Holy crap. I love my panthers but if anyone told me we would win by thirty I would have told them to switch from beer to water. Just a great game. My thoughts:
- This is going to be an opinion that will get me skewered given what's on the line but our season is already a success. We bounced back from a horrendous start and the team never quit on PN even though most of us did (I said he should get one more year but had lost faith). That being said...
- ...we were 2-3 following the loss to UCF having been outscored 160-107 on the season. Now we are bowl eligible and should be favored in our last two games with a chance for a NINE win season (call it maybe 10 but Clemson is bonkers good).
- Who had Pitt showing up and blowing the doors off VT with so much on the line!!!!
- It's funny to think that Pickett only threw it 11 times today. He really missed a few chances at great throws but made some others. Hope he learns from that fumble because we all thought the same thing when we were about to go up 24-0 and instead the score ended up 17-7.
- The running game and offense in general. Oh My Gawd (in Janice from friends voice). Hall 186 yards on 7 carries...SEVEN! Our best offensive day ever! I know I mentioned where we are in history with some of these guys but by my count Ollison is already on his second 1,000 yard season - and 252 yards from the 10th best rushing season of all time - with 3, likely 4 games left to play. Ollison is now the 10th leading rusher in Pitt history and a mere 48 yards behind the 9th spot. Hall is almost certain to make it the first time we had two 1,000 yard rushers. He needs 156 to get there.
- Nice to see Ffrench and Mack in the passing game. We are going to have to rely on those two to keep the safeties back for the run game.
- That absurd play with the QB in Weaver's grasp...no win situation. If someone comes up and blasts him it's a penalty. I even saw Hendrix try to pull up once or twice.
- I know we gave up a lot of yards but the defense played well. We clearly were in bend but don't break in the second half but it was some BS deja vu that VT went 5 for 7 on 4th down, mostly running the same play over and over.
- I actually think Briggs had a decent game and he tied Idowu with the team lead with 7 tackles. Reynolds, Pinnock, Weaver and Hendrix each had a sack and Idowu, Zeise, Mathis, Watts, Jones, Roy, and Alexandre each had a TFL.
- One little nit to pick because how can it be a Pitt post about a win without a complaint - I hate how cavalier PN is with the Timeouts. He seems to call them a lot on defense.
- WF is not going to be an easy game. This team has heart and I watched them out play and win against NCSU. They need one more win to get bowl eligible so don't let a 2-4 conference record and the fact their starting QB is out for the year fool you. This is a good enough team to be dangerous but Pitt can come to play.
- The UNC game seems to matter less and less as the season wears on but, man wouldn't it be fun to be 7-3 and undefeated in the ACC!
- Hope everyone enjoyed this butt kicking as much as I did. Really a lot of fun to watch.
