The Pitt Panthers lost their much hyped season-opener in Utah Thursday night. It was a pretty tough loss as the Panthers fell, 27-24, in overtime after Tino Sunseri was picked off on the first play in ot and the Utes kicked a game-winning 21 yard field goal for the win.
I'm not that upset by the loss since it was on the road to a ranked team that hasn't lost a home game since 2007. The Panthers were 3-point underdogs and they lost by 3 points. Nothing much to be ashamed of.
Of course, a lot of Panthers fans are already jumping off the bandwagon because of Wannstedt's conservative philosophy. I do agree that Wannstedt can be a bit too conservative, but if there ever was a time to play it close to the vest, opening on the road with a freshman quarterback making his first ever start against a ranked opponent would be a good time.
I guess most people are angry that Sunseri didn't attempt a pass to Jon Baldwin with a 1st and 10 at the 14 yard line with less than a minute to play and a chance to win the game. After two-incomplete passes, they ran the ball up the middle to set up a slightly easier field goal attempt that sent the game into overtime.
I admire the fact that PITT fought so hard to come back after trailing 24-13 and looking completely dead mid-way through the 4th quarter. If there ever was a "baptism by fire," Tino Sunseri experienced it Thursday night, but he stayed with it and led them into overtime even if he did throw the pick that led to the loss.
Aside from starting a freshman quarterback, the Panthers were also starting three new offensive linemen. I think that, more than anything, contributed greatly to PITT's struggles on offense. The defense and special teams forced 4 turnovers and all the Panthers could muster was 10 points. They had to do better than that. Dion Lewis didn't do much and Baldwin wasn't much of a factor until the end of game.
The thing that really disappointed me was the play of the defense. It appears that their weakness is defending the pass as they were shredded for 380plus yards through the air. That tells me that PITT needs to disrupt the quarterback in-order to be really successful on defense. I'm not worried about that because they have one of the most talented defensive lines in the country.
I awoke yesterday to a text from my aunt that said, "hahahahahaha!" in refernce to the heartbreaking PITT loss. She's a Penn State fan and I would expect nothing less. In-fact so many PSU fans are basking in the glow of PITT's disappointment. It was PITT's time to shine and they came up short.
I would laugh, too, if I was in their shoes. As a matter of fact, I will next week when the Nittany Lions get smacked around in Alabama by the topped ranked team in the country.
The PSU fans better enjoy today's rather unimpressive 44-14 season-opening win against Youngstown St. because they'll be in for a rude-awakening next week.
While we're on that subject, I was listening to sports talk radio while driving home from work, and some PSU moron texted into the show and said PITT had no excuses because Penn State also had a freshman quarterback making his first start and he did just fine.
Oh brother.
That's just another case of someone either seeing only what they want to see or being a complete moron. Since it was a Penn State fan, I'm guessing it was a combination of both.
By that logic, PITT fans should be feeling pretty good about themselves after Sunseri more than likely has an impressive showing against New Hampshire next week, and Penn State fans should just crawl in a hole and give up on the season after more than likely getting trounced in 'Bama.
Anyway, I digress.
PITT fans, relax. To quote Beano Cook, "It's just so hard to win on the road." Did you think the Panthers were going to go undefeated this year? That would have been nice but not realistic. The goal for PITT this season is to get over the hump and earn a BCS berth.
Whether they do that by winning the Big East or with an at-large berth really doesn't matter to me. Although, they are favored by many to win the conference and that's probably a little more tangible.
Not to repeat an annoying cliche, but there are no preseason games in college football and you just don't know how well young college kids are going to react to the bright lights. Both teams were really sloppy the other night.
I think PITT deserves a lot of credit for opening up against such a tough opponent. Fact is, if this loss would have occured in week 4 or 5, people wouldn't have been as disappointed.
PITT will be fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment