My take on how the rest of the season will play out.. Please add yours.

[JoeScaz]

and I am calling the scores like Beano..

@ VTU LOSS 21-13 (Hidden Vigorish alone, can we do it AGAIN?)
Virginia WIN 35-13 (Pitt more talented, UVA a mess)
@GT LOSS 34-20 (Can't stop the option)
@SYR WIN 17-10 (tough one.. the KEY game to the season IMO)
UNC WIN 28-24 (big win on National TV, idiots here talk about low attendance for 4 days after)
ND LOSS 30-21 (Not a good showing by Pitt, played down, let the subway alum gloat)
@Duke WIN 26-23 (redemption game after almost winning last year)
LOU WIN 31-17 (too young and shaky on O-- feel very confident about this one)
Miami WIN 31-21 (Like the Panthers in November at home, these aren't Vinny's Canes)

Final record 8-4

LOCKS in Bold

 

[rc79]

Syracuse should be a lock. Their SOS thus far, according to Sagarin, is 180. They're about to start getting exposed.

Otherwise, ya done good. It's rational. Maybe plus or minus one.

 

[SteelCityChamps]

@VT WIN
UVA WIN
@GT LOSE
@SYR WIN
UNC WIN
ND LOSE
@DUKE WIN
LOU LOSE
UM LOSE

7-5.

 

[JoeScaz]

@VT WIN
UVA WIN
@GT LOSE
@SYR WIN
UNC WIN
ND LOSE
@DUKE WIN
LOU LOSE
UM LOSE

7-5.

Completely disagree with your end of season. I see no reason we cannot beat either of those teams at home. In fact, we should.

 

[SteelCityChamps]

Completely disagree with your end of season. I see no reason we cannot beat either of those teams at home. In fact, we should.

This is PITT.
Hope I'm wrong, but that's why we play the games. Just my predictions.

 

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

SteelCityChamps, post: 353423, member: 3180"]
REVISED AFTER SEEING DUKE BEAT GT:

@VT WIN
I expect a closer game now and Pitt can win, but will wait after seeing VT this week?

UVA WIN
If Pitt takes them lightly they can lose, but London has his Team in a real mess right now and will be fired sooner not later?

@GT LOSE
Hard to beat Johnson? But Pitt Players need to atone for last year? We shall see if they have the muster to do it? LOSING TO DUKE, DOES THAT MAKE GT AND DUKE TOUGHER WINS, BUT I FEEL PITT CAN BEAT BOTH BUT TOSS UPS EITHER WAY!

@SYR WIN
Always a tough game at Cuse usually for Pitt, but should win! CUSE SHOWS SIGNS IF A DEFENSE BUT STILL TOUGH WIN FOR PITT?

UNC WIN
Will be very close! TOSS UP EITHER WAY!

ND LOSE
ND looks very good, but Pitt can be better by the time they play but the Irish owe Pitt for last year?

@DUKE WIN
Close but Pitt can win it! TOSS UP WIN FOR PITT!

LOU LOSE
Not anymore, Pitt may be good by this game too? It really depends how much Pitt improved or demised or injuries?

UM LOSE
Golden has them back, but Ditto above!

7-5.
8-4

 

[Las Panteras]

Did any of you NOT watch the Iowa game?

This team has yet to prove they can run the ball without JC

Until then.....every one of you that projects 7-5 or better will be wrong

6-6.......again......

 

[NC Panther]

and I am calling the scores like Beano..

@ VTU LOSS 21-13 (Hidden Vigorish alone, can we do it AGAIN?)
Virginia WIN 35-13 (Pitt more talented, UVA a mess)
@GT LOSS 34-20 (Can't stop the option)
@SYR WIN 17-10 (tough one.. the KEY game to the season IMO)
UNC WIN 28-24 (big win on National TV, idiots here talk about low attendance for 4 days after)
ND LOSS 30-21 (Not a good showing by Pitt, played down, let the subway alum gloat)
@Duke WIN 26-23 (redemption game after almost winning last year)
LOU WIN 31-17 (too young and shaky on O-- feel very confident about this one)
Miami WIN 31-21 (Like the Panthers in November at home, these aren't Vinny's Canes)

Final record 8-4

LOCKS in Bold

That's pretty good but, - the last 3 wins and Louisville a lock? I think we beat them but, I'd switch the locks from Cards to Orange.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

I still have to stick with 6-6 and Detroit again.

 

[chethejet]

comes down to health especially Price at DE and Peterson. If he can continue to play well, Pitt will be a tough out. I don't think GT isn't as good as last year but a road game is always tough. VTech is really big. A win puts Pitt is a great position. I also don't think narduzzi will allow Pitt to be unprepared for games like the typical coaches of Pitts past.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

Still deciding what were are having for dinner but here goes!

@VT LOSE
UVA WIN
@GT LOSE
@SYR WIN
UNC WIN
ND LOSE
@DUKE WIN
LOU WIN
UM WIN


8 - 4

 

[MrGee]

6-6---someday this program will find a qb---when, I don't know---if you happened to watch Memphis-Cincy on Thursday night you saw 3 qbs 2x better than what we have or had---amazing how everyone else can find them

 

[geeman2001]

6-6---someday this program will find a qb---when, I don't know---if you happened to watch Memphis-Cincy on Thursday night you saw 3 qbs 2x better than what we have or had---amazing how everyone else can find them

This is correct. QB is extremely shaky yet again. Best we can hope is Peterman turns out close to what Savage was, and he was no real prize either. But big diff is, we have had legit tailbacks to pose a running threat to compensate for the subpar QB play. Now we don't even have that. And related, once again, despite all those who praised Chryst and his OL recruiting, once again, one injury seems to make the whole freaking line shift in a Chinese fire drill. It doesn't seem any different from the last 10-15 years that way. The instability kills, especially with a shaky QB and unaccomlished TBs.

Call it the doldrums of a bye week (which I despise after a bad loss) but seeing little optimism for anything more than 6-6, and that will be a minor miracle.

 

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

Did any of you NOT watch the Iowa game? This team has yet to prove they can run the ball without JC Until then.....every one of you that projects 7-5 or better will be wrong 6-6.......again......

All fair comments and I cannot disagree with you. I just expect this Coaching Staff to make these Players better every game. I still see improvement on Defense and Special Teams, and that is something that was lacking under Graham and Chryst. But up to Narduzzi to improve the Team too?

I expect Coach Narduzzi will make some mistakes being his first year as Head Coach, and I am worried Chaney clearly has made changes to an Offense that was very prolific at the second half of last season.....but they should become better too, if Coach Pat & Chaney improves these Players and I think they will do just that, but it is still more hope and a pray than seeing it.

VT, GT, ND, UNC, and MIAMI are all doing pretty good and tough games. UVA, CUSE, ULOU, and DUKE are not wins either and will have to be earned?

I make no excuses, for Pitt Coaches & Program & Player, it is up to them to make good Game Plans, prepare for them, execute them, and prove they can coach and play. Iowa was winnable but they lost on 4 to 5 plays that could have won it and the 4th and inches is a call that shows the game often is decided by inches, as well as a kick that could have gone either way, Coaches have to learn with the Players, and that is not easy, but Gone With The Wins!

 

[perchance]

Geez, I guess Iowa must really suck. Yinz guys are right: Our staff has no answers to Connor's injury. Honeymoon is over. No change, same old Pitt. Let's be realists, it'll be a miracle if we don't have a losing season. Woe is me!
Wondering which is worse; PoSU fan's delusion or Pitt fan's disillusion.

 

[JoeScaz]

Did any of you NOT watch the Iowa game?

This team has yet to prove they can run the ball without JC

Until then.....every one of you that projects 7-5 or better will be wrong

6-6.......again......

Here is the rub with being a pessimist.. If you are right.. you gloat.. if not... no one notices..

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

I'll cry if Pitt goes 6-6 for a fifth straight season, but if it wins the bowl game and 7-6 is the worst-case scenario I'll live with it. I'd be jubilant if Pitt went 8-4 this season.

 

[geeman2001]

Here is the rub with being a pessimist.. If you are right.. you gloat.. if not... no one notices..

Nothing to do with gloating. It's lamenting if anything.

Pitt is still in a place where two isolated injuries .. in this case, Conner and JJS ... put a huge gash in the prospects for a really nice season. That's nothing to gloat about. The illusion of being left in a better place by Chryst was kind of shattered.

It also shows how important QB really is. We've been blessed with stellar TB for so long it's kind of masked that. But this season might really drive it home, in an unfortunate way short term, but maybe ultimately a good thing. Our coaches ... and we ... have been kidding ourselves too long that accepting gibrone play at the game's most important position is ok.

In this era, superlative QBs can truly rescue a mediocre or bad team, whereas winning the tailback battle still leaves you only with a .500 chance at best. As others have lamented, it's perplexing when you can see even a Memphis or Cincy dip into its backups and produce a guy who can put up 527 yards passing. Yet we're pumping fists if our STARTER can put up HALF that.

 

[pittpitt]

QB is extremely shaky yet again. Best we can hope is Peterman turns out close to what Savage was, and he was no real prize either.

Do you mean 4th round NFL draft pick, Tom Savage? The guy picked ahead of Heisman contenders Tajh Boyd, AJ McCarron, and Aaron Murray? The QB who finished just shy of 3,000 yards with more than twice as many TD's as interceptions in his first & only season in our system?

Yeah, he wasn't a superstar and is only an NFL backup (quick math: there are only 96 NFL QB's on the planet), but it's comments like this that separate Pitt fans from simply being a pessimist. If someone thinks we're going to lose a bunch of games because of this problem or that problem, that's fine if it's at least someone objective, but to continually chalk things up to "same old Pitt" and poo-poo Pitt players who were drafted into the NFL is probably a good sign you should stop calling yourself a Pitt fan.

 

[geeman2001]

Do you mean 4th round NFL draft pick, Tom Savage? The guy picked ahead of Heisman contenders Tajh Boyd, AJ McCarron, and Aaron Murray? The QB who finished just shy of 3,000 yards with more than twice as many TD's as interceptions in his first & only season in our system?

Yeah, he wasn't a superstar and is only an NFL backup (quick math: there are only 96 NFL QB's on the planet), but it's comments like this that separate Pitt fans from simply being a pessimist. If someone thinks we're going to lose a bunch of games because of this problem or that problem, that's fine if it's at least someone objective, but to continually chalk things up to "same old Pitt" and poo-poo Pitt players who were drafted into the NFL is probably a good sign you should stop calling yourself a Pitt fan.

He was 6-6.

 

[pittpitt]

He was 6-6.

Pitt was 6-6.
And Tennessee was better with Tee Martin than Peyton Manning.

 

[Pittx9]

This is correct. QB is extremely shaky yet again. Best we can hope is Peterman turns out close to what Savage was, and he was no real prize either.

I actually think Savage was the best QB we've had since Palko. That's not saying much, but Tom had a pretty good year here. Good enough at least that he made an NFL roster after bouncing around 3 colleges and looking like he was pretty much a recruiting bust.

As for this season, I think Iowa just has a really, really tough run defense. We may not run the ball well all season, but I think it will at least be a little bit better than last week. I think the VT game upcoming will tell us a lot. If we win, we have Virginia next and should be 2-0 after that with momentum going into Georgia Tech.
I think Narduzzi has done a good job of having the players prepared and he has risen the intensity level a ton. I don't think we will lose too many games to teams we shouldn't anymore. I'd say we'll probably go somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3. I know that's not much of a prediction, I'm just saying that I think our coaching staff is good enough to see some improvement already. There's at least 5 more games on our schedule that are more than winnable.

 

[geeman2001]

I actually think Savage was the best QB we've had since Palko. That's not saying much, but Tom had a pretty good year here. Good enough at least that he made an NFL roster after bouncing around 3 colleges and looking like he was pretty much a recruiting bust.

As for this season, I think Iowa just has a really, really tough run defense. We may not run the ball well all season, but I think it will at least be a little bit better than last week. I think the VT game upcoming will tell us a lot. If we win, we have Virginia next and should be 2-0 after that with momentum going into Georgia Tech.
I think Narduzzi has done a good job of having the players prepared and he has risen the intensity level a ton. I don't think we will lose too many games to teams we shouldn't anymore. I'd say we'll probably go somewhere between 7-5 and 9-3. I know that's not much of a prediction, I'm just saying that I think our coaching staff is good enough to see some improvement already. There's at least 5 more games on our schedule that are more than winnable.

I liked Savage quite a bit actually. Flawed, but good size, arm and leadership.

And yourjudgement of him in hierarchy of our QBs is reasonable. But that he probably IS the best qb we've had since Palko is the problem. That is almost hard to fathom, actually. I caught a little of Cuse-LSU earlier and Cuse's on their FIFTH QB (how do they even have that many). Yet he actually seemed a better player all around than I've seen out of Peterman and Voytik. And when on another thread I offered the opinion we should make Bertke the main backup to Peterman because his drop back pocket style would seem to favor him over Voytik ... I was scoffed at on the premise that Bertke is not a legit player. Just a body. There seems similar consensus on DiNucci. And we know Anderson wasn't legit at all last year. How the hell is that possible to have such dregs at the main position?

As far as the season, we'll see. I'll be happy, yes happy, to be wrong and admit it to all. I promise I won't "gloat" if pessimism proves to have been prudent.

 

[Las Panteras]

Joe Scaz......

Here is the rub, young man

Its not pessimistic when the evidence is so solid. Pitt has not proven they can run the ball and contrary to what some fools are projecting, there are no locks left on the schedule.

There is simply not enough evidence that Pitt is heading towards anything but another 6-6

Cheers....

 

[Pittx9]

There seems similar consensus on DiNucci.

I must be in the minority then. I actually think DiNucci could eventually turn into a pretty good QB. I don't know if they will try to tinker with his odd delivery, but his resume doesn't lie. DiNucci had a phenomenal high school career, unless he sees some action in the future and it's clear he can't cut it at the D1 level, I'm not going to write him off. I think he could one day end up being the steal of this past year's recruiting class.

 

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

Joe Scaz......
Here is the rub, young man. Its not pessimistic when the evidence is so solid. Pitt has not proven they can run the ball and contrary to what some fools are projecting, there are no locks left on the schedule. There is simply not enough evidence that Pitt is heading towards anything but another 6-6 Cheers....

I have to agree, Chaney decided to switch to Peterman after Connor went down, and I think he should have set up more Running Plays for Voytik to and Running Back Options & Sweeps to re-establish the running game and have a mix of that with Peterman coming in at times.

Las Panteras is right, the entire Pitt offense has been run the last two years on the Running Game setting up Boyd & Company and until they re-establish that running, it could be long road to hoe???

However, I'll leave that up to Coach Staff to prove Peterman can do it all, and their record will live or die by it?

I expect to see the Defense grow every game along with Special Teams too! This is where i am more optimistic for the season!