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 1st down late due to a bizarre disruptive
calls penalty…
My point is that this was a true ebb and flow game between two
regional rivals. The tide turned… Pitt never gave up and started making plays.
A wonderful comeback and I think its ok to say that without a qualifier like, “and
the Bearcats choked”.
ELI IS COMING – Not fully here yet, but he is coming. He’s a
redshirt freshman learning on the fly in the transfer portal era. Still not 100%
sure what we have in him, but I’m a little more encouraged than I was last
week. The kid overcame adversity – self-imposed – made corrections and
delivered in the clutch. A great learning experience for him. Yes, yes... I
know he had help. But someone had to throw that ball to Reid.
DESMOND REID – Were you one of the folks who mocked Pitt (or
more to the point Narduzzi) when Kade Bell brought Reid to Pitt? Be honest…
He’s fun to watch… incredible burst in the open field. But
he is a bit of a hobbit (I say that with great affection) and I agree with
Tvax1 that his durability is a concern for me.
WVU will key on him – heck, my 9 year old granddaughter would key on him
– so Pitt will need to get others more involved. And they need to bring in
Derrick Davis to do more than run between the tackles. Cincinnati was waiting
for him in the backfield… or so it seemed… almost every time he come in the
game. Because…
THE O-LINE WAS NOT QUITE AS GOOD AS IT LOOKED ON SATURDAY – I’m
not saying they were bad, but they were just OK and good enough in the game. The
Bearcats played a 3-3-5 defense, frequently dropping 8. Will be interesting to
see how they fare against a more balanced defensive from than the Bearcats, who
rely heavily on Corleone. And he looked a bit winded on Saturday, btw.
KADE IS A BLESSING – without his scheme and calls, we don’t comeback
when down. Narduzzi gets credit for bringing him here and letting him do his
job. At this point, Bell is keeping Narduzzi off of a warm seat.
GOING FOR TWO – I have mixed feelings about this. While I
probably would have kicked the PAT instead, I love the aggressiveness and the
win not tie mentality.
I sure hope Narduzzi spends some time on tackling fundamentals with some of the guys. Was a problem on Saturday and the week before. Give credit to the Cincinnati RB Kiner – he’s a good one – but this has to be cleaned up if Pitt is to continue to win.
IT’S A YOUNG SQUAD – a lot of new faces getting PT…
“EAT THAT!” – God, I love Pat Bostick. A great Pitt man. And
he delivered a great message to the student section in Cincy when the “Eat Shit
Pitt” chants came out. The best way to stop those chants is to win. Wouldn’t it
be great if Pitt could beat WVU and the Pitt students could chant, “Eat That,
Hoopies!” One can dream…
PITT FANS TRAVELLED WELL – Nippert Stadium is small – 38,088
seating capacity – and they do a nice job of packing the house. But the Pitt contingent
was quite visible. If you went – and stayed – I tip my cap to you.
MY BROTHER left the game with 4 min left in the 3rd quarter and drove back to Knoxville in disgust. His pregame was wonderful… parked next to Kenny Johnson’s mom and ran into Pitt OL (1980’s) Barry Pettyjohn on the walk to that stadium.
They shared drinks at Martino’s on Vine – a Pgh themed bar near the stadium. Barry (on the right of the photo) was roommates with my brother’s HS friend John Rees, who also played OL at Pitt in the 80’s. Barry regaled ChrisL with tales from the 80’s Pitt teams. You older guys may remember both Barry and John. The latter plays in the Dick Groat.
After busting his chops – a lot – for leaving early, I also noted that in doing so, he managed to avoid London, Kentucky around the time a sniper was firing rounds at cars on I-75.
IS IT TRUE THAT NARDUZZI SAID… “It is a far, far better
thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go
to than I have ever known.” …when hiring Kade Bell?
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