Here is a good article by Jay (6&34) who is a reader and commenter on the POV…

With the first game of the season less than a week away, the tension and apprehension, optimism and pessimism mounts. At this point it’s all about The Team. How good are they? Everyone – all the Negativos and Optimistos are about to find out if not this coming weekend the weekend after.

The Negativos have every right to think they are right to be negative. Pitt is coming off a rough 5 and 7 season with a terrible SOP 2nd half against Nothh Carolina in game ten. I was by myself watching the game on my computer using my Hot Spot connection that had insufficient bandwidth. It was one of my worst sports viewing experiences ever because it seemed to confirm the growing conviction that our optimism for the Pat Narduzzi Era was misplaced.

I am big on sports statistics but in football statistics require more context to best understand what the data means than for example baseball. This is not to say that statistics in football are meaningless. If your team does not have a lot of rushing yards that is meaningful information but it may not mean whatsoever that your running backs are no good because the problem may be the offensive line.

Or your primary running back may be good but the statistics lead you to think he is the greatest running back ever ala Ron Dayne some years back for Wisconsin. Or for that matter with Melvin Gordon just a few years ago.  Or with Darrin Hall for a few consecutive games for Pitt just last year where the other teams run stopping skills were poor.

But there is one statistic in football that does matter and it’s called the “season record”. Our Commander likes to say the “game is played on the field” and I am pretty sure to some extent what he means is that there are 12 games to a season and you may win some against “better” teams and you will lose some against weaker teams but the idea is to win more games you should lose, lose fewer games than you should win and most importantly win as many games that are toss ups as you can.

Certainly Pitt’s schedule is tough this year. But a decent team can beat a very good team on any given Saturday. Pitt Nation knows that from its experience these past two seasons.

What Pitt Nation has not experienced in quite some time is Pitt winning just about all the games that are toss-ups or which Pitt is a touchdown or less underdog.

I don’t know what the odds would be today for the Pitt-UCF game but irrespective of what those odds would be Pitt had better win that game if this mildly optimistic Optimisto is going to keep thinking that Pat Narduzzi knows what he is doing. I am a big believer that many of the Negativos fail to either recognize the structural problems that work against our head coach or just fail to give these problems the weight they deserve. I do.

And I judge him with these problems in mind. But UCF has structural problems too – significant ones and it managed to win those games last year. . And barring major injuries to Pitt between now and that game, to my mind if I am going to continue to think that Pat Narduzzi knows what it’s doing, Pitt better win that game.

And Pitt better beat Georgia Tech and Wake Forest and every team that it will be favored to win (not saying it will be favored to win these games). If Pat Narduzzi knows what he is doing Pitt better win those games.

Right now I am thinking that Pitt will win those games. I think that because to my mind in college football how many returning starters and senior starters (especially 5th year seniors) are on the team is a hugely important statistic. I believe this not just because it is a generally recognized significant predictor of success or failure but because of the underlying reason why it is. College football is played by man-boys.

I remember a few years back a Pitt coach had said that the biggest jump in sports is from high school to Power 5 football. In making that case I think he said that in high school you may be playing against a tough kid weighing 150 lbs at center but in Power 5 football there’s no kid at center – there’s a 300 lb man.

That 300 lb. man may have weighed 300 lbs when his first Power 5 game began and he stood on the sidelines as a true freshman but we all know that five years later that 300 lbs. of freshman body was a very different 300 lbs. five years later. I don’t have a clue what the qualitative boy to man improvement rate is but I do know that whether it’s four or five years later those 300 lbs have been transformed.

Nor do I know how to measure the incremental improvement in a player’s ability that is derived from knowledge gained from experience. But I do know that such knowledge is critically important and a very real factor in a player’s capability especially with certain skill positions and limiting mistakes.

And although some players develop more slowly than others – and I guess some players can regress, but it’s the players that do improve from physical and knowledge development that play, so they are the ones that matter.

Then there is an individual player and team’s desire to win. Whether we call that “getting a team ready to play” or character, we all know that in college football this is real. Pitt had that in the Miami, Clemson and 2016 PSU games. If the team can be up for those games why can’t it be up for twelve games? And if it’s not whose fault is that?

So does Pat Narduzzi know what he’s doing?

We are about to find out because whether we think the schedule is too tough or this is not fully his team yet because he has only recruited for 2.5 years for this team ((Editor’s Note: Should read 3.5. Narduzzi has 3 full recruiting classes and 7 of 15 recruits in the class of 2015 committed to play for Narduzzi), enough of the players are his either because he recruited them or he has had enough time to mold them. And as we can all agree, the game is played on the field and it’s almost game time.

HTP!!

Michaelangelo holds a degree in Travel Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was a former staff writer for InPittsburgh Newsweekly, and currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. He has been a Pitt fan since 1997 after he witnessed Pitt upset #22 Miami on Thursday night at Pitt Stadium.

72 thoughts on “Does Pat Narduzzi Know What He Is Doing?”

  1. Just for fun here is the official Predictions for 2017 thread from this time last year. interesting to read what POVers knew, felt, thought what would happen, not happen, maybe happen…

    Look yours up and see how close you were on not only the W/L record but about what you wrote would happen during the season with stats, etc…

    https://pittpov.com/2017/09/01/povers-2017-season-prediction-thread/#comment-34274

    Here’s what I thought – correct on the W/Ls but not so good on the details (especially Brightwell with 12 Sacks!)

    Reed 5-7 no bowl

    Who is your Offensive MVP on the season? Ollison

    Who is your Defensive MVP on the season? Hendrix

    Who is your leading scorer and how many points? Ollison 82

    Who is your leading tackler and how many? Idowu 88

    Who leads in sacks and how many? Brightwell 12

    How many points per game will we score? 30

    How many points per game will we allow? 31

    What will our ACC record be at the end of the regular season? 4-4

    What place will we be in the Coastal Division at the end of the season? 4th

    Reed 5-7 no bowl

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  3. Jay – nice article!

    The season will be interesting. Lots of hope. Lots of concerns. Not a lot of star power like a Shady, Fitzgerald or a Donald that can dominate at times. But overall, a decent defense, a maturing offense and a fair number of holes.

    Speaking of holes – how will the TEs, OL, and WRs perform? Better as the season goes on, I hope.

    Helpful not have the pre-season dismissals (Taleni), suspensions (Whitehead, Bookser) and injuries (Wirginis and others) as a year ago. Those alone may have accounted for two additional losses.

    This team should eke out between five and eight regular season wins. And, should be an exciting team to watch as they grow up.

    As to whether or not Narduzzi knows what he is doing, we are about to find out…

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  4. Curious about the pic off Duzz…”Where is he ramming that rod ?”
    Succinct..thanks for using that word Reed. I learned something today.

    Good article Jay. PITT has been in way to many close 1 score games coming out on the short end. I would guess in the 3 consecutive losses to the Heels, we led for 11 of the 12 quarters. If the D is up to “IT” then we should be in every game..Hey, if the don’t score, they don’t win.

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  5. Jay – Very fair article. Well done. Kind of to my point that there are too many unknowns this season to really predict the final outcome. Let it play out on the field. Hopefully it doesn’t end up on 7 or 8 wins because we’ll all be arguing again. haha. All or nothing. I want an epically bad season or an epically good one (much more preferable) just to end the debate of whether Duzz can coach. Landing in the middle just gives eternal hope or eternal despair to the both sides of the debate. I want a clear winner. Haha.

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      1. To some of us. 8 wins doesn’t make it indisputable. I don’t like using the schedule as a crutch anyways. Good teams overachieve. Good coaches get their teams to overachieve. It’s time for Pitt to overachieve … no better time to do it than against a perceived difficult schedule.

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      2. You are putting a lot of faith in a pre season rank for a OOC schedule. Every year these pre season polls are all over the map at the end of year. Teams on this list will not be good, teams that are not ranked will be good. It will happen again this year.

        This year there will be a new UCF this year.

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  6. There were many more question marks about last year’s team than this year’s.
    This year the big ones are OL performance & who, if anyone, decides to be our other “go to” receiver assuming that Araujo-Lopes continues his winning ways.

    I have no worries about Pickett, even though his body of work is minimal, I like what I have seen of the then true freshman, plus that intangible “it factor” he’s got, in spades. As long as he stays healthy our offense will remain adequate to produce wins.

    The OL and the lack of starting experience with both Dintino & Herndon concerns me a little but as Jay stated above, these are 22 year old men finally taking over their starting roles in the line. My prediction, taking into consideration Millin coming in from Kent State also, is that all of these guys will perform well enough not to be a deficit in producing a winning season. They won’t be great either, however “adequate” will be good enough.

    I like Narduzzi, I like his abrasive personality, I like his cocky attitude, I like his gung ho, hard nosed, blue collar enthusiasm. I also think that his players like him too, just my opinion. But I also EXPECT him to back up that cocky attitude with some substance at the right time. Now is the right time.

    The penn state, Clemson & Miami wins were ALL unexpected signature wins to hang his hat on but as Narduzzi himself professes, “you only get 12 guaranteed opportunities and you have to cherish every one”. Well Coach, apparently haven’t adequately impressed that cherishing concept very well since we dropped some games last year that were winable games that we didn’t take care of business in. That’s Narduzzi’s fault but there’s plenty of blame to go around too.

    Last year I was worried about a lack of team leadership. That was magnified by the suspensions of key players at the start of the season. Bad Karma for sure that played out in loses as the season progressed.

    This year I feel really good about the team’s leadership & focus. This year is the year to get it done. The leaders on this team along with the coaching staff need to produce at least eight wins to prove that Narduzzi is on the correct track. Eight is doable. Anything less spells another failed season and raises more question marks which puts Narduzzi on the hot seat going forward IMO.

    How good is he? This season should determine the answer to that question.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Narduzzi’s contract runs to 2014 so IMO he ain’t going to be fired any time soon except here on the POV. I’m with Dr Tom in thinking 8 wins(maybe 9) are doable but only if Pickett is in place for the entire season.

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  7. Narduzzi cam into a team lacking in depth and talent. In his 3 full years of recruiting with some bad luck he has a D that looks deeper and physically able to play. He has a QB that looks to be a comer. RB’s are average to good. Wr’s will surprise with the young guys added to Tipton, Lopes, Ffrench. So the OL is key to running the offense PItt wants. So I see Pitt with 8 wins. 6-2 in the ACC, 2-2 OCC. My heart says better than that and I do think optimism is warranted.

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  8. Due to a kayaking adventure turned injurious, I am in a walking boot and unable to attend the tailgate for the Albany game (I will be at the game, however.) As a result, I am breaking my self-ban to point out some nuggets I was itching to share at the tailgate.

    I found this interesting from last year’s predictions.. “..Browne hurt half way through and plays C+ at best. PSU and OSU are ugly..6-7 Bowl loss.”

    So, someone predicted Browne plays poorly and gets hurt. The same person also predicts PSU and OSU losses are ugly. And finally, he predicts a 6-6 regular season. Who was this savant?

    Take a bow, upitt.

    (Note: He also predicted Stallings would win 10 games last year. Turns out he was being “optimistic”- Pitt finished 8-24.)

    Conversely, There were a few who predicted 8+ wins last year, and they’re the same ones predicting 8+ wins this year. Someone actually posted this last season, “Browne makes the All-ACC team, not necessarily 1st but one of the 3 teams..11-3 Win bowl game.” I guess they didn’t believe Reed concerning Browne. Another said, “10-4 record. 9-3 regular season. Pitt wins Coastal.” Umm… nope. SA-WING and a MISS!

    No one in the media (outside of Pittsburgh) predicted Pitt to win more than 7 games last year. Yet, a fair number of POV posters did just that– and couldn’t have been more wrong. Some at least admitted they were predicting with their hearts, not necessarily their heads. However, some are FREQUENT commenters who espouse of their football knowledge and acumen.

    While predicting individual games and seasons is far from an exact science, joeknew and Reed both predicted 5-7. upitt predicted 6-6 (as did I). So, I think it makes FAAAAAARRRRRR more sense to put stock in their predictions more so than those of people who predicted Pitt to win 8, 9 or even TEN games last year.

    joeknew and Reed are Pitt fans. They just see what they see and know what they know… or maybe they’re just “downbeats” and “negativos”. I guess we’ll reevaluate after the season.

    My prediction? You know me, “Mr. Negative.” I say the ACC schedule is not difficult, so 7 wins this season would not be an unreasonable prediction. That said, bad beatings at the hands of ND and PSU, along with a loss at UCF means Pitt would need to go 6-2 in ACC play to get there. Not likely. Pitt goes 4-4 in ACC play and finishes 5-7 again… and Narduzzi is bid “adieu.”

    (This is NOT what I’m hoping will happen. I’m hoping we win 15 games, beating PSU by 60 points, and claiming Pitt’s 10th National Championship and Narduzzi cementing his status as a great recruiter (finder of “diamonds in the rough”) and inking a 10 year extension. Alas, that is far less likely than 5-7.)

    Liked by 1 person

      2. I predicted 9 wins in 2016. I predicted 8 wins in 2015. In 2015, I was SUPER excited about Narduzzi’s hiring and figured a 2-game bump over Chryst- who never impressed me. In 2016, I told everyone that would listen that we would DEFINITELY beat PSU (I was sweating the end of that game) but never imagined we’d beat Clemson.. or lose to UNC.

        However, you can believe what you want.

        Now, back to my ban. Enjoy the game Saturday, fellas (and lady). The weather is supposed to be nice!

        jrnpitt.

        You don’t know a thing about me, so please keep your suppositions and judgements to yourself.

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    2. Jay91 — Sorry to hear about your injury.

      Best wishes for a quick and full recovery.

      Go Pitt.

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    3. I agree with the 5-7 prediction and the likelihood of going 6-2 against an ACC slate which features six or seven teams that are more or less at Pitt’s level. I think Narduzzi would survive a 5-7 record, though.

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  9. Thanks Jay…well done. I’m in the Chethejet range but will wait for the prediction thread.

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  10. Thanks for the excellent article, Jay.

    If you ask me, last year’s poor season was from the crappy QB play — period. Now we have a QB who can make plays and who is also a leader (always good for the QB to be a coach’s son) .

    Jay made the point about the impact of “character” in college ball. Well I was at the Kickoff Luncheon and I can tell you that I can’t remember seeing players treat another player with as much respect as the seniors did Dennis Briggs. Which is probably why DB starts on Saturday.

    Now I happen to be in the camp that would rather see the younger, faster talent playing, but how do you measure how much it means to the team to have DB’s leadership on the field? Tough one.

    There was a good “team unity” vib at the Luncheon, but I guess I get fired up and hopeful every season…😊

    I happen to like Coach Duzz and think he’s doing a good job, especially considering that hand tied behind his back…

    Hail to Pitt!

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  12. this team could go anywhere between 4 and 10 wins. But I think its safe to peg the middle at 7. And heres hoping for a bowl win on top. That would be a successful season and good momentum for next year.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. The verdict is still out if the Duzz knows what he is doing.

    My heart tells me he does. But my eyes look no further than the 2016 season. If we could have just made a defensive adjustment that truly could have been a 1 or 2 loss team.

    I think this years team will go 6 and 6 in the regular season with a bowl loss.

    Kenny will keep us in most every game but their will be some rookie mistakes like bad fumbles, pick sixes, and sacks.

    The defense will be respectable but the inability of our O line and lack of breakout talent at running back will has us averaging only 24 points a game.

    I hope I am wrong.

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    1. AJ always remember that Josh Conklin was the DC then. I want to see what Bates can do this year.

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  14. Here we go again. If Nazz doesn’t win 7 games (and I for one have misgivings) Pitt will be looking for another H.C. Putting your hour hopes on QB who may have and accurate arm, within 20 yards and can run a 4.7 Dejavu to the end of the Weinstate period. He will see eight in the box all season because he has no vertical game.
    Miami was not a top 30 team at the end of last season. Easy schedule, smoke and mirrors. Neither was VT.
    Assuming Town cannot recover his magic of his H.S. years, which at this point Narduzzi appears will not give him the chance to restore his confidence. Pitt will need to quickly get a young, motivated, successful coach head coach who has beaten top ten teams. Who has obviously recruited well in the heartland of football and got the best out of his players, 2, 10 win years in a row.
    He will be gone after this year coaching at the next level next year. His name is Neil Brown, coach the Troy head coach, assistant at Oklahoma and Kentucky. He has aspirations to coach in the SEC and likely fulfill those aspirations.
    Pitt could be the stepping stone he needs for the next five years.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Miami was undefeated and #2 when Pitt played them, they were flying high having crushed #3 Notre Dame (who beat LSU in their Bowl game and had crushed #11 USC and destroyed a good team NC State team and lost by only 1 point to national runnerup Georgia by 1 point). So this stuff about Miami being no good, is right out of Creepy Cult Valley. Yea they got trounced by Clemson, big deal it WAS CLEMSON.
      They played Wisconsin to 27-24 in the 4th Quarter of the Bowl Game, before losing. What Wisconsin is no good. Miami not a Top 30 team, you are really out there in delusional land with that stmt, my friend.
      And VT played with Oklahoma State in their bowl game, so that’s out there too.

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  15. Call me crazy but there seems to be a vibe/confidence amongst the players that wasn’t ever there before. A whole new attitude. Kind of reminds me of how it all kind of happened 2 years ago when we beat PSU but that was when McSorely kind of took off and took control of their team. I think Pickett has the same kind of demeanor and attitude. Let’s hope that is what happens this year – there just seems to be something special brewing. Who knows….maybe that all flops after Saturdays game.

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  17. Actually, Altoona Josh nailed it- the verdict is still out, and most know it, but we’d all like to know now. Good comment by TT as well, I’d rather see clarity, whether he’s successful or not. To date, I feel confident that Narduzzi is at least a solid coach, certainly not a bad one; this based on his overall record along with the ability he has shown to knock off 3 top teams already, Clemson being the best (& on the road). But to succeed long term, he will need to recruit better. Franklinstein made the news recently as being college football’s most over-rated coach, and whether you buy that or not, someone responded that he coaches like a CEO, surrounds himself with good people and delegates well- I think there may be some truth to that, you don’t have to do everything well, just be good leader and delegate, and surround yourself with good people, and you can go a long way. I suspect that Narduzzi’s ability to do that, or not do it, will determine his level of success here. Pride can get in the way of a lot of things. I wish him well, and hope he/we succeeds. Hail to PItt.

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  18. Well, don’t know about Jay but I predicted 7 wins for both 2015 & ’16.

    Bates is one of the unknowns for me going into this season. He has exactl one year as a DC at FCS LATech back in 2005…13 years ago. His defense there was average in almost all respects save for turnovers where they were 9th nationally.

    Other than that they registered 58th in Scoring defense (26 ppg) and 66th in Total Defense with giving up 381 ypg. Not that good.

    He’s one of the reasons I’m a bit skeptical that we’ll take a great leap forward on defense as some fans are sure we will. And if Narduzzi tries to micro-manage the defense as some have said he’s done over the last three years then we know what his track record doing that has been. Utter failure for the most part.

    I hated Conklin so good he’s gone but I really wish we hired somone with real DC experience and not just one season 13 years ago. We went the cheap route big time there.

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  19. Looks like the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index) hates Pitt again.

    https://247sports.com/college/pittsburgh/LongFormArticle/The-Latest-ESPN-FPI-Win-Probabilities-for-Pitts-2018-Season-121143364/#121143364_1

    They figure we’ll be 55th ranked and 3-9 when the dust settles. B:-)eating only Albany, SRY and Virginia.

    Even I think that is a bit much. But every national ranking I’ve seen about Pitt going into this season has them at 6 wins or less.

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    1. ESPN has never been a big fan of Pitt other than the year we beat the Hoopies 13-9, and only for that week. As they did not want to see a WVCC-Ohio Fake title game.

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  20. OK, big predictions article drafted and will post very early Friday morning so we all have time to get our thoughts together and to let others know what we think will happen with the team and some players.

    Stay tuned…

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  21. Does Narduzzi know what he is doing? I think this year we are going to find out. Will it be the guy that finally won 8 games for Pitt in his first two seasons, the guy that finally got 3 big upsets in his first threes seasons? Biggest upset at Clemson was the biggest since 13-9, many years ago. Or is it the guys who went 5-7 last year, lost 2 bowl games and missed a third altogether, something that hasn’t happened for a long time?

    Whether he know what he is doing with recruiting has been fiercely debated.

    The other question is where should the bar be set considering that we have the toughest schedule in the country. This is certainly a strong reason the pundits don’t like our fortunes this year.

    I will make one prediction, Narduzzi will get at least one more year, no matter the results this year.

    My hope is that we finally see a Narduzzi defense that is worthy of why he was hired in the first place. Secondly that KP and our senior laden offense is good enough to get us a winning season with a nice upset or two.

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    1. Would love an upset or two. But if we just beat the teams we should, that would get us to 7 wins.
      Albany, GT, UNC, Syracuse, Duke, UVA & Wake Forest. The other 5 are ranked teams.

      With this schedule 7 wins, with the possibility of getting to 8 in the Bowel Movement, would be
      very acceptable.

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  23. Reed – That’s because Pitt regressed and was 5-7 last year. Not many 5-7 teams off of an 8 win season get national pub to be better. It’s Pitt’s job to show that perception is wrong … on the field.

    It’s not like these national writers have been banging on the South Side doors for Duzz to let them in and see the team … not that Duzz would accommodate, anyways. Haha.

    Local writers will be overly optimistic because they’re reporting what they’re force fed from the podium … and it’s all been very optimistic.

    If you notice, the outlier local papers who probably didn’t send reporters to Pitt’s practices were a little more dour.

    The point is … this team has a lot unknowns surrounding it that we won’t have answers for until they play the game.

    I would not pay attention to what national publications have to say about Pitt, however. Pitt is not on anyone’s radar and no one outside of Pittsburgh (or even in Pittsburgh closed practices) have any idea of how the team looks right now.

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  24. )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))) INJURY REPORT UPDATE!! ((((((((((((((((

    Coming off the heels of Jay91’s bum heel and in a walking boot it’s also being reported that Mr Bob Dobilina spent his morning in the ER today and has been downgraded for the Albany game as doubtful to attend due to a water skiing accident.. The better news is that unless there are a more problems discovered at the doctors office Friday, it’s also being reported that he will do everything he can to make the starting lineup at Fran and JoeL’s tailgate in Red-Lot 5-A.

    Now for the truth…. ike jump into the pool Monday night, banged and screwed his knee up pretty badly and can’t walk on it at all. On crutches and in much pain.. I still plan on coming down to the south-side for the tailgate but highly doubt I can make it down to the field to watch the game and I’m bumming like heck about that.

    Thanks Jay and Angelo for the great articles, contributions and the stirring talk that followed… Mr B

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    1. On the bright side Mr. B…you can still jump into the pool. Most of us, I think would… just sort of drop.. into the pool.

      Liquor up !

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  27. And the logical “follow up” question… Does Narduzzi DESERVE to be carried by Ike and the myriad of other Kool-Aid Drinkers on this site?

    Again, the SHORT answer “No.”

    Alas, the underlying cause giving rise to the nagging “SOP.”

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    1. could the dark knight b that football player just awarded a scholie. he was a big fan of the character. and had some insight into the program that only an insider could obtain. irregardless, he was a passionate crazy poster. I hope the Joker didnt get him.

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      1. He lived up in one of those tiny rooms of the Cathedral’s upper reaches., where he cleaned the lens of the Peregrine Falcon nest camera . They must of took away his internet access. Or the Peregrine Falcons ate him :0

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  30. Bob is not predicting 10 wins like some…few in number but those are the koolaid drinkers. Bob’s incessant optimism/alternative realism caused me to up my win total to 7 for the year. I’ll probably need some drugs to believe in a bowl win though.

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  31. No matter who the coach is, there are times…everyone wonders, if he knows what he is doing.

    They all make strange decisions at times. They all have their little quirks and idiosyncrasies.

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  32. Ike/Dr. BOB, Big B and I could work on you and get you on your feet for Saturday. Seriously, I’d be happy to take a look and if it’s not something major, could K tape your knee to get you to/through the game.

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  33. Heather spoke to the ABA and said a number of interesting things. One according to the rivals post was Pitt is moving from the BE investments to a P5 conference in need of making the kind of investment that is needed. Hiring quality head coaches and having success in all the programs is important. Said Heinz is fine and will continue to make improvements.

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  35. I hope the Panthers injury report this year is better than that of the POV, which seems to be snake bit this year!

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  37. I still have every intention to be at the tailgate John and thanks but Narduzzi may want to save me for the psu game for the live action. That’s a long walk without a leg to stand on. << for Missing Wlat the

    Mark (upitt) Hope to see you at the game. You will be enlightened.

    Mark, (PT) ( the good one) (jus kidding Upitt) and PT you know me and how I would take the hits for this PITT team. Put the weight on me. Keep KP standing upright, me, I fall down.

    Fran, wild horses couldn’t keep me away. My wife on the other hand?? TBD. Please tell what we could help out with. Thinking/possibly pulled pork for the psu game if I do something else stoopid.

    Still hovering between 6 or 7 wins for this season? A need to know, Reed and I have dollar bets on many of the predictions this year. I take a dollar serious.

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  40. Ya know, the more stuff I see coming out of the athletic department the more I’m convinced Heather reads the POV. It’s nice to know great minds think alike. Oh, btw, I kinda miss the Dark Knight, well, at least until his second post! lol.

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  42. Does Pat Narduzzi know what he is doing? Yes, he certainly does. Trust the process boys and girls, trust the process.

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  43. When I filter all the national rankings together I come out 3/7 or 4/8 this year but I then consider the hopefully good improvements over last year some that have already been enumerated here starting at QB. No team is successful with QB play like we got from Dinucci last year. Then there are these factors. 1. I really agree the suspensions to start the season created more problems than were obvious, both in the position losses and the leadership losses. Last year the team was in several of their games able to outperform the opposition including PS in most offensive stats except scoring. They also lost all the defensive stats including scoring. Confident teams with leadership do not do that. 2. New defensive coordinator. There is no way to go but up here. Conklin was a flat out bust. Add the 3 games we gave away last year and we would have been 8/4 in spite of all our problems. 3. The team seems to have better chemistry this year. ???? 1/ Kicking and special teams improvement/consistency 2. Ability to not let the close ones slip away. 3. Keeping confident when you get behind and having a killer instinct when you get ahead. These are the things that I think will determine the final outcome to our season.H2P
    I

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  44. For all you walking wounded out there, heal fast and get your support back in person, Pitt needs you! H2P

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  45. Rick Shaw? Wasn’t he one of our 2 star lineman that transferred to Slippery Rock?
    …of course Heather reads the POV, RICHMAN has her ear. Nice work big guy!

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  46. JoeKnew… I read the POV and I go to the fan committee so Heather gets it from me. 🙂 In more ways than one … kidding. But seriously, I have let all those Asst AD’s know about this blog, not sure if they read it but they know about it.
    Reed, I should be on the payroll. So that is what $2 a month? HA

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  47. Here is an interesting list of schools that don’t play on campus:
    https://m.herosports.com/college-football/teams-playing-home-games-off-campus-aiai?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Link&utm_campaign=FBS

    Note that many of the listed schools have their own stadiums, just that they are not located “on campus,” as opposed to the schools like Pitt, USF, Miami, and Temple that play in rented stadiums.

    To the extent Lyke stated that Heinz Field is “fine,” I think that’s debatable for now — the bigger question is what happens when the useful lifespan of Heinz ends which, given stadiums have about a 30 year lifespan, means Heinz has about another decade to go. Better start planning now!

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