Does 6-6 vs 7-5 vs 8-4 matter to you?

[h2p_5150]

As a general rule of thumb, I would agree. This is more about how I feel this specific season.

Although I don't think most of the country is able to differentiate between 4-8 and 8-4 when it comes to Pitt. Before last season, so many national writers would talk about us like we were in a class with freaking Illinois and Cal and whatnot. It's like they only look at your high points. If you go 8-4, 7-5, 8-4, 7-5, you're completely irrelevant. But if you go 4-8, 11-1, 8-4, 6-6 they'll remember that 11-1 season and give you more respect... even though you won one less game in that same amount of time.

Our "floor" has been one of the more impressive things about this program since Walt Harris took over. We don't have the 3-9 seasons that even some really good programs do. But it's just like nobody cares about that. They just want to see your highlight tape and evaluate based on that.

This is exactly right. If you're not great, you don't matter. If you go 15 years without being great, you are not on the radar of anyone who doesn't directly follow your team, unless you are a major brand like Texas.

To answer your initial question though... 8-4 is a hell of a lot better than 6-6. I'm gonna keep watching every game no matter what- I can't tolerate how bad of a team you'd have to be to go 6-6 against our schedule. In the long run, barring a miracle improvement, this is going to be one of many forgettable seasons in Pitt history, but we aren't in the forgetting stage yet. We're living it, and it isn't great!

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Anything less than 9 wins is always disappointing.

 

[Duneaux Harm]

It’s crazy but I don’t care about the record for me. I will be happy or upset through the season regardless. Last year was great but after Western Michigan I wanted Duzz’s head. And honestly I got no thrill out of playing MSU close with our situation. I understand what Kenny did but man I would have loved to have had him go in there and put up 60 against a Big Pretend school. So the bowl game was great to be in but disappointing in its finish.

But most of all I do Care what people across the country perceive of Pitt and that is always simply based on the record.

So 8 or 9 wins is way better than 6 or 7. I won’t personally be happy, but I think people across the country will look at the record and think Pitt did fine and maybe that also helps with recruits.

I don’t know. I seriously feel our bowl situation is the ONLY thing that is the fault of we fans. We simply don’t travel like other schools do and the team gets punished for it.

 

[VolPanther]

I guess it all depends on expectations. I was expecting 8-4 or 9-3, so 8-4 would not come as a surprise or disappointment to me (and after I saw the WVU game, my expectations dropped to 8-4 or 7-5). 6-6 would be disappointing.

7-5 and even 8-4 is and will be disappointing considering the teams left but we lost to maybe the worst team in the conference. If we run the table and win the Coastal I’d be fine with the season and think of what might have been without the GT loss like last year with the WMU loss. 7-5 and 8-4 means we lose 2 more games to mediocre teams but Pitt is proving to be just that another average team in a very avg division. I can see Pitt winning out and needing to win in Miami to win the division and pulling another crap the bed performance. Losing to Duke or SU at home or UVA or Louisville would be very disappointing the game I worry about is at UNC as I don’t see us stopping them but our offense is so anemic I don’t know we can keep up with them and see us losing 41-38 or something like that. The games are always close and wild so losing to them wouldn’t shock me. If we do run the table till Miami though I’d expect us to play our worst game in weeks and lose out on going to the championship game by choking against another underachieving Miami team and sending Miami UNC or the Cuse to the game to get a beat down by Clemson. UL is done UVA stinks GT will probably lose out Duke will come back to reality VT is not good so it’s us SU UNC or Miami. Which of those teams do you have the most faith in backing their way in? To me it’s not Pitt. I also have zero faith in SU.

 

[KennyHeisman8]

You’d rather be ranked 25th then win the division?

That makes no sense. I was happy after 2018

The way 2018 ended was frankly awful

 

[Burgh15]

There's a big difference between 8-4 and 6-6. You have to be a pretty bad team to go 6-6 given two wins are automatics on the schedule each year. 8-4 is respectable, though I thought this team should win at least 9 games this season.

 

[str61166]

I shudder to think of the path to 6 losses. What…

VT - W
Louisville - L
UNC - L
Syracuse - L
Virginia - W
Duke - W
Miami - L

Of what I listed - Duke the least likely win, Miami or UNC the most likely loss? That’d be horrific. Unfortunately, losing to GT was horrific and just one game but makes it easy to say they could lose to anyone… I want to think they can still pull off 8 with 9 (my original prediction) being more likely than 7, but we’ll see how they respond and if injuries cannot totally derail the season, which is possible.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I shudder to think of the path to 6 losses. What…

VT - W
Louisville - L
UNC - L
Syracuse - L
Virginia - W
Duke - W
Miami - L

Of what I listed - Duke the least likely win, Miami or UNC the most likely loss? That’d be horrific. Unfortunately, losing to GT was horrific and just one game but makes it easy to say they could lose to anyone… I want to think they can still pull off 8 with 9 (my original prediction) being more likely than 7, but we’ll see how they respond and if injuries cannot totally derail the season, which is possible.

That scenario above can absolutely come to fruition, though I'd expect us to beat Syracuse and go 7-5.

The more I think about it, that's exactly who we are. We've been waiting to turn a corner all year, but there is no corner to turn. We're 5 games in. This bad team we've been watching is who we are. 1-2 against the P5 with the only win being against a bad team that could have easily beat us.

 

[pittiswhereiamfrom2]

https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/202...on-slovis-never-wavered-against-georgia-tech/

doesn’t this headline explain the problem?

 

[str61166]

That scenario above can absolutely come to fruition, though I'd expect us to beat Syracuse and go 7-5.

The more I think about it, that's exactly who we are. We've been waiting to turn a corner all year, but there is no corner to turn. We're 5 games in. This bad team we've been watching is who we are. 1-2 against the P5 with the only win being against a bad team that could have easily beat us.

They had stretches where they looked good against Tennessee and WVU. If you want to say Pitt could have easily lost to WVU, I’d say it’s worth acknowledging they also could have beat Tennessee. But they were also healthier (again for stretches…) and I think the injury bug could be a big part of what would derail this season. That, and a number players not living up to their expectations of course. Either way, absolutely no excusing the overall performance in the GT game.

Maybe we underestimated this transition with new OC/QB/losing the Biletnikoff winner. Or maybe they’ll find a way to get it together. Idk, I think i’d be OK with 8 wins + a bowl win at this point, but the other wild card is how the other ACC teams on the schedule shape up because they’ve pretty much all shown their share of flaws as well.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

That scenario above can absolutely come to fruition, though I'd expect us to beat Syracuse and go 7-5.

The more I think about it, that's exactly who we are. We've been waiting to turn a corner all year, but there is no corner to turn. We're 5 games in. This bad team we've been watching is who we are. 1-2 against the P5 with the only win being against a bad team that could have easily beat us.

Yes, Losing to GT (and the bad play against RI, which would have been an L if playing a P5 opponent) showed this team can lose to anyone left on the schedule. It’s looking more like Narduzzi/Watson’s 5 win season.

The most disappointing aspect is that it’s hard to name even one player who has stood out (in a positive way) and risen above expectations in their play (or in their coaching), unlike last year when there were so many who did so. Izzy perhaps is the closest one can point to, but mostly in splash plays, rather than overall consistency. Bartholomew kind of, sort of (he has been really good WHEN they remember he is there). I was interested to see if Wayne would continue his productive play with no Addison stealing attention, and he largely is doing so. Otherwise, most players either regressed (cough, OL) or never made it to heights expected (cough, the transfer players). Coaching, especially OC, has been a liability; nobody ever watches our games secure in the thought that our coaches are going to be more clever than the opponent’s .

And as you say, with five games in the book it isn’t realistic to expect anybody is going to elevate in a meaningful way now.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Yes, Losing to GT (and the bad play against RI, which would have been an L if playing a P5 opponent) showed this team can lose to anyone left on the schedule. It’s looking more like Narduzzi/Watson’s 5 win season.

The most disappointing aspect is that it’s hard to name even one player who has stood out (in a positive way) and risen above expectations in their play (or in their coaching), unlike last year when there were so many who did so. Izzy perhaps is the closest one can point to, but mostly in splash plays, rather than overall consistency. Bartholomew kind of, sort of (he has been really good WHEN they remember he is there). I was interested to see if Wayne would continue his productive play with no Addison stealing attention, and he largely is doing so. Otherwise, most players either regressed (cough, OL) or never made it to heights expected (cough, the transfer players). Coaching, especially OC, has been a liability; nobody ever watches our games secure in the thought that our coaches are going to be more clever than the opponent’s .

And as you say, with five games in the book it isn’t realistic to expect anybody is going to elevate in a meaningful way now.

Yeah, that's a problem. Morgan looked good the first game and then has mostly disappeared. Maybe Izzy, Wayne, and Hallet are performing above expectations. Haven't really noticed it with anyone else. I'm sure Kancey is getting doubled quite a bit, but Boldanado seems to have fallen off a cliff. And of course the o-line has been way worse than expected, and the outside linebackers couldn't get a loaf of marble rye off an elderly lady on a NYC sidewalk.

 

[Dointhatrag]

With a weak schedule and playing in the weakest division in Power 5 football either record should be unattractive to honest fans

The Big 10 West would like a word with you.

 

[Jim Z]

The Big 10 West would like a word with you.

That's like bragging whose smarter Harry or Lloyd of Dumb and Dumber

 

[Conemaugh]

I think there is a huge difference between 8-4 and 6-6. Let's be honest, with an 8-4 record we are likely in the fight for the coastal. Not that we would win it, but we would be in the conversation. That means more games on television, more time being discussed by the talking heads, and more people watching and being interested.

Sure, for an optimistic hard core fan a 8-4 season is a disappointment and a 6-6 season doesn't look much different. But in the national view, a poor Pitt season being 8-4 is so much different than a poor Pitt season being 6-6. I definently want an 8-4 season to be considered a disappointment by the college football community. That means we are trending up in terms of expectations, which matters a whole hell of a lot in college football. That is how an 8-4 Ole Miss, Penn State, Wisconsin, etc can remain ranked versus an 8-4 Pitt team that historically wouldn't.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I think there is a huge difference between 8-4 and 6-6. Let's be honest, with an 8-4 record we are likely in the fight for the coastal. Not that we would win it, but we would be in the conversation. That means more games on television, more time being discussed by the talking heads, and more people watching and being interested.

Sure, for an optimistic hard core fan a 8-4 season is a disappointment and a 6-6 season doesn't look much different. But in the national view, a poor Pitt season being 8-4 is so much different than a poor Pitt season being 6-6. I definently want an 8-4 season to be considered a disappointment by the college football community. That means we are trending up in terms of expectations, which matters a whole hell of a lot in college football. That is how an 8-4 Ole Miss, Penn State, Wisconsin, etc can remain ranked versus an 8-4 Pitt team that historically wouldn't.

Completely agree as a general rule. It's just this season where I feel like this. Expectations are a beach.

Although I'm sure 804 would help quell the locker room, whereas I could see some type of exodus at 6-6, so there is that.