Words can’t describe how awful that loss was yesterday. I'll give it a try though. I started thinking about my life and what
days I would rather live over before having to deal with that again. The day I asked the hot girl in my school to
homecoming, she said yes, and then flipped a few days later to go with a friend
of mine instead. That’s one. The day after my bachelor party last weekend
when I puked until 3PM in the afternoon is another one of those days. I won’t go so far as saying that terrible
night in 1992 in October and I won’t go so far as to say the Elite Eight loss to
Nova a few years ago either. It’s up
there though. Make no mistake…this was a
BAD loss.
There were a few bright spots. The Pitt student section was out in FULL
FORCE, but how many of them will come back to the next game. Would you?
I would, but that is because I love Pitt and college football,
regardless of how they are doing. You
just can’t expect that blind loyalty from so many. Ray Graham looked decent and I was very
encouraged by one of his last runs.
Graham got up, clapping his hands and shaking his head, as if to say, I’m
back. I have a lot more confidence in
him after that run, than anything else he did.
Contrary to popular belief, Tino Sunseri actually looked decent and did
not take a sack. He did miss a couple of
big plays, but more times than not, he made the play.
So what went wrong?? You can start and end with the defense. They
were terrible. You have to be able to stop YSU and they could not….at all! YSU did everything and anything they wanted
and that was tough to take. I had
concerns about the linebackers, but the secondary and defensive line was
supposed to be a strength of this squad and they were not. They must improve and improve quickly.
The offensive line concerns surfaced as I felt like there
were not as many holes as there should be when you play an FCS team. They did not give up a sack, but the line has
to also take strides. Lots of Graham’s
and Bennett’s success had to do with cut backs and nice moves rather than big
holes.
Suspending 6 players before the game also did not help, but
the one that hurt the most was Tyrone Ezell.
He is a defensive line starter and would have helped a little bit. The others are replaceable at this point and
time, BUT, it affects the team to see that many of their teammates not be on
the same page. Ronald Jones returns punts and kick offs and he was suspended,
and we missed the debut of highly touted freshman Rushel Shell. The other three players were reserves Shayne
Hale, Anthony Gonzalez, and true freshman, Chris Davis. No word on their availability for Thursday,
but the most important to get back is Ezell, followed by Shell and Jones.
There is no doubt that the Paul Chryst era has gotten off to
a rocky start, but this is Pitt. This
football team is famous for putting their fans on the ledge and then teasing
them back. Is this one of them? Will they bounce back in Cincy Thursday? I have serious doubts, but it would be just
like them to bring their fans off the ledge before the Virginia Tech game. Another positive is that Youngstown State is a
strong team and very experienced. 10 of
11 starters came back from a powerful offense and it showed. That is not to make excuses, but at some
point, you do have to give the Penguins credit.
Pitt should never lose to an FCS team, BUT YSU did play well and you
must tip your hat to them a little bit here.
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