Do we expect any staff turnover? With the coaches convention wrapped up, national championship game in a few days and signing day coming up on 2/7 (not sure that even matters any longer), we normally hear about changes. Do you expect to see any this cycle?

Lots of thoughts all over the board, so I thought I would mention a few things that stood out to me from last night's game:

- Pitt scored consecutive points on just three occasions: a 7-0 run in the first half that gave the Panthers their only lead; a Lowe three and a Corhen put-back in the second half; and Cummings' back-to-back transition layups. That's it. Duke scored consecutive points six times - and that's before the final 8 minutes, when the Blue Devils scored all of the points.

- Pitt only attempted 6 three-pointers in the first half. Attempted - not made. That's not this team's game. It's not how they typically play, and it's certainly not how they win. I think the shooters were open, but they were getting passes. Duke collapsed on the guards driving, but Pitt was never able to make the Blue Devils pay for it.

- That said, I was kind of surprised to see that Lowe and Leggett had three assists each in the first half.

- I was less surprised to see that those two combined for one assist in the second half.

- The final 8 minutes were a blowout that kind of rendered a lot of earlier events moot, but there were several segments where Pitt missed some big opportunities. In the first half, Duke was up 30-21 when Corhen got a steal and threw ahead to Austin. But Austin traveled on the fast break. Then, over the next 90 seconds, Corhen and Leggett both missed the front end of one-and-one's; that's six wasted points in a nine-point game on the road against a top-five opponent.

- Lowe and Leggett are Pitt's best players because they're able to put the team on their backs, and that's what they tried to do last night. Oftentimes, it works. Last night, it didn't. But they never seemed to adjust to Duke collapsing in the paint.

That said, I think it's pretty remarkable that those two combined to shoot just one free throw in the entire game. One. And that wasn't even a shooting foul. Lowe and Leggett combined to attempt 11 layups officially (they made 3) and while seemingly every one of those layup attempts involved them driving into a wall of Duke players, they didn't get a single call.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter when you give up an 18-0 run and lose by 29. But it's still pretty remarkable that they didn't get one shooting foul.

- Really, though, layups weren't the best approach against Duke's defense anyway. As a team, Pitt was 7-of-19 on layups (and two of those makes were in transition, although the fact that Pitt only got two transition layups is notable, too). It's just tough to attack like that against the size and length that Duke has. The ball needed to be kicked out, but for whatever reason, that wasn't the game plan.

- We also saw the rotation shorten considerably last night. No Papa Amadou Kante or Amsal Delalic at all, and Jorge Diaz Graham played 7 minutes - 5 in the first half and 2 in the second half when Zack Austin got hurt.

- Of course, none of this changes what happened last night, what happened in the previous 14 games or what needs to happen on Saturday and beyond. Pitt is still a really good team. Lowe and Leggett will be better. The shooters are still dangerous. Dunn's return is a big boost. And Corhen keeps improving (he might have been the only thing approaching a bright spot last night).

Played 3 teams Ohio St Oregon Nd. Lost all 3!!!!!!!!

Nd isn’t even that good. Banged up. Will be a 6 point underdog no matter who they play

Ugh

With FSU, Clemson, and Syracuse all of a sudden become very very important after losing to Louisville yesterday. This Pitt team has to be careful right now these next few weeks or they are gonna slowly find themselves near the bubble. They have dropped 22 spots in the NET over the last 4-5 weeks going from 5 to now at 27. I don’t wanna sit here and say these next 3 games at FSU, home to Clemson and at Syracuse are all Must win games. But you better at least go 2-1 in this stretch at the absolute worst. Anything less then that is gonna put Pitt probably in the mid 30’s in the NET and drop them down to probably around the 8-10 seeding line with a downward trajectory.

So at this point I still think they are okay as far as being safely in the tournament. However, anything less then 2-1 in these next 3 games and we are gonna be having a different conversation as far as being safely in the field is concerned come 2 weeks from now going into the last week of January.

I watched this and it was great.

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Looks like the only thing that's going to make this Super Bowl interesting is to make some bets, what's everyone initial thoughts? Depending on the book KC is anywhere between -1 to -2.5, I can see either team winning by 5 or 6.

Now that the portal has closed for Pitt players, we can sort of start to take where the Panthers roster is from the guys set to return, the incoming 2025 class, plus the three players who have committed out of the portal to this point.

The roster situation changes next season. Currently, college football teams can have rosters of 120, with 85 players on scholarship. That is expected to change with 105 total roster spots, and you can put all 105 on scholarship, though I’m guessing some schools will maintain some commitment to having spots for walk-ons too.

But seeing the roster laid out like this should help paint a better picture in terms of what Pitt still needs from its remaining portal efforts. Obviously, DE looks to be at the top of the list, with OLine and WR help not far behind.

Then obviously, they need to close with some depth options at places like QB, TE, and DB as well.


Quarterback (3)

1. Eli Holstein Soph.
2. Julian Dugger R-FR
3. Mason Heintschel FR

Running Back (7)

1. Derrick Davis SR
2. Demond Reid SR
3. Che Nwabuko JR
4. Juelz Goff R-FR
5. Synkwan Smith FR
6. Jaylin Brown FR
7. Jykyrian Turner FR

Wide Receiver (10)

1. Raphael Williams SR
2. Censere Lee SR
3. Deuce Spann SR (Transfer)
4. Kenny Johnson JR
5. Zion Fowler-El Soph.
6. Cameron Monteiro R-FR
7. Tyreek Robinson R-FR
8. Tony Kinsler FR
9. Bryce Yates FR
10. Cameron Sapp FR

Tight End (4)

1. Jake Overman SR
2. Jake Renda Jr.
3. Malachi Thomas SO
4. Max Hunt FR

Offensive Line (18)

1. Lyndon Cooper SR
2. Terrence Enos SR
3. Kendall Stanley JR (Transfer)
4. Ryan Baer JR
5. Jackson Brown JR
6. Isaiah Montgomery JR
7. BJ Williams JR
8. Ryan Carretta SO
9. Tai Ray SO
10. Adham Abouraya R-FR
11. Jiavani Cooley R-FR
12. Caleb Holmes R-FR
13. Mason Lindsay R-FR
14. Moritz Schmoranzer R-FR
15. Shep Turk FR
16. Akram Elnagmi FR
17. Torian Chester FR
18. Jordan Fields FR

Defensive Tackle (7)

1. Nick James JR
2. Sean FitzSimmons JR
3. Isaiah Neal SO
4. Francis Brewu SO
5. Jahsear Whittington R-FR
6. Ty Yuhas R-FR
7. Trevor Sommers FR

Defensive End (6)

1. Nate Temple SR (Assuming he gets waiver)
2. Jimmy Scott JR
3. Maverick Gracio SO
4. Zach Crothers R-FR
5. Denim Cook FR
6. Julian Anderson FR

Linebacker (9)

1. Nick Lapi SR
2. Kyle Louis JR
3. Braylan Lovelace JR
4. Rasheem Biles JR
5. Davin Brewton R-FR
6. Cameron Lindsey R-FR
7. Jeremiah Marcelin R-FR
8. Justin Thompson FR
9. Emmanuel Taylor FR

Cornerback (7)

1. Tamon Lynun SR
2. Rashad Battle SR
3. Shadarian Harrison SO
4. Nigel Maynard R-FR
5. Davion Pritchard R-FR
6. Mason Alexander FR
7. Shawn Lee FR

Safety (6)

1. Javon McIntyre SR
2. Jesse Anderson SO
3. Cruce Brookins SO
4. Allen Bryant R-FR
5. Joshua Guerrier FR
6. Cole Woodson FR

Specialist (3)

1. Caleb Junko SR
2. Nilay Upadhyayula SR
3. James London JR

To add to the list Chris posted about yesterday....

Joey Zelinski, a 6-4 250-pound DE from Eastern Michigan tells me he is also visiting right now. Zelinsky would have one year to play and is a Pennsylvania native, and attended Blue Mountain HS, the same HS as Gavin Bartholomoew. Zelinsky was a senior when Gavin was a junior in HS, so they were former teammates...

He had 67 tackles, 11.5 TFLs, and 3.5 sacks the past two seasons for EMU.

with losses to Clemson and Syracuse will give Pitt BB the distinction of equalizing the Pitt FB 6 losses in a row. It's definitely in the cards as I think losing to Clemson is very likely come Saturday.

With the Pitt basketball team breaking its four-game losing streak and the Pitt football team getting a big transfer on the offensive line, it was a good weekend for the Panthers and we're breaking it all down on the Monday edition of the Morning Pitt.

I am 2 for 2 in predicting the season's outcome based on early-ish home game results.

2 years ago, I said the winner of our home game vs Wake would make the NCAAT and the loser would not. That turned out to be true.

Last year, after the Missouri loss, which at the time, really wasnt a terrible loss, I said if Pitt loses the next game (home vs Clemson), we won't make the NCAAT. It was early December but I didnt see enough Q1 opportunities left on the schedule. Turns out I was right and we missed it by 1 game.

So, I am attempting to go 3 for 3. If we win tomorrow, we will make the NCAAT. If we lose, we will not. Even if we lose, the WVU/OSU wins have given us so much capital that we still can potentially go 11-9 and make as the schedule eases up in February but I fear that a loss tomorrow will continue their slide. Confidence is big in college basketball. 1 game can make a huge difference. If we win tomorrow, I think we win 3 of the next 4 to get to 7-4 and are in really good shape to make it. If we lose, I think the season takes a turn for the worse.

Its been 11 years. Its time to finally beat Clemson! This is our last win:

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This must be the end no matter what the rest of the season holds. There is no rational justification for keeping him.

The only open question is who will be the replacement.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...-stresses-cfp-uniformity-everybody-conference

Is it too much to ask for a sinkhole to open up at the Orange Bowl and swallow both teams and their fans?