3:30 pm

ESPN

Happy post-Thanksgiving. Family has been a bit overwhelming this week. Starting to unwind from it all. I hope. Well, sort of. Have to be out all day right up until gametime.

If this were the NFL, then this would be a meaningless game. Pitt would be locked into their opening round opponent. Everything is set. This would be the game where fans and media debate the value of resting starters and making sure everyone is healthy for next week’s game.

Thankfully, this isn’t the NFL.

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(Or if you find yourself too nervous to watch directly at first Pitt basketball is scheduled at the same time. 12 pm. ACC NE/ESPN3.)

12pm.

Plenty of RSNs (including AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh, NBC Sports Washington, NESN, YES, SportsTime Ohio, and multiple regional Fox Sports channels).

Scary story about a problem with a small plane carrying Pitt Cheerleaders and others having to turn back and make an emergency landing yesterday. Everyone is fine, and now at Winston-Salem for the game today.

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Game for Saturday against VT in Heinz Field has been announced.

3:30 pm. ESPNU coverage.

Here’s the bad.

Pitt’s offense is utterly, completely and without a doubt. Completely one-dimensional.

Pitt’s defense cannot stop a good passing game.

Pitt is still not even bowl-eligible at 5-4.

Now the good.

That single dimension of the offense is really, really good.

Pitt likely doesn’t face another passing offense as good as even Duke’s over the remaining three games.

Pitt is 4-1 in the ACC and alone in first place in the ACC Coastal Division.

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7:30 pm

ESPN2.

Sorry. Late day at work. Rushed home. Wolfed down some beer and sipped on some food. Just about ready for this.

Not a lot to write, mainly because I have no time to type it.

Suffice to say that the winner is in control of their own destiny for the Coastal crown. Let the chaos continue.

Duke out-stupided Pitt.

That’s about as succinct a summary of this past weekend’s game as I can offer.

It was a cold, wet and miserable evening on an especially muted and somber day. And on a better day. A nicer day, the absolute stupidity of the game. The ridiculousness of it all. Well, it might have been a lot more amusing and fun as it was happening.

Instead, with the backdrop of Squirrel Hill. With the dismal weather. There was an undercurrent of anger and still more frustration at was happening on the field.

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3:30 pm

Various RSNs.

A 3:30 start for this game has everyone confused. Even the ACC affiliate site still lists it as a 1:00 start. It isn’t, I’ve checked a few times to be sure this isn’t some sick joke.

Figures, though. A 3:30 start time at home for Pitt; and it is supposed to be a miserable, damp day. Which former AD do I blame for this?

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2:30 pm

NBC or the NBC stream.

It’s been a week. Quite literally, since I last posted. Been one of those weeks with work, kids. Life in general. Hell, I have to miss most of the game because my wife is off camping with my daughter and I was conscripted to take my son to one of his Boy Scout events. Yay.

And of course, Pitt hasn’t had the best week leading up to today.

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12:20 pm.

Raycom Affiliates and The ACCDN.

Oh, boy. Full Raycom for a second time.

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Feel like talking about the game with Syracuse this weekend? It’s homecoming… Throwback unis…

Yeah, not really feeling it.

Especially when USA Today published their annual college football coaches survey.

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Torn between rage and apathy. Very odd sensation. At the moment, I’ve drifted back to rage.

Right now Pitt football is a complete mess. The offense has played 3 good halves in 5 games. The defense is being consistently shredded; and even when it shows moments of competence, it can’t stop stepping on its own dick. Special teams… whatever.

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3:30-ish, ESPNU.

Do I feel a little checked-out on this game? Yeah. Kind of. This game may determine just how checked-out I am for the rest of the way.

UCF flat out has a great offense, and Pat Narduzzi’s mindless speculation as to its reality as compared to UNC, only made it more ridiculous.

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I’ve held off writing/posting anything for a few days, because I really needed to be calmer about things. I also needed to climb out of the “Black Pit of Negative Expectations.”

The BPONE is a state of mind in which no part of a football game is enjoyable because it is merely a prelude to some pratfall made more embarrassing and or painful by whatever minimal, temporary successes are experienced prior to the pratfall.

…

Alcohol will not improve anything but will be consumed in quantity anyway.

At some point repeated defeats will create an OMINPRESENT BLACK PIT of NEGATIVE EXPECTATIONS. OBPONE is a severe condition with consequences such as writer’s block, writer’s block, and writer’s block. The only cure for OBPONE is a new season, but yo-yo-ing in and out of OBPONE makes individual occurrences of BPONE more severe.

This state could also be used to describe almost the entirety of  the Stallings Era.

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12:00 pm.

Raycom affiliates and ACCDN.

Get excited for this broadcast folks. This is a full-on Raycom production. No ESPN affiliation for this one. We could have a real throwback in terms of production values and missed camera shots. I didn’t fully realize the extent until I started looking around for the links. For the older folks, we are talking legendary Jefferson-Pilot possibilities.

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Pitt is not cursed against UNC. Just as Beamer’s Hokies weren’t cursed against Pitt. It may feel that way. it may have the fans (and perhaps some players) a bit spooked. Not the easiest thing to type when Pitt is 0-5 against the Tar Heels since coming into the ACC.

Yet, Pitt has never lost to them by more then 7 points. The last two years have come down to losing thanks to poor defense and a fumble. I suppose that is what contributes to the sense. It’s one thing to lose a bunch of times. And to be blown out in a few. But to always be within one score, but not get there. That can cause you to look for other reasons.

UNC is not as bad as they were last year, but they aren’t that good either. They got to avoid playing UCF last week because of the uncertainty surrounding Hurricane Florence, but no one is forgetting how they got destroyed by ECU two weeks ago.

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Sorry about the tardiness.

The GT-Pitt game, on a personal level was a lot of fun. Taking the time with my son to sit in the stands. Not fully tethered to twitter, on-line stats and the actual game sort of made it relaxing. Aside from those final seven minutes or so, when things got tight.

Getting to cheer. Scream. Everything. My son, at one point after I screamed about a questionable call looked at me and said, “I forgot how loud you can get during games.”

Just a great day and a good time with my kid. The flat tire at twighlight on the turnpike on the way home, however, I could have done without.

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