Its FINALLY gameday, get HYPE. I wanna see some predictions for the season.

Townsend is a joke and an embarrassment to the university. Why isn’t he sending pep bands to every away game? He also refuses to do anything new at home games. We need to hire a HBCU band director to get things rolling.All I heard all night was SMUs garbage band.

Noon kickoff on ESPN

I am coming up to the burgh from SC with my son and his wife for the Clemson game. We would love to watch a volleyball match while in Pittsburgh. Any advice on the best way to get tickets for either the Friday night FSU game or Sunday UM games? Go hang out at the doors and scalp some? Thanks in advance.

Heard that he's taking his official visit this weekend. Anyone have updates on where we stand with him?

Sorry, guys. I was traveling last week and missed it when my season preview was posted.
It's all still pretty relevant, just ignore the mention of the Navy dual.
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/five-questions-as-pitt-wrestling-prepares-to-open-season

Pitt…nice plugs

You might want to consider that both major party Presidential candidates are having rallies in Pittsburgh on Monday afternoon/evening when deciding when to leave home.

Together with some half assed fake. Punt

Like clockwork all the posters who hid all year, finally come to the board with their childish posts. Most of you could not wait for this to happen

Like a bunch idiots you all come on here ranting and raving. Now SMU is some great team. Pitt played bad as a whole team at the worst time. That is all.

A team that lost for the first time this year, and posters just couldnt wait. You fools are some of the lamest people. Take your sorry asses back where you came.

Prior obligations aren't going to allow me to watch the game at 7 and I see its on ACCN xtra/ESPN+ is there a way to record or watch later by chance that I am not privy to?

The first loss of the season is always difficult to digest....we were not prepared, we made tons of mistakes....etc, etc. I won't bother to rehash the game itself. The worst part of this loss is that it was simply a reality check for this program. I was actually beginning to believe that this team was pretty good. That we could reasonably play with some of the better teams in the country. Yesterday completely destroyed any illusion that we're at remotely close to being a top team. We're miles away from being seriously competitive with any top team. Not only did we get boat raced but anyone who was an impartial observer realized that SMU was better than Pitt at virtually every position on the field. If we played them 10 times we'd be lucky to win one. We need a serious infusion of talent at virtually every position (particularly the lines) in order to be competitive. Given our current posture relative to NIL, it's hard to see how that happens.

Lest this comes across as all doom and gloom, I'll state that we've already exceeded my modest expectations for the year. If we can post a 9 win season that's not too bad. In the greater scheme of Pitt football 9 wins is probably excellent. I guess being a Pitt fan means that you really need to embrace setting low expectations so that you'll be happy slightly exceeding them.

Cruzer

Bickell is obviously the largest donor to A412/Pitt sports. Most here don’t have his $ but many still donate what we can. This is not news to anyone that we obviously don’t have many big fish donors.

We know A412 the former AD etc have not done enough… communication, planning, etc. They have not got other Whales (weather, individuals or corporations) who can make a huge impact.

But what’s the deal with former Panther athletes who have made tons of $? As far as I know A. Donald is the only one to make a significant donation. Patrick Mahomes just donated 5 million to Texas Tech. Guess what??? Larry Fitzgerald (the highest paid WR in NFL history) made 46 Million more than Mahomes as per today, just counting NFL career earnings and as far as I know, he’s never made a large/any donation to Pitt. Check out the NFL career earnings of a few former panthers:

Fitzgerald 182 million, AD 157 million, Revis 125 million, McCoy 61 million, Curtis Martin 47 million.

A few current players: Brian O’Neal 92.5 Mill contract in 2021 with 53.5 Mill at signing. Boyd has made over 47 Mill, Conner over 21 Mill, etc. Check out this article about O’Neill and how he thanked PN for convincing him to move to OT. How about you thank PN with a large donation so he can buy players???


Pitt sports fans have a reputation for being cheap. Why does it seem like most of our millionaire former players seem to take after the fans regarding donations? SMH

But hypothetically speaking, by some kind of biblical miracle, if Pitt were to win out, and Syracuse beats Miami, Pitt would be in the ACC championship game. So, there’s still something to play for, I think.

Did not watch last night's game so the views below are solely based on examining the box score for the game's stats--without being influenced by emotions from having actually watched the game.

1. Terrible 2nd Quarter that began to really go down hill with Saul's missed FG which would have made the score at the time 14-6 vs keeping it at 14-3.

2. Other than the 2nd quarter scoring was roughly even over the other 3 quarters---Pitt 25 pts, SMU 24 pts. The 3rd and 4th quarter results suggest Pitt players did not quit.

3. Total offense SMU 467 yds to Pitt's 453 yds. Based on the theory that an efficient team should score about 1 TD for every 100 yards of offense---Hypothetically the score should have/could have been something more like Pitt 31 -- SMU 34. Obviously, SMU exceeded that 34 by 14 and Pitt failed by 6 of scoring 31.

4. Four fumbles with 1 lost and 1 interception thrown obviously standout as big negatives for Pitt.

5. The two long scoring plays were big for SMU as Pitt won time of possession.

Overall, based on the stats, and given that it was a road game, the loss doesn't look quite as bad to me as the score indicates.

As you all know, through the years I have been one of pat’s biggest detractors. I’m not rehashing that.

The response on here has been a little baffling. It was an ugly game, but also if we are being realistic not a totally unlikely outcome. I didn’t make a prediction because I thought getting blown out was a fairly real possibility, abd that we just aren’t that great.

Here is the bottom line reality. We went 3-9 last year. We implemented a whole new offensive system. Turnarounds take time and starting 7-0 was rather miraculous. Even if we split the last two and finish 9-3 this year is wildly successful. Hopefully the bell offense progresses and grows.

In any case, everyone REALLY needs to chill out a bit.

How bad our recruiting has been for offensive lineman. I mean a team like SMU who plays in a p4 conference for the first time. Has a much better offensive line than we do. The last two wins before this game have made us not notice how bad we our up front.

Got to get two or three quality offensive linemen through the portal and must upgrade our recruiting.

Eli’s confidence is completely shot. What gives me hope is our franchise QB is coming next year in Mason Heinschel. Got to get him playing behind a good offensive line.

Two urban schools, really small enrollments and alumni base. Both had about 35K at their games this weekend. One though was a sellout, the other showcased the aqua colored seats in their stadium.

Though the U has somewhat a national name and following, it still lacks a large fanbase. That is why the ACC is 3rd in the TV pecking order compared to the SEC and Big 10.

I recall a Baylor beat down of MSU several years back in the first half. The most dangerous lead is a large one. We seriously need to move the ball though and I have lost complete faith in Eli. Please prove me wrong