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Halfway point

ShipofFools

Freshman
Feb 25, 2021
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As it looks right now, that GT loss comes with a " what if" to it. The Jackets knocked off a 4-1 Duke yesterday.

If the Panthers hadn't stumbled there, they would be 5-1 and ranked in the mid teens with an only loss in OT to a top 10 Tennessee that just routed a ranked LSU at home. There are very few really dominant teams in the country. Many have struggled at times against weaker opponents, and take on a loss they shouldn't have or at best, a mediocre showing.

The Panthers certainly have some warts on both sides of the ball right now, but their remaining schedule looks workable towards a perhaps 8-9 win regular season. If they can get healthier, solve some of those warts and take care of business against beatable teams, the season will come out being where their reasonable expectations should be.

There is also the possibility that this team will ride the rails between a win or a loss every game moving forward with a few more frustrating losses.

Should be a real interesting second half.
 
Coastal is wide open with NC facing Wake and NC State. Pitt has Louisville and Syracuse. Miami might throw in the towel and play spoiler. Pitt can salvage the season title aspiration if they play up to their capabilities. But as Pitt fans it's hard to convince ourselves they are "That Team". Which makes last season's run a dream-like season.
 
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I'd be shocked if we won the Coastal at this point. We lost to one of the worst teams in P5 football last week and resuscitated their season.

VT, also one of the worst teams in football, just moved the ball better than they have all season. They didn't look that good against Wofford or Old Dominion.

We squeaked by a bad WVU team that a lot of mid-level BIG 12 teams are going to make short work of. We should have lost.

Unless something changes dramatically during this bye week, I put us in a tier below UNC. You need to throw the football to win, and our pass rush is also non-existent. Don't see how we are stopping them.
 
I think all the injuries and bad coaching (game planning is putrid) will be the downfall of this team. They will probably make a bowl but they had the talent to make another conference title game appearance.
 
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Sagarin's computer (un-adjusted so far for yesterday) predicts only 3 more wins the rest of the way to finish 7-5. Since it predicts the Louisville game as Louisville with home field advantage winning by less than a half-point--a win there would then change the prediction to an 8-4 finish.

The good news is that if Pitt suddenly gets only 4 or more points better in per game scoring margin than it has averaged so far then the computer would predict running the table and finishing 10-2. Is that even conceivable? Would like to put on my blue and gold glasses and think that if Pitt gets close to 100% healthy with the bye next week that it could happen.

By the way, the computer had Pitt the #51 team going into the VT game.
 
Pitt doesn’t pass the eye test right now and are playing like a 7-5 team. But as mentioned, there are no dominant teams out there.
 
Pitt currently has a 0 turnover margin (7 for 7 against), commits lots of penalties, has shitty special teams, and doesn’t stop the run. So they are 0–4 on “things that everyone says teams must do to win games.”
 
As it looks right now, that GT loss comes with a " what if" to it. The Jackets knocked off a 4-1 Duke yesterday.

If the Panthers hadn't stumbled there, they would be 5-1 and ranked in the mid teens with an only loss in OT to a top 10 Tennessee that just routed a ranked LSU at home. There are very few really dominant teams in the country. Many have struggled at times against weaker opponents, and take on a loss they shouldn't have or at best, a mediocre showing.

The Panthers certainly have some warts on both sides of the ball right now, but their remaining schedule looks workable towards a perhaps 8-9 win regular season. If they can get healthier, solve some of those warts and take care of business against beatable teams, the season will come out being where their reasonable expectations should be.

There is also the possibility that this team will ride the rails between a win or a loss every game moving forward with a few more frustrating losses.

Should be a real interesting second half.
We have a very special running back, but let’s be honest. VT is the worst I ever seen them in a while and we don’t have much other than Izzy on offense. Even with our poor remaining schedule, there will be 2 maybe 3 teams that will somewhat limit him and force Slovis to beat them who has been a huge disappointment. And it’s not like he’s just a drop off from Pickett…. You expect that, he just sucks. Can anyone realistically fathom this team beating Clemson, NC State, FSU, or Wake right now?
 
We are 4-2 with the opportunity to still win the Coastal. I don’t feel like we’ve played near our potential and this bye week came at a great time. Hopefully we get some of our injured players back for the last half of the year.
 
We are 4-2 with the opportunity to still win the Coastal. I don’t feel like we’ve played near our potential and this bye week came at a great time. Hopefully we get some of our injured players back for the last half of the year.
When you look similar week after week, sometimes that is your potential. We were sold a dominant offensive and defensive line this offseason and we’ve seen nothing close to that. The QB play is underwhelming and the receivers aren’t as good. Defensively they aren’t as strong generating pressure and can’t stop the run like last year. This team just isn’t as good as we hoped, IMO.
 
When you look similar week after week, sometimes that is your potential. We were sold a dominant offensive and defensive line this offseason and we’ve seen nothing close to that. The QB play is underwhelming and the receivers aren’t as good. Defensively they aren’t as strong generating pressure and can’t stop the run like last year. This team just isn’t as good as we hoped, IMO.

Amen. This Pitt team is just like most Pitt teams we've seen over the last 25 years. We're flawed and mired in "the pack" with a bunch of other teams, and the difference between winning and losing will come down to a few plays in most of the games.

We don't have some secret up our sleeve or an Ace in the hole. The fact that we thought we were better than most of our schedule coming into the season doesn't make it true. North Carolina thought that last season. Miami thinks it most seasons. After six games, you pretty much are what you've put on tape. We're 2-2 against the P5. I see no reason why we wouldn't continue that trend and finish 7-5.

It's not like we're a young team that just needs a lightbulb to turn on. Trust what your eyes have seen.
 
Pitt doesn’t pass the eye test right now and are playing like a 7-5 team. But as mentioned, there are no dominant teams out there.
We look at this team and find a laundry list of weakness....one dimensional offense, underachieving line play on both sides of the ball, too many big plays given up by the defense, inconsistent kicking game, injuries in the 2 deep, a QB that is holding the offense down...it's easy to see this team lose 3 or 4 more games or worse.

I wonder if this team can quit stepping on it's johnson and clean up some things they are capable of.

Dropped interceptions, missed sacks, hit a few wide open receivers, cut down on pre snap penalties and DPI's and you think that maybe 8 or 9 wins is possible. NC, Syracuse, and Duke are above .500 and Miami is a nemesis, but do any of those teams really scare you? Losing to GT can take a lot of air out of confidence though.

I guess we will find out. And please give Cam Guess a shot and get that Aussie out of there.
 
When you look similar week after week, sometimes that is your potential. We were sold a dominant offensive and defensive line this offseason and we’ve seen nothing close to that. The QB play is underwhelming and the receivers aren’t as good. Defensively they aren’t as strong generating pressure and can’t stop the run like last year. This team just isn’t as good as we hoped, IMO.
If we get 2-3 starting OL back, Hammond, 1-2 DL in the 2-deep and George back then that is a big difference. Time will tell, and we shall see how it plays out.
 
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