Things I Like and Stuff I Don't

 

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 said to me later, “We bailed out because we didn’t believe. Never again, maybe”… True Pitt fans.

On the other hand, my brother Chris learned his lesson from leaving the Cincinnati game with 4 minutes left in the 3^rd quarter last week. He stayed for every minute. Of course, he had to because I was his ride to our sister’s place and I don’t leave games early (with a rare exception or two).

Chris was rewarded for his newfound stick-to-it-tiveness…and we stayed and watched to see who would lead the band this time. BTW… if you haven’t stuck around after a win to do that, it’s a fun thing to watch. And while Eli certainly was deserving of the honor – he had already taken his turn after Kent State, so it went to Desmond Reid who had two TD’s. I thought that was a great move… who decides this?... anyone know? I heard the team captains do…. In any event, in this era of transfer portal, the emotional tie-in of leading your school’s band after a big win must be special. Maybe kids will remember that when considering their options…they are part of something.

MEGA KUDOS TO THE PANTHER PITT They stuck around, most
for the entire game And boy, were they ready for the Eat +$%# Pitt crap from the Hoopies. Drowned them out… especially on Sweet Caroline. Eat That, Hoopies.

ELI REALLY IS COMING … And he broke hearts again on Saturday. Hoopie hearts. I moved from “encouraged” to “intrigued” to “yep” in the span of three games.

The kid has the arm and the legs to be an elite Power 4 QB. But those may not even be his best trait. This kid keeps looking downfield when his primary guy isn’t open…and keeps looking downfield while scrambling. Thus far, he seems to know when the pressure is coming from behind and scrambles at the right time.

He finds guys… the open ones. And he trusts his guys to make catches in traffic, like the one to Reynolds in the endzone. Here’s an excellent shot (left) of the catch provided to me by a WVU school photographer who grew up in my childhood neighborhood.

I know, I know… “Joe, let’s see how he does when we play tougher opponents.”  OK, you do you… I think he’s the guy.

KONATA IS BRINGING IT – he’s making hard catches and he is also getting open. This is the guy I was hoping to see when he came from Akron. He just needed a QB to help him. He has 16 snags for 250+ yards so far… and he looks reliable. Along with Reid and Bart, he is part of an encouraging set of receiving options.

DESMOND REID – just because he couldn’t sneak through between the tackles, didn’t mean he had a bad game. He’s sneaky and got to open spaces like Frodo with a ring. Hope he’s not too banged up.

OVERCOMING THE LAWS OF PHYSICS – I looked at the size differential between WVU and Pitt’s lines. A big difference… all favoring the Mountaineers. We got pushed around most of the day and probably should have lost that game – even with decent officiating. Grab, grab, grab as well… fortunately Pitt discovered the benefits of gang tackling when Neal Brown unsuccessfully tried to close out the game with running the ball. But despite losing both Zach Frazier and Doug Nester, the Hoopies clearly have a good OL. There is work for Pitt to do to improve, but one thing we can take some comfort in is that both the Bearcats and the Hoopies were expected to have some of the better lines in the B12

KYLE LOUIS – had three chances to change the game with picks. The first one was on the Mountaineers first drive. In the end, he got his game ball. Is he still holding onto it?

SPECIAL TEAMS… the idea we might lose the game because kids turned around to cover a punt and left the Hoopies Aussie punter to scamper down the sideline was… well, at the time we wondered if it would be the play of the day or the moment WVU took charge. It was embarrassing to say the least.. I imagine Jacob Bronkowski was spitting nails. But what a rebound.. and a kamikaze punt blocking effort by redshirt freshman Maverick Gracio out of West Palm Beach… he’s a 6’4” 255 DL… with some speed. Hmmmm.

THE OFFICIATING AND LACK THEREOF – Look, I know there is a segment of this population who are criticizing Duzz for speaking out against the refs post-game… twice even. And I know one or two of you who lose your minds over Narduzzi losing his (which I find rather funny).

I fully agree that best practice is to take the high road, show good sportsmanship, yada, yada, yada. And I understand how hard of a job it is to referee a game. There is a part of him I’m sure that knows he could have handled it a little differently. And I’m sure a couple people at Pitt have probably chatted with him about that.

That said… in this particular case I am net/net glad he called them out. Looks like the ACC agrees based on the paltry $5K fine they hit him with. Rumors are Jim Phillips delivered it with a wink and a nod. It really does matter to demand excellence in a game of this stature. 

After 13-9, Wanny did the same thing albeit a tad bit more indirectly. “Two opponents” I believe was how he put it. 

NARDUZZI – Folks, he is what he is. And if he keeps winning games like this one, I really don’t care that he’s not perfect. But he is gutsy and apparently a bit creative.

After last year’s loss to the ‘Eers, some of the Pitt coaches kids were getting teased/harassed at their schools the following Monday. So he supposedly found out how many kids of coaches/staff and shared that with the team… I suppose it’s like trying to keep a lesson plan fresh as a teacher.  

I saw him come off the team bus for the walk down General Robinson Street. Yes, coming off the bus is what you have to do when your school doesn’t have an on-campus stadium (although some schools that do have an OCS still take a bus ride)… but two points here. One is I had never seen them do that because of our tailgate location. Enjoyed seeing the band forming a column for the team and playing as they walked through. Real college football stuff.

The other point is that Narduzzi came off of that bus and looked loaded for bear… laser focused.

NEAL BROWN TAKES A SHOT AT DUZZ So, while we are complaining about Duzz not taking the high road on the refs… I noted with interest that Neal Brown was asked about that Duzz’s complaint in his postgame and of course he seemed incredulous…there were missed calls on both sides, etc. Cited and example or two. Fair enough.

But then he came back a couple minutes later and wanted to speak about that again unprompted. Guess he, Duzz and Coach Prime won’t be sharing a table at the annual Football Coaches conference in the off-season. He is probably going to lose his job as Hoopies coach and has bigger problems – but it speaks to the importance and intensity of The Backyard Brawl.

NICK SABAN – you probably grabbed Robert Foster just to screw with Pitt. Eat That, Nick.

PAT MC EFEE – how about you Eat That too.  

DID YOU KNOW – Pitt is currently worst in the ACC in Time of Possession at 24:57/game, but 3^rd in scoring with 40.3 pts/game

COMPARED TO PITT, THE STEELERS ARE NOW BORING – Appreciate that this is not a Steeler discussion and many Pitt fans could care less – or even dislike the Steelers. My point is simply this. During the last couple of years, both teams had a lot of philosophical similarities… the most glaring being a flaccid, run-oriented offensive scheme. Questions at QB, a defensive oriented HC and so on…

Well, Pitt diverged from that profile in a big way. The changes in offensive scheme are leading to more scoring and more excitement. Pitt is 3-0 and the Steelers are 2-0 and the former is more fun to watch than the latter. If the wins continue, word of Holstein’s feat will spread and folks will come in greater numbers. It wasn’t that long ago that many lamented a loss of attendance due to last year’s debacle of a season. Stay tuned..

RED 5A ROAD TRIP - Well, for those of you who don’t make it to the games, our tailgate plans were temporarily upended when the game was scheduled in a way that conflicted with a daytime Pirates game. The Pirates have first dibs on our lot – even when they stink. We were expecting to be scattered in a Green Lot on the other side of the stadium.

Through some agile back-channel communications, we were able to get the crew together next to the old Clark Bar factory. I cannot speak for all in attendance, but on a day when two sporting events were taking place it was nice to not only be able to keep our team together, but also in a place that allowed for easy in and out access. A tip of the cap to KMAN for the nice work!

Pre-game was sunny and hot… and a long, long wait. But some old POV friends re-appeared for the gathering… Post game was cool, with a clear evening sky… traffic that seemed to continue forever…. And the sights and smells of postgame victory cigars enjoyed by Scooter and Lastrow. 

I hated to leave!... but my crew had to do a victory lap at Alexion’s in Greentree. The bartender obliged   turning the jukebox up high when we played “Sweet Caroline” and the pro-Pitt crowd sang it loud. Love it or hate it, it’s the song the students made their own and not even the Hoopies can take it from them.

What a day, what a game.

FINALLY... Channeling my inner-Ike… can you dig it?

https://youtu.be/TmENMZFUU_0?si=bP9EIWVtx_aaHzd8