position in TN. Twelve other D1 schools wanted Voytik as a recruit including PSU, Clemson, Virginia, Syracuse and Louisville.  Those are all good football schools and play in competitive Power Five conferences.

(more…)

September 14, 2015

Iowa Week

 PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO: Narduzzi Iowa Preview

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT (HTML LINK): Narduzzi Web Transcript

Opening Remarks:

“We had a great win. Anytime you get a win, it’s a great one. It’s always good to win on the road. Akron was a good football team and I thought they were exceptional on the front seven—and that turned out to be true. There was some nasty weather, it was sloppy. Our kids had a great attitude they were [positive] going into it and played with it.

“I really thought our kids were locked in on the trip. It was a great job by both teams holding onto the ball, but we ended up being plus-one there which we needed. We always have to win the turnover ratio and we won the time possession as well. We had four drives of eight plays or more for our offense. Eight being the lowest, I believe we had a couple 10 or 13-play drives and that’s huge. That’s how you win the time possession and that’s what we lacked the week before. We kept making these explosive gains but we didn’t have that time possession. We would like to have both.

Here is the Akron game Play-by-Play so you can see those drives he’s talking about.

(more…)

PITT vs. IOWA

September 19, 2015 • 8 p.m., ET

Kinnick Stadium (70,585/FieldTurf) • Iowa City, Iowa

Big Ten Network • Pitt IMG Sports Radio Network

PittsburghPanthers.com • @GoPittFootball • #PITTvsIOWA

LINK (PDF): Pitt Game Notes (Iowa) – Fans, these are the in-depth game notes (Pitt two-deep, bios, etc…) and if you are watching the game they are a great thing to have in your hand for quick reference.  Here are some notable things going into the game. Note the shake up in the starters listed (CAPS is the 1st string):

Quarterback:  4 NATE PETERMAN JR*, 6’2”, 225 or 16 CHAD VOYTIK (JR*, 6-1, 215)

Tailback:  37 QADREE OLLISON FR*, 6’2”, 230; 5 Chris James (SO, 5-11, 210) or 22 Darrin Hall (FR, 5-11, 215)

Right Tackle:  70 BRIAN O’NEILL (FR*, 6-6, 290) OR 78 ALEX BOOKSER (FR*, 6-6, 310);  72 Carson Baker (SO*, 6-5, 325)

Strong Safety:  9 JORDAN WHITEHEAD FR, 5’11, 185 OR 25 PAT AMARA JR. SO, 6’2”;  195 26 Jevonte Pitts (JR*, 5-11, 200)

Defensive End: 92 RORI BLAIR SO, 6’4”, 240;  52 Shakir Soto (JR, 6-3, 265);  48 Zach Poker (SO*, 6-4, 235)

(more…)