Pitt 37, Syracuse 10 - Good, Bad and Ugly

Welcome back folks to the Pitt football blog -- I missed last week of blogging because I was battling a very nasty flu bug (if you notice, I wrote very little for the paper as well). But now we're back, healthy (almost) and ready for the stretch run of three good games.

The next three will certainly define this season but as I wrote this morning's paper - none of the three games remaiming look nearly as tough as they did a few weeks ago. That doesn't they will be easy or that Pitt can show up and win but  please raise your hand if you think Notre Dame or West Virginia look as formidable as they once did and the same can be said about Cincinnati, which gave up a lot of points to Connecticut this past Saturday.

But we will spend plenty of time looking ahead in coming days, as for right now it is time to look back at the Syracuse game, which, in the grand scheme of things the only outcome that mattered was the Pitt won. It didn't have to be pretty, it didn't have to be by a lot of points, just win the game and get on with the season and that's what the Panthers did.

THE GOOD

** Pitt won. Yes, I know, Syracuse is awful and beating them is no accomplishment. But beating them was all Pitt had to do and they not only did it, they did it going away. Pitt needed that win to keep its Big East title hopes alive. And sometimes (see USC-Washington, Oregon-Stanford, Notre Dame-Navy) the games you are supposed to win easily are the games that give you fits - particularly when you are looking ahead to the stretch run the Panthers are facing.

** Frank Cignetti. Yeah, I know players make plays but Cignetti did a great job of putting together a game plan that took advantage of the things that the Orange do well on defense. The reverses created some big plays in the running game, the short passes opened some things for the running game and the shots down the field forced Syracuse to think twice before loading up the box. Cignetti each week has come up with little wrinkles to get the ball to guys like Dorin Dickerson and it has really paid off for the offense.

** Dorin Dickerson. While we are on the subject, I think you'd have to think long and hard to come up with a player who has gone from three years of almost complete non-factor to one of the best players in the nation at his position during his senior year. He did a great job Saturday with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown. Dickerson has become a major factor in every game because he is such a matchup nightmare for most teams to try and stop.

** Dion Lewis. I often go back to something my old boss Jan Hubbard - probably the best writer I've ever known or read -- once wrote about Michael Jordan when people ask me about Lewis --- "How many different ways can you write the guy is great" -- and that's about where I am. Lewis, a true freshman by the way, could be on this list every single week and he had another 100 yard game against the Orange. He is really an old school running back, too, as he starts off slow but gets stronger and tougher to tackle as the game wears on and he starts to get rolling.

** The Line Play. Pitt's defensive line started the season slow but has gotten warmed up and has really played well in recent weeks. Against Syracuse, the line was responsible for five of the team's six sacks and had seven tackles for loss. Greg Romeus also made a ridiculsously athletic play to intercept a pass and it seems like the future is in great hands with Brandon Lindsey (two sacks), Chaz Alecxih (two sacks) and Myles Caragien. And the offensive line allowed a sack - the reason that is significant is because it has been so rare. But against a defense designed to stop the run, the offensive line still opened up enough holes to allow the Panthers to rush for 247 yards. I've said it before but I'll write it one more time for the cheap seats - I've covered the team since 2002 and this is the best offensive and defensive lines Pitt has had since then. These two units probably don't get enough credit for the team's success but winning in the trenches every week is the way to win every week.

** Dan Hutchins - You generally don't give a kicker kudos for making only three of four - but the one he missed was 47 yards and at Heinz Field that is a very difficult kick. But he has developed into a really reliable kicker and his two in the first half were the difference between the Panthers winning and losing until late when Greg Williams made the interception that changed the game.

** Greg Paulus - Bear with me on this one. Yes, I get it - he is not a very good quarterback. And he was always that annoying guy on Duke's team we all rooted against in a past life. But here is the thing - what this kid has done is pretty special. To play four years of college basketball at the highest level and be a starter for a lot of your career, then come back to football and win a starting quarterback job at a Division I school is unbelievable these days, particularly for a guy who is not blessed with freakish size or athletic ability. I mean, he's clearly a good athlete and he really has a grasp of what it is coaches want him to do. He's been remarkably effective in some ways given a four-year hiatus from the sport. It is one of the best stories in college athletics this year.

The Bad

** Someone in the press box made the comment that maybe the Panthers need to look to graduates of a high school other than Gateway to find a punt returner. It was a funny line and meant to draw some chuckles, which it did, but really what Aaron Smith and Cameron Saddler did catching - or failing to catch -- punts Saturday was a little bit scary. I mean, perhaps the sun was in their eyes but those kinds of mishaps cannot happen the next three games if the Panthers are going to win. Both Smith and Saddler are good players and both will be back getting a shot to return punts again Saturday but the hope is they do better.

** Kevin Harper was supposed to be the "long" field goal kicker. But his effort on that 51-yarder was suspect as it was not only wide right, it was short. This was a guy who was recruited as one of the top kickers in the country and he does have a strong leg but he needs to start showing that he can handle the kicking duties and give the Panthers another weapon.

** First-half game plan. With all due respect, the Panthers played scared in the first half and it seemed like they were ultra-conservative. A great example was the first series. Pitt drove all the way down to the 11 and had first-and-10. Dion Lewis runs for 9 yards on first down to set up a second-and-1 from the 2. On second down, Lewis got stopped. But instead of running Lewis or Henry Hynoski again, it is a waggle pass and fails miserably? Then on fourth down, Pitt kicks the field goal. It was a win for Syracuse. Pitt should run the ball on third and fourth down in those situations and pick up the two yards that way. But it was clear with the third down call that the decision had already been made that Pitt was settling for a field goal if it didn't get the first down. Then right before the second field goal of the game - Pitt had a third-and-7 at the 28 and ran Ray Graham on the draw for no yards. Once again, the message was loud and clear "make sure we get the three and get the lead". That's self-defeating thinking. Frankly, it would have been interesting to see how things would have played out had Syracuse tied the game before the half instead of Greg Williams interception, which clearly helped the Panthers exhale a little bit. I understand not wanting to make a mistake to lose the game but a mistake is made when you allow the other team to hang around by not being more aggressive. Pitt is way too good on offense to be as conservative as it was in the first half.

The Ugly

** The clock management was a little interesting right before the half. On second-and-1 from the Syracuse 45, Dorin Dickerson catches a pass with about 25 seconds left and gets six yards. Pitt has one time-out left and uses it......why? The clock stops on a first down and Pitt had plenty of time to get up to the line and run a play. Then, the Panthers, with nine seconds left, decide to kick on third down - the 51-yarder by Harper - instead of taking one more shot to the sidelines to get a few yards closer. Nine seconds is an eternity. And if Pitt hadn't wasted its time-out, it could have even thrown one down the middle and then stopped the clock. It is a little thing, but it is the kind of thing in big games that can be the difference between winning and losing.

** Of all the bad marketing/game day atmosphere ideas I've seen over the years - and believe me there have been a lot of bad ones -- this "Lil Jovi" thing that the people at Heinz Field seem to be trying to get started is the absolute worst.

For one thing - it is a rip-off of what Rutgers does and a very bad imitation of it, by the way. Perhaps the funniest thing is -- the fans, outside of a few, haven't yet figured out that when the little kid is on the Jumbotron playing air guitar (during the song Living on a Prayer) everyone is supposed to cheer. Then the camera goes somewhere else and everyone is supposed to boo - so as to say "no, no, please put the kid back up" and then they put the kid back and everyone cheers again and on and on. It was mildly charming when it was done at Rutgers and the kid was somewhat good at it because he clearly had rehearsed and knew the words to the song. After about two games of that, however, it would certainly become stale and somewhat annoying.

But at least Bon Jovi is from New Jersey and all of that stuff. The kid at Heinz Field has no idea what the words to the song are and frankly, if you must do this at least pick a song from Poison - you know, with lead singer Brett Michaels from Butler -- or Donny Iris,, or the Clarks, or someone else with some ties to Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania. Actually on second thought, scratch that, just refrain from this whole thing because it is silly and like I said, a bad imitation of something which was started at Rutgers.....