A Week Later...And What Do We Have?

 

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 salt in our collective wounds buy honoring that 2009 team on Saturday at the Pitt game.

I will give that 2009 Bearcat squad its due… particularly its offensive unit. Check out the table on the right. Aside from Pike, Binns and Gilyard, they had both of the Kelce brothers as well as Isiah Pead. All of those guys went onto the NFL. Who could have imagined the Kelce’s paths back then…

Fortunately, the pain many of us still feel from that cold December day in 2009 does not haunt the current Panther squad. But they have their own demon to exorcise… that being last year’s loss to the Bearcats at Acrisure Stadium. If I remember correctly, our offense was flaccid. Jurkovec only hit something like 30% of his passes – some of which was due to Dante Coreleone being in the backfield all afternoon, sacking Phil five times. But much of that was scheme and QB talent. I’m sure Duzz is still pissed about that game and will make sure the team is ready for Saturday.

My thoughts on the game…

ITS STILL TOO EARLY - I’m feeling uneasy about it, primarily because we don’t know who the 2024 Panthers are yet.

ELI – Most fans are intrigued and encouraged by Eli. Me too. Just need to see him in a couple more games to feel better about what we have there.

OFFENSIVE KADENCE - I like the offensive scheme. I really believe the unit will only get better at executing it, including Kade himself. That said, Cincinnati is moving to a 3-3-5 defensive scheme…and it will be interesting to see how he handles that.

CAN WE STOP THE RUN - I’m hoping that Duzz is correct when he says that the D-line problems in the third quarter were correctible errors. They need to be as the Bearcats return RB Corey Kiner from last year who torched Pitt for 153 yards. With a nod towards the POV, we will deduct his one big run (was it out of character or not) to bring that 7.7 yards/carry down to 4.5 YPC. Still pretty good. Combine that with incoming QB Brendan Sorsby from Indiana – who has legs – and Pitt will need to do better than last year. In the end, I trust Duzz will make the necessary adjustments, but proof is in the pudding.

SEALING THE EDGE - I’m worried about Branson Taylor’s ability to seal the edge against the Bearcats’ 3-3-5 defensive scheme. I’m a little worried about their 3-3-5 scheme for that matter if any of those 5 are really fast.

RUNNING BETWEEN THE TACKLES – is going to be a problem for Pitt because Coreleone is back and no one had to pull him back. Apparently the blood clot issues he was dealing with are clear and so he will play apparently. He’s quick for a large kid and will be a problem for whichever guard will have to block him. I assume that Duzz had Kade and Eli – and the offensive line – watched tape of him from last year and took notes. If it was me, I’d just try and stay away from him.

BRENDAN SORSBY AT QB – hmmmm… this is a kid who transferred (i.e. was guided to the portal) from football powerhouse Indiana because Frank Cignetti’s smarter brother Curt favored a transfer from the Vols. Sorsby can run and his passing stats from his Hoosier time look OK – 60% passing, with a 15/5 TD/INT and a QBR of about 130. But the Bearcats lost a lot at WR, so lets see.

BLOCKING FOR SORSBY – Well, that’s going to be a challenge for Pitt because Cincinnati has the entire O-line returning and some think they will have one of the better units in the B12. Before I assume that they will have a field day against Pitt, I will remind myself that Pitt had an entire O-line return once and well… it was OK but in no way did it translate into… uh, actually that 2022 line did fairly well blocking for Izzy and Hammond and help the team get to 9 wins (including a nice bowl victory). So, this could be a problem for Pitt if the D-line doesn’t get its stuff together.

This IS NOT a prediction piece. I’m just giving yinz some stuff to chew on before the game.  Cincinnati opened as a 2.5 point favorite and the spread has dropped to 2 points. The over/under opened at 59.5 points and is now 63.5 (as of this writing).

My younger brother ChrisL and his buddy Steve will be at the game – he's driving up from Knoxville and bought seats down low in the “Pitt section” He’s a big guy 6’7” and walks with a hiking pole… if you see him, say hey. 

This is a pic I took of him a couple years ago.... blocking for some guy named Marino with a chap named Fitzgerald down a ways. Im guessing he will be a bit more "covert" in Cinncinnati.

If you happen to be going to the game... I highly recommend Rhinegeist Brewery in the Over The Rhine section of town - down the hill from UCinn before one reaches downtown. https://rhinegeist.com/visit-us/ 

Chris – bring us home a win please…. Mom said so!