Pitt After the Early NFL Departures to the NFL

[Chescat]

Offensively we take a big hit with O'Neil and Henderson's departures. Much as I
like Henderson, this was not a very good year for him. He was still excellent
with punt returns, not as much with kickoffs because so many went into the
end zone. His WR record was not good. His fumble against NC cost us a win that
would have put us in a bowl game. He will be replaced by French, who IMO
is a better receiver, plus a redshirt or two who will help the WR position.
O'Neil is a much bigger loss IMO. His replacement is basically an unknown at
this point, and we only have Bookser and Morrisey returning. His leadership
qualities and his class act as a team spokesperson will be hard to replace.

Defensively, we lose probably our best athlete in Whitehead. Good as he is,
he's been a bit of a distraction with his suspensions. We do have a lot of DB's
returning, plus most importantly Ford. Our D should be better even with Whitead's
loss. We return a ton of experience everywhere on the D.
The offense loses it's best lineman, with a question mark replacing him.
The offense does return Aston, which is big. Also a much better QB situation with
Pickett (Dinucci's loss can and will be replaced). The WR situation should be better,
as should WR and TE. IMO, despite the losses, I see a much improved team.
The schedule however is a bitch!

 

[steel_curtain]

Offensively we take a big hit with O'Neil and Henderson's departures. Much as I
like Henderson, this was not a very good year for him. He was still excellent
with punt returns, not as much with kickoffs because so many went into the
end zone. His WR record was not good. His fumble against NC cost us a win that
would have put us in a bowl game. He will be replaced by French, who IMO
is a better receiver, plus a redshirt or two who will help the WR position.
O'Neil is a much bigger loss IMO. His replacement is basically an unknown at
this point, and we only have Bookser and Morrisey returning. His leadership
qualities and his class act as a team spokesperson will be hard to replace.

Defensively, we lose probably our best athlete in Whitehead. Good as he is,
he's been a bit of a distraction with his suspensions. We do have a lot of DB's
returning, plus most importantly Ford. Our D should be better even with Whitead's
loss. We return a ton of experience everywhere on the D.
The offense loses it's best lineman, with a question mark replacing him.
The offense does return Aston, which is big. Also a much better QB situation with
Pickett (Dinucci's loss can and will be replaced). The WR situation should be better,
as should WR and TE. IMO, despite the losses, I see a much improved team.
The schedule however is a bitch!

-We keep over scheduling. Notre Dame, Penn State, and Central Florida next year? Another possible 3 losses and more injuries headed into conference play without the proper tuneup games once again.

-Why not just schedule Alabama, Ohio State, and USC all in the same year? Whoever is approving and putting this schedule together should be expelled from the city of Pittsburgh. Idiots.

-At least in 2019 we have 2 tuneup games, when most teams have 3 if not 4 tuneup games. Would really enjoy being Wisconsin for once and just continue to beat up garbage and get Top 5 rankings for it. Does anyone at Pitt have a clue that winning will actually put more people in the seats in the future and also raise awareness to recruits. People look at final rankings, what bowl you play in, and your win loss record. The only people talking about Pitt beating Penn State and Clemson a year ago are Pitt fans. No one else cares. Now a 5-7 record, destroyed by Oklahoma State and Penn State, 2 games that did nothing for us, and zero hype. Zero. The only good news is I think we found a future QB.

 

[California Panther]

-We keep over scheduling. Notre Dame, Penn State, and Central Florida next year? Another possible 3 losses and more injuries headed into conference play without the proper tuneup games once again.

OOC games aren't the first 4 games of the season. Schedule is Albany and UPS at home, then 2 ACC games (maybe only one and a bye), then at UCF, then 2-3 more ACC games before going to ND. So we have 2 tough OOC road games mixed right in with our conference games. I agree, tough (poor) scheduling.

 

[PittPanthers90]

in fairness to the scheduling ...
When UCF was scheduled, they flat out sucked.
Who knew that UCF would peak right when our scheduled games with them came up?

 

[Mikefln]

Yes can we please play Bethany and Theil please? I definitely do not want to watch Pitt play marquee OOC games against named opponents. After all the ACC is so dann tough. Duke,NC,NC St, VA, VA Tech,GT, and Cuse is too formidable that we need to schedule like PSU even though we always make fun of their schedule even though they play Ohio St, Mich St, and Mich compared to our Miami who only recently got better.

Seriously grow a set. No reason why a P5 school should play more than 1 G5 game a year most years. It is downright shameful to play an FCS school.

 

[steel_curtain]

in fairness to the scheduling ...
When UCF was scheduled, they flat out sucked.
Who knew that UCF would peak right when our scheduled games with them came up?

-It happens every single time. Teams like Central Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, etcc... they are what I call hang around teams, they are average for a year or two or three and then they break through for a big season. UCF won the Fiesta Bowl in 2013. You simply NEVER schedule teams like this, they offer zero reward and you dont know when they are dangerous. Every single time it just so happens when they appear on our schedule, they are dangerous, and we lose every single time.

-Here's a thought. Schedule a team like Charlotte, who hasnt had a single winning season in FBS yet. Or Umass, who always sucks. You know its a tuneup game. Then if you want, go big with 1 team, like Georgia. Give them a 2-1 home / away exchange. You lose all 3, fine. You win 1, you get a big win. Then schedule 3 teams you know are going to be garbage. 3-1 conference record, outside chance at 4-0, minimal injuries. We seem to be the only team in the country that constantly screws this up. We've had the toughest non conference schedule in the country for how many years counting now? Sheesh...

 

[steel_curtain]

Yes can we please play Bethany and Theil please? I definitely do not want to watch Pitt play marquee OOC games against named opponents. After all the ACC is so dann tough. Duke,NC,NC St, VA, VA Tech,GT, and Cuse is too formidable that we need to schedule like PSU even though we always make fun of their schedule even though they play Ohio St, Mich St, and Mich compared to our Miami who only recently got better.

Seriously grow a set. No reason why a P5 school should play more than 1 G5 game a year most years. It is downright shameful to play an FCS school.

-2009 Pitt football was the best team since 1981. That team finished 15th in the country and won 10 games. That team started the season 9-1 and was ranked in the Top 10. That team had attendance of over 46,000+ in all of those games. We played Buffalo, Youngstown State, Navy, Notre Dame, and NC State that year playing in the Big East. Attendance looked liked this. Stadium look pretty filled to you? Just under 64,000 at this game. I dont need to grow a set, I know what a smart AD and administration does, AKA-Wisconsin football.

 

[Twisted Pittster]

Let’s not over inflate UCF. They had their “once every few years” season this year. They won’t duplicate it next season, especially since they lost their coach.

I’m certainly not already chalking UCF up as a loss next year. In fact, I think Pitt beats them.

UPS is also losing a lot of key players, not to mention their OC and now maybe their DC. It was obvious they were set to blow up Pitt last season and they did. Next year the gap closes. Could go either way.

The Domers were once again shown to be paper tigers. Pitt always plays them very tough.
It’s a tough schedule, but no need to concede these games quite yet.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

"Schedule a team like Charlotte, who hasnt had a single winning season in FBS yet. Or Umass, who always sucks"

I hope you have a ton of money to donate. The lowest end FBS schools have the biggest cash asks for a home game. Pitt isn't going to outbid SEC teams for the rights to beat them.

As for FCS, only one (from the eligible upper half) counts towards bowl eligibility and they also want a lot of money, so we've been stuck with YSU.

Notre Dame is a required ACC game and one of the bigest draws for our fan base.

We want to play Florida programs for recruiting purposes and all of them get good at random points, even FIU.

Scheduling is a lot harder than you make it sound. Do you think we play Buffalo or Oklahoma State because we desperately want to?

 

[Pittx9]

in fairness to the scheduling ...
When UCF was scheduled, they flat out sucked.
Who knew that UCF would peak right when our scheduled games with them came up?

The football gods that continually punish pitt every single time there's a chance. Hell our luck Albany will end up with the next cam newton on their team this offseason.

 

[cashisking884]

in fairness to the scheduling ...
When UCF was scheduled, they flat out sucked.
Who knew that UCF would peak right when our scheduled games with them came up?

We also don't have any power over ND. That isn't a game "we" scheduled, that's a contract with the ACC.

 

[cashisking884]

-It happens every single time. Teams like Central Florida, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, etcc... they are what I call hang around teams, they are average for a year or two or three and then they break through for a big season. UCF won the Fiesta Bowl in 2013. You simply NEVER schedule teams like this, they offer zero reward and you dont know when they are dangerous. Every single time it just so happens when they appear on our schedule, they are dangerous, and we lose every single time.

Eh. Even when they have their good years, it's not like those teams are just elite power houses. The real problem is we generally a middle of the road team. So catching any team when they are even kinda good, means it's going to be a fight.

 

[daminals76]

So sick of these ridiculous schedules we are playing...

We MUST start scheduling 3 cupcakes and 1 rivals every year. Gotta start giving our team at least a chance at 9/10 wins every year!

 

[Pizzaboy1]

76 who is your rival? People on here say it's not Wvu (fanbase is too stupid to play).Same people say it's not Psu (all Psu fans knew about Jerry)because their a cult.Just who is your rival because these two teams aren't on Pittsburghs level?

 

[steel_curtain]

So sick of these ridiculous schedules we are playing...

We MUST start scheduling 3 cupcakes and 1 rivals every year. Gotta start giving our team at least a chance at 9/10 wins every year!

-Its not frigging rocket science. Look at Baylor. Yea, they cheated a little bit. But they were complete garbage going back to the 80's, I mean garbage. They recruited athletes, padded the schedule with 4 gift wrapped wins every year and started winning 9, 10, 11 games, then got even better athletes and real players to compete. Art Briles turned a program that is comparable to Rutgers simply by recruiting athletes and gift wrapping the schedule, then the fanbase grew with winning more games and drawing excitement being ranked. And hey, it worked, and better players showed up. It works for Wisconsin. It worked for Boise State and TCU.

-It doesnt work for Pitt because we want to be non-conference powerhouse U and end up with 5-7 records because of it.

 

[daminals76]

76 who is your rival? People on here say it's not Wvu (fanbase is too stupid to play).Same people say it's not Psu (all Psu fans knew about Jerry)because their a cult.Just who is your rival because these two teams aren't on Pittsburghs level?

For me, I identify our rivals as PSU and ND.

Others will say WV, but my personal preference would be the other 2.

 

[Chescat]

For me, I identify our rivals as PSU and ND.

Others will say WV, but my personal preference would be the other 2.

I respect your opinion, but rivalries are usually a two way street. Notre Dame
does not consider us a rivalry. Their rivalries are USC, Michigan, Stanford,
Michigan St. and even Navy. Which is their biggest rivalry? I'm not sure,
but I am sure it isn't Pitt..
I'm no WVU fan, but the term BACKYARD BRAWL doesn't exist because they're
not our rival. It's seen as a rivalry not just regionally, but also on a national scale.
Even the national broadcasters mention it as a rivalry.

 

[daminals76]

I respect your opinion, but rivalries are usually a two way street. Notre Dame
does not consider us a rivalry. Their rivalries are USC, Michigan, Stanford,
Michigan St. and even Navy. Which is their biggest rivalry? I'm not sure,
but I am sure it isn't Pitt..
I'm no WVU fan, but the term BACKYARD BRAWL doesn't exist because they're
not our rival. It's seen as a rivalry not just regionally, but also on a national scale.
Even the national broadcasters mention it as a rivalry.

Most ND fans i talk to think of Pitt as a Rival... Not one of their biggest rivals but there are only 4 schools ND has played more than Pitt.

If anything its a hictoric rival, and both fan bases would agree.

 

[Pizzaboy1]

Nobody wants to be our rival (wvu) because of a few little details.OK we get a little carried away sometimes at our sporting events I admit it.Most of our homes are very mobile and easy to move so its hard to find us sometimes.Our coaches like to take a nip or two once in a while on special occasions .We're a little over weight and need some dental care and most of out meat isnt bought from a store.Give us a chance and you'll find out that we aren't as bad as you thought we were and we make a pretty good rival.

 

[4Mark_Marty]

-Its not frigging rocket science. Look at Baylor. Yea, they cheated a little bit. But they were complete garbage going back to the 80's, I mean garbage. They recruited athletes, padded the schedule with 4 gift wrapped wins every year and started winning 9, 10, 11 games, then got even better athletes and real players to compete. Art Briles turned a program that is comparable to Rutgers simply by recruiting athletes and gift wrapping the schedule, then the fanbase grew with winning more games and drawing excitement being ranked. And hey, it worked, and better players showed up. It works for Wisconsin. It worked for Boise State and TCU.

-It doesnt work for Pitt because we want to be non-conference powerhouse U and end up with 5-7 records because of it.

Right. NON CONFERENCE MEANS NOTHING!! LOTS OF PITT FANS ARE STILL IN THE BIG EAST MINDSET. Ask any VTech fan how much they care about non conference. ZERO, NADA, ZILCH.