Here is what we have seen in the media about Pitt football over the last few days.

First off here is Chris Peak’s latest podcast on the Trib-Review you can listen while you work:

A nice note he hits right away is that the recruiting ‘dead period’ has ended so we should see the Pat Signal a few times soon.  he also goes position buy position to talk about if we’ll be better this season than last.

He touches on the QB position first and , kind of sad to say he keeps labelling Peterman’s accomplishments of 2015 as “not terrible” which is misleading IMO. Peterman certainly wasn’t a star player for us but he played some very good football in getting us a 6-2 ACC record as a starter.

Take a look at how he played in those six crucial wins:

Here is what he did as our QB in those six ACC wins – now this is a snapshot but still is telling I think:

He went 99/142 for a 70% completion rate; 1095 yards with 13 TDS and 0 INTs (!) for a 161.2 QB rating.    Folks, 13 TDs vice zero INTs is some great production. That is some QB play we haven’t seen in a long time.

Again, that has to be balanced out with those two ACC losses where he had average play but to say “not terrible” when discussing his season misses the mark by a long shot I think.  For a first time starting QB on a new team… with basically two months to practice with teammates I’d say he did pretty darn well.

Good stuff by Peak as always.

As we discussed in our Sunday podcast the P-G’s Ron Cook broke tradition and complemented Pitt for once.  He makes some nice points:

“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.”

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.

I have a difference of opinion with Cook on that last statement and explained it in a long comment to the POV last article that specifically addressed the issue regarding Narduzzi’s staying at Pitt for a long time.  he could and depending on what we see out of the team this season we may all want that to happen… but I’ll not hold my breath on it.

Coaches say things like this at every press conference they have at their new school after being hired.  I take it with a grain of salt. but right now I’m glad he’s here for sure. Last season had some nice wins and exciting play and that’s what we want to see out of a team.

The Tribune-Review has a delayed-reaction piece on our QB Nate Peterman’s trickeration with a football and a river. This is a fun video to watch and when I said that we’ll see OC Matt Canada open up the long passing game these are the practices he held with Peterman to get ready for that…

That’s fun to watch.  This is even better to read…

Peterman also worked his wife, Morgan, a former high school soccer player, into the video. Morgan kicks a soccer ball behind her back and Peterman shoots it out of the air. In another, the couple stand on a catwalk above the indoor practice facility, and Peterman wraps his arms around his wife and flips the ball into a can below.

The couple were married April 30 in Morgan’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn., making Peterman the first married Pitt quarterback in at least the past half-century. In fact, legendary coach Jock Sutherland (1924-1938) used to frown upon his players getting married, Pitt historian Alex Kramer said.

Peterman, who earned his undergraduate communications degree from Tennessee in three years, credits time management skills and his vigilant wife for allowing him to juggle marriage, football and academics. Attendance at three-hour night classes will enable him to earn an MBA from Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business in December.

Good for him and another example of real-life student athlete at work and play.

Here is a site that thinks we will crack the Top 25 at the end of the 2016 season.  Let’s hope and we sure could if we beat at least two of those four tough opponents we face in OK State, PSU, Clemson and NC.

Here is an interesting video that reminds us all of the ever-changing landscapes of athletics and competition sports especially.   Keep in mind that the interview Narduzzi does here is after Nate Peterman has decided to transfer to Pitt and the day after Peterman started working out with his new teammates in the summertime voluntary drills.

From the time Narduzzi is praising Chad Voytik in this interview to the time Narduzzi sat him down was less than nine weeks.

Also, and tying a bit into the Narduzzi/Youngstown discussion above, this article sheds some light on h0w Peterman ended up here after deciding to leave Tennessee.

Growing up just outside of Meadville, Pa., in the 1970s, Chuck Peterman didn’t have much of a choice but to be a Steelers fan.  He grew up watching and idolizing players such as Rocky Bleier and Jack Lambert, and, when he was a high school linebacker, emulated their tough-nosed style.

“It just gets branded on your heart from the time you’re a little kid in that section of the country,” Peterman said.
   So, when Peterman got to tour the Steelers football facility in May with his youngest son Nathan, a quarterback who transferred from Tennessee to Pitt in the offseason, he was “like a little kid in a candy store,” according to his son.

Nathan added that he thought his dad was “pretty much in shock” when he told him he was going to transfer to Pitt in January.

This one’s for you Pops.

Jordan Whitehead is in the running for the Jim Thorpe award… This tags along with the other Pitt players who have been singled out for their own awards…

Note: I’m going to take a flyer and put up some basketball stuff to cover the shortage that has been noticeable in other Pitt blogs. I want the main thrust (like 99.999%) to be football but you guys are going through a BB jones so I’ll pitch in.