http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/...y-Pitt-is-it-in-football/stories/201607100077
The cute comments from the nitters is always entertaining...
Ron Cook: Why Pitt is it in football
By Ron Cook / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The start of college football training camps is less than a month away. Inquiring minds already want to know: What school has the best program: Pitt, Penn State or West Virginia? I’m saying Pitt and, today, I bring at least a measure of proof.
Polls are everywhere these days. Just last week, NFL Network finished ranking the league’s top 100 players based on voting from the players themselves. Cam Newton was No. 1. Antonio Brown was No. 4, Ben Roethlisberger No. 21, Le’Veon Bell No. 41 and Cam Heyward No. 88. I’m not sure Brown, who also does a nice job dancing with stars and posing nude for magazines, shouldn’t be higher, although I’m guessing one word will continue to describe his business: Boomin’!
All of that is well and good, but it was another poll from late last month that grabbed my attention. Sporting News ranked college football’s top coaches. Nick Saban was No. 1 and Urban Meyer No. 2. No surprise there. I kept looking and found Kirk Ferentz at No. 23, Todd Graham at No. 30 and Rich Rodriguez at No. 31. Now, I was really interested. A closer look revealed Pat Narduzzi at No. 38, a startling high number considering he has been a head coach for just one season. That put him ahead of Paul Chryst (44), Dana Holgorsen (49) and James Franklin (51).
In this case, Pitt is it.
It’s always fun to see how outsiders look at the teams, coaches and players in our little corner of the world. I agree with Sporting News when it comes to Narduzzi, Holgorsen and Franklin. Narduzzi impressed me in 2015 with his work at Pitt. Holgorsen does a good job in a tough situation at West Virginia. Plus, he always fascinates me because of his personality and biting candor. And Franklin? He hasn’t shown me much yet at Penn State.
Franklin has been a big disappointment, actually. He hasn’t delivered any of the promises he made when he was hired from Vanderbilt after the 2013 season. His offense has been painful to watch. He ruined Christian Hackenberg, at least as a college quarterback. Penn State didn’t just lose to Temple last season for the first time since 1941, it was clobbered, 27-10. It is 0-6 against Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan under Franklin. I know the NCAA sanctions from the tragedy caused by Jerry Sandusky were difficult, but being outscored by an average of 34-15 by your three biggest Big Ten Conference rivals? Losing to Michigan State, 55-16, in the final regular-season game last season? No wonder much of the We Are! fan base is losing patience with Franklin. He really needs to beat Pitt and Temple in September.
Holgorsen also has struggled against West Virginia’s top opponents, going 4-13 against ranked teams since 2012. There was much speculation after a loss to Kansas State in the final regular-season game last season that Holgorsen would be fired. The school stayed with him and the Mountaineers responded by beating Arizona State, led by former Pitt coach Graham, in the Cactus Bowl.
Holgorsen, who is 26-25 since going 10-3 and beating Clemson, 70-33, in the Orange Bowl in his first season in 2011, will be under scrutiny again this fall. But I’m not sure West Virginia would do better with another coach. It needed a home when the power conferences began playing musical chairs and was fortunate from a financial standpoint to land in the powerful Big 12 Conference. But in terms of football? All of those trips to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas are brutal.
Pitt is in a much better spot in the ACC. Geographically, it makes more sense. Travel is easier. So is the competition, although Pitt’s game at Clemson Nov. 12 will be fairly challenging. According to the online betting site Bovada, Pitt is a 3-1 second choice — tied with Virginia Tech — behind Miami to win the league’s Coastal Division.
“The Panthers were 6-2 in ACC play and lost three games by a TD or less last season,” Sporting News noted. “The old-school, ground-and-pound philosophy took Pitt back to its roots, and the defense will only get better.”
In just one year, Narduzzi has done an amazing job re-energizing Pitt’s fan base after more than 30 years of virtual irrelevance for the program. He reminds me of a young John Majors with his enthusiasm. He has been so dynamic that many Pitt fans already are worried he will leave for a better job. That’s what happens when a school has changed coaches the way men change socks.
But Narduzzi is from Youngstown, Ohio, and says he wants to stay at Pitt for a long time. I believe him. I also believe he will climb a lot higher on that Sporting News list before he’s done here.
We’ll find out a lot more about Narduzzi, Franklin and their programs when Pitt and Penn State play Sept. 10 at Heinz Field for the first time in 16 years.
Pitt opened as a 9-point favorite.
I’m thinking the wise guys have it just about right.
rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter@RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
The cute comments from the nitters is always entertaining...
Ron Cook: Why Pitt is it in football
By Ron Cook / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The start of college football training camps is less than a month away. Inquiring minds already want to know: What school has the best program: Pitt, Penn State or West Virginia? I’m saying Pitt and, today, I bring at least a measure of proof.
Polls are everywhere these days. Just last week, NFL Network finished ranking the league’s top 100 players based on voting from the players themselves. Cam Newton was No. 1. Antonio Brown was No. 4, Ben Roethlisberger No. 21, Le’Veon Bell No. 41 and Cam Heyward No. 88. I’m not sure Brown, who also does a nice job dancing with stars and posing nude for magazines, shouldn’t be higher, although I’m guessing one word will continue to describe his business: Boomin’!
All of that is well and good, but it was another poll from late last month that grabbed my attention. Sporting News ranked college football’s top coaches. Nick Saban was No. 1 and Urban Meyer No. 2. No surprise there. I kept looking and found Kirk Ferentz at No. 23, Todd Graham at No. 30 and Rich Rodriguez at No. 31. Now, I was really interested. A closer look revealed Pat Narduzzi at No. 38, a startling high number considering he has been a head coach for just one season. That put him ahead of Paul Chryst (44), Dana Holgorsen (49) and James Franklin (51).
In this case, Pitt is it.
It’s always fun to see how outsiders look at the teams, coaches and players in our little corner of the world. I agree with Sporting News when it comes to Narduzzi, Holgorsen and Franklin. Narduzzi impressed me in 2015 with his work at Pitt. Holgorsen does a good job in a tough situation at West Virginia. Plus, he always fascinates me because of his personality and biting candor. And Franklin? He hasn’t shown me much yet at Penn State.
Franklin has been a big disappointment, actually. He hasn’t delivered any of the promises he made when he was hired from Vanderbilt after the 2013 season. His offense has been painful to watch. He ruined Christian Hackenberg, at least as a college quarterback. Penn State didn’t just lose to Temple last season for the first time since 1941, it was clobbered, 27-10. It is 0-6 against Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan under Franklin. I know the NCAA sanctions from the tragedy caused by Jerry Sandusky were difficult, but being outscored by an average of 34-15 by your three biggest Big Ten Conference rivals? Losing to Michigan State, 55-16, in the final regular-season game last season? No wonder much of the We Are! fan base is losing patience with Franklin. He really needs to beat Pitt and Temple in September.
Holgorsen also has struggled against West Virginia’s top opponents, going 4-13 against ranked teams since 2012. There was much speculation after a loss to Kansas State in the final regular-season game last season that Holgorsen would be fired. The school stayed with him and the Mountaineers responded by beating Arizona State, led by former Pitt coach Graham, in the Cactus Bowl.
Holgorsen, who is 26-25 since going 10-3 and beating Clemson, 70-33, in the Orange Bowl in his first season in 2011, will be under scrutiny again this fall. But I’m not sure West Virginia would do better with another coach. It needed a home when the power conferences began playing musical chairs and was fortunate from a financial standpoint to land in the powerful Big 12 Conference. But in terms of football? All of those trips to Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas are brutal.
Pitt is in a much better spot in the ACC. Geographically, it makes more sense. Travel is easier. So is the competition, although Pitt’s game at Clemson Nov. 12 will be fairly challenging. According to the online betting site Bovada, Pitt is a 3-1 second choice — tied with Virginia Tech — behind Miami to win the league’s Coastal Division.
“The Panthers were 6-2 in ACC play and lost three games by a TD or less last season,” Sporting News noted. “The old-school, ground-and-pound philosophy took Pitt back to its roots, and the defense will only get better.”
In just one year, Narduzzi has done an amazing job re-energizing Pitt’s fan base after more than 30 years of virtual irrelevance for the program. He reminds me of a young John Majors with his enthusiasm. He has been so dynamic that many Pitt fans already are worried he will leave for a better job. That’s what happens when a school has changed coaches the way men change socks.
But Narduzzi is from Youngstown, Ohio, and says he wants to stay at Pitt for a long time. I believe him. I also believe he will climb a lot higher on that Sporting News list before he’s done here.
We’ll find out a lot more about Narduzzi, Franklin and their programs when Pitt and Penn State play Sept. 10 at Heinz Field for the first time in 16 years.
Pitt opened as a 9-point favorite.
I’m thinking the wise guys have it just about right.
rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter@RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Poni” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
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