PITT’S WHITEHEAD NAMED SPORTING NEWS FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICAN

    PITTSBURGH—Pitt safety Jordan Whitehead added another prestigious postseason honor today when he was named to the Sporting News Freshman All-America Team.

This is the latest recognition for Whitehead, a product of Aliquippa, Pa., and Central Valley High School. His additional postseason honors include:

USA TODAY Freshman All-America Team

Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year (media)

Atlantic Coast Conference Co-Rookie of the Year (coaches; shared with Pitt tailback Qadree Ollison)

Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Rookie of the Year (coaches and media)

All-ACC (third team selection; coaches and media)

The Panthers’ leading tackler this season, Whitehead has compiled 99 stops. His average of 8.2 tackles per game ranks ninth in the ACC and he is the only freshman among the league’s top 20 tacklers.

Whitehead’s 99 tackles are the most by a Pitt true freshman in 28 years, dating back to defensive lineman Marc Spindler in 1987. Spindler had 106 tackles during the ‘87 season and is the only Pitt true freshman to compile 100 stops.     The last time a true or redshirt freshman led Pitt in tackles for the season was in 1999 when free safety Ramon Walker, a redshirt frosh, had 131 stops.

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A little more from Justin Morgan on his flip from Rutgers to Pitt.

“My family, you know, they had a big impact,” Morgan, the 6-7, 340-pound senior told NJ.com. “They helped change my mind a lot about my decision.”

Morgan says his decision was based on the comfort he felt throughout the weekend.

“I don’t know, I mean, I feel comfortable,” said Morgan. “I feel like that’s family. Like when I went there, everybody just jelled, right. Everyone got along with one another. Everybody showed love.”

Damn hippies.

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Mentioned briefly this morning that a Rutgers verbal, Justin Morgan, visited Pitt over the weekend and may be a flip to Pitt.

Welp.

#H2P #Panthers pic.twitter.com/uzwAgJxkms

— Juicy J (@_heavyhittajus) December 14, 2015

PITT IS IT! H2P ??????

— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) December 14, 2015

New #Pitt OL commit Justin Morgan after his visit: "My mother liked Pitt a lot, and whatever a mother says, you can't go against that."

— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) December 14, 2015

I’m sure Rutgers fans are taking it all in stride with Pitt doing what it can to poach some of their verbals after a change in head coaches. I mean, it’s not like they can’t claim the high ground after Wannstedt was fired in 2009.

As Rutgers moves forward with a new coaching staff, they finally realized they may have missed on a couple guys in their own state. As such, they began a late run at Pitt verbal Maurice Ffrench.

Pitt countered. Hard.

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4pm ESPN3.

So much that needed to be completed today. Out of the house early. Just got back, so sorry about the lack of timeliness.

Pitt will probably have a very light crowd as the semester comes to its end and the Steelers were playing at 1pm.

Is anyone all that surprised Jim Chaney took off (or was helped on his way) this morning? I wasn’t.  I had the following Facebook private message conversation with another Pitt football fan at 8:41 am on Friday morning:

Jeff, the real point was what I’ve heard about Narduzzi and Chaney. I just wouldn’t be surprised if Chaney was gone in a year or two. Narduzzi took a big gamble on letting Chaney run with Peterman and it just worked out toward the end of the year.

However, to fire an Ass’t Coach means buying out their contract and that is big $$$. But we saw publicly some tension between Narduzzi and Chaney on the sideline (and with Narduzzi’s rather snide “You’ll have to ask Chaney that” and I’ve been told it was worse in the locker room and clubhouse.

I didn’t write about it on the Blather because I don’t do that unless it this type of information is made public in another forum first.  But there were signs of discontent with the coaches both on and off the field.

Last month the fine sports blog Cardiac Hill had a good take on what transpired between Narduzzi and Jim Chaney at the end of the 1^st half against North Carolina:

…Even the coaches had serious issues. Major miscommunication cost the team approximately ten crucial seconds at the end of the first half when driving to potentially score some points. Pat Narduzzi appeared livid with offensive coordinator John Chaney as Nathan Peterman looked to the sidelines for a play call. Pitt was forced to use a timeout. That proved costly as the Panthers needed another timeout as they simply ran out of time and weren’t able to get the ball into the end zone or spike it for a field goal attempt.

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7pm ESPN3.

I have to skip the live viewing tonight as there is a rare night out with the wife sans children. Of course I plan to use this sacrifice to my benefit this evening. Just haven’t decided how, as yet.

Eastern Washington is actually Pitt’s first opponent in the Gotham Classic. Which will culminate (sort of) in facing Davidson at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, December 20.

The Panthers (6-1) will have three home games as part of the Gotham Classic, starting tonight when they play host to Eastern Washington (5-4). Pitt also will play Morehead State (Sunday) and Western Carolina (Dec. 23) in home games over the next two weeks as part of the event.

A little odd, but okay.

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Before we get serious here – have fun with this…

News out of the Southside today is that there have been some discussions about players discussing transfers with the coaching staff.  Not too surprising is that the first to surface is Chad Voytik’s discussion with Pat Narduzzi.  Sam Werner has tweeted this on the subject:

Narduzzi says he has had “a little bit” of discussion with QB Chad Voytik about possible graduate transfer. #Pitt.

Werner then followed that tweet with this:

Narduzzi: “Chad knows we want him here, but we want what’s best for Chad, too. I know it’s not easy being a backup quarterback.”

This isn’t earthshaking news really. I think most Pitt fans figured that once this staff sat Voytik down onto the bench in favor of transfer-in QB Nate Peterman that Voytik would be looking around.

Personally I felt that Voytik would stay the course and either try to win the starting job back or be the solid #2 QB ready to go in place of Peterman if needed.  In my opinion Voytik doesn’t have a solid shot at a starting job in a D1 school as he really isn’t that talented of a QB to just waltz in and grab that position from an imcumbent

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That didn’t take long. On the heels of being the only new coach in a major conference to improve upon the previous season’s work, football Head Coach Pat Narduzzi has received a contract extension.

Two years will be added to Narduzzi’s original five-year agreement, ensuring he will remain the Panthers’ head coach through at least the 2021 season. Financial terms and other contractual details were not disclosed.

“Pat Narduzzi has adrenalized Pitt football on and off the field,” Barnes said. “We are proud of what our program has accomplished this season. Moreover, we’re excited about what our student-athletes can continue to achieve–on the field, in the classroom and in the community–under Pat’s long-term leadership.”

“I’m greatly appreciative and humbled by the support and faith that Scott Barnes and Chancellor Patrick Gallagher have shown me,” Narduzzi said. “The University of Pittsburgh is an incredible place with incredible people. My family and I plan to make Pittsburgh our home for a very long time and we’re glad the leadership at Pitt feels the same way. It is an honor to serve as Pitt’s head football coach and I’m continuously energized by what we can, and will, accomplish here.”

Yes, yes, we all know. These contracts mean nothing as far as really keeping a coach if a bigger school wants to unload the dump truck of cash. Yada, yada.

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Reed’s Take:

The bottom line is that Annapolis is one of the best places to watch college football in the US.  The city itself is an historic treasure and the Naval Academy, it’s alumni and Midshipmen are great hosts to visiting fans.  Below is a ton of info about the Bowl game and associated issues.  There will be a lot to do.  One thing I highly recommend is that you take the opportunity to work in a visit to the Naval Academy itself.  Visiting there is a pretty formalized because so many people do it every day.

Here is the link to the Armel-Leftwich Visitors Center and some more additional info and numbers to call if you plan on getting more info. I will say this – if you go to the Main Chapel (ADM John Paul Jones is buried here)…

Adm John Paul Jones’ Crypt

and to the Naval Museum on campus be prepared for the waterworks to start… at least they always do for me.  The Naval Cemetery is impressive as hell also.

I plan on visiting in late morning on Sunday and because I am a retired Coastie can park on the Academy grounds at the Visitors Center – I can take three guests with me if anyone is interested – you just have to have valid photo IDs.

Our favorite restaurant/pub in Annapolis is the Irish pub Galway Bay but there are a ton of good and interesting places to eat and drink.  Sometimes the weather in late December isn’t all that bad so don’t hesitate to go down Main Street and walk around the dock harbor.   You’ll see that statue of Alex Haley, author of “Roots” and who was on active duty with the US Coast Guard when he wrote that book (way before my time you jagoffs). Also  check out this small museum, the Waterfront Warehouse, for in-depth history of Annapolis and immediate region.

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The disadvantages of playing in the Military Bowl are obvious.

Considered a second tier bowl, by all standards.

Daytime, weekday game: Monday, December 28 at 2:30pm.

Being passed over by the ACC tier one bowl partners for teams with lesser records — two of whom Pitt beat head-to-head.

Opponent that is not from one of the other four major conferences.

An opponent that is hardly a rare occurence for Pitt in Navy.

Playing virtual road game in the bowl by facing Navy in Annapolis.

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Dec. 6, 2015

Bowl Central

   PITTSBURGH–For the eighth consecutive season and 32^nd time overall, the Pitt football team is headed to a bowl game.

The Panthers received their official invite this afternoon from the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman and will play Navy of the American Athletic Conference in Annapolis, Md. The ESPN nationally televised game, which benefits the USO, will be played in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Monday, Dec. 28, and kick off at 2:30 p.m. (ET).

“The Military Bowl is a tremendous opportunity for our team to end the season against a nationally ranked opponent,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Navy is a Top 25 team with a Heisman-caliber quarterback in Keenan Reynolds. They will present us with a formidable challenge.

“Given our close proximity to Annapolis, we are looking for a great contingent of Pitt fans to make the short trek and see us play one more time this year.”

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Basketball will still be played tonight.

7pm on something called CBS Sports Network. It’s a real channel, I’m told.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Duquesne may have a chance this year.

They pounded on Penn State a week or so ago. They don’t suck as bad as they have. They have even started running a bit of smack for this game.

It enters this City Game with some inherent advantages it didn’t have in the past, particularly if the speedier Dukes can dictate the pace against a Pitt team that’s statistically among the 30 slowest tempo-wise in Division I.

“We’ve got a lot of speed and quickness, more than them,” Colter said. “They’re slower than us. We can push the tempo on them a lot, especially in transition, where we can get open 3s and open shots for everybody else.”

Yes, because there is such a history of teams with higher tempo being able to dictate pace. (more…)

Fuck.

Pardon me.

FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKF
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I mean, what else can you say.

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Hope everyone had a good holiday break. It’s been hectic.

Big week for Pitt. Starting with Purdue at home courtesy of the Big 10/ACC Challenge. When the pairings were announced in the offseason, both were projected as middle-of-the pack teams in their conferences.

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