From the desk of Jim Snyder
Coming off a couple of disappointing losses
The Panthers are coming off a couple of disappointing losses to Rutgers and South Florida. These are games they might have won if they had played well. They didn’t.
Pitt faces another important game on Saturday. If they win they will finish no worse than 7-5 and head to a bowl. This young team could use a couple of extra weeks practice that you get if you are in a bowl. It would be a big benefit to the first and second year players and could help put them in a better position to compete next year. In addition it helps recruiting on a number of fronts. Schools like to bring recruits in during the month of December to show the team practicing for a bowl. A loss at UConn could result in the Panthers finishing the year on a five-game losing streak. It would certainly complicate the rebuilding effort. Every game is important and the UConn game is no exception.
During the last two year’s of the Walt Harris era at Pitt the Big East Conference was in a state of disarray with Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College leaving. Both Pitt and Syracuse took big hits on the recruiting front. Both Walt Harris and Paul Pasqualoni were under attack by alums and the media. Both Pitt and Syracuse have rich football traditions. Syracuse leads the Pitt series 30-29-3. If it is any consolation Syracuse may have been hit harder and make take a little longer to recover.
Pitt has a small senior and junior class. There are some good players in these classes like Tyler Palko, H.B. Blades, Clint Session and Darrelle Revis. There simply aren’t enough of them. On top of that Pitt now has over a dozen players on the shelf for one reason or another. Pitt may start four true freshmen this week. When the staff substitutes a young team gets very young.
The last two weeks the offense has gone into hibernation. Pitt simply has not shown the ability to put drives together. Early in the year the Panthers were scoring on big plays and it may have masked their inability to put drives together. You have to allow you defense a chance to rest periodically.
Special teams were a nightmare in the first half at South Florida. Twice they kicked it out of bounds despite the fact they had the wind at their back. Twice they are burned on fake punts. Pitt had to have given up close to one hundred yards of field position on these four plays. They simply are too young, too inexperienced and quite frankly aren’t good enough yet to over come those kick of stats.
The difference between winning and losing can sometimes be small. You need not look any further than the Pittsburgh Steelers to find a team that was red hot late last year and stumbling to get a win this year. If Pitt had 3 or 4 more juniors and seniors that can play it probably would have made a world of difference. In the meantime they have to scratch out wins where they can until these young players develop.
The Iowa State head coaching job is open. There appears to be a few out in Ames, Iowa that would like to see Paul Rhoads return home. Coach Rhoads came to Pitt as a disciple of Larry Coyer and his run blitz type pf defense. Since Coach Wannstedt took over Pitt no longer runs the defense Coach Rhoads brought with him from Iowa State. Coach Wannstedt prefers and read and react defense with very little blitzing. Not sure Coach Rhoads will be offered the job but you would have to think he would react favorably if offered.
You have to wonder how much longer Larry Coker can hang on at Miami not that one of the players has been shot. Sooner or later someone is going to want to clean up the Miami image. A change could help Pitt in recruiting.
Football recruiting summary
Last year Pitt signed a nationally ranked recruiting class. This year they have 14 commitments so far and Rivals.com has them ranked No. 23 in the country.
This past week we reported linebacker Max Gruder (6’ 2” 220) from Charlotte, North Carolina had been offered. He is a Pitt camper. This staff offered him after watching senior video. He is from a winning program. His team is 9-2. We expect him to commit any day.
We also expect Da’Von Moore from Brentwood to commit when he visits December 1st. He has Brentwood 9-1 going into playoff action this weekend. He is having a big senior season. He is an athlete with speed.
We also expect running back Shariff Harris from St Peter’s Prep to commit when he visits December 8th. St. Peter’s is the top ranked team in New Jersey and they are undefeated so he is another player from a winning program.
If Harris commits Pitt will have commitments from three running backs (Henry Hynoski and Xavier Stinson). We expect them to take at least one more.
There are at least dozen prospects tentatively lined up for official visits. You can simply pull down the visit list tab under Football Recruiting to see the Visit List.
There are rumors that Greensburg Central Catholic’s Nick Sukay may be having second thoughts about his commitment to Penn State so we will watch that one.
We also think Pitt could take another offensive lineman. We will have an article on Joel McCloud from Everglades later today. He is one possibility. We would like to see at least one more linebacker beyond Max Gruder.
Junior running back Antwuan Reed from Johnstown committed earlier in the week. We had hear he was very close to LaRod Stephens so we are not surprised that he committed although it may have been a little earlier than we expected. Hopefully you had a chance to watch video of him this week.
Basketball Letters of Intent
Pitt received signed Letters of Intent from Cassin Diggs (6’ 10”), Gary McGhee (6’ 10”), Darnell Dodson (6’ 6”), and DeJuan Blair over the past two days.
They are expected to receive a Letter of Intent from Brad Wanamaker (6’ 3”) today.
Wireless text alert
Rivals.com has started a new Wireless Text Alert. The service is free for the first couple of months. Rivals.com expects to send out about a thousand alerts per week. Eventually there will be a charge. It may vary by carrier. My guess is it will be in the $4.50 per month range. You must subscriber to the Pantherlair to get Pitt alerts.
Rutgers-Louisville game
I have come down with the flu the past couple of days. It was all I could do to stay awake for the entire game but I made it. I am sure the folks in the Big East office were secretly rooting for Louisville.
The television audience was treated to a good game. I am anxious to hear what the ratings were for this game. Last week the Louisville-West Virginia game had the second highest TV rating ever for college football. It would be great for the Big East if they did it again.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 11/10 11:39 AM by Chris Peakif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
Coming off a couple of disappointing losses
The Panthers are coming off a couple of disappointing losses to Rutgers and South Florida. These are games they might have won if they had played well. They didn’t.
Pitt faces another important game on Saturday. If they win they will finish no worse than 7-5 and head to a bowl. This young team could use a couple of extra weeks practice that you get if you are in a bowl. It would be a big benefit to the first and second year players and could help put them in a better position to compete next year. In addition it helps recruiting on a number of fronts. Schools like to bring recruits in during the month of December to show the team practicing for a bowl. A loss at UConn could result in the Panthers finishing the year on a five-game losing streak. It would certainly complicate the rebuilding effort. Every game is important and the UConn game is no exception.
During the last two year’s of the Walt Harris era at Pitt the Big East Conference was in a state of disarray with Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College leaving. Both Pitt and Syracuse took big hits on the recruiting front. Both Walt Harris and Paul Pasqualoni were under attack by alums and the media. Both Pitt and Syracuse have rich football traditions. Syracuse leads the Pitt series 30-29-3. If it is any consolation Syracuse may have been hit harder and make take a little longer to recover.
Pitt has a small senior and junior class. There are some good players in these classes like Tyler Palko, H.B. Blades, Clint Session and Darrelle Revis. There simply aren’t enough of them. On top of that Pitt now has over a dozen players on the shelf for one reason or another. Pitt may start four true freshmen this week. When the staff substitutes a young team gets very young.
The last two weeks the offense has gone into hibernation. Pitt simply has not shown the ability to put drives together. Early in the year the Panthers were scoring on big plays and it may have masked their inability to put drives together. You have to allow you defense a chance to rest periodically.
Special teams were a nightmare in the first half at South Florida. Twice they kicked it out of bounds despite the fact they had the wind at their back. Twice they are burned on fake punts. Pitt had to have given up close to one hundred yards of field position on these four plays. They simply are too young, too inexperienced and quite frankly aren’t good enough yet to over come those kick of stats.
The difference between winning and losing can sometimes be small. You need not look any further than the Pittsburgh Steelers to find a team that was red hot late last year and stumbling to get a win this year. If Pitt had 3 or 4 more juniors and seniors that can play it probably would have made a world of difference. In the meantime they have to scratch out wins where they can until these young players develop.
The Iowa State head coaching job is open. There appears to be a few out in Ames, Iowa that would like to see Paul Rhoads return home. Coach Rhoads came to Pitt as a disciple of Larry Coyer and his run blitz type pf defense. Since Coach Wannstedt took over Pitt no longer runs the defense Coach Rhoads brought with him from Iowa State. Coach Wannstedt prefers and read and react defense with very little blitzing. Not sure Coach Rhoads will be offered the job but you would have to think he would react favorably if offered.
You have to wonder how much longer Larry Coker can hang on at Miami not that one of the players has been shot. Sooner or later someone is going to want to clean up the Miami image. A change could help Pitt in recruiting.
Football recruiting summary
Last year Pitt signed a nationally ranked recruiting class. This year they have 14 commitments so far and Rivals.com has them ranked No. 23 in the country.
This past week we reported linebacker Max Gruder (6’ 2” 220) from Charlotte, North Carolina had been offered. He is a Pitt camper. This staff offered him after watching senior video. He is from a winning program. His team is 9-2. We expect him to commit any day.
We also expect Da’Von Moore from Brentwood to commit when he visits December 1st. He has Brentwood 9-1 going into playoff action this weekend. He is having a big senior season. He is an athlete with speed.
We also expect running back Shariff Harris from St Peter’s Prep to commit when he visits December 8th. St. Peter’s is the top ranked team in New Jersey and they are undefeated so he is another player from a winning program.
If Harris commits Pitt will have commitments from three running backs (Henry Hynoski and Xavier Stinson). We expect them to take at least one more.
There are at least dozen prospects tentatively lined up for official visits. You can simply pull down the visit list tab under Football Recruiting to see the Visit List.
There are rumors that Greensburg Central Catholic’s Nick Sukay may be having second thoughts about his commitment to Penn State so we will watch that one.
We also think Pitt could take another offensive lineman. We will have an article on Joel McCloud from Everglades later today. He is one possibility. We would like to see at least one more linebacker beyond Max Gruder.
Junior running back Antwuan Reed from Johnstown committed earlier in the week. We had hear he was very close to LaRod Stephens so we are not surprised that he committed although it may have been a little earlier than we expected. Hopefully you had a chance to watch video of him this week.
Basketball Letters of Intent
Pitt received signed Letters of Intent from Cassin Diggs (6’ 10”), Gary McGhee (6’ 10”), Darnell Dodson (6’ 6”), and DeJuan Blair over the past two days.
They are expected to receive a Letter of Intent from Brad Wanamaker (6’ 3”) today.
Wireless text alert
Rivals.com has started a new Wireless Text Alert. The service is free for the first couple of months. Rivals.com expects to send out about a thousand alerts per week. Eventually there will be a charge. It may vary by carrier. My guess is it will be in the $4.50 per month range. You must subscriber to the Pantherlair to get Pitt alerts.
Rutgers-Louisville game
I have come down with the flu the past couple of days. It was all I could do to stay awake for the entire game but I made it. I am sure the folks in the Big East office were secretly rooting for Louisville.
The television audience was treated to a good game. I am anxious to hear what the ratings were for this game. Last week the Louisville-West Virginia game had the second highest TV rating ever for college football. It would be great for the Big East if they did it again.
The War Room is targeted towards our premium customers. We ask that all information reported in the War Room MUST stay right here! That’s the way this deal works. When this information is repeated outside of the Between Fifth and Forbes forum it only cheapens the price of yours and every other die-hard who have purchased premium services. The War Room is one of our more popular features...thank you all for keeping the information on this board.
This post was edited on 11/10 11:39 AM by Chris Peakif(GetAdminCookie() != 0) {document.write(' (Revisions[/URL])');}
