Late in the game, he dropped back and either tripped, or fell over out of exhaustion.
He had to be outa gas and mentally spent….
Loved our “D”….

This kind of feels like releasing a bunch of elk within a 4-acre area with a fenced-in perimeter and then letting a bunch of wealthy businessmen trying to experience a fleeting rush of masculinity pay to "hunt" them.

Anyone going to the SMU game? If so, where are you sitting. Torn between buying through Pitt or getting good seats behind the team, Thanks!

Hail to Pitt!

Dave

I think Louisville will beat them by 21.

How can MetLife have the coolest Navy logo at mid field while our mid field logo / branding at Acrisure looks like complete small time trash? Such BS as the Steelers aren’t playing until Monday night.

Having slept (quite nicely I might add) on our victory last night thought I'd post a few random thoughts about the game and the team:

1. That was the most impressive defensive performance I can remember from a Pitt team in many many years. Defensively, we beat the Cuse in every way possible. Our D Line and LB's played by far their best game. Holding Syracuse to 6 net yards rushing is insane. More importantly, the pressure we put on McCord really rattled him.

2. Sometimes things work out; When we lost 2 starting LB's from last years team and a D tackle I have to admit I was worried. Obviously, my fears were not justified. Our current LB's are far better then the guys they replaced. I can't help thinking that not only are we better in the short term but we're way better off in the long term getting these young LB's playing time. They are going to be a true force to be reckoned with next year.

3. I sound like a broken record but man is Ben Sauls money or what? The guy is a machine. What a weapon.

4. As good as our defense was, our offense still wasn't clicking yesterday. We only managed 13 first downs and only rushed for 73 net yards. You could say that Eli was efficient passing the ball (16-22) but only managed 144 yards passing. He did have 2 nice TD throws but overall, the offense still wasn't really in sync. Maybe time of possession had an impact since we only had the ball for 18 minutes. Still, we're going to need to improve on offense to beat some of the teams we'll be facing in the next few weeks.

5. Great job from our coaches putting the defense in the right spots to make all those picks. Nice mix of blitz and coverage.

6. One criticism...why on earth was Eli in the game so late and why is he running at that point? No possible benefit and a lot of risk (as we saw).

7. The team is starting to generate some serious media buzz. If we can keep this going we'll be in the conversation about playoff teams (which should help recruiting and donations).

This is the first Pitt team in a long time to dramatically over- perform relative to my expectations. It's been a blast so far. Keep it going.

Cruzer

Chief Borders - he had a fantastic game last night. He held contain and pressured the QB all night.

Jordan Bass- This young man plays his heart out and just keeps getting better and better.

Braylon Lovelace- great read on the pic 6 and again is there even a second team? All three of these players can start.

Fitzsimmons - his importance to the defensive line can't be over stated. The vast improvement really became evident when he returned.

These are my top four. Unsung heroes.

Such a stupid stat. Why do they keep showing it ? It’s completely uninteresting and meaningless.

Turning 70 on Saturday, had a great day today to start the weekend, let's just sat that this drubbing of cuse, was just a capper to a great day. Hopefully now it turns into a great weekend.

Family dinner tomorrow evening, and then early morning 100 mi commute on Saturday to grandsons soccer game, back home to hit craft brewery on Saturday. This is 3 weeks and a day into my partial knee replacement, but it is not gonna hamper this weekend.

Hail to Pitt

Anyone going to SMU and if so where are people sitting? It looks like 218-220 is Pitt section so I was thinking maybe below that like 120 might be good. 123-128 is student section so figured at least have a few section buffer from that too. I do find it interesting they put their students behind the visiting bench. Seems like a recipe for trouble.

In this week's 3-2-1 Column, we're thinking about Pitt's win over Syracuse, the season so far, standout individual performances, the polls and more.

Remember when Rutgers was 4-0?


🤣

SU’s coach kept his QB in a lost game and the guy took a physical and mental beating for most of his 93 plays. Why? Did he promise him he’d stay in to pad his stats with another 300 yard game?

Curious if McCord’s play drops off now based on what the sharks and the rest of the guys did to him over and over again last night. Was he hit 20 times? 25? Stupid IMO.

On the Pitt side, Eli needed plays to regain his confidence and “rhythm” (cliche but accurate) and Pitt just never had the ball.

I think it made sense to keep him in there running the offense to fight through the Cal hangover. He really didn’t play much.

I guess the details will soon come out but PN hinted that Eli got something in his eye on that last play and that he was “jumping around” later (which indicates no concussion or neck issue).

Thought on QB usage?

Pick 6!!!!

Nahki Johnson, Elliot Donald, and Derick Davis….3 of the WPIALs finest from 2020. Just shows me if we want to be in Top 25 must recruit Florida, Georgia, Jersey, and VA hard for high school kids plus the Portal.

Pitt won a 5 set thriller against #4 Louisville tonight at the Fieldhouse! I watch/follow Fisher’s team a lot and they are incredibly impressive. But admittedly, I know very little about volleyball. Any idea why in the 5th and deciding set so many of Pitt’s stars were out of the game? For much of the set Fairbanks, Vazquez-Gomez, and even Babcock were out. I didn’t even recognize a few of the players in at crunch time. Just curious. H2P! Crowd looked amazing on tv!

That line was the last before the game last night. I'm guessing it'll move, but I was surprised to see it that high. This week is no time to get cocky

Kyle McCord just threw another pick 6. That’s all.

Let’s F IN GO

8-0

NO Retreat NO Surrender!!!!!!!!!!

If you had told me Cuse would have the ball for 41 minutes hold us to 217 total yards of offense run 50 more plays than us before the game I would have thought we got our asses handed to us, the last thing I would have anticipated that it would be a stress free night of watching the Panthers:

1. Credit the defensive coaches and their game plan. It was obvious going into the game that Bates was not going to let McCord get comfortable in the pocket, that the receivers were not going to get free releases and the LB's were going jump the shorter and medium routes. Going into the game, McCord was getting a ton of hype, and rightfully so, as being an elite pocket passer with uncanny accuracy especially on third downs. By the end of the night, McCord was shell shocked in dire need of therapy.

2. Look you can have the best game planning but you need players to execute and what Bates has is some elite athletic linebackers. I'm not sure we've seen a more athletic group of LB's in 20 years. Biles and Louis are unique in that they can cover Tight ends and protect the middle of the field, they are dynamic blitzers and are great at reading runs. Special players. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Lovelace and Bass as well. Strength of this d.

3. The defense won all three levels and that bodes really well going forward. With the DL healthy, Syracuse could not move the ball on the ground at all and the also pushed the pocket and re-established the line of the scrimmage all game long, the linebackers were stupidly good, and the CB's continued their sticky coverage. Ryland Gandy continues to be Pitt's shut down corner and has the potential to play on Sundays. Every yard was contested, every play Cuse made required major effort. I just loved the way this defense played. Absolutely did not concede anything to the Orange offense.

4. It's funny I haven't been to a live game yet this year and we are 7-0. Just saying. And don't jump on me my tickets always go to my old Pitt roommates who live in Pittsburgh. Will be there for the last two home games although my being there might be a bad omen.

5. Midway through the first half I texted a buddy "Holstein isn't seeing the field well". 11 for 15 with 2 TD's isn't awful but Holstein looks a little tentative in the pocket. I'm not sure how concerned we should be with the offense. Part of it yesterday was that Syracuse had the ball so much after all the pick sixes but I don't see the OL opening running lanes and the entire offense seems to have regressed. Don't want to read too much into that after smoking Cuse 41-13 but something to watch.

6. I don't know, maybe it's me but if I'm a head coach and my QB has thrown 4 Int's in the first half and he's getting pounded in the pocket I might make a change just for the kid's psyche. Not really sure why Brown kept McCord in the game.

7. The interception by George was insane. How he saw the ball laying on the turf and have it not hit the ground is beyond me. I haven't seen SC yet but has to be top 5 plays last night.

8. There isn't a FG in the country I would trade for Ben Sauls. With all the horrific FG kicking in the country boy it's nice to have that safety blanket.

9. There is no question that Pitt is not getting respected nationally. Everywhere you look pundits are talking about SMU, Miami, Clemson. I mean Pitt controls it's destiny and yet their is a palpable lack of respect for what we are doing. I say good. Please continue. The D is getting better and better. They have elite special teams and can score. You think these players don't realize they are getting disrespected? You think Narduzzi isn't noticing? We will be underdogs against SMU and our team is taking it personally.

10. The refs were non factors in this game aside from a really bad roughing the passer call on us which negated a Cuse interception.

That's all I got today, have to get ready for my day job. 7-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stress free Saturday of CFB viewing. Yes siree.

Pitt82

2 of us going to the game. Where to stay where the nightlife and action is?

BC is bombing L'Ville or at least they are up by a couple of TDs in the 3rd Quarter. It is confusing? At half time, the announcer talked a bit about Pitt beating Cuse.