Red 5A Gang

  Things I Liked And Stuff I don’t   It’s Sunday morning following a Pitt win and yet I have case of agida. One IC Light – Hail to Pitt can… and that was it. I like what Pitt has done thus far… they have exceeded my expectations and probably yours… and yet, I’m worried about the coming games. Are you? THE SCORE – Anything short of 60 points by the offensive would have had me concerned. Someone pondered early in the game if Pitt could score as much as James Madison and we got the answer to that. 73 points – as scripted as Duzz said post-game. DUZZ  – I really liked his tribute to his father. Old school short-sleeved dress shirt and tie.  And since we’ve thrown around some Italian slang… his deeply personal vendetta against Youngstown was finally realized. Might be okay to put that aside now… DID YOU KNOW The last time Pitt faced Mike Tomczak, it was the 1984 Fiesta Bowl. Tomczak threw a 39 yard TD pass with – coincidentally – 39 seconds left in the game to bea...

  IT AIN’T OVER TILL IT’S OVER! Things I Liked and Stuff I don’t – The 2024 Brawl Monday morning and I still have the post-win buzz. No, no not the alcohol kind… but we had that going as well for a while post-game and maybe a wee dram on Sunday evening. In no particular order, here are my impressions from the day. DID YOU LEAVE THE GAME when Pitt was down by 10? I have a friend (coincidentally a childhood acquaintance of Huff) who left his Sarasota home when Mountaineer WR Justin Robertson made the one arm-push off, other arm facemask “spectacular catch” with 4:55 left in the game to see something called the Lido Key powerboat races. I like this guy – even though he’s an Upper St. Clair grad – so we will keep him anonymous. But he told me after that he was ashamed for leaving his TV – and rightfully so I might add. There were a couple of grizzled Pitt veterans in our section – two brothers who are wonderful Pitt fans and know their football… who did likewise. One of them s...

  A Tale of Two Games Things I Liked And Stuff I don’t – post-Bearcat game It was the worst of times… it was the best of times… all in one game in a tale of two river cities.  An instant classic for Pitt fans.  Many on the Discourse site have made really good assessments about Saturday’s win and I will borrow a few because they capture my exact thoughts. WHAT IF? ... humor me on this, please. I wondered if I should dare to say this right after the game expired. But then I saw Major Majors – a smart guy, btw – say the exact same thing. So, I’m going to say it… If Eli’s throw to Kenny Johnson is a little more accurate, I believe the game would have gone in Pitt’s favor much earlier. And likewise, there was a slightly errant flow n Pitt’s second or third offensive series that could have resulted in a large play. I know, I know... “but it wasn’t”. We all know that. We know that the Bearcats gifted Pitt a 1 st down late due to a bizarre disruptive calls penalty… My po...

  I’ll never get over it. Never.   A gut-wrenching, soul haunting loss. Pike to Binns, the latter leaving Aaron Berry face down at the three yard line for the fatal dagger with under a minute to go. And yet I always think of Mardy Gilyard first. What could have been, what should have been... sigh. Say what you will about Dave Wannstedt, but he would have shown up at the Sugar Bowl to face the machine called Tim Tebow & the Florida Gators. Unlike Brian Kelly, who cowardly dodged the certain slaughter by running to start recruiting for Notre Dame. Or perhaps he went to find the best spot to place a video tower at the ND practice facility. Or perhaps cram study on the Sacraments. Or work on a South Bend accent. Whatever the case... once a douche, always a fist-pounding douche. Each time Pitt faces the Bearcats, those haunting thoughts come back – perhaps therapy is in order. And as much as I’d like to push that aside this year, the Bearcats have decided to rub some...

  Things I Like and Stuff I Don’t I’m missing the articles-based format of the POV and Blather. Anyone else? Both The Good, Bad & Ugly and the MMQB formats were mostly good, even if the former title was tilted towards negativity. Deserved after some losses, a bit lame after some wins. Of course, we’d all react/respond to those columns with our own thoughts and I thought I give my own on this Labor Day: Eli’s Coming – I really thought we’d be seeing Nate under center before last week and was OK with that. A good kid who stayed around since recruited by Mark Whipple with a demonstrated ability to put a ball in the right place. And he’s professed a love for Pitt. What’s not to like about that? Eli’s first drive along with subsequent plays helped me understand Kade Bell’s decision. I’m encouraged… he looks the part of a QB… is athletic, shows he can make quick decisions and made some great throws. But its early and as we will keep saying all week – it was Kent State. No...

  "I still don't see much respect for a 4-1 football team, which is fine. It's something I'll use." - Pat Narduzzi in Monday's pre-VT press conference Twittersphere and the blogosphere was rampant with that comment during the past several hours. Most rejoinders included a WMU loss reference, and others just showed contempt for the coach.  My take on Duzz's comment - taken in the entire context of the question and his full answer - it was more about him saying he can use the lack of ranking to get his kids motivated.  He is so right about bias in the polls, particularly pre-season.  Lets look at the ACC media (aka the provincial Tobacco Road, Bojangles loving 4th estate cartel) pre-season view... 1) UNC 2) Miami 3) VT 4) Pitt 5) UVA 6) GT 7) Duke Mack Brown returns to the open arms of the Chapel Hill faithful, lands a couple good recruits, one of which is Sam Howell....and the Tar Heels are annointed the favorite. I get that they went 7-3 last season, but h...

Its THE week of the season as far as I'm concerned. This week's game can either put Pitt in the driver's seat for a Coastal Division run or place us effectively two games behind the Hokies. Pitt is coming off a week's rest and the question in front of us is" Was a good thing or a bad thing? From the sounds of Pat Narduzzi's comments earlier today and last week, its clear that he is focused on getting his guys ready for the game. Are the kids listening? I sure hope so. VT is like a wounded dog right now and this game backs them into a corner. Pitt will need to start fast and avoid mistakes.   A link to full game notes at the botto m of this post, but here are some pages of interest.... The two deep: Here is a link to the full game notes as published by EJ Borghetti's team: Link to Full Game Notes

Heading into this bye weekend, I'm contemplating how to use the extra 5 hrs of time between pre-game coverage, the game itself and the postgame. I suppose that in a loss its more like 5.5 hours since there are more things to read. Thank goodness for golf. But I am definitely watching the Domers face the Hokies tomorrow night. Should be a good opportunity to see if VT is as good as the team that beat the Tar Heels on Labor Day weekend, or more like the team that squeaked by the Richmond Spiders. I have no idea what I want to see.... a big, emotional win for the Hokies or a loss. I lean towards a close Hokie win in a low scoring battle...which is possible because neither team is an offensive juggernaut. The Irish are ranked 94th in NCAA Offense and like Pitt, the passing game is their strength. But its ranked 30th, which means their rushing offense has been putrid. And ranked at 123rd, I think that is a fair assessment. One thing we know about VT is that they have a good defense, par...