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My 2014 Pitt and College Sports WishList

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Jan 022014

I consider myself as a lucky sports fan. At least I’m not a Cleveland sports fan. I can find hope without looking too hard. BUT! C’mon, everyone wants some of their teams to do better. So here’s my wishlist for college sports in 2014.

Pitt football

Better recruiting on Defense. I expect that Paul Chryst and his staff will continue to build the offensive lines and reel in quality offensive recruits. That’s evidenced by getting 4-star RB Chris James as well as offensive linemen Mike Grimm and Alex Bookser. But I just don’t see those studs coming in on defense. Matt House took some pretty harsh criticism for the defense this year. Some of it was deserved, some not. But Pitt’s whiffed on some local kids who would have helped out a lot on defense. And that comes down to House’s and the defensive staff’s ability to recruit. He has to get better there. No amount of coaching ’em up will help if there aren’t capable players behind the schemes and instruction.
Paul Chryst’s growth as a coach. Chryst needs to become a better game day coach. Some of that is getting his guys in and up to speed. Some of it is just better in-game adjustments. There are times where you see what his offense is capable of. Games vs Duke and ND. The near comeback against UNC. The bowl game vs Bowling Green. I like Chryst and believe he can become a great long-term coach but he has continue to grow as a coach.
Tyler Boyd contending for the Biletnikoff Award. He had a monster season and with the emergence of Manasseh Garner and return of JP Holtz, I expect that Boyd will continue to put up big numbers. (Especially if he’s left in to return punts or kickoffs).
8-4 regular season record. Simple and easy. Winning more will improve recruiting, improve the morale of fans and draw more people to Heinz Field. It will show tangible proof of the growth/regeneration of the program. Avoid pulling a Pitt more than once next season and 8 wins is doable. Navy should have been a win. Same with Georgia Tech. That there would have given Pitt an 8-4 regular season record.

Pitt basketball

A strong ACC season. The ACC is not as strong as the Big East once was. It isn’t. Not this year at least. It ain’t no picnic either but Pitt’s been down this road before. I expect that Pitt, warts and all, should be in the top half of the conference. Outside of Duke, UNC and Syracuse, whom should Pitt fear? NC State, UVA, ND, UMD – good teams, yes. But not other-worldly programs. Fourth place is there for the taking. Continue reading »

Bill O’Brien To Usher Penn State into the Club of Ordinary Programs

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Dec 302013

So it looks increasingly likely that Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien will be flying the coup. I’m honestly surprised it’s happening so soon. Not necessarily because I thought he’d see out the sanctions period. But because I didn’t think he’d become a serious candidate after only two years. Don’t get me wrong, he’s done yeoman’s work for PSU. I just didn’t think NFL teams would come calling so soon.

Even if O’Brien doesn’t jump ship this offseason, it’s a strong bet that he’ll leave very soon thereafter.

If I was PSU looking for his successor, I would stay clear of 49ers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman and (former) Tampa Buccaneers Head Coach Greg Schiano, two names which garnered interest in their last coaching search. I’d even stay away former Pennstater and current (for now) Tennessee Titans Head Coach Mike Munchak. These are NFL guys. That’s where they want to be; at the supposed pinnacle of football coaching. (Personally, I don’t think that coaching, as opposed to playing, in the NFL is the peak of the profession though let’s leave that for another day).

Penn State Head Coach Bill O’Brien

Pitt Pulls an Anti-Pitt vs Bowling Green

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Dec 272013

“Pitt” – it’s a noun, an adjective and a verb. It describes the football or basketball teams’ propensity for finding a way to mess up in a truly heart-breaking fashion. It’s not exactly choking, though that’s part of it. It’s finding a way to give fans hope and then failing to finish off an opponent in such a way as to engender crying while having a heart attack.

For instance, last year’s game versus Notre Dame. Pitt nearly upset Notre Dame a year ago, blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in South Bend then allowing the Fighting Irish to escape in triple overtime, a victory that kept Notre Dame’s perfect regular season alive. Not only did Pitt lose that game in truly Pitt fashion, but it led to a chain of events that forced the country to watch Notre Dame ‘compete’ for the national title. Seriously, America, we still apologize for not beating ND last year.

This year, Pitt has had a number of close losses. Some have been straight choking dogs, like the losses to Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, where Pitt couldn’t do a thing all game and just got beat. That’s not pulling a Pitt, strictly speaking. That’s just incompetence. The losses to FSU and Miami were just straight up beats. To pull a Pitt, the team has to show life, give hope and then find a craptacular way to crap it all away. (And yes, using crap consecutively was necessary).

Paul Chryst’s Pitt showed growth this season.

Pitt-Penn State: The Hatreds We Keep and Cherish

Basketball, College Basketball, College Football, Football Comments Off

Dec 042013

The Post-Gazette’s Paul Zeise wrote the following in his build-up to the recent Pitt-Penn State college basketball game:

It used to be Pitt-Penn State in anything got people riled up no matter what the sport but to be honest, this is just another game. In fact, the athletic department issued a note today that tickets for the game still remained, which is amazing.

But that is the anatomy of how to kill a rivalry — join different conferences, don’t play each other for more than a decade in football and stop playing in basketball and eventually the fans will stop caring.

I hear people say that in 2016 when the two schools meet again in football it will be like old times but I don’t buy that. This young generation of fans has no reference point for the rivalry, they, unlike us, didn’t grow up with it, didn’t grow up with classic games and families split down the middle and rooting against each other one day per year.

Zeise may be right that it won’t be exactly like the old times but I doubt it’ll be all that tame either. I can guarantee there will be tons of fans like myself – in their mid-30’s (shit, I’ll be in my mid-30’s?!) and 40’s – who will remember it. Lots of people who did grow up with the rivalry who still remember it.

RenewingtheRivalry-PittPennState

A Pitt Football Story Concerning JFK’s Assassination

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Nov 222013

Fifty years ago, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kennedy, Jr. The nation grieved, people openly wept, sports events were cancelled. Conspiracy theories were hatched.

At the time, Pitt football was 8-1 and slated to play their season-ending game vs Pennstate. The game was postponed for two weeks. Ranked 5th in the polls at the time (with only a loss to Roger Staubach’s #2 Navy), Pitt was in line for a major bowl berth, possibly the Orange Bowl.

However, due to the postponement of the PSU game, the major bowls feared inviting Pitt before that last game. Plans and invites had to be made, I suppose. What if Pitt lost? After all, who in their right mind would invite a 2-loss team to a major bowl. <cough cough sputter sputter> So Pitt didn’t get an invite. The #5 team in the nation didn’t get a bowl invite.

Golden Panther on the prowl with tail up

Will Muschamp’s Florida Sets Offensive Football Back Several Years

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Nov 192013

This was such an unbelievable sequence from last weekend’s Florida vs Vanderbilt game that I just have to share it:

In a morbidly emblematic sequence late in the fourth quarter, Florida had possession at the Commodores’ 41-yard line, trailing 31-17. On third-and-10, Vanderbilt safety Javon Marshall sacked Murphy for a 13-yard loss and officials flagged Murphy for intentional grounding. Going for it on fourth-and-23, Murphy lost 26 yards on a Caleb Azubukie sack and the Gators committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Vandy took over with a first-and-goal at the Florida 10-yard line.

The mind simply boggles. And yes, a Pitt fan is allowed to marvel at such things because we know what we’re talking about.

Condoleeza Rice on the College Football Playoff Committee

College Football, Football, The Bigger Picture Comments Off

Oct 092013

Secretary_Rice_With_Afghan_President_Hamid_Karzai

There’s been some mild controversy regarding former NSA Advisor Condoleeza Rice’s appointment to the college football playoff selection committee. Some of that is sexist. Some legitimately calls into question her experience and therefore standing to be on the committee. Here’s one I hadn’t considered from SBNation’s weekly Alphabetical column:

Zubaydah. As in Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded 83 times in the month of August 2002 with the consent of the Secretary of State National Security Advisor at the time, Condoleezza Rice.

Here is a non-sexist case to be made against the selection of Condoleezza Rice as a member of the new College Football Playoff committee: she endorsed the use of torture. Note: not “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or “extreme cuddling,” but torture, a practice whose ultimate end is simply more torture.

This is a sport of unpaid labor working under sketchy contracts beneath the auspices of coaches and athletic directors taking an insane chunk of available wages. This is a sport in the throes of denial over a number of health and safety issues, including the idea that your brain might not work properly after even a limited amount of time spent playing it.

But even this filthy marketplace of confidence men and shell non-profits running profitable black market businesses has lines it won’t cross. There are some who will even laugh at you for mentioning the committee candidacy of a rogue’s choice like Barry Switzer, someone who giddily trampled the rules of amateurism during his tenure at Oklahoma. (That feels weak. Switzer ran a monster truck over them, then hit reverse, and then ran them over one more time before pouring gasoline on them while yelling “WORLDSTAAAAARRRRR” and pointing at the camera.)

Those same people will smile and applaud the bold choice of Rice without an ounce of irony, because this sport has so warped their brains that one minute they will side with the rules of the NCAA and the next minute against those of human decency, the Geneva Convention, and every tenet of even the loosest definition of human rights. I hate it when the stink of politics wafts over into college football, but some stenches should follow you wherever you go for the rest of your life, if only to warn others.

In closing: I’d rather have Jackie Sherrill on this committee than Condoleeza Rice. At least Sherrill limited his torture to livestock, and apologized afterwards.

I wasn’t particularly excised about Rice’s inclusion in the CFB playoff committee when I heard about it. I don’t know about her level of knowledge about college football but I’ve always read that she’s bright and I figure she’ll do a diligent job. But if someone objects to her appointment based on the above reasoning, well, I can’t say that I find fault with that.

The Fallacy of East-Coast Bias

College Football, Football No Responses »

Sep 302013

A quick relatively unformed thought:

The idea of East Coast Bias is so full of shizzles that it befuddles me.

Pitt once had a team, go 9-1, ranked #3 in the country that wasn’t invited to a bowl game.

Pennstate once went 2 1/2 years without a loss. And did not win a national title.

(Incidentally, there’s a hint of irony to the fact that Joe Paterno compiled three undefeated seasons but it was a 1-loss team that was his first “National Title”).

Pitt vs Pennstate at Pitt stadium, 1958

The New & Improved Pittsburgh Football Club

College Football, Football, Pro-Football No Responses »

Sep 232013

A modest and hopefully uncontroversial proposal, if I may, concerning the coaching staffs which make the UPMC Sports Complex their home.

Fire Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Ok, so that’s probably not so controversial among Steelers fans. Next, transfer Haley’s play-calling and strategy duties to Pitt head coach, Paul Chryst, a man known for productive offenses and the ability to effectively utilize the talents of existing players rather than trying to shoehorn them into one particular system. Chryst will continue to advise offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph but Rudolph will take on added responsibilities, something that should benefit his career immensely.

Pitt HC & soon-to-be Steelers OC Paul Chryst

Chryst will still remain the head coach at Pitt. However, since he isn’t exactly comfortable in front of the media (though getting better), Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will take over Chryst’s media duties. (That groan you hear is from Pittsburgh sportswriters being forced to deal with Tomlin on two fronts). Chryst may also need to grow a beard.

Apologies Work

College Football, Football No Responses »

Sep 192013

… if they’re sincere enough.

Todd Thomas, the junior linebacker for Pitt, threw a hissy fit in training camp after he put on second string for one practice. Thomas quit the team but soon realized he had made a mistake. After a week, Paul Chryst told Thomas he could come back to Pitt football if his teammates accepted him.

After he informed the coaches of his wishes to return, Thomas said he had to talk to his teammates, particularly the seniors, and convince them he would come back as a committed member of the program.

They told Thomas he could come back, but only if he returned with an improved attitude, as well.

“The way I carried myself wasn’t really appropriate,” Thomas said. “So I just came back, did what I had to do, showed them that I could change and now I’m back and I’m thankful for that.

“I’m thankful to all the players, the freshmen on up, to coach Chryst and the staff for letting me come back.”

A sincere apology, eh. I like that.

This is a piece of what I’ve written before that college athletes are kids. Thomas did a stupid thing by quitting. He has always seemed like a good kid and according to reports at the time, even his high school coach was surprised by the abrupt decision. Fortunately, he repented quickly and came back to the team. He put his head down, worked hard and eventually re-earned his spot in the starting lineup.

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