Where to turn?

I will be completely honest here. When I first hear of CatBasket friend E.J. Borghetti announcing that Mo Williams had some academic issues, I did not think it was serious enough to have him miss an entire season. Usually when you hear of some academic issues, a couple of summer courses can fix that problem right away. The NCAA rules state that a player must complete 12 credits per year (6 a semester) and meet specific GPA's (1.8 for freshmen I believe). For those of you who never attended Pitt, the University requires a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or else you will be placed on academic probation. Jason Jones and I usually joke that if Pitt really wants you, they will find a way to make you eligible. Unfortunately this will not be the case for Mo Williams. I'm sure you are all tired of reading about rules and regulations, so here are some of my OPINIONS of how this will impact the team.

Firstly, we are lucky to be deep at WR. Kinder, Turner, Porter, McGee, Wright and Jonathan Baldwin are all capable players. I was really hoping that Kinder/Williams would be the starting wr's as I feel that Turner lacks concentration and isn't the most motivated of receivers. Despite my feelings on that, Turner has shown that when the effort is there, he can be an effective player. I believe that Oderick is the type of player that needs some type of inspiration to get the full potential from him. His freshman year he had to earn his playing time and he did well. Last year after the Kinder injury, I believe that he felt his job was safe and he did not try as hard as he did before. I am also aware that being the #1 receiver on the team meant he had to face the opponents #1 cornerback, but when you have responsibility like he had last year, you need to show up.

Since Williams is now in this situation I think this will also teach him a valuable lesson that just because you have earned a scholarship does not mean that you are untouchable. I think it would be easy for a college freshman to get wrapped up in the hype of the college sports experience and let it go to his or her head that academics are second. After a good freshman year, Pitt women's player Jania Sims missed time due to academic issues. Hopefully he can continue taking courses this summer and use the fall and spring to boost the GPA. I also hope that Wanny uses this to motivate the players and let them know that performance on and off the field counts. As much as we love our football team, Pitt is an outstanding academic institution. Just having a degree from here is more valuable than 95% of all other colleges.

Having this redshirt year will also help Mo improve. It will give him an extra year to develop, an extra year in the system, and an extra year to improve his rapport with the quarterbacks of the future Pat Bostick and Tino Sunseri. I don't think anyone expect Mo to be a guy who left early, and now he can use his last 3 years to earn a spot next to Jonathan Baldwin and hopefully make up the most dangerous WR duo in the Big East.

Jonathan Baldwin. The biggest outcome of this whole debacle may just be that Jonathan Baldwin can raise himself up from what I felt would have been a redshirt season into a significant contributor. Lets face it folks, Wanny does not play freshmen unless he HAS to. Bostick, Joe Thomas, and Shady all saw their playing time because of issues at their respective positions. I do not believe for one second that despite his amazing talent, that Baldwin would have ever gotten above 5th on the overall WR depth chart. With Kinder's post-injury ability unknown, Turner's struggles last season, and not knowing McGee and Wright's true ability, Jonathan Baldwin could force himself into the game based upon his amazing potential alone.

This is a big loss for Pitt, don't look at it any other way. Before you get too down about it though just remember that while it does hurt that we are losing him, Pitt is doing the right thing. We're not going to make exceptions, we're not bending the rules, we have and will continue to run a respectable program and one that we should all feel proud to be associated with.

Mo, I can't wait to see you on the field in 2009, but take this year and get everything set straight.

Game Planning

Before I start, I just want to remind everyone that with Fanfest being completed, basketball season is among us so don't forget to check out the Zoo's website to see some good stuff from Jason Jones and the other Zoo writer Keith McBride at the Zoo's Official website.

Now on to Louisville. The one thing we have learned in the Big East this season is that everyone is beatable. The main point being lowly Syracuse upsetting the Fighting Brian Brohm's a few weeks ago. So before I write my preview for the game, I think it's worth mentioning here how important game planning is. One thing we have always from the coaches, especially after we were blown out this year was how the coaches felt that we created very good game plans. I don't really buy that in the regards to Uconn and UVA, but we did seem to know what we were doing against Cincy. One problem with this though, is that every game plan looks good on paper. It's kind of like preparing for a draft. You can scout and practice mock drafts all night long, but you never know exactly what will happen until the unfolds before your eyes. That is why you have to go with what you feel is your best game plan, but also remember that being flexible and allowing for adaptation is the only way to give yourself the best shot.

It would be easy for everyone to say, "just do what Syracuse did and we will win", but that is not the case. I believe that despite a few losses this season, the Louisville coaches will adapt their schemes to hide any apparent weaknesses. So while we must concentrate on how to exploit those weaknesses, we also need to prepare to hide ours. Our defense is coming off a great 2nd half against Cincy, but Louisville's offense is one of the best in the Big East. Our offense is finding a niche with a great balance between Shady, Hot Rod, and Bostick with the passing game. Louisville's defense is very susceptible, so we need to be ready to exploit it whenever possible.

Don't be surprised if a Navy situation breaks out where its two teams going blow for blow down to the very end. I do think that if we continue to bring pressure and the DLine decides to be the best in the Big East for another week, then we stand a good chance of winning. But like I said, it all starts with the game plan.

~ The One and Only ~

Clash of the Claws

Bearcat vs. Panther.......6-1 vs. 2-4. Dynamic offense vs. the worst coached defense ever.

Welcome to our 3 hour farewell tour of the River City Rivalry trophy. I really don't care much about losing the trophy, it's pretty ugly. I'm more upset losing to a team that we should be well ahead of at this point in terms of team development. Anyways, here's our game 7 preview!

So Cincy brings in first year head coach Brian Kelly. No, not former SGB president Brian Kelly, but a Brian Kelly who knows how to coach. Cincy hired an up and coming coach who started to turn their team around, but was snatched up by MSU last season. Brian Kelly, another up and coming coach took over and the team has stayed right on track. Cincy hasn't had great recruiting classes, but has turned this team around by playing to its strengths. You know, something that good coaches do. Here's a surprise, Cincy helps create turnovers by PRESSURING THE QUARTERBACK! They do it with different blitz schemes too....... You know, as I write this, I'm thinking I may just start taping Cincy games for the rest of the season and make a defensive highlight package and send it down to the Southside complex to show some coaches how to play defense with or without talent. Enough of this rant, lets move on.

Cincy runs a very dangerous spread offense. If you think we'll be ok stopping their run, think again. Cincy has a mobile qb who can run the ball, and as a team, Cincy is averaging more yardage rushing per game than we are. The Bearcat's QB Ben Mauk is also a huge threat through the air playing in that spread offense. Their leading WR has 8 touchdowns, thats 1 less than Panther RB Lesean McCoy.

Cincy's defense is 2nd in NCAA in interceptions. Their defense always finds ways to cause turnovers, especially against inferior opponents. Cincy has a very good run defense which has only given up one 100 yard rushing performance this season. Hopefully saturday at 4 we make it 2. Last week Louisville exposed the Cincy defense picking apart the secondary. I think that Bostick can help open up this game with some short passes to start off with which should no only open the running game, but hopefully cause the DB's to press which would open up the deep vertical attack. Turner and Pestano must be on top of their game for us to have a slight chance. I'm just afraid that facing a good defense this week, the injury plagued, inferior offensive line will crumble and that may just seal our fate for this game.

My predictions for this week is that Bostick will have about 50 passing attempts only because we will fall behind early. Pat needs to get rid of the ball fast and dance in the pocket because he will not have much time back there. We need to watch out for turnovers. We will have at least 2 turnovers on interceptions, which will be due to pressure on the quarterback.

Our defense will prevent the Benton/Moore RB combo from joining the Paul Rhoads still running club. However, Paul "hit the" Rhoads will refuse to blitz and since our secondary plays a zone and most of the DB's have decided to refuse to play this season, Mauk is going to light us up. Maybe with Wanny up in the booth he will see how ridiculous our defense looks to the rest of us and will make a LONG OVER DUE CHANGE!

So look forward to some history being made this saturday. 1921 was the year the Jack Rabbit was introduced to Kennywood, it was the year my Great grandmother was born, and it was also the year we started our winning streak against Cincy. And after this weekend, we'll still be able to say we have the Jack Rabbit and Kennywood.

Cincy 45 - Pitt 28

DPJ's Rant

Ok, let me say this. 2 years ago, when i heard that Wanny removed his name from consideration I was very very happy. I felt that he was a poor nfl coach and would not be a good fit for the team. After a while, I started to buy into his "wall around PA" and "winning a championship".....Well after this game, we have the talent to be a successful team. What we do not have is the coaching staff to win. I am going to say this right now. Cavanaugh and Rhodes need to be fired right now. It wouldn't make a difference to move someone up or let Mustache Jones coach both sides of the ball.

Matt Cavanaugh - your shitty NFL style offense won't work here. The only reason you won a superbowl with Baltimore was because you had the best defense in the league (special thanks to Jermaine Lewis). You have been incompetent at your job since you were hired here. You can be a great quarterbacks coach, but offensive coordinator is not your specialty. You either need to be fired or step down. You helped Tyler become an NFL qb, but you did not help our offense. You are by far the worst offensive coordinator in the big east. The coaches I know say that you want to go back to the NFL game, well sir.... I say, have a good rest of your career in the nfl. You are not fit for the offensive coordinator job. Thank you for the national championship and for your loyalty to Pitt, but this is not a fit that is working here. It is time to move on with your life's work.

Paul Rhodes - Today, Wanny put you in a tough spot making you stop the very short drives for touchdowns. The defense has been looking better this year than it has in the past, but you need to be fired. Wannstedt won't let himself go down in flames, so you and Matt will be gone following this season. Your inability to design blitz plays has cost this team many games and has prevented us from stopping our opponents on 3rd down plays. You could have had the easiest job in the world. All you had to do was knock on the door of Dick LeBeau and ask him how to get the most of the defense, yet you did not do that. You had an opportunity to leave in 2002 and guess what buddy, you should have taken it. I understand how hard it is to coach Hayes, Harriott, Moore, Spencer, and Torrie Cox but hey you stayed loyal to Pitt and we have since regretted it. You are wasting so much talent on the defensive side of the ball. On 3rd downs we are only rushing 3 guys and letting the opposing quarterback rush for 30 yards. We are probably the worst 3rd down team in the entire NCAA on defense. I hope you are fired and find a nice new job somewhere else. I hope your replacement understands that in order to be successful you have to BLITZ AT LEAST ONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Coach Wannstedt, you will have the best team on paper in 2008, and you will have to bring in a new offensive and defensive coordinator to save your ass. If you keep Cavanaugh I hope you are fired on spot. If you want my advice, steal the coach staff from TCU. They are able to do much with very little talent. Don't be so stubborn. The college game is very different from the nfl.

I still think we are a better team than how we are performing, but I know that it is only the coaching that is holding us back.

My last rant is that, LET BOSTICK THROW THE FUCKING BALL!!

I think we had about 3 attempts in the first half. All night they were mostly screens. The one time you did let him throw deep he hit Turner near the goal line. Bostick is the best quarterback you have ever had in your head coaching career Wannstedt, let him play the way he knows how.

I'm gonna sit here with Jason Jones and come up with ways to improve this team while watching some music on demand and call my hoopie girlfriend.

Fix your shit Wannstedt, I mean really, it's only your Million Dollar+ job that is on the line.

~ The One and Only ~

Pointing the finger

Well, I promised Jason Jones, myself, and the Cat Basket faithful that I will not post directly after a loss to ensure that I don't come off too angry. This also gives some time to collect my thoughts. So here's what I think after a great weekend.

First off, Michigan State has the nicest fans in the nation. They were very courteous, they treated us with respect, and I can only hope that one day Pitt fans can become more like Spartan Fans. Also, thanks to the MSU Kappa Sig fraternity for letting us hang out with you friday night.

I will write more about the game tomorrow, but I feel certain things should be mentioned right now. Pitt should have won Saturday's game, but specific mistakes and players prevented that from happening. Pitt had control of the game and should have been able to put more points on the board, but here is what stopped us.

Kevan Smith. All he needed to do was let the running game carry him and make a few passes to sustain drives. Instead he under-threw and over-threw passes to the intended receivers. His over-throw on the screen pass led to a pick 6. Without that over throw, Pitt wins the game. We did not convert any 3rd downs. When you can't move the chains, you don't win games. Smith was so bad that we had to let Shady take snaps in order to get the offense going. I will give credit to smith on one play. He had Oderick Turner wide open and got the ball to him in the end zone however,

Oderick Turner - The big drop in the endzone killed us. If he catches that ball, we would have won the game. I understand that he isn't Bryant, Lee, Fitzgerald, or Kinder but that ball needed to be caught. Don't worry though Oderick, you weren't the only receiver who messed up.

TJ Porter - ..........Momentum gone....... We have MSU stopped on 4th and short and then one play later a fumble kills us. We may not have scored on that drive but needing a field goal instead of a touchdown is huge. On our last drive we were very close to being in field goal range but we needed 6, not 3. Turnovers killed us this game and that fumble pretty much took away our momentum and any chance for a comeback.

Chris Vangas - I was at the game so I didn't see if you actually grabbed the facemask. BUT, you're an offensive lineman. Your hands should not be near the helmet at any time. When you're learning how to block you get low and hit the chest. That 15 yard penalty ended any chance we had for a TD. That TD would have been able to tie the game.

Mike Phillips - Please hold on to that interception. We needed that and I believe it would have turned the tables.



Basically what we have figured out is that Shady is incredible, Jason Pinkston is much more valuable than McGlynn at tackle, the DLine is playing solid. We also learned that WE NEED STULL BACK NOW! If we can't have Stull and you are so against playing Bostick, why not put Mo Williams in there? That wildcat option would be much more efficient with Williams in there instead of Smith. Guess what? Mo can throw too. How can a team defend against that? They can't!

I really hope we see someone new under center. I hope Pinkston is ok. I hope that the receivers show up for the next game.

Pep rally and bonfire

So this is the first pep rally we have had since Wanny's first year. Being a 7th year student and this being my 6th rally, it's nice to see that nothing has changed. The cheerleaders lead everyone through the quad, we all wait for the band to show up, the band comes and plays for an hour, then the team comes. But right before the team comes out, the most exciting 15 minutes of the school year happens. 37 people who we don't give a (bad word) about come and give speeches (poorly). There is nothing I like seeing more than supposed "Campus leaders" who never even go to football games get up on stage and tell us we should be better fans. I think there were actually 7 student speakers, who all gave very poor speeches. Props to the guy from the greeks who didn't prepare anything and froze like a deer in headlights. Of everyone who spoke tonight, the only ones who were actually involved with Pitt athletics were Wanny and our 2 star defensive seniors Kennard Cox (who should never be able to speak publicly again) and Scott McKillop, who is crazier than I expected him to be.

Listen "leaders" we appreciate everything you pretend you do for us but I don't want to hear you say, "Yeah, this 1-11 EMU team is tough, we can't over look them". Listen, just get up there say go Pitt and stop wasting my time. Pitt Program Council, you suck, get over yourself, I hope Tom Miseraca gets fired.

On the important side I can give you some important observations. Here they are listed numerically.

1. Don't ever mess with Conredge Collins, he will kill you........seriously.
2. Aaron Berry screaming into the mic "where the hoes at?" was the highlight of the night.
3. Our secondary is the scariest group of players at Pitt.
4. Where was Pat Bostick. We saw Billy Stull looking like he needs to shave, but no Cat Basket.
5. Gus Mustakas looks like Ba Ba Booey.
6. Fire that guy from ESPN radio and bring back Andrew Stockey.
7. To the dance team and Cheerleaders......thanks for never changing, except you P10 (a.k.a. P9.5).

Thats all I got for now. JJones, keep the position break downs coming. We'll see you on Saturday.