I've watched a lot, and I mean a lot of Pitt football games (which just means I'm old) over the years, I am not sure I have ever felt such utter misery and then joy in the course of 3 hours as I did yesterday afternoon:
1. Let's start with thoughts midway through the 3rd quarter. Here I am thinking about how bad we are again. Defense was getting gashed through the air and on the ground. Eli Holstein was looking like a freshman making only his second college start, utterly confused and no accuracy. While I wasn't close to shutting the game off, my mind was clearly shutting down.
2. And the abysmal performance for 2/3 of the game was in all phases let's be honest. The defense which would continually get UC in third down and long only to continually give up first down passes after failing to put pressure on the QB with 6 man blitzes. Even when something went right, like Gandy's INT in the end zone, it went wrong as he was out of bounds. This supposed vaunted offense just couldn't get on track and Eli was the main culprit with some absolutely horrendous passes, non more so than the interception in the end zone when he threw into double coverage. Even Junko who we heard so much about in camp sucked. Nothing was going right.
3. I'm not sure what clicked, maybe the fact that the Panthers got a gift when UC missed a bunny FG and somehow Sauls was gifted time on first half ending FG. Talk about the refs later but still don't understand how they put 1 second back on the clock. I thought college eliminated stopping the clock on first downs. Maybe I'm wrong.
4. If I never see the Godfather again (Mr. Corleone) I will be very happy. That dude mauled our OL all game. Clearly will be a pro, health permitting. It's amazing on a hot day like that how much he played. Hats off to him. Maybe the most violent hands we will see all year.
5. UC was clearly picking on Battle in the first half and they were successful but I have to wonder, really wonder why we kept on bringing so much heat and leaving two untested CB's alone like that on third long so often. Maybe once in a while mix it up a little? Look I get the concept, hit the QB as often as possible eventually he will start misfiring and you could argue it worked late in the game but man early in the game it didn't feel that way.
6. I mentioned the refs, the other call I didn't get was the delay of the game which was a critical call late in the game. I'm not sure how a ref can hear the delay of the game in that noise but we'll take it. When you make a comeback like that a little luck is involved sometimes.
7. Sometimes the spirit of a team is embodied in one or two players. For this team after yesterday this team need only look at Des Reid. The 175lbs explosive RB just would not be denied. What a revelation. The dude is getting pounded, limping back into position and making play after play. Pitt clearly needs to find some carries aside from Reid because me thinks he won't last but man is he lighting with the ball in his hands or what? How do you not just leave it on the field when you watch him play? He reminds of a combo Shady and Deon Lewis.
8. The Defense clearly has some talent in the front seven, especially the LB's but we are going to stress all year long with this DL. Yes the run defense yesterday wasn't awful. They swarmed the ball carrier but the front four is just not generating enough of a pass rush. Something to watch as the year goes on, though in fairness that was a veteran OL they went up against.
9. Seems to me that Holstein started to play better when he started running a little more when nothing was available. Using his legs to stress the defense appeared to help the offense and his confidence.
10. I hate, and I mean I hate the talking heads already mentioning the playoffs. I mean can we enjoy the season? It's week 2 and this team is in this team is out. What a joke! We shouldn't even have rankings till the end of Sept. ND number 5 really? How does anyone know good these teams are. It's all based on reputation and name recognition. I mean the 5th ranked team in the country (Supposedly) lost at home to Northern Illinois. Come on. And they will fall to what like 12?
11. Look I don't know how good Cincy is going to be. But what I do know is that a young Panther team when into hostile territory was getting bum rushed, and somehow had the fortitude to turn things around and win. We'll see the impact this had but no question this team grew up yesterday. And they dominated in the fourth Quarter on both sides of the ball.
12. Not a fan of going for two down 14. I know all about the analytics but can you imagine if after fighting back so hard the missed two's would be the margin of defeat? Don't get it now didn't get then.
13. Nice to have Ben Sauls on your side isn't it?
14. I remember back in the day a Backyard Brawl in Morgantown where a Mike Gottfried team came back from an insane deficit in the fourth quarter led by Alex Van Pelt and Adam Walker to forge a tie. Gottfried who was interviewed on the field after the game said "The kids fought too hard not at least get a tie". Not sure the year but that was a great comeback.
15. You go from staring at the abyss to being 2-0 and having juice heading into the Brawl. Seriously you can't complain about that. I'm off to Croatia on Thursday so no musings but I will have to figure out how to listen or watch the game. H2P. Hell yeah!
Pitt 82
1. Let's start with thoughts midway through the 3rd quarter. Here I am thinking about how bad we are again. Defense was getting gashed through the air and on the ground. Eli Holstein was looking like a freshman making only his second college start, utterly confused and no accuracy. While I wasn't close to shutting the game off, my mind was clearly shutting down.
2. And the abysmal performance for 2/3 of the game was in all phases let's be honest. The defense which would continually get UC in third down and long only to continually give up first down passes after failing to put pressure on the QB with 6 man blitzes. Even when something went right, like Gandy's INT in the end zone, it went wrong as he was out of bounds. This supposed vaunted offense just couldn't get on track and Eli was the main culprit with some absolutely horrendous passes, non more so than the interception in the end zone when he threw into double coverage. Even Junko who we heard so much about in camp sucked. Nothing was going right.
3. I'm not sure what clicked, maybe the fact that the Panthers got a gift when UC missed a bunny FG and somehow Sauls was gifted time on first half ending FG. Talk about the refs later but still don't understand how they put 1 second back on the clock. I thought college eliminated stopping the clock on first downs. Maybe I'm wrong.
4. If I never see the Godfather again (Mr. Corleone) I will be very happy. That dude mauled our OL all game. Clearly will be a pro, health permitting. It's amazing on a hot day like that how much he played. Hats off to him. Maybe the most violent hands we will see all year.
5. UC was clearly picking on Battle in the first half and they were successful but I have to wonder, really wonder why we kept on bringing so much heat and leaving two untested CB's alone like that on third long so often. Maybe once in a while mix it up a little? Look I get the concept, hit the QB as often as possible eventually he will start misfiring and you could argue it worked late in the game but man early in the game it didn't feel that way.
6. I mentioned the refs, the other call I didn't get was the delay of the game which was a critical call late in the game. I'm not sure how a ref can hear the delay of the game in that noise but we'll take it. When you make a comeback like that a little luck is involved sometimes.
7. Sometimes the spirit of a team is embodied in one or two players. For this team after yesterday this team need only look at Des Reid. The 175lbs explosive RB just would not be denied. What a revelation. The dude is getting pounded, limping back into position and making play after play. Pitt clearly needs to find some carries aside from Reid because me thinks he won't last but man is he lighting with the ball in his hands or what? How do you not just leave it on the field when you watch him play? He reminds of a combo Shady and Deon Lewis.
8. The Defense clearly has some talent in the front seven, especially the LB's but we are going to stress all year long with this DL. Yes the run defense yesterday wasn't awful. They swarmed the ball carrier but the front four is just not generating enough of a pass rush. Something to watch as the year goes on, though in fairness that was a veteran OL they went up against.
9. Seems to me that Holstein started to play better when he started running a little more when nothing was available. Using his legs to stress the defense appeared to help the offense and his confidence.
10. I hate, and I mean I hate the talking heads already mentioning the playoffs. I mean can we enjoy the season? It's week 2 and this team is in this team is out. What a joke! We shouldn't even have rankings till the end of Sept. ND number 5 really? How does anyone know good these teams are. It's all based on reputation and name recognition. I mean the 5th ranked team in the country (Supposedly) lost at home to Northern Illinois. Come on. And they will fall to what like 12?
11. Look I don't know how good Cincy is going to be. But what I do know is that a young Panther team when into hostile territory was getting bum rushed, and somehow had the fortitude to turn things around and win. We'll see the impact this had but no question this team grew up yesterday. And they dominated in the fourth Quarter on both sides of the ball.
12. Not a fan of going for two down 14. I know all about the analytics but can you imagine if after fighting back so hard the missed two's would be the margin of defeat? Don't get it now didn't get then.
13. Nice to have Ben Sauls on your side isn't it?
14. I remember back in the day a Backyard Brawl in Morgantown where a Mike Gottfried team came back from an insane deficit in the fourth quarter led by Alex Van Pelt and Adam Walker to forge a tie. Gottfried who was interviewed on the field after the game said "The kids fought too hard not at least get a tie". Not sure the year but that was a great comeback.
15. You go from staring at the abyss to being 2-0 and having juice heading into the Brawl. Seriously you can't complain about that. I'm off to Croatia on Thursday so no musings but I will have to figure out how to listen or watch the game. H2P. Hell yeah!
Pitt 82
