437 thoughts on “Delaware at Pitt Open Game Thread”

  2. ike, does Pitt even need to bother to take the field, or can they win it from the locker room? 🙂 If the CBs are hurt, maybe they can play with only 9 on defense… Seriously, a solid lead at halftime would be great to get some young players in the game as one of their 4 game appearances without losing a year of eligibility. These 3 stars can use all the playing time they can get!

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  26. Were those boos I was hearing at the end of the 1st qtr?

    Sad Orchestration People

    of a P5 FB team playing a lesser FCS team.

    Pittiful!!!

    Like

  27. Pitt win % has dropped to 94%

    Ugly so far,,,,Patti can use the work. Gragg and the guys need to know the play formations better – coaching? Receivers need to go get the ball, adjust to the somewhat less than perfect passes

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  29. Another bad decision by Narduzzi not to kick the field goal. He has a kicker who has been struggling, and should have let him take a shot at the 46 yd field goal. Instead he lets Delaware keep it tied through the 1st quarter.

    Like

    1. Now not NOT

      What a head scratcher this is turning out to be. Pitt cannot run the ball on an FCS team.

      Hmmm…

      Like

  32. Remember everyone, we’re a 1st half team…

    Patti is 8-13 for 119 yards and a TD. His QB rating right now is 164. He’s a backup with almost no experience. Whipple needs to chill out….

    The D is holding them to -5 yards rushing.

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  35. After that missed block late in the pedo game, Sibley didn’t get to play last week. Now he has 7 yards on 3 carries against 11 chickens. He looks like a transfer to Robert Morris is in his future…

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  38. Lots of stuff to clean up!

    Who was it who said being a Pitt fan is like raising children? Always something no matter how old we (or they) are.

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Damnit!! No excuse for that. This is what drives me nuts about Whipple. Like Ariens we run the ball well but he simply has to pass. It’s all ego.

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    1. You may be correct –

      Pitt needs to score before the half or the hens will cluck up Pitt’s season.

      Wait, we could still win the Coastal…

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      1. Maybe Narduzzi is just getting them experience in “overcoming adversity”

        I would not want to be in that loser room at half time. He is going to like them the hell up

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  49. Okay…so easy TD by the blue hens. Now 7-7

    Nice rub route.

    If we don’t pick it up, we could lose this game.

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  55. Id take mike Tomlin at this point

    It’s that bad

    Nardoozle goes from meatballs for brains to genius to back to meatballs

    Can someone rid me of this coach…heather in yellow

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  62. I hope we don’t need the Pitt Special today.

    5 minutes left in the half and we’re tied. No points Pitt in the 2nd half will be tough to watch.

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  63. Narduzzi is handing out sleeping pills at half. Again

    If you think the first half was bad, just wait.

    Kids weren’t prepared for this game. That’s coaching. They think they are better than a .500 team. Well they are not.

    Probability of meatballs being fired after this season just climbed from 5 percent to 13 percent.

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    1. The thing is that we can line up and get 6 yards in the ground any time we want

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  73. Boo

    Yes I’m booing

    Hope the staff hears me

    Hope heather hears

    Hope the 30k fans in attendance hear

    I bet only 20k fans show up for the 3rd. Poor product and bad value for the entertainment dollar

    Reminds me of 90’s Pitt football. Except off campus.

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  77. A least we got a long scoring drive and ate up the rest of the clock.

    That’s the good news….the bad news is we’re a 1st half team.

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    1. Somewhere is Heinz field Reed is chuckling to himself and saying “I told you so Michaelangelo. I told you so”

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    1. Doesn’t help us in the future but might help us avoid an embarrassing loss today…

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  81. Okay fellas (and lady if you are out there).

    What are your second half adjustments?

    The coaching staff may not make any but that doesn’t mean we can’t

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    1. Bring in the jumbo package and run it down their throats. Throw short stuff that Patti can handle off the triple option.

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  83. The Penn Quakers put 27 points on the board against the Hens — think about how
    FLAT our pussycats are this week.

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    1. Watching the first quarter because had to go to a birthday party. What happened to the deep balls we connected on in early? I saw none of that when I tuned in in q2

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  84. What in the world is Whipple thinking having a rookie QB sling it like Drew Brees.

    Then with no time outs they try to run the ball.

    Terrible game plan.

    You should be able to run the ball down this teams throats then open up the passing game.

    Did they know all week that Patti would play? Of course they did.

    Now you let Delaware think they can win.

    Well I wrote that no one should be surprised.

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  86. It’s very obvious that Patti does not have a very strong arm and he’s a little to read a defense on the intermediate routes is questionable at best

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  87. I’m still 89.1% sure we got this.
    I’m 99.9% sure we will not run the table.

    I’m 100% sure the Delaware QB is better than ours and the receivers are equal to ours.

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    1. What % chance that we still have the lead at the end of the third quarter l?

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  89. Annnd on our second play from scrimmage Delaware straight up steals the ball from Ffrench.

    Is anyone surprised?

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  90. I think this game tells us nothing. We were ready for a letdown after playing Penn State and UCF. Most of our starters aren’t playing. We will pull this out and move on.

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    1. I disagree

      This is Pittiful

      The captains are playing and they are sleep walking

      QB and RB are the only starters not playing

      How long will Duzz allow this to continue

      My take – run the ball on the next 3 series, win the turnover battle and win 28 to 14

      Like

  92. Delaware now winning 14-10 in a blown coverage.

    Heather please take down Coach Rocco’s number before he leaves town because Pat is going to need to run the table if we lose this one, and I don’t think he’s going to do that.

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  93. This is a perfect example of the importance of playing with emotion. We ain’t got it.
    Think the D, when not placed in bad spots by the O, is doing OK.

    Whipple should change run/pass mix towards the run in 2H.

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  95. nice rub route on the opposite side,,,problem is, nobody from Pitt even needed to be rubbed

    74.5% confident we got this

    when do we bring in KP? at 50%?

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  96. Oh, we’re gonna be favored in the rest of our games.

    Oh, we’re gonna win out.

    Oh, nine win season.

    Oh, next year will be even better.

    Oh, too bad we had UVA the first game, cause we’d kill them now.

    CharlieBrown expecting Lucy to hold that ball again and again.

    Liked by 2 people

  106. Deplorable that we neither have the talent nor the fortitude to simply line up and run the ball down their throat.

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  107. ESPN stopped updating the %win page

    I think we must be close to KP time

    Maybe Patti is confused by the opposing team’s uniforms looking too similar

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  110. I’m done… Its like Nardozzel is treating this like a scrimmage. Shame on me for believing the hype.😫

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  111. I’m just getting home from soccer (kids). Why is Nick Patti playing (starting?)? Is Pickett injured? Why do the two Davis RBs not have any carries? Was this all planned? Are we taking a game off?

    Sorry for all of the questions. Just trying to catch up.

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  120. As we all know Pitt is a scoring dynamo in the 2nd half—- I can’t hide how disgusted I am about
    the way we are playing.

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  122. Mistakes continue. We ran into the kicker on that punt. Ref decided not to call it.

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  124. I guess I’m good with Patti getting some reps. But how about getting a lead first. Or, work him in for a series or two throughout the game…

    All the goodwill built from the UCF come from behind win is being blown up here. This type of game has negative revenue implications…

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  127. Hey! Yiznzer shit bags. Still loving Narduzzi? We are a national joke- win or lose. It’s FUCKING Delaware. Delaware!

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    1. Edited and re-posted bc relevant from JaytowerA

      Hey! [Pitt fans]. Still loving Narduzzi? We are a national joke- win or lose. It’s F——-ing Delaware. Delaware!

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      1. I find Jay’s comment disgusting and way out of line. How is the hell is he allowed to use a word like that? He thinks he’s too good for this Bog when PITT wins…… OUT OF LINE!!!!!!!

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        1. Had to delete your next post Ike. No personal attacks goes both ways. I agree that jay is out of line but you can’t call him a loser

          Liked by 1 person

    1. If we lose … and it’s a real possibility … it would be the worst loss since I’ve been a fan. (97). We were 24 point favorites. 24!

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  137. Free meatballs will be given to fans that stay until the 4th quarter.

    Sponsored by Youngstown native Pat Narduzzi.

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  138. If I was head coach:
    Ulizio would never see the field.
    I’d speed call Saluhuodin
    Whipple would Be fired.
    Id apologize to all the fans and alumni for this product.

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      1. We’ve got two options here jay.

        You read my comments today and agree I’m as pissed as you are. Yes I missed in a prediction this week. Oh well.

        Or

        I delete all your comments

        I give two flips if you ever post again

        Liked by 1 person

          1. Keep me coming jay. The delete button is easy to press

            House rules are no personal attacks. You’ve been attacking me all day.

            I get you are pissed. Take it out on narduzzi. Take it out on whipple, take it out on the players (some of whom) sucked it up today .

            Don’t take it out on any poster on this board, including me

            Last warning

            Liked by 1 person

            1. Don’t let that idiot get under your skin Mike. He was no where to be found last week. Remember the high grass and weeds and who lives in there?

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  144. No excuses, 2nd string starters at QB & at other key positions as well doesn’t matter we should be dominating. We’re not,,,, THAT is the definition ofSOP! Sorry, fasts is facts!

    Liked by 1 person

  152. Like Major, I have to leave for a wedding. Perhaps a blessing.
    Hens score here and we are done.

    We found the answer on the kids maturity. It’s lacking.

    All this win out talk looks pretty silly now, doesn’t it?

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  153. This could be the worst of all poor Pitt performances ever. We have seen some bad ones but this is a train wreck.

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  155. The rhetoric will be:
    Wanny lost to Ohio.
    Potato lost to Youngstown.
    But HCPN beat Clemson and if his schedule wasn’t such a humdinger, he’d be king of the world.

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  156. Gut check time. Fourth Quarter! Is this your destiny Pitt? Wake the F*CK UP & win this CUPCAKE match up. SERIOUSLY?!?

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  180. Just to state the obvious, this game is critical. The only half hearted mistake that we can sheepishly make if we lose is that we played with a second-string quarterback.

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    2. Starting QB, top two running backs and starting CB not Playing………. = what you just watched. No excuses just the facts. Oh and almost a dozen penalties to boot…. Bad Bad game for PITT but they got healthier….

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  193. Three “thrilling” endings in a row! They are trying to kill off us old guys. I can’t watch and I only get the ESPN game cast.

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      1. Yes I’m in no way suggesting he become the feature back.

        My thought is that if we have a guy go over 100 it should feel like we ran the ball a lot. And yet it doesn’t feel that way

        Liked by 1 person

  213. Post game presser:
    Nobody wanted to believe me, but I told you it would be a grinder.
    Delaware always plays tough.
    Yeah, that injury bug put us in a bind.
    Proud of our kids.
    Refs had some questionable calls…but hey, that’s football.
    Boy, they were tough.
    Proud of our kids.
    Ugly win and it’s still a step forward.
    Proud of our guys.
    Character!
    Good coaching when we needed it.
    Can’t say enough about the play calling.
    Get ready for Dooook.

    Liked by 1 person

  214. Well, it was a classic trap game after facing two ranked teams in a row, and we managed to squeak out a victory. Let’s pretend it never happened and move on.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. You must have been looking at a different game than me. Patti is a big drop-off from Pickett and right now and Sibley would rarely see the field if I’m the OC.—-My apologies to those I’m rudely dismissed this past week when they that the SOP might show up. With the exception of the defensive line play the rest of the Pitt game was just plain ugly.

      Like

    1. Right Dan, it was a crap game that PITT rested plenty of starters and won….. It’s as if PITT will have two bye weeks out of the next three weeks.

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  220. It could end up a blessing in disguise to bring everyone back down to earth but if I am narduzzi I am lacing into the team in the locker room. Despite some bogus penalties they were still highly undisciplined and need to focus. Also helpful that Duke crushed VT.

    Liked by 1 person

  221. not proud of a few of our guys

    glad we won

    hard to feel good about much of anything today

    still feeling nauseous,,,,won’t and should not go away unless we win next week

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  224. We used to lose these kind of games. Painful to watch but still a victory.

    I think Patti is going to be pretty good, a few rookie mistakes but all in all definitely on the plus side.

    The overall sloppiness and penalties were brutal but correctable.

    The game plan was pathetic. Sibley should have had over 200 yds in the game if used properly.

    Mack was awesome except for the one drop, but definitely redeemed himself and we don’t win without him.

    The defense was strong.

    Liked by 1 person

  225. Perfect game. Duke won’t know what to think. We rope-a-doped them. Or maybe they’ll injure themselves laughing their blue devil rear ends off.

    Liked by 1 person

  226. Did anyone predict 17-14?

    Gordon Conn
    September 27, 2019 at 8:01 am
    There are a lot of upsets by lesser teams these days because the difference in personnel is not as great as it once was.

    No way to tell what will happen, but with Pitt you can never be surprised by any outcome. Pitt history is filled with belly flops. To think somehow Pitt is now immune to this sort of thing is folly. A few mistimed turnovers and Pitt could have its hands filled. Not saying it is going to happen.

    Look at UNC this year.

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  227. I think we learned a little more about what we got with Whipple. He is all in for the passing game. When it works it will be very good, when there are turnovers it will be trouble.

    Liked by 2 people

      1. That’s what turned the tide for UCF last week. The fumble by AJ Davis at the PITT 21 and the Knights scored a TD that started their 31-0 run. Turnovers are proving to be the Panther”s kryptonite this year.

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  228. Well that was certainly interesting. Lol. I’m pretty sure Delaware’s punter can’t land on his feet after a kick. Reminds me of when I use to take shots on goal in soccer when I was in high school except I wasn’t acting and looking for a penalty.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That’s on the players…a lot of POVerts were concerned over a possible drop-off this week… not unexpected… so let’s be real…

      Carolina who was beaten by Appalachian State is hanging in there with Clemson… Tied7-7…

      JoeL Is Quoated”Don’t under estimate the emotional factor in the game.”

      Liked by 1 person

  230. Patti gets some experience. Sibley rushes for more than 100. D plays great! Got the win! I’ll take 7 more ugly wins and an ugly win in a bowl game. On to Duke! H2P!!!

    Liked by 2 people

  232. I don’t agree with the decision to inform Patti 45 min before the game that he was the starter. Not that I don’t believe there could be some argument in that every player should prepare as if they are one play away from being in the game, but….

    and I’d like to hear PN’s explanation of that decusion but don’t expect to

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  235. Pitt rolled out the JV team and still outgunned Delaware by 200+ yards. Pitt’s propensity to get yards but not points is still concerning. I know some will criticize the victory but a win is a win is a win. The penalties were concerning. It indicates a lack of focus which showed in the final score. Back to real football and hopefully some pride and extra motivation to make this week’s performance become a forgotten blip of the regular season.

    All in all, it is what it is. A Pitt win regardless of how uninspiring it was. H2P and onward.

    … and one more thing … For the most part, I liked Patti. As a redshirt freshman I see a lot of future potential. He could be a good one and will have some competition behind him to make him even better.

    Liked by 3 people

      1. Very true but continuing a trend. I was hoping this was the game to break the seal but apparently not.

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  236. I’m going to be the “voice of reason” here: I pretty much called this game for what it was, close due to a let down after two big games. But none of us knew that Narduzzi would sit all of the banged up players, which changed the objective to just getting a win. With new players in, there are going to be penalties and turnovers.

    This hopefully means that they will not occur in a future ACC game when the subs are in. Narduzzi made a strategic move to rest players and scratch out a win, and it worked this time, barely. Now as far as his sideline decisions, many proved to be absurd and will cost Pitt a game in the future. Bypassing the 46 yd field goal in the first period was one such bonehead move. At this point, we should just accept the W and move on…

    Liked by 3 people

    3. First off, this is my public apology to VoR in regards to his previous comments of the potential of the SOP Syndrome raising it’s ugly head from the dead prior to the game with Delaware.
      You called it! No excuses, even in light of those key Pitt positions being occupied by the back up players, this game SHOULD still have been a cake walk. It wasn’t. My prediction, if the subs were playing, was 34-14. Not covering the spread but still winning easily. Not even close to what was the reality of the situation. We came out flat, we committed tons of penalties & we committed key turnovers that gave Delaware two short fields that they capitalized on to the Max, scoring all of their points in the game off of them.

      Those facts my friends are all self inflicted wounds, that’s the very definition of SOP! The only thing that keeps this SOP from it’s full bloom was that Pitt eked out the win. Good for us, whew.

      Well, going forward, this is, yet again, a learning experience for this team. Coach Duzz says that using each game as such in order to get better from one week to the next is essential in order to continue improving. Well, I prefer learning from our “wins” rather than from our “loses”. So at least we have that going for us from Saturday.

      Lastly, lets give the Fighting Blue Hens some credit for their own play. They played OUT OF THEIR MINDS! The Ffrench fumble recovery is a fine example. IMO, Ffrench didn’t really “fumble”, instead he literally had a secured ball ripped from his own arm from a defender who just wanted that ball a little more than Ffrench did. Nuff said. The Blue Hens accomplished a moral victory for themselves on Saturday, just like Pitt did against penn state a couple week earlier. The sad thing is that the only thing moral victories actually earn you are “Ls” in the loss column.

      We’re now, 3-2, with no injuries resulting from the Delaware game, & looking forward towards our 2nd contest in the ACC against Duke.

      What are going to do about that? H2P!

      Like

  237. I will sleep well tonight. That is all that matters after a game like this where Pitt wins.

    Narduzzi still yet to have one of those WTF losses.

    Our O-line gets no push off the line. I blame Pappy for not going heavy set early and try to pound the ball from the start. Wheeler played, so why not try to establish the ground attack against a smaller team?

    Seems like Hamlin could have set the tone on the first play as the ball went right through his hands or else it would have been a pick six.

    This offense needs way more speed and talent on the perimeter.

    Kudos to Patti coming up big in the fourth quarter. Two huge passes to Mack.

    Liked by 1 person

  238. Why are we nor seeing more from Shocky? He’s quite dynamic with the ball in his hands. Surely he must know some plays besides the jet sweep.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. Pitt rolled out the B team. I saw a team get penalized 100 yards on 13 penalties. Not sure how that justifies over confidence.

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  240. Patti knee long before 45 min. He went on to say he took reps as the starter all week. Starter banged up and sore shoulder. Good week to rest up. Same w the Davis “brothers”.

    Liked by 1 person

  242. Maybe Reed will weigh in. He’d probably say that Pitt doesn’t have the depth and talent level to just sit the QB and RBs without impacting the game. And the game plan didn’t adjust for the sitting of Pickett.

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  246. Whipple = Bruce Arians.

    Successfully run and run but then must pass! Almost cost us the game.

    Took five years off my life today. Not sure I have 5 years to give!

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    1. Almost Dan…. Hand grenades and horseshoes. That was an awful awful football game but a win never the less….. Let’s check PITT out next week……. What do you say.?

      Liked by 3 people

  247. Breaking news…pitt first team ever to have a letdown after a big win the week before.

    Come on guys…today sucked. But we had a lot of players out and were coming off a huge win and two huge games. Not too much to take from this game. Burn the tape and move on.

    Liked by 6 people

    1. Fair enough, so I’m walking away from the cliff but it will be a short sprint back and no koolaid stops along the way.
      🙂

      Like

  250. is this the type of game we all wanted to see today? NO!
    Is this the game we all expected today? ………………. NO!
    Is this the outcome we all expected to see?……………YES!

    When you turned on your TV today did you expect Nick Patti to be the starting QB with two top RB’s out? If you did, well we need to talk because you knew something I sure didn’t. Today’s game essentially became a surprise bye week. Would I have liked for PITT to kick more butt in the game? Yes. Last question, do you think Duke has any idea who and what they are facing next week? As goofy as Narduzzi is, he never shows his cards and imo that strategy works!

    Liked by 3 people

    1. But the Virginia loss is non conference

      Doesn’t matter in the division standings

      Does matter for top 25 though

      Pitt can’t afford to lose more than two ACC games. So more than one loss over remainder of play will cook their goose.

      Liked by 1 person

  252. Watching “ the Huddle” on ACC channel some talk that a couple of the players might have been sat down for disciplinary reasons.???????

    Like

        1. I loved the article, but it’s sad the writers we have here now. Years ago Pittsburgh had great sports writers.

          Like

  254. The only thing I care about the Delaware game is that we won. On to the next game versus Duke. Narduzzi showed a lot of confidence in his back ups. They will remember that for a long time. He rested his most important banged up players on offense and defense. Hopefully they are at full speed next week. One game at a time. North Carolina and Duke are looking very formidable. We will find out how Pitt’s season will go next week.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Exactly John. Narduzzi had more important things on his plate than style points. Style points are not calculated in the final assessments of a season.

      Liked by 1 person

  255. After the loss to Virginia said the shame was the Cavs were so BEATABLE and that Va and QB Perkins were destined to lose to GOOD Teams down the road.

    Today isn’t the last.

    Like

  256. FYI … this was written on this site on Thursday by an astute commenter ……

    formerlywwb
    September 26, 2019 at 8:51 am

    “IMO it is not possible for the team to focus this week the way it did the last two. Yes, they mean to not overlook the Hens but it is human nature to do so. I can even see a tightly contested game where Pitt finally breaks away a bit in the 4th quarter. This is not an uncommon formula …. look at UVa last week, and about 2 or 3 other ACC teams last week.

    The saving grace is the defense. This unit will keep the team in contention for the remainder of the games. Pitt may lose a game or two it should win … (don’t know) .. but Saturday won’t be one of them”
    ————————————-.———————————————————————–

    Last year, Alabama and The Citadel were tied at halftime. I don’t care who you are or who you play …. you have to be focused. But this is not a bonehead decision by the coaching staff, this is on the players

    1) Coaches cannot come on the field an make tackles
    2) It’s not the coaches who make one silly penalty after another
    3) It’s not the coaches who continue to drop passes

    Pitt players are not used to playing a game against an opponent they should have little problem with. They learned a valuable lesson today

    Liked by 6 people

  257. PSU won 59-0 last night. UCF right now is leading 42-0 with 10 minutes left in the 2nd Quarter. Pitt went head-to-head when the team was focused. So you glass-half-emptiers can continue with your negativity; I choose not to,

    Liked by 5 people

  258. Last night at Maryland, their coached panicked after 2 ints and a 14-0 PSU lead and switched QBs. It was a disaster and 45 points later
    it was over.

    Duzz easily could have pulled Patti several times today but stuck with him. I think it was the right decision.

    Liked by 2 people

  261. At the end of the day this win counts just as much as the previous two and as much as those to come.

    Another reason for an easier OOC, you can still win when you play very poorly.

    Important lessons were learned today. Sibley is our best power runner and Carter ran a nice rout and caught a TD.

    Like

  262. Lotta effort today from the players.

    Seemed to be kinda odd the players who didn’t play were ‘injured.’
    Time to move on.
    Beat Dooook!

    Like

  263. The box score really tells a story of total domination with the exception of two INT’s and 113 yards in penalties. As bad as the game was to watch with the exception of the bad throws and shooting themselves in the foot, lots of really good plays were made. Individual stats were very solid as they should be.

    Still very lucky to pull it out, with a rookie QB making two great plays with the game on the line. Mack made two very sweet catches or we lose this game.

    Liked by 3 people

  264. That game was so horrible I turned on TCM to watch Sparticus for the 100th time in the 2nd half.

    Can we make NoDoz & Toilet Paper….. gladiators and have them fight to the death ?

    Like

  266. Some penalties were poor officials. Some were caused by a new QB and a different cadence. Some were caused by not having all the starters. Some penalties were players trying too hard. Whipple has greatly improved our passing game. Rumor is Rutgers maybe interested in him. He has to stop looking mad when speaking to the QB’s and even Narduzzi. Narduzzi appeared almost afraid of Whipple during the game. Patti throws a nice accurate ball with feel. Good recruiting by PITT. He is one of the best QB’s I’ve seen coming out of the Northern New Jersey Catholic powerhouses. The defense played well. PITT is good. In the coming weeks we will see how good.

    Liked by 2 people

  267. Well Pitt has no room for error in ACC play. If they play like garbage, it will be exploited mightily. Duke is do for a win much like Pitt is against NC.

    I see Pitt going 4-3 the remainder of the year. They will play down to some competition. Bowl win makes 8. A blah year 5.

    Like

  268. I agree

    Like

    1. When Duzz took over a total clusterfk from years mismanagement ( who would have wanted the PITT job and didn’t the most recent HCPC gave something to do weigh getting Snuggie a Steve shown the door)…and being a long time assistant I thought I would take 6-10 years to build a winning culture at PITT….

      I am not disappointed from yesterday’s game… realistically, this team has competed in every game…Dookies up next… yesterday our guys / backups gained some valuable experience… Sibley and the running game started to assert themselves in the 4th quarter… took the gas off the pedal at the 2:00 mark…

      Liked by 3 people

      1. Hope Duzz can get some athletic lineman… I would try to get 15-20 lbs of blubber off their fat asses… Danielson is also carrying to much fat… makes them heavier but slows them down… it’s unnatural and not healthy… need Annie’s SPORTS NUTRITIONST ( for the DEMON DEACONS) daughter to give her opinion.

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    2. Not sure the point of that tweet. Pitt is playing much more difficult schedules under Narduzzi and that will change these next two seasons although this year the record was 3-1. That is worst case when playing three cupcakes and a good team in 2020 and ’21.

      If Narduzzi is getting Pitt to 8 or 9 wins and not finishing in the top 25 getting rid of him would make Pitt look really bad. It is bad enough playing in Heinz and kids busing to a practice facility. Wouldn’t shock me if the school thought it could do better at head coach when coaches and agents across the country don’t think much of the job.

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      1. I think getting rid of narduzzi and conducting a feasibility study for an on campus MPC would show the world that Pitt is seriously interested in sports. In having higher aspirations and greater expectations.

        Right now Pitt is showing some serious mediocrity. What coach wants to sign up for that?

        But I know there is the Pitt fan base that is content with unranked 8 win seasons, playing off campus in s pro stadium and value players graduating, saving kittens from trees and helping little old ladies cross Forbes avenue.

        I want value for my entertainment dollar. Sports is a business. Players represent my alma mater. They get a free ride. Coaches make millions to perform with field results. Directors get paid to ensure compliance, enhance the brand and to stay in the Black.

        My mindset is obviously different than most who have borne witness to 40 years of carelessness, mismanagement and utter incompetence.

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        1. I may sound harsh with players but I expect every university student to graduate and be a good citizen. Student athletes are no different.

          They should earn that scholarship with respectable field results. If you’re not contributing and earning that scholie, it should be taken away and given to someone else.

          You don’t need 85 players on scholie when you can field a team with 60 comfortably.

          Pampered athletes and coaches are paid to entertain us fans. That’s reality folks.

          A garbage product like yesterday would not be tolerated at schools where sports is a business. That’s the difference in mindset between elite and wannabe.

          Ironic to me that Pitts mindset is so soft given the tough blue collar history of the region.

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        2. No shock the Pitt leaders never tried to build a stadium on campus that is similar to Franklin Field. Not too big and if you wipe out the track and move the sides in less space is even needed to build it.

          It will never happen because building a stadium on campus would mean the BoT, and a lot of the fans, thinking Pitt is becoming a football school first, which is completely absurd, but we’re talking Pitt.

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  269. Patti got away with another possible interception when the ball bounced out of the defenders hands and popped into Sibley’s before halftime. Then again we couldn’t score a touchdown and had to settle for the FG.—Please note Delaware used two plays in close when one WR screened for the other and the result was a touchdown. I guess Whipple and Narduzzi have never seen that type of play before because I haven’t seen Pitt use it in the past. It’s a highly effective play in close quarters. A hell of a lot better than a jump pass in the corner to a well covered WRer.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Agree. Where were the rub routes they ran against us? He better be saving that for the acc

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  270. Pitt claims nine national championships and is among the top 20 college football programs in terms of all-time wins. Its teams have featured many coaches and players notable throughout the history of college football, including, among all schools, the 12th most College Football Hall of Fame inductees, the 12th most consensus All-Americans, and the 5th most Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. Note: it seems our 3 star college players get better at the next level.

    I’ll take the win yesterday with our back-up QB and 3rd string RB. It wasn’t pretty and I hope that the experience for the players is one they will carry the rest of this season in a positive light. NO OPPONENT CAN BE TAKEN LIGHTLY.

    Yes, Pitt football did not look good yesterday on the national stage. But let’s not forget all the other times recently that has been the case.

    The kool-aid is a little stale this morning.

    H2P!

    Liked by 2 people

  271. I believe the 6 AP poll votes from last week will disappear after yesterday’s display of Pittiful football.

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  273. Every game is a new adventure. Plenty to work on this week. Duke looked mighty good this week and we looked plenty bad. We rested a lot of guys, hopefully they will be healthy for next week.

    Albeit the INT’s and the near miss, Patti looks to be a great back-up. In his first game he led a comeback victory drive, something Tino never accomplished in four years. He will only get better.

    The O-line with it’s penalties still the key to future wins. As was mentioned cadence had a lot to do with motion penalties, but not with holding.

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  274. too busy to watch the tape…glad we get the win. Moving on to Duke with the road warriors.
    Great tailgate crowd again…good to see Reed and Jim pre and post game.
    Eric / missingwlat wife attended and had Eric on a live feed on her phone pregame.
    HUGE tip of the cap to Wolfe for cooking breakfast for the gang. Awesome job buddy.
    Got to sit with pittPT and Annie again…always a pleasure.
    From what i heard in my section, Heather will be receiving some emails this week. Haha.

    Liked by 4 people

  275. Defense with another solid performance, will need to have another this week.

    Still don’t understand why Mathews is getting so few targets, especially with Tipton out.

    Still hoping, probably in vain for a more balanced offense. Game could have been secured a lot earlier with a solid running attack. It was a great time to work on it.

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  276. Although the stats say 39 rushes and 37 passes, which is very balanced, it didn’t feel that way during the game.

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  277. Pitt is good at putting up impressive stats but is lousy at scoring points. This offense is red zone deficient. It’s special teams sucks except the punter but he doesn’t score points. The defense doesn’t score either off turnovers. You don’t win many games if you can’t score points. And halftime woes continue.

    If Kenny was 80 percent, he should have played at least one quarter. And the Davis running backs. Bad coaching decision if you ask me. Pitts second team wouldn’t have beaten a top 5 Texas high school yesterday. I’m being serious. The lack of talent on this team is evident and is made worse with coaching.

    I hope heather wasn’t entertaining any big boosters or corporate sponsors yesterday. They saw a product that I would have refunded monies to all that paid to see it. Garbage smells better.

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    1. you are correct Tex. Pitt cannot close. Three times within the 10 yard vs PSU … 1 TD, 1 FG and 1 missed FG. Many times on the plus side of the field vs Ohio … scored 20 points.

      And, just like vs Ohio, penalties stopped most of their drives yesterday …. total lack of focus and discipline. Amazing how they can play before a hostile crowd of 107k and not commit one pre-snap penalty, and just have a total of 2 penalties for 18 yards.

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  278. If you get the chance, go back and look at the PITT special play again. Pay attention after KP catches the TD and Griffen Stewart hugs Kenny around the shoulders. I see a lot of pain on Kenny’s face. PITT got a win and the game was almost a bye week with all the rested players. Plus, Duke has no clue what to expect next week except for BigB and Frans traveling road soldiers. A win next week and all is forgiven and forgotten.

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    1. Was Pickett’s injury that serious that he couldn’t play. No. Why. Because he was suited up wasn’t he.

      Pain can be managed. Again if he was 80 percent he should have played a few series. The games tone would have be different and carried through. He is Pitts leader.

      I plan on emailing heather a picture of the pain on my face while watching the game.

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  279. It has been debated on whether Narduzzi hides the playbook at times against weaker teams… I assume that is what PITT was doing yesterday??

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    1. The same playbook that says to kick a field goal on 4th and goal when down by a touchdown with five minutes to go? That book should be thrown in the trash.

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  280. These player were out of the line-up yesterday:

    QB Kenny Pickett
    RB A J Davis
    RB Vincent Davis
    CB Jason Pinnock
    LB Elias Reynold
    LB Chase Pine.

    That’s a lot of players and when talking about a second string QB who has never started or played extensively… what did we expect? I think it was the shock and awe of all the above?

    Here’s some fat to chew on..

    psu ……… 59
    Maryland.. 0

    UCF……….56
    UCON…….21

    PITT has to be doing something right? Wouldn’t you say? PITT went for a soda yesterday…..

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Those teams played starters. And have killer instincts.

      As a former youth and adult intra league coach myself, I never felt bad about running up the score and reaching the mercy rule when I had the chance

      I also had players play through manageable pain. Pain to me is weakness leaving the body. As an athlete you are always banged up. I believe in rest and recupe but Pitts starters didn’t earn that day off. They needed practice and real game experience even if it was for just a quarter or half

      And frankly the fans who paid money deserve to see starters in action

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      1. “Those teams played starters. And have killer instincts.” But those teams played their starters with killer instincts against Pitt too, right?

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        1. The sign of a poorly coached team is getting up for big games but playing down to the level of competition. Pitt is poorly coached. Very similar to the Steelers don’t you say?

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  283. We will find out in six days if Pitt is trending downward or Narduzzi was playing possum before starting the ACC schedule. If the latter, he truly has no interest in or grasp the concept of the importance of sustaining media buzz. All the excitement of last weeks big win has gone down the toilet.
    I enjoyed reading all the game thread comments last night. I can tell you there was a lot of holding our heads in our hands in horror in Section 536 yesterday!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. If you are a starter and team leader most importantly, and you are 80 percent, you play at least for a few series.

      I’m just old school coach of youths and adults. What do I know right?

      I’m just a non division 1 athlete who’s played in officiated rec leagues. But what do I know right?

      I’ve just watched football for 40 years of my life and read books about it written by players and coaches. But what do I know right?

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      1. Maybe a different view here TX, if we all don’t know the exact extent of the injuries should we be suggesting how much they should play?

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        1. If a player dresses, a player can play

          If a coach thinks his second team can beat a scrub team and that his first team deserves a rest, then I have no business with that coach

          These aren’t pre season games

          Can you imagine Tomlin doing this last year?

          He’s be run out of town. But narduzzi gets a free pass because he’s a yinzer. I get it.

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    2. Narduzzi said in his presser that he was told (by the trainers) right before the game that Pickett could’t go. He could override them but I respect his decision to protect his kids. These guys are not pain millions to play.

      Liked by 2 people

  286. Did we get better as a football team yesterday? That should have been the goal for this type of game.

    On the one hand we got better by getting Patti and Sibley a full game of experience. Patti made some nice throws and Sibley some nice runs where he carried a couple of tacklers with him… And, lots of subs saw the field building experience and depth.

    On the other hand… lots of penalties; while we played solid defense we got beat on quite a few rub routes, their QB broke rush containment 6 or 8 times, we made two bad turnovers, and it appeared that Delaware nearly blocked two of our punts. Our TEs were almost non-existent.

    So, I’m not sure that we used this game to improve, other than getting a few guys some needed experience.

    Like Tex and others, I would have liked to see our starting QB and RBs in game (if they were healthy enough to play) to work on things and get ready for Duke.

    Glad that Narduzzi didn’t pull Patti after the INT. That may have killed the kid’s confidence…

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  287. and another BTW. The way KP plays the game of football, we all may realize the benefits of Patti cakes starting, playing and winning an entire football game

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    1. You realize pitt had to come from behind and only won by a field goal in one of the worst played games in Pitt history against an opponent that that wouldn’t even rank in the top 5 of Texas high school teams. You did watch the same game as I did you?

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  289. BTW, if play had played almost any Power 5 team like they did against a good FCS Delaware team, Pitt loses! The Panthers were very lucky to get out of Heinz Field with a win on Saturday.

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  290. ^^ Good point Doc but if your scenario was true we still wouldn’t know a thing about Patti. Narduzzi is an ace sandbagger.

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  291. I think Patti has outplayed Pickett.
    Deep throws…Patti.
    Touchdown passes…Patti.
    The interception and misses can be blamed on inexperience.
    As for scrambling, I’m sure he was told DO NOT RUN…YOU ARE ALL WE GOT.

    I don’t think having him in the lineup was a detriment whatsoever.

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  292. It was a win. Treated game like a scrimmage and it almost backfired. But after 2 emotionally draining games something like this was expected.

    Can’t be too mad given all that and as I say it was a win. Big one at Duke then a well deserved bye. Should be well poised for acc season

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    1. Agree that Pitt didn’t take Delaware seriously and almost paid for it.
      Kind of knew it right away when Pitt’s first play from scrimmage was a long pass out of the endzone. Who does that?

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  293. It is better to be arguing about the details of a win than a loss.

    Pitt’s play and the Duke margin of victory make for an interesting story line this week.

    I don’t think either one means a thing, unless Pitt guys are still out due to injury.

    Liked by 2 people

  294. The Duke game will show us all what team Pitt is

    I expect Pitt to lose a close one

    They are a seven win team

    Not the ten that some delusional fans think. I’d rather believe in the tooth fairy than thinking Pitt will go undefeated the rest of the way.

    Look there she is:
    Tooth 🧚‍♀️

    Liked by 1 person

  295. Pitt’s lack of scoring prowess through the first 5 games is the greatest concern.
    Mostly has to do with no power running game leaving the offense pretty one dimensional.
    The lack of a strong tight end also hurts. Like to see Mathews used more on the goal line too.

    Really liked the Delaware passes at the goal line, maybe Whipple should have taken notes.

    However, Patti now has three TD passes in his first two games, not too shabby.

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  296. Well, Clemscum was a 27-1/2 point favorite over UNC and was fortunate to win by one only after stopping UNC’s 2-point attempt at the end of the game. Loved Dabo’s response after the game:

    ”Most of the time, when I make a birdie it hits off a tree, runs on the green, hits off the golf cart, bounces back up there close to the flag and then I putt it in, and then I write 3 on my scorecard. Ain’t no pictures on the scorecard.”

    Since that’s also my only way to make a birdie, I choose to sit back and wait feather than getting my
    panties in a bunch after a poor showing.

    Liked by 5 people

  297. Dish Network added the ACC Network a few weeks ago and now dropped the Big 10 and Fox Sports…double good for me until I need to watch the Penguins on Fox.

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  298. People who don’t like Narduzzi are just looking for something to complain about. He took a gamble yesterday and it paid off (barely) as we won the game and rested injured players. Period.

    Liked by 1 person

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