Virginia is not a good football program. They were a unanimous pick in every publication, in every every preseason poll — coaches and media — to finish last. Not simply in the Coastal division, but the ACC as a whole.

They are a mess. Mike London is a dead coach walking. They are 1-3. That one win coming against the 1-AA William & Mary Fightin’ Jon Stewarts. And even then, they had to hold on for that win.

And yet…

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Here is a three week late start for the Pitt Blather’s “Monday Morning Quarterback” series.  There was so much going on with the new staff and the QB competition and rotation through the first three games I forgot to start writing these.  If you remember the MMQB format is three points of Positives, three Negatives and then Notes.) Here goes.

(This is the first article in a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”.   I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.) 

A few things stuck with me Saturday afternoon as I left a Blather friend’s house after watching Pitt’s 17-13 win over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.  First was that it is very nice to get a conference win any way we can get it, and that is just what we did.  Second is that no matter how a game turns out, good, bad, or middling, Pitt fans find things to worry and complain about.  Check out the Game Thread posts if you don’t believe that.

I say this because I watched the game with three new friends who are long time (suffering) Pitt fans who, to a man, are convinced we’ll be a 8-10 win team this season… yet they were also sure, down to Pitt’s victory formation out of the huddle, that we were going to lose that game.  Imagine that, Reed, who predicted 6-6 season and a close Pitt loss against VT calming those guys down off the ledge in the 4^th quarter and assuring them we were going to come out with a win.  Life is strange, eh?  Of course, watching our balls to the wall defense kick the Hokies’ collective asses at every turn help my confidence we’d win a bit also.  Which leads us to…

POSITIVES:

1.  We may be seeing a rising and complete 180 degree reversal from the 2014 team in that we are currently relying on our defense to win games for us and that is what they are doing… with an excellent shut down effort on Saturday.

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Feels good. As much as Pitt has dominated VT in wins in this and the previous decade, Pitt last won in Lane Stadium back in 2002 — or half-a-dozen non-interim coaches ago.

Pitt won the game with defense and just enough offense. An energized and enthusiastic defense that had former players looking on with envy.

I wish I would have played in coach Narduzzi defense omg!!!! #H2P #goodwin

— Toddy thomas (@Toddythomas8) October 3, 2015

Ejuan Price had the kind of game that made him a highly sought recruit several years and injuries ago. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year. He deserves it after everything — and boy, does he help make that defense more dangerous up front.

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It’s cold and wet all over the East and into the midwest. A noon start to go with it. So, so grateful that this is a road game. At least that keeps us from being treated to pictures of a mostly empty Heinz Field. It will be curious to see just how full Lane Stadium is, given the weather, the start time and the malaise hitting the fans following a loss to ECU.

Pitt should come out ready to go for this one. The bye week after a tough loss. It feels weird typing that. Normally, I would be expecting Pitt to be somewhat flat. Especially under the numerous other former head coaches. But with Pat Narduzzi and this staff, I just think the energy is going to be higher. As if the whole team has been chomping at the bit to get back out on the field.

Of course, I could just be projecting.

If you are in the Pittsburgh area, the game is on Root. It can be found on a lot of sports channels today, and ESPN3.

As Adam Bisnowaty pointed out, Pitt has won five of the past six against Virginia Tech (although the last loss to the Hokies was in their house in 2013). With Pitt traveling to Hokieland this Saturday, the time is ripe for Pitt to join the conversation for ACC Coastal division contenders. The Hokies are coming off of another loss to East Carolina, will be missing their best player on defense, and has an offense struggling to run the ball. As I mentioned Tuesday, this is a game Pitt must win if the goal is to be Coastal contenders.

But, even a wounded VT squad is dangerous. There’s too much pride on the line for the Hokies to lie down. Let’s look at what Beamerball’s squad has to offer. (more…)

When last we checked in with our friends at The Key Play, the defense was expected to be terrifying, Mike Brewer was going to be toughing it out as QB, and the running back situation was unclear except that it would be a group effort that needed to be sorted. Well, here we are a little more than two months later and one of those things is still true.

Pierson and I have had another exchange of pleasantries. You can find my answers to his inquiries over at The Key Play. His responses follow:

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