in Pitt Football 201 Words

POV Game Day Thread; Syracuse

Here we are in the last Saturday of the regular season and this game is not looking like it’s going to surprise anyone. At least it doesn’t feel that way.

Let’s hope Pitt plays to form today against Syracuse.  If so will have our eighth win on the season to match the winning total of last year, something that clearly shows progress from 2015.

We had our predictions posted  yesterday… I didn’t see anyone picking Syracuse to win so it’s pretty much a sure bet we’re going to take this game.  Then again we’re talking about Pitt football and there isn’t a college team anywhere who is so good as to not lose a football game given the right circumstances…right Clemson?

We won’t see that today. I think we’ll pull out a good win and get us on the road to preparing for a good Bowl showing unlike Navy last season.

And hopefully we can send James Connor out of Heinz Field with rousing ovations of genuine thanks at the end of this game, his last one at home.  Although Aaron Donald did return for his fourth year… remember?

Let’s hear what you guys have to say as things unfold.

HTP !!!

439 thoughts on “POV Game Day Thread; Syracuse”

  1. Reed – I’m pretty sure gasman and Dan72 picked cuse to win. May have been one other.

    Thanks for your dedication to keeping Pitt football conversations flowing.

    Does anyone know which alumni player will be the honorary captain today? Also, what is the chosen uniform color combination?

    Bundle up tailgaters, it’s football weather – yeah!

    Crush cuse!

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  2. Pulled this from PSN –

    “Pitt was positioned at #30 in last weeks rankings and plenty of teams ahead of them lost yesterday and could lose today.

    Lost this week: #16 Nebraska, #20 Houston, #19 Boise State and #23 Washington State

    Challenging games today: #13 Auburn at #1 Alabama, #18 West Virginia at Iowa State, #25 Navy at SMU, #22 Utah at #9 Colorado, #15 Florida at #14 Florida State,”

    Look out for two teams that were below #30 last week to jump over PITT – Memphis (no votes) who beat Houston and Iowa (1 vote) who beat B1G Joke Nebraska. Just because…

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  3. Darn you EE, I just spent the last 10 minutes compiling a post that said the exact same thing. 🙂

    couple things though I don’t think PITT will get hopped over and I hope they get into the top 25 for bowl concerns and I think they will.

    The NCAA poll I looked up had psu12 with a couple buttons you could hit, one for over-rated and the other for under-rated. u know which one I hit and when I did, it gave an update on the polling, 67% said OVER-RATED. naturally.

    Every year it’s the same feeling. Where in the heck did the football season go already. It’s really a bummer. I hope you all just don’t go poof and disappear the next few months. I understand that some don’t follow recruiting as much as some but I keep a close tab on the local kids. It’s keeps me engaged and I feel re-energized now that Narduzzi is at the helm. A big win today would go a long ways around WPA. I feel strong that one or more recruits may flip if PITT can win these last two.

    Anyways this year has been fun and I’m so happy Reed thought enough to run over to ITH and let us all know about this great blog called The Pitt POV. Thanks Reed. …………………ike/waltspappy

    H2P

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  4. Sad to see our last game of the season. Next year’s schedule maybe a little easier. Beat the Cuse to finish then get MD in BB on Tuesday. H2P

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  5. Looks like the forecast is 40 degrees and occasional misty rain. Not bad for this time of year but expect lousy crowd even though this is a “rival” game. Did anyone feel like the Cuse was a “rival ” in anything but BBall.

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  6. A couple more things:

    No, in no way do I feel a kindred rivalry feeling with the fighting Oranges. They are more like a paper cut, they bother me and I don’t like them but it’s not like having my whole finger cut off the way psu and ND make me feel.

    Haven’t been feeling well so I will miss this game. I feel bad about that but when I look around, I probably know of a dozen or so ticket that were available. I sure hope everyone made sure those seats will have butts in them today, that’s really important guys.

    so… having said that, I do wish the PITT seniors a final goodbye, you have made the past 5 seasons or so, very enjoyful for me and I appreciate the great effort you young men have put forth this past year. Thank You and Good Luck Men

    (I think I made up a new word right there, I think I’ll keep it)

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  7. Off topic: I could not prevent myself from laughing out loud LOL when I saw the score of the Toilet Bowl Arizona bombed ASU. 2 examples of horrible human beings coaching at major universities.

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  8. We need to win this game to have any chance to get Wade IMO too. I’m not worried about the rankings if we can win today and win the bowl game. If we take care of business we’ll end the season ranked. If we lose either game we won’t. Very simple….

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  10. Sad that with all these rivalry games today and we are playing Syracuse. Seriously? Get WVU or PSU played on this day. Rivalry my ass.

    Pitt by 17.

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  11. I agree Syracuse is not much right now, but playing a non-conference game to finish the season is idiocy.

    This is the future we are in the ACC, we need new rivals and should have them in a few years.

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  12. I disagree. Who cares if a rival is in our division. Ga/GT don’t.

    Is this on TV ? Rivalries make it on the tube. Just saying.

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  36. Pitt needs to take control of the game we ran what 12 plays in the first quarter?

    We scored but really quickly, our defense was on the field a lot.

    Wear them down and take control, our defense has to be a bit gassed.

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  37. Defensive backfield is inconsistent. at best. We make one real nice play and then pooooof, the old dbacks show up. On pace for a 56-56 overtime victory. Good grief. I am hoping their qb wears down and makes mistakes with the ball.

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  54. Our db’s don’t run towards the ball. Th god news is that the cuse receiver didn’t go after the ball either….wheewwwww, a hold! make em punt

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  68. Just Pitt Script at 50 yd line, looks a lot better than the white circle thingie,,,,i wonder why they do the white circle one, crazy

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  84. If commentator can call where pass is going, why can the defensive coaches do something to mask it better. Our defensive genius head coach should figure something out.

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  99. I think my prediction was something like 38-21……..for the game! Should have taken the over at 227 for this game. Defensing the bubble screens comes down to a desire of the db’s not to be blocked.

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  103. Narduzzi claims he does not make halftime adjustments, says there just is no time for it. I don’t know. There has been times it looks like PITT adjust a little thied quarter. Hope it happens again today. Like to win this game going away..

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  108. check that jack….3-0 2nd half and you will be golden….Nice defensive pressure dial up. Will feel better if we hold them on the next series!

    Nice Dane!

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  110. Nice Defense…..hold that…my spellcheck is not incorrect. Nice Defensive series.Started by Bam on 1st down bubble screen stop.

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  145. You gotta love our fans (not all of them), but they leave when we’re winning, and they leave when we’re losing.
    So they are consistent.

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  152. Pitt has lost the MO.

    Hang on folks – there is an uneasy feeling in the half empty stadium.

    No one is leaving – lol

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  153. we’re getting killed in time of possession, but we have 56 points in 17 minutes of possession.
    Killing the old adage that time of possession means anything anymore.

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  155. Pitt is going to win, however, the team that we end up facing in a bowl is going to pass us to death…..and it will be a MUCH better team than the ‘Cuse.

    We need to finish the recruiting season with quality.

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  156. GT quietly gets an 8 win over rival SEC’s Georgia. Now we need L’Ville to beat the other SEC team, Kentucky.

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  163. We need a long drive here to rest the D…..and it’s no time to turtle on offense. Cuse has plenty of time to score another 14-21 points. (sigh)

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  194. A weak team like Syracuse putting. 48points against Pitt. Any chance of a change in coaches for next year? Yeah, I know that we are banged up, but 48 points scored by ‘Cuse is NUTS!

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  208. Weah could wind up being a Top 10 pick too by the time he comes out. Big….fast…runs good routes already.

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  218. If you told me that Syracuse would score more than 50 points and that we would win I would laugh in your face.

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  245. How could anyone leave this last game (maybe) for Conner as he adds to his record…..and the all time scoring record?

    Hope Price is OK…

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  246. if the score remains 76-55….and who knows, with this pinball machine on ‘Special’ lite.

    Pitt played in the Sugar Bowl in both ’76 and ’55

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  259. 5 TD’s for him and they still lose. Do we even have a safety? That block was illegal BTW….he blocked when the ball was still in the air.

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  266. Our 4th quarter D is still terrible. How did we hold Clemson with zero points and give up 4 TD’s to Cuse? At least we know we won’t be losing our DC in the off season.

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  271. Nard Dog needs to be fired for this D. Its his. He has say in it. He is responsible. I do not expect one god damn D coach to be around next year. If so, fire Nard Dog. I dont expect any of these D3 players to be one the team next year. Start all frosh. Believe me it cannot get any worse.

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  273. That entire D of players needs to run every day until the bowl game. They cannot cover, tackle or make one god damn play. Might as well put them on the US and Mexico border.

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  275. Mull this … maybe this Big Joke D doesn’t work in the ACC and maybe the reason it is worse this year is because everyone has seen it once (except Clemscum) .. If that is all true it really is a bad omen for next year!

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  276. This is how we should have beat OKST and UNC. Just keep scoring.

    Another 8 win season, with a chance for 9. With wins against our hated rival and the best ACC team.

    Glass half full for sure.

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  277. Entertaining yes. Happy no. You save your worst defensive performance for the last game against a 2nd string QB. No improvement at all. Total embarrassment.

    on the bright side we may get a better Bowl invite because it will be entertaining for the casual fan to watch us try to score 80 to tie the score in the 4th qtr.

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  278. I’m finally came over to Reed’s side on Conklin. Without question he’s got to be replaced. No adjustments made what so ever on defense from the first half to the second half that I could tell.—–Also I don’t care how many points Pitt scores i would never give them a top 25 ranking when you put a defense like we do on the field. Do you people realize how quickly the opposition is able to score many times on this Pitt defense? This defense is really sickening to watch. With those runs up the middle with no safeties in sight tells me how badly we are missing Whitehead in the middle.

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  280. also guaranteed quote at the presser:

    “we put the kids in a position to make plays, they just didn’t make them….”

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  281. We do have a ton of defensive players hurt…but still, this is embarrassing….

    Giving up 668 yards to Cuse….CUSE?! We got our 8th win and I’m depressed. Horrible D.
    Bowl committees might like this though, but I’m sick of this crap.

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  284. Defense without Hendrix, Zeise, Jarrett, Whitehead and Maddox. Five starters and with no experienced depth.

    The object is to win with what you have and we did.

    There are no style points in football.

    I’m very happy that our offense has lived up to its potential. As good as any I have seen including Dorsett and Marino years.

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  285. The bad news is Conner’s all but gone…Peterman is gone and we have a rookie QB coming in and this D minus Price is returning. How will we get 5 wins next year?

    9-2, OSU won 30-27 in OT. Not sure how that effects the pedos though. MSU up 6-3 right now…

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  286. ~ jack…that was with Cuse’s 2nd string QB who was a stiff up until today. Today he looked like Donavan McNabb

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  287. Funny the color announcer in Pitt game said in 1st half Pedo State would be playing in conf title game. lol

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  288. Tom Herman to Texas and Todd Orlando will be interim at Houston. Herman climbing the coaching ladder at a meteoric pace.

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  289. htp123

    Partially true potential statement. See all the missed tackles? Coaches can’t make tackles for the player. It’s part of the problem.

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  291. EXCITING!

    there’s no excuse and no acceptability giving up 61 points to one of the worst offenses in the conference. i don’t care who is hurt and how many young guys narduzzi had playing in the 2nd half. it doesn’t matter. syracuse scores 33 on freakin COLGATE and puts up 61 on pitt.

    changes have to be made whether it’s in the staff or the scheme. the tackling was terrible today. the run defense was terrible because the LBs kept running into the line instead of staying in their gaps. the coaches did not have them ready to play on defense and did not make any successful adjustments at all. this shit happening over and over and over again can’t be acceptable.

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  296. So we have been celebrating the 40th anniversary of the national championship all year. Today, we give them the ultimate by putting out “76” points for the 76 team. A win always counts. I don’t care if we win 1-0.
    This was not a scheme issue. To me, it was a desire issue. I think it was a long year for our DB’s and they candidly just lost their desire today. They wanted it over as much as anyone.

    We are 8-4. Let’s celebrate. Many on here were predicting between 5-7 wins. We got 8 with a chance for 9. Very good season and an improvement over last year! Great job.

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  297. Jack – it is a three team tie breaker between Mich, OSU and Dairy College. Since OSU beat Mich, than the Dairy College head to head match up victory against OSU is the differentiator.

    Personally, I think the 4 best are Alabama, OSU, Clempson and Michigan. If the Committee had balls, that is how they would do it.

    Had we held cuse under 50, we probably would be in top 25 this week. Will be close regardless.

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  298. the only way pitt is going to consistently beat the UNCs, VTs, miamis, and decent non-con opponents like OK St is if this defense gets significantly better

    the offense isn’t always going to average 40 points a game. the defense has to show up at least a few games or 8-4 and maybe 9-3 sometimes is the best this team can hope for in the regular season

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  299. Yea we got guys hurts…however…..Syracuse didn’t play with Eric Dungey who is far better than this Mahoney kid.

    No way we should have gave up 61 points. NC State just held them to 20 and FSU (but they are in a different class than us) held Cuse to 14.

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  300. Sorry Tex. It’s a team game. Defense was due for a HUGE let down psychologically. Desire to compete was gone. They didn’t fight through bubble screen blocks. No desire is not on coaches. It is on the players only! They personally accepted terrible.

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  301. Plus Syracuse had their starting Left Tackle hurt and one of their better WR’s out, So,,,,the injury thing works both ways. Lousy defense nothing has really changed since 2nd game of year.

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  302. I was close Pitt by 17 vs. 16.

    When did we join Big 12?

    60+ to a Syracuse backup?

    Everyone says Connor’s last game? Do you mean to NFL? He needs a strong season at Pitt or he is at best a late round guy and that money is well late round worthy. Stay and work on speed and playing LB.

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  303. @emel

    Best of luck to Herman, he is stepping into a super high pressure job. They are crazy in Texas with unreal expectations.

    He might succeed he might not I’m sure they will pay him at least 6 million plus per year.

    They owe Strong about 10 million in buyout.

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  304. Would like to see Dook beat Mindwammy today so we have more wins than them. Maybe the bowl committee will be forced to give us a better bowl. Or not….

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  305. Reed … when you get home, look up to see if this Pitt team holds the all time record for scoring per game in Pitt’s history ?

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  307. I’m guessing the Pinball Machine today was just on ‘Tilt’ today, The ‘Special’ light was lit and the machine went berserk.

    Things are insane all over, sports mimics society. 🙂

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  310. ~ Dan72 Don’t have to wait for Reed. With 76 points today Pitt scored 508 points in 12 games.

    Which amounts to 42.3 ppg which is the highest ppg in Pitt history.

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  311. syracuse 113th in scoring offense in FBS before today

    yay pitt won

    yay pitt scored 76 points

    yay pitt is 8-4 again facing a significantly more difficult schedule than last year’s 8-4

    but 8-4 is about the best pitt can hope for in any year if this is how the defense is going to perform

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  312. Yep Pitt it IS…..agree….. Wazu lost, Nebraska got routed by an unranked team. Houston lost to an unranked team. Boise State lost to an unranked team. Texas A & M got routed by an unranked team. UNC lost to an unranked team.

    Pitt should get in.

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  314. Just back from game – sparse crowd, lots of spirit and a couple a points in FBS all time record.
    Thanks to seniors. 8-4 versus 6th toughest schedule in country. Go spartans
    HAIL TO PITT.

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  316. Stanford and Navy were ahead of us as well in ‘the other’s category. So we want SMU to beat Navy and Stanford is playing Rice, so that’s not going to work out.

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  317. Havent read comments yet but orange ran 104 or so plays, defense which is already bad was constantly on the field.

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  318. No way Pitt makes the Top 25 unless they win their bowl game. We’re not a name school. Even then they’ll figure out a way to keep us out.

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  320. MSU up 12-10 at the half. Worst red zone offense in Div. 1….

    Of course if they were playing us they’d have 28.

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  321. UPitt, I can assure you that’s close to another record. But we were really bad in the ’60’s and early ’70’s.

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  322. pitt has given up 427 points this year for an average of 35.58 points a game

    pitt has scored 508 points this year for an average of 42.33 points a game

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  324. ND is having a historic year too…..about to go to 4-8.

    UConn’s about to go to 3-9 and meanwhile their BB team is a sparkling 2-4. Ya gotta love that…

    Potato Paul is down 17-7 at home at the half and the hoopies are in a close one on the road. Could turn out to be a good day after all.

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  325. Yep Pitt it IS, things could be worse…lol. Maybe in the B1G we would have a stellar defense too. Buttgers is without a doubt the worst team in Div. 1 and one of the worst BB teams too.

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  326. Defenses are going to give up points when the game is essentially over.

    I’d rather focus on the great offense.

    We have had many pretty good Pitt defenses with offenses that couldn’t score.

    Been a long time since we have had two consecutive 8 win seasons.

    It does not matter how many points the opposition scores if you score at least one more.

    We had a lot of big plays on offense today and enough on defense that the game was never in doubt.

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  327. Our O wont be as good next year. But our D cant be any worse. We need a better D next year or Nard Dog will be coaching at Tulane.

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  329. Hire Charlie Strong and own SFLA. Conklin should be okay as Im sure Bethel Park or Hempfield would hire him.

    Better pay Canada bigtime! LSU needs a good OC and Kiffin could take Oregon or Baylor.

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  330. Our defense will be extremely young and pretty inexperienced next year.

    Our offense will really miss Conner and probably Peterman.

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  331. I officially want to submit my application for defensive coordinator.
    My qualifications = None
    My answer to the question “why should I hire you?”asked by Narduzzi at the interview = “wtf I can’t be any worse”. I think I can give up 60 points if I try real hard.

    Conklin should be fired TODAY… PERIOD. His fault or not… someone has to fall on the sword for this “defense”. I’ve never seen anything like it in all of the years of watching football. Every quarterback and receiver has a record breaking day… unbelievable!

    If you performed this poorly on your job you would get canned. No excuses for this heaping pile of dog crap that was put on the field this year.

    On a positive note… the offense was awesome to watch.
    James Conner is amazing both at a young man and a a football player.
    Jester Weah is going to be a high draft pick… big, strong, and FAST. reminds me of a bigger Willie Gault… no hands, but speed… and he was in the league for many years.

    If I’m an offensive player on the high school level I want to go to Pitt. If I’m a secondary guy on the high school level I want to go to Pitt because I know I can get on the field quickly.

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  332. Pitt-Syracuse sets the record for most points ever scored in an FBS game at 137!

    WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO RECORD SETTER BABY

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  333. Pitt has some of the worst D players and coaches in the history of college football. For a city that prides itself in Defense, we should be ashamed…I’m putting it nicely.

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  336. I think it is pretty funny how Canada is suddenly a genius when he has an all time great power running back, an offensive line that has a few future pros on it, with lot’s of depth. A flat out speed burner to run his jet sweeps, A very solid tight end and fullback, and a receiver who is big, strong and can flat out out fly.
    Not to mention a pretty decent senior QB that makes a lot of good throws.

    Granted, he is getting the most out of these guys, and by the way recruited none of them.

    On the other end of the spectrum you have Conklin that has three or four guys that would be starting on any other ACC team, Two of which did not play today. Maybe he does stink, but it is hard to tell with the talent level currently available.

    I thought the Syracuse QB played very well, threw a lot of accurate passes and had another future pro catching them. This was his third start and he did not look like a rookie like the Duke QB.

    He made some good throws under pressure, and took some hits.

    It could be worse, we could have the Syracuse defense, although they did beat VT, something we could not do.

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  338. PSU looks really good. Must give that defense and QB credit. Do they lose anyone. Ext year or are they young?

    They can get Top 5 with a win.

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  339. Brian O’neill’s qb rating is at 0. He threw a nice spiral. The picture on Narduzzi’s face was like “what the flip, smirk, giggle, whatever, keep scorin fellas”, look! O’neill is a stud.

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  340. TX….City that prides itself on defense?” Have you seen the Penguins or Steelers play recently???

    Pens D make Fleury look like a tilt a wheel at the carnival. Steelers let a 4th team Colt QB carve them to pieces!

    Still, I got little joy from this win due to our D.

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  341. gc… agree with everything you said.. when I met 🇨🇦 down here in NCarolina … I said to him .. ” you got a lot coming back this year – what do you think?” His response” We are going to score points and a lot of them..and Jester Weah is the real deal.” He didn’t disappoint…continuity is so important… I hope we keep him
    Defensively, I literally had visions of a shutout on the prediction thread.. they boys played so much better the past 6 quarters vs “better ” competition… had my ass handed to me on that prognostications “ouch” without Vaseline!!

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  343. Our D played for almost 36 minutes, our offense played a little more than 24.

    We scored too often and too fast, a nice problem to have, but hard on a weak defense.

    Probably the most points you will ever see a Pitt team score, 70 offensive points with a pick six, or does the D get credit for seven?

    The Clemson game made this a very successful season, all things considered.

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  345. I think we beat all the teams we were favored to beat and even beat a team or two where we were the underdogs. A super season. Let’s recruit some dbacks and pass rushers….stat!

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  346. penn state playing for the outside chance to get boatraced by alabama in the semifinal game lol

    penn state could be national champs i needed a good joke like that after today’s defense

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  347. What if James Franklinstein ” Coach of the Year.”
    I could care less… but it is amazing how their season worked out… i used to think it a good thing whe PITT Penn Stale and WVU were all ranked… not so sure anymore

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  348. Dairy College, if they were to get into the playoff, which they won’t, reminds me of the Pitt team under Walt that got into the BCS to play against Utah. They are not that good. They have a good defense as do many in the big10. Offensively, they struggle. They do have a big home field advantage and use it. The Committee would probably not exclude both the big12 and pac12. That would eliminate half the US tv sets. Can’t keep osu out.

    Robert Foster didn’t play again so far. I think he would be a great grad transfer if he graduates on schedule. I hope his handlers at least got him on track to graduate in 4 years so he has options.

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  349. D does win championships. Murray last year with the Pens. Stillers…well their D sucks and hence arent going anywhere. Pitt…they should apply for Big 12 membership. Our head coach is a supposed D genius. He looks retarded this year.

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  350. I don’t care how the sausage is made. I’ll take 8-4 with this schedule and worry about next year, next year. SOP… Same old pessimists

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  351. Crazy football weekend. Hope we get a decent bowl. My picks for CFP are AL, Clem, OSU and WA. PAC 12 finally gets a team in the CFP.

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  353. I don’t understand why any Pitt fan would be happy to see Paul Chryst lose up in Wisconsin. We fans and the football program owe him a big thank you for the work he did shaping the program up while he was here.

    Lots to talk about on tomorrow’s podcast.

    BTW – if you want a crazy 3 hours of football viewing then try to get in with Dan 72 to watch a game. Up, down, up… up… no, down! He’s great.

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  354. gc: good point on PITT’s defense being on the field all day. Not so much just the TOP but the amount of times they were right back on the field within seconds.

    Panther Jim: I also agree. Yes PITT’s defense more than sucks but the offense is even better. I judge by wins, not style points.

    At the beginning of the season almost every single poster would have taken this season’s results hands down without complaining. (8-4) The beauty of playing the season though? You get to complain anyways.

    BTW, I read on here earlier this season how Tipton sucks and quit giving the slow M. Ffrench the ball on jet sweeps. PITT is set up nice if they can keep Canada and straighten out the pass defense. Narduzzi is the only coach in America that inherited a bunch of D-backs that can’t run. They can only get better.

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  355. Harbaugh throws headphones and complains about the officials. I’ll bet the Michigan folks don’t set him down with a lecture on behavior.

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  356. Potatoe Paul does deserve our thanks. He stabilized the program. Kept it mediocre. But at least we didnt sink. Now he can kick the Pedos ass in the title game. We should ALL be rooting for him.

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  357. Pedos National champs HAHAHAHAHA If the CFP was Pedos, VT, Miami, NC they couldn’t get past the first game no matter what the pairing.

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  358. Bowl team gets the benefit of practices for the red shirts. Maybe JW is back and maddox is 100%,year three will be big in seeing if the talent comes on at Pitt on Defense. I hope so.

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  359. TX , still 8-4 anyway you want to cut it. Just surprised so many want to go over how bad we’re going to be next year and we haven’t even seen our bowl selection yet. Guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. I think the SOP moniker is more on the fan base now than the program.

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  360. Its a very good year to go 8-4 with this schedule. But we all need to be concerned for next year. Our O will not nearly be as good with losing Conner, Nate and pieces of our line. Our D hopefully cant get any worse. Pitt really needs to burn down the D and start over again. I’m pretty sure Nard Dog is embarrassed by the D this year and wont stand for the same next year. I hate basketball scores.

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  362. 8-4 with the the potential to have gone 11-1 with this D … Hope Duzz does does some introspective evaluation on his system …

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  363. Back from game, interesting to be sure! I’m not quite sure what to say about it other than this , as my South Carolina friend says, is the most exciting AND most frustrating team in America.
    As I said 7-5 the season has been marginally better than predicted. But that is grossly unfair as this team is in fact much, much better than I thought. They entertained, inspired, and drove us all crazy. I for one am so glad I got to experience this season. It was better than almost all of us expected, and could have been even better, but if we had a defense we’d be on a different level, and very few teams are at that level.

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  364. It’s official. PITT’s defense sickens people. First announcer’s and now the latest casualty, non other than Narduzzi himself. New name for the defense? TOXIC!

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  365. No one knows what the D would really have been like if it would have enjoyed the same lack of injuries that the O had. With a better pass rush (DE and LB) the islands the corners are on would have been a lot smaller making the corners look better than what we saw this season. We all know injuries are part of the game but come on, I’m pretty sure I saw a wide receiver (Ffrench) filling in at corner later in the game today. Can anyone else confirm that? Assuming that was really the case you know the bottom has fallen out due to the injury bug.

    But it may also be decades again before we see that kind of O again!!!!

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  366. Read the comments – i never leave a Pitt game early though many did. I want to be there to cheer the team no matter what but I am in a distinct minority – several Pitt fans next to me left after Emel’s all time favorite song.
    Paraphrasing PN on post game interview – we have problems in our secondary, today we had several DBS out and finally that no defense can hold up to 104 offensive snaps by opposing team. He thought we scored too quickly for the depleted defense. Hey dont kill the messenger. He has some points but this defense healthy and with less snaps would have given up fifty. We are fortunate that Dungey was concussed out of this one.
    Nonetheless we are 8-4 with the 6th hardest schedule in the country.

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  367. Best comment of the day from the Cardiac blog. “I hate this–I feel like I do after a Pitt loss.” The reference is from having to endure watching the Pitt defense play all afternoon. Their performance could have sent multiple fans to the emergency room this afternoon.

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  368. Reed, I’m supposed to root for Potato Paul after he came here for on the job training then bolted out of here before the bowl game without speaking to his players? Not to mention trying to poach our recruits. I can’t stand that jerk….

    But I’ll be rooting for him next Saturday like he was still coaching here…

    TX, no way you fire a coach who comes here of all places and goes 8-4 both years while playing the 6th toughest schedule in your 2nd year.

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  369. We could have been 3-0 against SEC teams if L’Ville’s great (cough) QB didn’t fumble in scoring position at the end of the game.

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  370. Looks like I’m not the only one who was sick after the game. Read the Trib Review article just posted for some other post game sick individuals.

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  371. Yes Ffrench has played at DB for the past three games sparingly. Changed his # to 25 for those games as well.

    The defense is terrible and Narduzzi recognizes this but they were on the field all day with a banged up unit. Yes I get defensive. At least more than PITT does.

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  372. Watching the Clemson game… and we matched them blow for blow.. and being there in person-Priceless… that is my
    biggest PITT football thrill since the 1976 NC season…lots of memories from these Panthers… what a year!! Let’s win a bowl game and take a 4 game winning street into 2017…

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  373. Back again.

    I’m guessing the BigJoke will be lobbying hard for 2 teams in the playoffs. And the way the polls were rigged this year for BigJoke teams, i’m going to bet they are going to get 2 teams in.

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  375. The Nard Dog better bring in a slew of JUCO players for the defense next year. We need kids that are physically able(weight wise, height wise) to play the corners and other spots.

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  377. Rkb… Joeknew et al who attended today. Thank you for going and for staying. It was bizarro world turning from the OSU game w 80,000 packed to Pitt w maybe 25,000. Happy here w8-4. Lots of work ahead.

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  378. Conklin and Hill could get canned and wont make much difference this team needs a HUGE infusion of talent on D.

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  379. Fire Narduzzi?! You guys must be high, loaded or stupid. I love you all so I’ll let you decide what header you call under. 16 wins in two years (so far), turned around the fan base and has re-energized the program.

    Do we have things to fix – Defense, yes. I firmly believe he knows this and confirmed he does tonight. He was “sickened”. Expect changes. I for one hope he is here for a long time.

    HTP

    Let’s hope for a good bowl draw and a 9th win.

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  380. With 18 seniors graduating and I’m sure a few more asked to leave or moving on, I expect a lot of talent coming in for next season.

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  382. EMel. Thanks for the stats…UPitt .. great to hear from you.. how ya doin? Reed .. thanks for the great company today.

    Been drinking my special ESP Scotch…

    I predict Conner back for Senior year and a Heisman Candidate. A ton of D JC transfers including a QB of Narduzzi’s liking. PSU loses their last 2! Pitt upsets PSU as a 14.5 dog at State College…. oh yeah… in the wildest of all Sun Bowls Pitt 59-WVU 56. Pitt 77-MD 75 in OT on Tuesday.

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  383. I have a bit of reflux, not real nausea, because the D it was really comical, in some ways…All in all, my favorite year of Pitt football since the 70s. I won’t be around another 30 years, so I’m going to enjoy it.

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  384. Drove back to PA from Maine, watched the delayed game which was mercifully truncated.
    Nice defense.
    Superior defensive coaching against a second team QB.
    Lots of work to do.

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  388. I usually go back and read the comments posted during the game, but not today, and from the recent posts I guess I’m glad I didn’t. Think I posted early in season this was the Tums team this year. Anyhow, they were so much better than my expectations in so many ways, and so much worse in many others. On balance, we are arguing about style points. If I told any of you we’d beat two top 7 teams and go 8-4 there isn’t one of you that wouldn’t have taken it.
    Oh, and whoever was calling to hire Charlie Strong, you do know he gets 10.7 million which gets majorly reduced if he takes another job? Somehow I don’t think coming to Pitt would make him any happier!
    As for me, time for my Bushmills, and a goonight to all. H2P

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  389. therran coleman really needs to be the real deal next year…

    Coleman-Whitehead-Ford-Hamlin could be a damn good starting secondary and add Wade to the mix too if Narduzzi gets him…

    guys like garner and especially henry miller could contribute a lot too

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  392. The Temple Owls. Say it ain’t so Joe (that would be Joeknew)

    Whatever Herman has to do, he can’t let Pitt be shuffled off to play Temple. That is a NO WIN situation.

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  393. It was a joke to hire Strong as our DC. He will sit out 2 years and will be back most likely in ACC. He would be an awesome get as he recruits SFLA very well.

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  394. And that will be the worst attended bowl, most likely of the lot.

    ACC screwed us last year, Herman can not let them do it again.

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  396. Emel – If we get another dogshit bowl, yes I consider the Military Bowl in Maryland a Dogshit bowl it shows Herman is an absolute Turd and has zero respect anywhere off the Mormon Towncenter.

    If the weather at the bowl is below 70 the bowl sucks.

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  397. Same ESPN pinheads had Wake going to the Sun Bowl, but since they lost now to BC, no way the Sun Bowl would want them at 6-6. So maybe we’re back in the mix at the Sun Bowl. We’re at least we’ll get a Power 5 PAC 12 opponent.

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  399. Well if it is El Paso we can jump in my SUV and run across the border to Juarez.

    We can drink all night and smoke Cubans for less than $15 a person. Of course we may get beheaded and or kidnapped but it makes it more interesting.

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  400. Herman was in the PAC 12 at Washington I think as top asst AD, so maybe he has some pull still with the PAC 12. So perhaps we could get the Sun Bowl bid. since it’s tied into PAC 12.

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  401. Funny you mentioned that Emel. I was checking out Temple’s record and was thinking that maybe they would slate us up against Temple in the Pinstripe Bowl.

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  402. Hanging in Boss. Just got back to Tejas and relaxing and getting caught up on the usual things.

    Hope you are well!

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  403. lol Upitt…yea nothing like getting the old adrenaline pumping. I speak just enough Spanish to get us into some real trouble 🙂

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  407. Big plays today

    Henderson 66 yd TD
    Ffrench 77 yd TD
    Conner 34 yd run, 2 rushing TDs
    Peterman two great runs on for a TD another for 42 yards
    Conner 38 yd TD catch
    Weah 59 yard TD Catch plus a great 3rd down TD Catch
    Ford 79 yard TD catch

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  410. For what it’s worth, I had us winning 9 games during the regular season with my preseason prediction.
    Hence, I’m OK with 8-4 but we all know deep inside we should of won more than 8!

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  413. A big ten offense would be just the ticket for this D.

    Northwestern has the 102nd ranked scoring offense in FBS.

    Then again, cuse had the 113th going into yesterday…

    Kinda hope Pitt gets a bigger name opponent than northwestern anyway.

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  414. Deep – careful what you hope for – last year we kinda looked down on Navy when the bowl was first announced.

    We know how that turned out. No matter who we play in the bowl game, beat them and graduate this D.

    HTP!

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  415. Mornin all! Just put my Nitter brother into his SUV for trip home after holiday visit. Amazing how they live in an alternative reality. You do know they really won the Pitt game, right! Or it was a fluke, or they would win easily if we played them now! I’m sure some of you have Nitter family too, and I bet they say the same(you know the cult!!)
    I would love the talking heads for once to say the truth, the BIG is overrated. Teams SOS is a bigger joke than the teams. No wonder they want to play 9 or more conference games, then no one will know how bad they really are!
    Hey, UPitt, ya, I knew CS was a joke, just yankin you. I do think the Duzzer is sick after yesterday’s game. Will it be enough for him to change, that would be an ephinany.
    One thing that really bothered me about yesterday that I forgot to mention,when we got up by 28 and they ran that pass by Oneil, they were jagin around like it was all a joke. Did not like it, and game wasn’t all that funny in a little while.
    Pinstripe is probably the best we can hope for, easy travel, fun place. Just hope it is a Power 5 team and let the chips fall.

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  416. JoeKnew – great description of the B1G Joke conference. Thanks for sharing – I live in central PA and am surrounded by the Cult thinking.

    Pitt beat penn state and for that I am truely greatful.

    If HCPN loses OC Canada to a top program then he MUST make changes to the D staff. Here is hoping AD Barney has a nest egg stored away with the Canadian flag stamped on it.

    HTP!

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  417. Inconceivable I can witness a FOOTBALL game where my team gives up 61 and you can say you never felt there was a chance you would lose…..
    ….I thought it was fantastic, then I checked here;>(.

    Really glad we made the trip, no traffic in the morning from Maryland, filled up 5 yellow seats and endured the cold which really wasn’t bad especially when the sun peaked out in the 2nd half. I am sure it had a lot to do with the fact that there was plenty to get up and cheer about every few minutes. Cool to have witnessed history being made although I too would have preferred us give up less on D.

    So looking back, got to see 2 wins this year, GT and SU – good games both(any win), but of the other 2 great wins, if you could pick one, which would it have been to be in attendance?

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  419. 8-4 regular season record, wins over both Penn State & Clemson, Conner breaking ACC records, ending the season on a three game winning streak, the emergence of Q Henderson as our next offensive juggernaut, all things Pitt fans could be celebrating.

    However, our attention is diverted to a incompetent secondary that is populated with senior players who are gone come Spring drills with our best defensive player on the sideline with a cast on his broken arm.

    This defense will go through a metamorphosis during Spring drills and the difference come next season will be dramatically better. Meanwhile, fans are also already worrying about what next year’s offense will look like?

    And I thought SOP was dead and buried after this team accomplished so many positive things. NOPE, SOP is alive and well, but only in the psyche of the downtrodden Pitt fan. Time to figure out how to create a winning attitude in the minds of this fan base, since this is now the only sanctuary remaining where SOP has a safe refuge. Get on board with reality, because next year is going to be an even more exciting ride for our Panthers than this year was.

    Hail to Pitt!

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  420. Pitt will be starting a rookie QB next year and losing Conner. The O will take a step back. But hopefully, the D will take a huge leap forward with injured players coming back and some new blood. Pitt needs to pony up more money for Canada and get rid of the D coordinator. If need be, have Nard Dog do it.

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  421. So many complaints about this team. Maybe I’m the only one who feels this way, but I wish Pitt had a shot at Alabama or Michigan or one of these highly ranked teams that have an outstanding defense (and maybe an inconsistent offense). I feel that right now we could score enough to beat any of them. I guess that Clemson win got me feeling that way.

    Sure, the coaching staff has their work cut out for them next year. If we really want to compete for championships, we need to strive for improvement in all three phases. D obviously needs to vastly improve. I’d love to see our offense pick up where it left off this season, but that will be difficult losing some key seniors (Peterman, linemen, Conner, etc.), and maybe even Canada too. Is QH graduating? It will be hard to improve in special teams without him. Perhaps we can find a replacement for Blewitt who is a little more consistent but equally as clutch as he has been the last 2 seasons.

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  425. Tx Panther, I agree with most everything you said above with the exception that Pitt’s offense takes a step backwards next year. Why?

    You site Thomas MacVittie as a deficient, since he will be a RS Freshman starter. Nope, he’ll prove to be an upgrade over Peterman in the passing dept. The big difference being the receivers that he’ll be throwing to. Both Ffrench & Mathews have gotten major experience this season and Flowers is just waiting in the wings to make an impact next season. Then you have Weah just destroying my opinion of him as having stone hands this season, plus Q Henderson free over the middle for an easy pass reception under secondary coverage is a scary thought to keep opposing DCs up at night.

    As you infer, I also think Conner is gone next season, but let’s not pencil that in as fact just yet. But even with him gone, you make it sound like there is nobody to step up in his place? Enter Ollison, Moss, Hall & Sibley, and let us not forget about the forgotten Ibrahim. Coach Canada has a cupboard full of talent to chose from to replace Conner’s production.

    What will be difficult to replace however will be Conner’s leadership & inspiration. Those factors are irreplaceable!

    Yes we lose Johnson & Biz on the OL but Jaryd Jones-Smith has been riding the pine all season waiting to get back into the starting line up and guys like Grimm, Paulina & Pilato will be ready next year to shore up the OL as replacements.

    We’ll miss Orndoff, but Chris Clark will make us forget his contributions just like Orndoff gave us amnesia on the solid stats that JP Holtz produced at Pitt over the previous four years.

    Even more important regarding next year’s squad is that “intangible” factor. All of these youngsters will be one more year divorced from the SOP mentality of the past. Us old Pitt fans have years of mediocre Pitt football seasons to reflect on to darken our expectations. These kids who will be in there producing Pitt wins next season will only have memories of Pat Narduzzi’s encouraging coaching and the subsequent results of big emotional wins over the likes of Clemson and PSU to draw from. Winning begets more of the same and this program is getting used to winning.

    Mark my words, I’ve already said this before, Pitt is top 10 material in the near future, maybe not next year, but give Narduzzi a couple more recruiting classes and “Pitt is It” once again. No later that 2019, Pitt returns to elite status. You heard it here 1st.

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  426. I looked at 4 different bowl projection sites and each one had Pitt in a different bowl… V Stanford in the Sun Bowl, Northwestern in the Pinstripe , Kentucky in the Belk Bowl, and Temple back in the Military Bowl. Crazy.

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  427. Question for anyone who cares to answer: do you think Syracuse would have scored 61 had we not scored 76? I didn’t get to see the game yet, but were there early substitutions, lack off focus…was the defense winded? Just curious because it sure takes the air out of those 76 points if they were legitimately beaten all day.

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  429. Looking at the ACC bowl selection guide we are 5 – 7 in line. Clem, FSU, UNC, Mia, VT, Lou are ahead. Also the southern schools have an edge. Better bowls are near them. We would need to either win the Division or more to get one of the better ones in the future. Sad to say. My guess is Pinstripe with Conner a NYC favorite personality.

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  430. http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/tomorrows-top-25-today-alabama-on-top-big-ten-has-half-of-the-top-eight/

    Pittsburgh (NR): The Panthers made history against Syracuse setting the record for most points scored in an FBS game in the 76-61 shootout. As impressive? Another eight-win season for Pat Narduzzi with a chance to get a bowl win after a another second-place finish in the Coastal Division. The goal was for ACC championship contention, but record-setting offensive numbers and a signature victory at Clemson makes for a strong body of work for the 2016 regular season.

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  431. QB and leadership are key. I would love to see a dynamic frosh QB. Maybe Pitt gets lucky next year and the O doesn’t regress. But with a much improved D, Pitt wont have to score 30 points each game to win. Probably a more ball control O next year with emphasis on running the ball. I dont expect our new QB to really begin airing it out until later in the year. Coaches will probably keep things simple initially to build his confidence. An easier schedule will help.

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  432. I see a big upgrade in PITT’s defense next year and the way Canada gets this team prepared is truly amazing. For the amount of movement and shifting the penalty rate is very low. I think he will have the starter next year ready to go day 1.

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  433. Dr. Tom I share some of your optimism but not all. First as to SOP, I dont think criticizing what is obvious is SOP. The secondary is horrible and on post game radio Duzz admitted the secondary has problems They need to be addressed and wont necessarily be rectified by new recruits. I hate to paraphrase Pedder McSorely but he stated that his eyes lit up at the one on ones with the DBs on an island versus MSU where PN defense was torched in second half. (Agree with above, BigJoke is overrated I believe they lose more bowls than they win). There is a weakness in this approach and Duzz would be wise to find ways to modify it – go with it at times, not so on others, keep em guessing whether safties drop into pass support and when,. College football has made it too easy to throw as witnessed by scores every week. I expect better LB play – not taking a shot at Caprara or Galambos but they are not as quick as PH defense requires.
    Second – I think JC coming back is 50/50 – we get so enthused by what he has done the pro scouts may see him as needing another year – some have mentioned he is not as fast – bless him whichever decision he makes but IMO he comes back to improve his draft ranking – 1060 is nothing to sneeze at but not enough to get you first or second round dough.
    Third, not sure that I put as much faith in McV who only QB one year in HS but if Oh Canada here I feel better about the competition.
    HAIL TO PITT!! PITT IS IT!!! GO WUPS!!!!

    When Pitt was Western Univ of Pa they were known as the WUPS, went to Panthers when they became Pitt. Believe Reeds ancestors or Reed himself attended WUP. :)yards

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  434. Canadas biggest mistake this year is he didn’t air it out with Peterman until the season was halfway through.

    That mistake needs to not be repeated next year.

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  435. Comments about next year’s offense reminds me EXACTLY of what was said last year (and this past summer) about how there was no way we replace TB’s production! Well, yesterday I heard mention our passing yardage and running yardage for the year were within a couple of yards of being identical.

    I think, no sweat with next year’s offense. Plus, don’t forget, we have a 6’5″ QB who runs a 4.5 40. and likes to throw on the run (correct me if I’m wrong on any of this – a mind is a terrible thing to waste!) Imagine what OCMC can do with that added to his bag of tricks!

    As stated -ad infinitum – we need new D. But I think most critical is a DL and LBs who can get to the QB FAST – take pressure off the DBs. We sure made life easy for a lot QBs this season!

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  436. Panther94, to your earlier question , no I don’t think Syracuse would have scored like they did if we hadn’t been scoring at record pace. If we had more controlled scoring drive we would have eaten more clock and the D would have been fresher. I do think they would have scored in the 40’s though.

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  437. I’ll throw out the name of Max Browne, who will be a grad transfer from USC, next year, one more time. A former top recruit in the US, never quite fit the ever changing Trojan styles. Might be a good mentor for one of our young guys.

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  438. LA Panther – will be watching Max Browne to see what he does in the offseason. Would love to have him join the Pitt roster.

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