ESPN classic Cin vs Pitt 2009
- Thread starter kma0043
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Probs same spot tbh. I still think they wouldve fired Wanny eventually even with the Big East title that year.
That might have been my brother and me. We walked 20 minutes back to the car in total silence with our heads down. Later that night I went to a Christmas party and sat in the corner and drank by myself.
Agree, especially assuming we'd have been clobbered by Florida in the bowl, and then the following season had still gone as it did on and off the field, including the BS article in SI that our shameful admin cowardly accepted with no protest.
If Pitt goes to Sugar Bowl and plays within 20 of Florida there’d definitely be no Haywood/Graham fiasco. Wanny would’ve been around beyond 2010 imo.
Yeah- but a really credible former blogger on recruiting stated he was nothing special-
And would be working at foot locker.
#teh
This game, for all the wrong reasons, was the most important game of my Pitt football life. It was after this game that I refused to let Pitt own me...no longer would I let Saturday's results ruin that night or even the following day. Now when it's over, it's over. H2P!
I can still remember being at that game... and feeling just great. Thinking to myself "This is the fruits, the culmination, of waiting for 'Wanny Ball' to develop... the terrific D-line, the fast athletic Linebackers, hard-hitting d-backs. Powerful O'line and a stable of great backs. A QB that could manage a game and exploit opps thru great receivers". Man, it was a fantastic feeling!!
And the crowd!!! This was NOT the big-name ND, WVU crowd with a whole bunch of visiting fans. This was just Cincy... and yea, they brought some fans. But the stadium was SOLD OUT for college football!! Big East football... PITTsburgh Football!!
And then, of course, Wanny-coaching took over and the biggest bed-crap of all-time happened. Even worse, I think, than the PSU 48-14 debacle.
It proved a bright shining moment. But just a pathetically sad moment.
Simple.
Kicked the ball to the wrong guy more than once in the second half. Actually twice.
Couldn't get two key stops.
Missed one key interception or pass knockdown.
It's a game of inches.
Kicked the ball to the wrong guy more than once in the second half. Actually twice.
Couldn't get two key stops.
Missed one key interception or pass knockdown.
It's a game of inches.
I take blame.
I called my dad at halftime to talk about how we’re finally putting it all together!
My brother and I were having an awesome time at the game .
The isolated mistakes chronicled in posts above are surely true, but that was such a huge lead blown at home against a team with far less talent on paper, that you have to consider it more of an indictment on coaching philosophy, the "coach not to lose" variety. Which often results in losses. In most sports particularly this one, the aggressor is rewarded. This was certainly Wannys worst trait and it manifested in many bad losses where teams smacked us in the face and we crumbled. Yet some never learn. It's a big reason why he soon was moved out.
You get a lead like that in a big game, yes, you certainly want to be smart and avoid the big plays like KO returns that can spark comebacks (which is also aggressive coaching of sorts; not doing the same predictable thing like sending the same ole kickoff to the goal line every time... know your adversary! ).
But more importantly, you don't lay back. You press harder. You pour it on offensively and on D you bring heat and force the foot on the neck. You want a team to utterly surrender.
It's why ive never ripped Todd Graham for his approach in the Iowa game he always gets ripped for. Get a lead, stomp on their neck. His problem was not his approach, it was his faith, or laziness or whatever, in relying on Tino to execute it.
Wanny had the tools to play aggressively though, especially the DL. But he sat back and let a more dynamic coach kill him with a thousand cuts. It's a big reason, not the only, but big, that one is at ND now nd the other is a hack in a 3rd rate pregame booth.
And I LIKE the guy and readily agree with those sore that Pitt fired him, but only because we didn't commit to improving the whole program, so firing him was a waste of time, and it's largely been a waste of time since.
But his passivity is the signature line to this game, and his era. The flourish added the following year with the UConn and WVU games, and the BS SI article. But it effectively ended for him (and us) that day with that final drive.
You get a lead like that in a big game, yes, you certainly want to be smart and avoid the big plays like KO returns that can spark comebacks (which is also aggressive coaching of sorts; not doing the same predictable thing like sending the same ole kickoff to the goal line every time... know your adversary! ).
But more importantly, you don't lay back. You press harder. You pour it on offensively and on D you bring heat and force the foot on the neck. You want a team to utterly surrender.
It's why ive never ripped Todd Graham for his approach in the Iowa game he always gets ripped for. Get a lead, stomp on their neck. His problem was not his approach, it was his faith, or laziness or whatever, in relying on Tino to execute it.
Wanny had the tools to play aggressively though, especially the DL. But he sat back and let a more dynamic coach kill him with a thousand cuts. It's a big reason, not the only, but big, that one is at ND now nd the other is a hack in a 3rd rate pregame booth.
And I LIKE the guy and readily agree with those sore that Pitt fired him, but only because we didn't commit to improving the whole program, so firing him was a waste of time, and it's largely been a waste of time since.
But his passivity is the signature line to this game, and his era. The flourish added the following year with the UConn and WVU games, and the BS SI article. But it effectively ended for him (and us) that day with that final drive.
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