2020-2021 Pittsburgh Super Panthers Sports Thread

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Honestly they played better when Addison was hurt

[robbiestoupe]

Jurkovic 20
Pitt the Bed 17

[Freddy Rumsen]

Thankfully I have a wedding tomorrow at 4pm.

[skullman80]

I'll be hiking at Ohiopyle during most of the game thankfully.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Weather forecast for Pittsburgh tomorrow: 74 degrees and sunny. Translation: perfect weather for pretty much any fall activity (hike, stuff around the yard, fish, walk dogs, enjoy times with kids and or dogs and or parents or all three, etc etc)

Instead, lets get aggravated by slightly above average collegiate football.

[Dickie Dunn]

Slightly above average seems optimistic.

[Stoosh]

What I hope to see tomorrow:
Addison & Wayne are healthy because the offense needs all the damn help they can get. On the first 2 possessions, Pitt comes out throwing, Pickett has time (he mostly has this year), and moves the ball through the air. Rely on Mack, Turner, & Shocky, and obviously Addison and Wayne if they're in. Use the pass to set up the run. Involve the bigger backs in the running game. If they can convert their first two possessions to 10-14 points, that should be a good start. If the passing game works, I'd love to see them get to halftime with like 24-27 points on the board.

What I know I'll see tomorrow:
V Davis into the line on first down for 2 yards. V Davis off-tackle on 2nd down for a 4-yard loss. Pickett incomplete on 3rd down. Punt. Defense holds. Screen pass to V Davis on first down, incomplete. Pass on 2nd down to someone near the sidelines for 6 yards. Handoff to V Davis for 2 yards. Punt. Defense bends a little, doesn't break. Wash, rinse, repeat until Pickett can string a few throws together, Kessman kicks a few FGs, they go into halftime up like 16-10, and then we hope Jurkovec doesn't pick the defense apart in the second half.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

stoosh usually isn't this salty

if stoosh is this salty, what does that mean for the rest of us

[Stoosh]

Last week's loss felt a lot like the 2010 loss to UConn did to me. Perhaps not ironically, that also Year 6 of Wanny, with a veteran team and a number of players who were NFL-caliber. That was still a bit of a flawed team - it was Tino's first year as a starter, if I remember correctly - but the pieces were there to really make things interesting.

That UConn game was a game Pitt should have won. Instead it got chalked up as another blown opportunity. I was a huge backer of Wannstedt during his tenure, thinking maybe he'd shed the reputation he developed in the NFL as a head coach whose teams could never seize big opportunities...teams that developed an annoying tendency of fading late in the season. Cincy in 2009 was the first time I really thought that Wannstedt's "big game" failures came home to roost. The UConn loss in 2010, though, was the first time I really thought he'd never get the program over that conference championship hump. Two games later against WVU, I completely lost faith in Wannstedt; I thought the team quit after halftime.

I think last week's loss showed that this season is a lot closer to going the way 2010 did than I wanted to think it would. The dominance by the defense in the 'Cuse and Louiville games made me think that they'd have at least another game or two to get the offense figured out...that maybe SOMETHING got better on offense from last year with regards to the running game. All I took from the NC State game on offense is that they'd be better of letting Pickett throw. And I don't expect the defense to be lights-out against everyone the way they were in those first two ACC games. I just didn't expect them to be exposed on defense quite the way they were, and they've got tougher matchups down the road. And I won't even mention the discipline issues that just never seem to go away with this coaching staff no matter who or how long the offending parties have been here.

Like we said earlier in the week, NC State was just more of what we've seen before. It was Miami and BC last year. It was UNC in 2018. It was the Sun Bowl against Stanford. Going back pre-Narduzzi, it was Akron in 2014, Bowling Green and Rutgers in 2008, UConn in 2010.

I agree with something Peak said post-NC State. Losing to NC State itself isn't a fireable offense by Narduzzi. But the losses and the sloppiness that almost always accompanies them is becoming a pattern that is starting to happen way too often in the very recent past few seasons. It probably won't cost him his job this year due to budget issues, that is unless things REALLY go south. I'm not rooting for that, either. I just don't think some of those issues will ever improve.

[slappybrown]

I appreciate Peak’s intent to countervail the troll-like and miserable doom and gloomers on PL, but dude has turned into a homer to the point that his analysis of the overall state of the program carries little weight with me. There’s nothing he won’t ultimately excuse or rationalize in some way. His big thing this week was “well if Pitt is content with 8 wins a year as baseline more or less with an exceptional season every 4-5 years than Narduzzi has shown he can do that.”

Narrator: He has not shown he can do that.

Through his first five full seasons, he is averaging 7.2 wins per season. He’s never won more than 8 games in a season so there’s no peak unless a generous interpretation of Peak’s “more or less” 8-win baseline is now the peak. He’s in one of the worst P5 divisions in the country if not the worst. Contrary to what Peak is selling, he is achieving the minimum baseline expectation: 7 wins a year. It’s astounding to consider that he’s now essentially underachieving his recruiting imo if he doesn’t put up a 9+ win season this year. I don’t expect double digit wins every year by any stretch, but there’s no reason to think this year is going to be any different based on last Saturday. If they lose tomorrow things are going to get ugly.

[Dickie Dunn]

What I know I'll see tomorrow:
V Davis into the line on first down for 2 yards. V Davis off-tackle on 2nd down for a 4-yard loss. Pickett incomplete on 3rd down. Punt. Defense holds. Screen pass to V Davis on first down, incomplete. Pass on 2nd down to someone near the sidelines for 6 yards. Handoff to V Davis for 2 yards. Punt. Defense bends a little, doesn't break. Wash, rinse, repeat until Pickett can string a few throws together, Kessman kicks a few FGs, they go into halftime up like 16-10, and then we hope Jurkovec doesn't pick the defense apart in the second half.

[willeyeam]

Hey guys. Plot twist. But NC State might be good

[Stoosh]

From pregame reports, Addison, Wayne, Bright, and AJ Davis all made the trip to BC and are in uniform. Camp did not.

[Stoosh]

Also, I can’t figure out if VT and UNC are bad or good. This has a Pitt-Syracuse 76-61 vibe to it.

[willeyeam]

The all blues look nice

[willeyeam]

CATCH THE BALL

[willeyeam]

3rd and 8. Option

Fire Whipple. Also, Vincent Davis stinks

[willeyeam]

He's like Dion Lewis but without any skill

[Dickie Dunn]

FREE ANY RUNNING BACK NOT NAMED DAVIS

[willeyeam]

**** this team

[Dickie Dunn]

Defense still sniffing their own farts

[willeyeam]

Free Abanikanda

[willeyeam]

This defense sucks. What happened?

[willeyeam]

That's a fumble. Don't screw us again

[willeyeam]

Oh shut the **** up