This just occurred to me:
Saturday's game is the first time Pitt is facing an opponent it lost to last season when the game was pretty much decided by the Panthers' complete lack of a passing attack. There were several games Pitt lost because of that factor last year - Notre Dame, Miami and Stanford come to mind - and this is the first time the Panthers will face one of those teams again.
So I wonder, is this game going to carry a little more weight in comparing Mark Whipple and Shawn Watson? I think everyone is probably in agreement that Whipple was an upgrade, but now we have a game that is probably going to be as much of a one-to-one comparison as anything Pitt will see this season.
We can boil it down this: Watson's offense lost the Miami game in 2018, so can Whipple's offense win it in 2019?
Obviously there are plenty of differences, from the experience factor (everybody's a year older) to outright changes in personnel (Miami even has a new coach). But does anyone else see this as something of Whipple-vs-Watson game? Or am I overthinking it?
Saturday's game is the first time Pitt is facing an opponent it lost to last season when the game was pretty much decided by the Panthers' complete lack of a passing attack. There were several games Pitt lost because of that factor last year - Notre Dame, Miami and Stanford come to mind - and this is the first time the Panthers will face one of those teams again.
So I wonder, is this game going to carry a little more weight in comparing Mark Whipple and Shawn Watson? I think everyone is probably in agreement that Whipple was an upgrade, but now we have a game that is probably going to be as much of a one-to-one comparison as anything Pitt will see this season.
We can boil it down this: Watson's offense lost the Miami game in 2018, so can Whipple's offense win it in 2019?
Obviously there are plenty of differences, from the experience factor (everybody's a year older) to outright changes in personnel (Miami even has a new coach). But does anyone else see this as something of Whipple-vs-Watson game? Or am I overthinking it?
