From the desk of Jim Snyder
Good time for an off week
The Panthers have been competitive in their last four games with Navy, Cincinnati, Louisville and Syracuse. These games could have gone either way so perhaps there is some justice in Pitt going 2-2 during this stretch although they could easily been 3-1 with a little better execution. Pitt is now 4-5 overall. It would take a sweep of the final three games to get them to a bowl and two of the three games are on the road. The Panthers haven’t won a road game this year. The last time they won on the road they hammered UCF 52-7 in Orlando in October of 2006.
The Big East Conference gets five bowl slots. Six wins makes you bowl eligible but it will take seven wins to insure a bowl berth. Connecticut (8-1), West Virginia (7-1) and Cincinnati (7-2) have wrapped up bowl bids. South Florida (6-3) needs to only to win one more to wrap one up. Pitt would need to pass Rutgers and Louisville who have both won 5 games. The Panthers are in a situation where they must sweep starting with Rutgers (5-4) next week. It is probably asking too much with this young team but stranger things have happened.
Redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Romeus may have saved the coaches a lot of explaining when he sacked the Syracuse quarterback in the closing minute as Syracuse was driving to kick a tying field goal. It keeps hope alive when one of these young players makes a play.
The Pitt coaching staff still lacks confidence in their freshman quarterback. The result is a game plan straight from the Baltimore Ravens’ playbook. Pat Bostick has not demonstrated the ability to run the ball and the coaching staff wants to dump most passes short. The net result is their opponents are putting eight or nine players in the box. It is a real tribute to LeSean McCoy and the offensive line that they have been able to run the ball as well as they have without much of a vertical passing threat.
It is a mystery why Pitt has not thrown more to tight end Nate Byham. If you are afraid to open up the passing games surely they must have a few safe passes in their arsenal that throws to the tight end. Byham has shown to be a sure-handed receiver in his 14 catches this year.
Freshman running back LeSean McCoy is on pace to gain more yards than any freshman running back in the 25 year history of the Big East. This would set him up to be Freshman of the Year in the Big East and put him on the path to a host of preseason honors next year.
Some statistics
Pitt ranks No. 17 in the country in total defense allowing 184.56 yards per game and No. 36 in the country in scoring defense. They have played better the past three games but in the game with Navy they were taken to the woodshed.
Perhaps a more telling stat is that the Panthers ranked No. 106 in interceptions, No. 100 in fumble recoveries and No. 115 in turnovers gained. They often have not put enough pressure on to make their opponents make mistakes.
Hoops talk
Are you ready for some hoops? Big East teams will be on the television airwaves like never before. As part of the Big East’s new agreements with its television partners, all 144 regular-season league games will be televised. In all, conference teams will make 400 television appearances this season.
The Pitt basketball team beats UPJ by 41 points and Indiana of Pa. by 52 points and we all say well that is what you’re supposed to do. So how in the world does Findley beat Ohio State 70-68 and Michigan State gets beat by Grand Valley State 85-82 in double overtime. Michigan State is the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten. The Kentucky site was in a meltdown this week when they lost their opener to Gardiner-Webb 84-68, a team that finished 7th in the Atlantic Sun Conference a year ago. The best line on the Kentucky site was,” At least the game was on ESPNU and most the rest of the country did not see this.”
I really liked what I saw from redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown at Fan Fest but he seemed to slide back into the pack in the two exhibition games. Brown now has missed some practice time due to a shoulder injury. I had hoped he would push Mike Cook for playing time but now we will have to wait and see.
We should know a little more about the Panthers after this weekend with Pitt playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That is a lot of hoops in a three-day period so you should get to see most players getting at least a few minutes.
I hope you caught the story from Rivals.com on the Big East expanding their basketball tournament next year. The scalpers outside Madison Square Garden are smiling. Fans from 16 schools buying tickets and somebody has to lose early. The scalpers will be very busy next year.
We reported on the visits of forwards Kevin Jones (6’ 7”) from Mt Vernon, New York and Dwight Miller (6’ 8”) from Houston, Texas. One of our readers posted that he expected Jones to decide between Pitt and West Virginia. This one makes sense to me. His bother acts like a father figure and my guess is he won’t want him straying too far from home. A Big East school is logical. Jones appears to have enjoyed his visit to Pitt. We could know within a few days. There is a story on the Ticker this morning indicating that Ohio State has dropped out and it is down to four schools.
Tony Greco also reported on Pitt commits Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall. They were both fun articles. I particularly liked the one on Gibbs. Both players will sign Letters of Intent with Pitt next week. We have gone through four phone numbers this past week for Nasir Robison. We will keep working on it and report on him later. We did speak to his coach Fred Pickett yesterday. He said Nasir is coming along in the classroom and will be just fine when it is over. Chester will play a brutal schedule this year. He is a veteran coach who says he does not mind losing a few. Chester lost to Schenley in the state AAAA finals a year ago. They could be ready for another run. He said Chester will play Jeannette and Roman Catholic (February 2nd) at Villanova on different weekends. I would pay money to see Nasir Robinson and Terrelle Pryor go at it. How about you?
Recruiting roundup
Today we will have a report on wide receiver J. D. Woods from Golden Gate High School in Naples, Florida and we will report on defensive tackle Jewhan Edwards from Roman Catholic. Both players now claim offers from Pitt. Paul Dunn visited Edwards this past week. Dunn reportedly also visited JUCO center Robb Houser this week so we will follow up on him and report again on him next week.
Woods claims he has an offer. Pitt is recruiting him but we do not think he has a written offer yet. Edwards’ offer may also be oral at this point but we think the written one could be in the mail while Woods is not quite at that point yet.
Tony reported on Beaver Falls standout Todd Thomas this week. Beaver Falls (9-1) takes on Steel Valley (10-0) at South Fayette Friday night. There are a lot of very good teams in Class AA this year but I don’t know if any of them can beat Jeannette.
We reported on Bishop McDevitt’s Mike Jones this week. Pitt continues to recruit him and he seems to like Pitt. We will have to see if he gets an offer from the Pitt staff.
We had a number of Ticker reports this week of interest. There were stories on Averin Collier, Isaiah Pead, Gateway’s Cameron Saddler and Altoona A. J. Alexander. Saddler said he would visit Pitt Thanksgiving weekend. Alexander indicated he may visit Pitt in January. See the Ticker if you missed them.
We also had some good video of Cameron Saddler yesterday and good photos of the Gateway players earlier this week courtesy of the Michigan site.
According to our sources it appears that Averin Collier (4 stars) and wide receiver Marcus Sales (4 stars) will both make official visits on December 7th. That is the same weekend Ohio LB Doug Rippy is scheduled to visit so it could shape up as a big recruiting weekend for the coaching staff. Look for them to schedule visits for others that weekend. My guess is some of those that have already committed will join them.
Pick’em
Our leaders after 10 weeks in the Pick’em contest are as follows:
1) Bkm67
2) UP#1
3) gburgess1300
4) praaron
5) dukebball3581
6) Fan101
7) panth#1
8) Fitzgerald#1
9) Last Call
10) KingMissle
11) Pitt/Robb
If you have not had an opportunity please get your selections in for this week’s games.
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 11/9 9:21 AM by Jim Pantherlair
Good time for an off week
The Panthers have been competitive in their last four games with Navy, Cincinnati, Louisville and Syracuse. These games could have gone either way so perhaps there is some justice in Pitt going 2-2 during this stretch although they could easily been 3-1 with a little better execution. Pitt is now 4-5 overall. It would take a sweep of the final three games to get them to a bowl and two of the three games are on the road. The Panthers haven’t won a road game this year. The last time they won on the road they hammered UCF 52-7 in Orlando in October of 2006.
The Big East Conference gets five bowl slots. Six wins makes you bowl eligible but it will take seven wins to insure a bowl berth. Connecticut (8-1), West Virginia (7-1) and Cincinnati (7-2) have wrapped up bowl bids. South Florida (6-3) needs to only to win one more to wrap one up. Pitt would need to pass Rutgers and Louisville who have both won 5 games. The Panthers are in a situation where they must sweep starting with Rutgers (5-4) next week. It is probably asking too much with this young team but stranger things have happened.
Redshirt freshman defensive end Greg Romeus may have saved the coaches a lot of explaining when he sacked the Syracuse quarterback in the closing minute as Syracuse was driving to kick a tying field goal. It keeps hope alive when one of these young players makes a play.
The Pitt coaching staff still lacks confidence in their freshman quarterback. The result is a game plan straight from the Baltimore Ravens’ playbook. Pat Bostick has not demonstrated the ability to run the ball and the coaching staff wants to dump most passes short. The net result is their opponents are putting eight or nine players in the box. It is a real tribute to LeSean McCoy and the offensive line that they have been able to run the ball as well as they have without much of a vertical passing threat.
It is a mystery why Pitt has not thrown more to tight end Nate Byham. If you are afraid to open up the passing games surely they must have a few safe passes in their arsenal that throws to the tight end. Byham has shown to be a sure-handed receiver in his 14 catches this year.
Freshman running back LeSean McCoy is on pace to gain more yards than any freshman running back in the 25 year history of the Big East. This would set him up to be Freshman of the Year in the Big East and put him on the path to a host of preseason honors next year.
Some statistics
Pitt ranks No. 17 in the country in total defense allowing 184.56 yards per game and No. 36 in the country in scoring defense. They have played better the past three games but in the game with Navy they were taken to the woodshed.
Perhaps a more telling stat is that the Panthers ranked No. 106 in interceptions, No. 100 in fumble recoveries and No. 115 in turnovers gained. They often have not put enough pressure on to make their opponents make mistakes.
Hoops talk
Are you ready for some hoops? Big East teams will be on the television airwaves like never before. As part of the Big East’s new agreements with its television partners, all 144 regular-season league games will be televised. In all, conference teams will make 400 television appearances this season.
The Pitt basketball team beats UPJ by 41 points and Indiana of Pa. by 52 points and we all say well that is what you’re supposed to do. So how in the world does Findley beat Ohio State 70-68 and Michigan State gets beat by Grand Valley State 85-82 in double overtime. Michigan State is the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten. The Kentucky site was in a meltdown this week when they lost their opener to Gardiner-Webb 84-68, a team that finished 7th in the Atlantic Sun Conference a year ago. The best line on the Kentucky site was,” At least the game was on ESPNU and most the rest of the country did not see this.”
I really liked what I saw from redshirt freshman Gilbert Brown at Fan Fest but he seemed to slide back into the pack in the two exhibition games. Brown now has missed some practice time due to a shoulder injury. I had hoped he would push Mike Cook for playing time but now we will have to wait and see.
We should know a little more about the Panthers after this weekend with Pitt playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That is a lot of hoops in a three-day period so you should get to see most players getting at least a few minutes.
I hope you caught the story from Rivals.com on the Big East expanding their basketball tournament next year. The scalpers outside Madison Square Garden are smiling. Fans from 16 schools buying tickets and somebody has to lose early. The scalpers will be very busy next year.
We reported on the visits of forwards Kevin Jones (6’ 7”) from Mt Vernon, New York and Dwight Miller (6’ 8”) from Houston, Texas. One of our readers posted that he expected Jones to decide between Pitt and West Virginia. This one makes sense to me. His bother acts like a father figure and my guess is he won’t want him straying too far from home. A Big East school is logical. Jones appears to have enjoyed his visit to Pitt. We could know within a few days. There is a story on the Ticker this morning indicating that Ohio State has dropped out and it is down to four schools.
Tony Greco also reported on Pitt commits Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall. They were both fun articles. I particularly liked the one on Gibbs. Both players will sign Letters of Intent with Pitt next week. We have gone through four phone numbers this past week for Nasir Robison. We will keep working on it and report on him later. We did speak to his coach Fred Pickett yesterday. He said Nasir is coming along in the classroom and will be just fine when it is over. Chester will play a brutal schedule this year. He is a veteran coach who says he does not mind losing a few. Chester lost to Schenley in the state AAAA finals a year ago. They could be ready for another run. He said Chester will play Jeannette and Roman Catholic (February 2nd) at Villanova on different weekends. I would pay money to see Nasir Robinson and Terrelle Pryor go at it. How about you?
Recruiting roundup
Today we will have a report on wide receiver J. D. Woods from Golden Gate High School in Naples, Florida and we will report on defensive tackle Jewhan Edwards from Roman Catholic. Both players now claim offers from Pitt. Paul Dunn visited Edwards this past week. Dunn reportedly also visited JUCO center Robb Houser this week so we will follow up on him and report again on him next week.
Woods claims he has an offer. Pitt is recruiting him but we do not think he has a written offer yet. Edwards’ offer may also be oral at this point but we think the written one could be in the mail while Woods is not quite at that point yet.
Tony reported on Beaver Falls standout Todd Thomas this week. Beaver Falls (9-1) takes on Steel Valley (10-0) at South Fayette Friday night. There are a lot of very good teams in Class AA this year but I don’t know if any of them can beat Jeannette.
We reported on Bishop McDevitt’s Mike Jones this week. Pitt continues to recruit him and he seems to like Pitt. We will have to see if he gets an offer from the Pitt staff.
We had a number of Ticker reports this week of interest. There were stories on Averin Collier, Isaiah Pead, Gateway’s Cameron Saddler and Altoona A. J. Alexander. Saddler said he would visit Pitt Thanksgiving weekend. Alexander indicated he may visit Pitt in January. See the Ticker if you missed them.
We also had some good video of Cameron Saddler yesterday and good photos of the Gateway players earlier this week courtesy of the Michigan site.
According to our sources it appears that Averin Collier (4 stars) and wide receiver Marcus Sales (4 stars) will both make official visits on December 7th. That is the same weekend Ohio LB Doug Rippy is scheduled to visit so it could shape up as a big recruiting weekend for the coaching staff. Look for them to schedule visits for others that weekend. My guess is some of those that have already committed will join them.
Pick’em
Our leaders after 10 weeks in the Pick’em contest are as follows:
1) Bkm67
2) UP#1
3) gburgess1300
4) praaron
5) dukebball3581
6) Fan101
7) panth#1
8) Fitzgerald#1
9) Last Call
10) KingMissle
11) Pitt/Robb
If you have not had an opportunity please get your selections in for this week’s games.
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 11/9 9:21 AM by Jim Pantherlair
