RECAPPING TEMPLE

Greetings from sunny and beautiful Bucks County, PA!  Yea….this blog post might be the last one for a little while, depending on what Hurricane Sandy does to our power and internet service.  Without further procrastination, let’s take a look back at the game on Saturday between Pitt and Temple.

To the surprise of many, Pitt came away with a 47-17 blowout win over the Owls. Tino Sunseri and Ray Graham led the way for Pitt and the offensive line opened up some nice holes, and pass protected well. Pitt winning the game was not a shocker, but let me be clear about this: Temple is NOT a bad team.  They are not the Temple of old.  They are not world beaters, but if you look at their games….they have not been manhandled in the manner that the Panthers did to them on Saturday.

The really good news for Pitt was that Ray Graham had a few runs where he looked very much like the old Ray Graham.  One run, in particular, Graham showed off his shifty moves from the past couple of years nicely.  This was the second week in a row that he played without a knee brace and it appears to be making him more confident and comfortable.  That would be VERY good news for Pitt.  Graham finished with 109 yards rushing and 71 receiving. 

Sunseri threw for 321 yards and 140 of that were to Devin Street. Those two seem to be forming a nice bit of chemistry and hopefully that will continue.  In addition to playing smart football, Sunseri threw a couple of VERY effective screen passes for the third week in a row.  That is a nice weapon that has always been lacking in Pitt offenses and with Graham and freshman, Rushel Shell (79 yards rushing) can be an explosive play at any time.  In closing on the Pitt offense, there is not much more fun than watching Shelllook for a defensive back to run over in the secondary instead of running outof bounds.

The defense played effectively and despite a few lapses in the third quarter, played solid for the most part and again, Dan Mason continued to defy odds.  Mason had another strong game and for the second week in a row tracked down a running QB to end a drive late in the game. Unfortunately on the play, Mason seemed to injure his mid-section.  With starting linebacker, Shane Gordon, still on the mend, they need to keep people healthy.

Also on the banged up list were offensive guard Ryan Schlieper and tight end Hubie Graham.  The blocking of the offensive line was strong and those two were a big reason why, so hopefully they can stay in the lineup.

Notre Dame is up next for the Panthers and saying it will be difficult may be the understatement of the year.  Hopefully the Irish will be caught feeling good after a HUGE win AT number 8 Oklahoma.  Also I am hopeful Hurricane Sandy will allow me to preview this one before they kickoff on Saturday.