RECAPPING RUTGERS

I found out that I would be making the awesome turnpike back to Philly from Washington, PA trip instead of being in front of the TV on Saturday during the Pitt-Rutgers game.  Thank God for XM Radio!  I pushed in order to get home for the fourth quarter and was lucky enough to be home for the last quarter.  The drive made me realize how much I miss listening to Bill Hillgrove and it gave me an opportunity to really listen to Pat Bostick, who is REALLY good.  I enjoyed it very much.  Of course, it helps that Pitt once again played to their competition and beat up on Rutgers 24-6.

Tino Sunseri was efficient and the one-two punch of Ray Graham and Rushel Shell gave Pitt a big lead early and they never let Rutgers back into the game.  The offensive line should be pointed out as being very effective against a solid Scarlet Knights defense. One down side is that Junior WR, Devin Street, left the game early and did not come back.  Ed Tinker filled in and came down with a big TD pass, but make no mistake, Street is needed.  My fingers are crossed for a quick recovery.  On the defensive side of the ball, have we mentioned that Aaron Donald is good?  We haven’t….oh we have…yea, that still holds true…HE’S REALLY GOOD!

The win over Rutgers and the loss by Louisville reminded me how very little I will miss the Big East.  It seemed like almost every year since the raid on the Big East the conference would get a couple of teams (sometimes even 3) that would VERY slowly build up into the rankings.  This would lead to me running my mouth about everyone who was always on the conference for being weak.  Almost without fail over the last decade, the teams that had built themselves up…lost unexplainable games late in the year to drop out of the rankings leading to TERRIBLE bowl match ups and other fans laughing at us.  I will NOT miss this!

Pitt now moves into a 5-6 record and needs to take out South Florida at 7PM on Saturday night (yes, you read that correctly….7PM, not noon) in order to become bowl eligible.  If Pitt should win, it will start my favorite thing about Pitt fans….bitching and moaning about going to a bowl game with just 6 wins.  Maybe it is just me, but I love Pitt football…I don’t care where they are playing or who they are playing, I get excited to watch.  I know…I love punishment.  So….WHY ON EARTH WOULD I NOT WANT THEM IN A BOWL GAME!?!?!  Selfishly I want them to back into the Pinstripe Bowl and not really because of a possible match up with WVU, but more because I just need to hop a couple of trains and I can be in attendance!  Unfortunately, I believe they will end up in Birmingham again…again, I don’t care…I just want more Pitt football, so I’ll be pulling hard on Saturday night, while the wife is less than pleased with a romantic evening of Pitt football!