Thank God this is over. The Todd Graham era officially ended yesterday with a 28-6 loss to SMU at the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, AL. Lost in the final score was this: if Pitt doesn’t come out completely flat in the game, they actually are right there in it. Now we usher in the Paul Chryst era at Pitt and he has done so quickly with a team meeting this morning and Pitt announced his first 5 hires. His staff includes two things that I love: 1) a focus on the offensive line….the things you can do with a big and tough offensive line is many and 2) with Joe Rudolph and Chris Haering joining the staff, a nice focus on Western, PA recruiting.
We will have enough to talk about the new era of Pitt football later, so let’s recap this disaster from yesterday. Pitt came out flat and a broken coverage and costly turnover led SMU to a 21-0 lead and we were not even out of the first quarter! JJ McDermott was hot early and finished the game with 16 of 25 passing and 239 yards with a touchdown and zero INTs. He was complimented by Freshman load Rishad Wimbley who carried 6 times for only 15 yards…but unfortunately, 2 short yard plunges for TDs.
This game will be remembered for a flat start and the Panthers’ offensive line being just that - offensive, followed by a bunch of bad luck and “what the hell” moments for Panther fans…doesn’t that always seem to be the way? Tino Sunseri found his groove after going down by 3 scores and drove the Panthers for a field goal to make it 21-3. Cue the horror music as Kevin Harper executed a short kick that was fumbled by SMU and recovered by the Panthers for some big momentum. Unfortunately, an inadvertent whistle made Pitt kick it over again. Everyone was baffled, but it seemed to fire up Pitt.
Pitt’s defense stiffened and forced a three and out. Sunseri continued his accuracy (he finished the game with 19 of 128 for 183 yards and a pick) and the Panthers had a 3rd and goal at the SMU five yard line. Unfortunately, the next pass went in and out of Isaac Bennett’s handsoff a helmet, off someone’s facemask, off the top of the stadium, froze inmid-air…you get the idea…and was a costly turnover as Stephon Sanders does deserve credit for staying with the bouncing ball and making the diving pick.
Bad play/luck part tre came about at the end of the half, with Pitt well within field goal range, Tino took a costly sack that forced a long field goal. Staying with the theme, Kevin Harper’s attempt bounced off of the upright and the score remained 21-3.
Pitt came out of the half to go 3 and out, but Pitt put the ball in the hands of KK Mosley-Smith. Yes…he is a defensive lineman, but WOW…can he run with the ball. A great call and play by Pitt seemed to give them a first down. Unfortunately, part 4 happened of the strange getting stranger, with an illegal motion call against Pitt. The replays showed….nothing. Needless to say, I needed a drink at that point and things just go fuzzy after that…I thought I saw Mark Myers at one point throwing the ball (turned out that was true) and Pitt went quietly after that.
One side note: Andrew Taglianetti made a routine tackle in the second half and immediately took off his helmet in horror as it was very apparent that Jared Williams, of SMU, was the victim of a broken leg. Taglianetti felt awful. SMU players and coaches were telling him it was okay. Hopefully Williams makes a quick recovery and Taglianetti can put that play behind him, as it is just something that happens in football. I won’t post the play here as Williams leg does turn in a way that a human’s leg should not.
In closing, I am sick of this era of Pitt football and can NOT wait for the new one to begin. Therefore, instead of doing a team recap, I will do a preview of the coaching staff. Hopefully I can get something small together within the next week or so, so that I can be ready for signing day!
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