Todd Graham bails on Pitt, named ASU head coach.

Todd Graham is the luckiest man on Earth. 

Less than one year after realizing his dream of being the head coach at "one of the finest programs in the country" he has achieved another dream by becoming the head coach at Arizona State University.

Please note the sarcasm.

He promised the fans of Pittsburgh that he'd build a championship program, but the only thing he managed to do in his one and only year was completely fail on all levels as a head coach.

Throw your quarterback under the bus?  Check.
Fail to adapt your system to fit the talent you have?  Check.
Manage to blow several late leads, including a three TD lead on the road in Iowa?  Check.
Fail to win a weak Big East conference?  Check.
Leave town like a damn coward without even facing your now former players?  Check.

That's right, the man of high moral values, who wanted his players to do the right thing, sent a text message to an assistant coach to be redistributed to the players.  He didn't even have the balls to face the players face to face.

It's not like Graham hasn't done this before.  Days after receiving a contract extension and pay raise from Rice, he bolted for Conference USA rival Tulsa.  He only coached Rice for one year.  He learned from the best.  He was an assistant for another backstabbing traitor, Rich Rodriguez in 2001 and 2002.  RichRod bailed on WVU to become the head coach at Michigan. 

I want to know how much it'll cost PAT Transit to repaint all the buses with this snake oil salesman's face on it. 

If you're ASU, how could you even take this guy seriously as a candidate?  Barely went .500 in a completely weak Big East Conference.  Willing to bail on you after less than one season.  That's right.  this scumbag won't even coach Pitt in the Compass Bowl. 

I found this quote from ASU president Dr. Michael Crow to be rather amusing.  "What we sought in a football coach was someone who would be in it for the long term at Arizona State, who would build and guide a program that would be competitive in the PAC-12 and on a national level year after year after year, who would communicate and connect with the community, and represent our University with honor. In Todd Graham we have that person,"

If one year is your idea of long term, something is wrong with your head. 

What exactly has Graham done to make him a worthy hire in the first place?  5 years in Conference USA and he could never win that league.  One year in the Big East and he couldn't win that either, even WITH all the teams tyring their hardest to lose it.

Graham was supposed to be out on the recruiting trail bringing in players for Pitt but at the same time he was plotting his departure from the school.  Backup Trey Anderson said it well.  "I go take a nap and wake up to find out my head coach is gone."

Quite the vanishing act, but I'm sure now that he's found his dream job at ASU, he'll settle in for the long haul. 

So what happens now?  Pitt has had Dave Wannstadt, Phil Bennett (interim coach for last year's BBVA Compass Bowl), Mike Haywood, Todd Graham, and now interim head coach Keith Patterson who will lead the squad into THIS year's BBVA Compass Bowl.  That's technically five head coaches in the last 12 months. 

What kind of message does that send to recruits?  Chris Peak from Panther Lair has reported some Pitt recruits remain committed, including quarterback Chad Voytik.   Even still, Pitt fans have to be nervous until letter of intent day arrives and these guys officially sign the dotted line.

Who does Pitt hire at this point to coach the team?  You need to find a guy that truly is committed to the long term, regardless of whether the guy has previous head coaching experience or not.  Ideally you find a guy who has ties to the local area and won't go bolting for the next BCS job to open up. 

Before such a decision is made, you need to look at why Pitt is in this situation to begin with.  Maybe if Steve Pederson made better choices than Mike Haywood and Todd Graham, Pitt would not be looking once again for a head coach so soon. 

How does Pederson survive as athletic director in the face of this?  He made these hires and their failures on so many levels have brought a lot of shame to the Pitt program.  Pederson needs to be fired.

I may be anything but a Pitt fan, but their fans deserve so much better than this.

Life isn't always fair

There's an old saying, "Life is not fair." 

People work hard their entire lives chasing their dreams, and many fall short.  You can have all the talent in the world, and still never get that big break. 

Sometimes it's the other way around.  Pitt's star running back Ray Graham suffered a season-ending knee injury in Wednesday night's 35-20 victory over Connecticut.  You knew it was bad when he began reaching for his knee before the play was whistled dead.

The silence from the Heinz Field crowd was immediate.  This wasn't just any player lying on the ground, this was the nation's 2nd leading rusher.  The heart and soul of the Panthers.

Graham had to be helped off the field, and as he exited the playing area, tears streamed down his face.  It's a hard thing to be so close to your dreams of playing in the NFL only to see them become uncertain in a heartbeat.

He was putting up historical stats this year, and you had to wonder just how good he could be.  Then in an instant that all changed.

I felt for the guy.  You never want to see this happen in sports.  Sometimes we focus too much on the highlights, and moments like this are too easily forgotten.

There's nothing anyone could have done differently on the play, Graham just went airborne and landed awkwardly.  A cruel twist of fate. 

Now the Panthers must forge ahead without their superstar.  Zach Brown, the Wisconsin transfer, and quarterback Tino Sunseri must reforge the offense into their own mold. 

What about Graham?  His NFL hopes have to go on hold for a while, and perhaps he will return for another season at Pitt.  There will be a lot of questions about his knee as he tries to move up to the next level.  This might even cost him millions of dollars in contract money, but right now I don't think that's the first thing on his mind.

Knowing Graham and the competitor he is, I would imagine he's already mapping out his rehab schedule so he gets back into top shape as soon as possible.

He has a drive most other college kids can only dream about.  It gives him almost an unfair edge.  Pitt fans should be honored he plays for their team.  

Even as a fan of another team, I still respected the talent Ray Graham had.  He was dynamic and exciting to watch, and it's a shame I won't get to see him play again this year. 

Like they say...Life isn't fair.

The Misery Continues For Pitt

The 2011 football season continues to spiral out of control for the Pitt Panthers, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of them slowing down their descent.

If the recap of losses is starting to sound like a broken record, I apologize.  The string of awful quarterback play continued for Pitt.  Starter Tino Sunseri completed 4 of 11 passes for 38 yards.  No TD's, no picks, no production whatsoever. 

He was benched in favor of Trey Anderson who completed 5 of 19 passes for 12 yards and two picks.  Let me just pause for a second and repeat that number.  12 yards and two picks.  With the yardage on his pick-six, he actually went backwards on the day. 

You would think the Panther coaching staff might have picked up on the fact that trying to throw the ball on a gusty fall day in Pittsburgh was an awful idea, especially with inaccurate quarterbacks.  I mean you only have the nation's leading runner on your team, yet you only give him the rock 12 times in the game.

People always are quick to yell at us armchair quarterbacks who don't play the game.  I mean what do we really know about football right?  It doesn't take much common sense to realize if your quarterbacks have sucked all season long in good passing conditions, they probably aren't going to magically improve in harder passing conditions.

Go with your strengths, go with Ray Graham.  Pitt didn't, because I guess Todd Graham wants to prove he's a genius or something.  He isn't.

I can't wait to hear him throw more of his players under the bus this week.  This has gone far beyond a talent issue.  We all know Pitt is weak at the crucial quarterback position.  The wide receivers aren't exactly noteworthy either.  Even more reason to ride your prized horse to victory, which Pitt didn't do.

This is now a coaching problem.  If Todd Graham had swallowed his pride and ran out the clock against Iowa, Pitt wouldn't have blown a 21 point lead.  Maybe the season takes on a whole different tone. 

The offense was supposed to carry this team.  If the offense was even "average" at this point Pitt would probably be 6-1.  It's a disgrace.

Pitt fans deserve better than this.  They've patiently waited through disappointing season after disappointing season.  Many of them, as well as outsiders like me, bought into the hype that this coach was something special, and would electrify the city.  We invested our hard earned time in fool's gold.

There will be people that still hold out hope that Pitt will somehow turn this around and win the Big East title.  Mark it down now, it's not happening.

Not only is this team a losing team, they are unwatchable.  If they at least lived up to the preseason hype and were losing some high scoring shootouts, then at least you'd be getting your money's worth.

I wondered at the beginning of the year why no local affiliates picked up the coverage of these games.  Maybe it's now all too obvious why Pitt is relegated to ESPN-3 and ESPN-U with women calling their games and mispronouncing their names.  No one is watching anyways.

It's sad to see how far this once proud football program has fallen.  Good programs don't lose homecoming games to the Utah Utes.  Worst of all, there's no end in sight. 

Anyone wishing Dave Wannstadt was back?

Back To Reality Pitt Fans

Back to reality Pitt fans...

As usual, it's very hard to gauge this Pitt football team.  One week you win 44-17, then you get blown out against Rutgers.  It's not like Rutgers did much offensively in this game either, that's the sad part.

Rutgers and Pitt were a combined 5 for 29 on third down.  The game seemed to stretch on forever.  I thought the Notre Dame game was awful, but this one seemed worse.

Tino Sunseri had another awful day, finishing 14 of 28 (50%) for 127 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions.  

Ray Graham came to play as always, the only bright spot for Pitt on the day.  His final stat line was 165 rushing yards and a touchdown, plus he had two catches for 19 yards. 

The defining drive for me was the one where Pitt converted third and long three straight times only to see each conversion wiped out by penalty.  Two straight offensive pass interference calls against Drew Carswell followed by an illegal forward pass against Tino Sunseri. 

Pitt got flagged for having two players with the same number on the field at one point.  That one made me laugh.  I'll never understand why there isn't a rule forcing teams to only have one player per number.  Of course this is the same league that wiped out a touchdown by LSU because of "taunting" (What a joke...).

Kevin Harper missed another field goal and had a kickoff go out of bounds following the numbers penalty,  Field position was a major issue for Pitt in this one.

I guess it's back to the drawing board for Pitt.  Still way too inconsistent on both sides of the ball.  It's possible that last week was about as good as it gets for Tino Sunseri. 

Pitt is back at home next week to try and avenge last year's loss to Utah.  Game time is at 12:00 PM EST.

PS:  ESPNU really needs to teach their announcers to learn how to pronounce names.  Pam Ward was awful on play by play, and it was compounded by the fact she didn't even bother to learn how to pronounce Sunseri.  That's the cardinal rule of announcing.  LEARN THE ROSTER!!!

Time for a Clean Slate

What's done is done.  The Pittsburgh Panthers started off the year a shaky 2-0 and have blown two straight fourth quarter leads to Iowa (21 points) and Notre Dame.  Substandard quarterback play from Tino Sunseri, shake secondary play except for the Notre Dame game, and all around sloppiness leaves Pitt at a crossroads.
This week's game is a new beginning though.  Throw the national championship out the window, Pitt was never going to compete for that anyways.  Still at stake, however, is the Big East title. 

A win this week over the undefeated South Florida Bulls would go a long way towards building some confidence for the Panthers.  Maybe they are just slow learners and this is the week they finally grasp Todd Graham's system completely.

They'll have the chance to show how well they can handle the dual passing and running threat of B.J. Daniels.  South Florida is averaging 45.5 points per game.  Pitt hasn't even scored that in the last two games combined, nor have they even crossed the 40 point plateau yet this season.

None of that matters though.  What matters is this week, this game.  It's a Thursday night game, and those have traditionally been bad luck for any ranked teams involved. 

The numbers are overwhelmingly against Pitt, and based on what I've seen from this football team, there's no possible way they win this game right?  That's what most experts said before the 2007 Backyard Brawl in which Pitt destroyed WVU's shot at the national championship .

Look back at the stats from that game.  Pitt's winning quarterback Pat Bostick, now the radio color analyst for the team, threw for 67 yards and two interceptions.  67 yards!  WVU went into that game as a four touchdown favorite, and yet Pitt found a way to win it. 

Three WVU fumbles and an injury to star quarterback Pat White certainly hurt WVU, but you have to give credit to Pitt for believing they could win.

That's the whole point of this article, Pitt needs to start believing again.  You can tell the Iowa debacle rattled their confidence, and the ugliness we saw against Notre Dame probably didn't help either. 

Wipe it clean though because that was essentially the exhibition season.  Now is when Big East play begins, and now is when you need to start playing your best football.

Could something magical happen again for the Pitt Panthers?  While I wouldn't bet on it, it certainly wouldn't be the most shocking upset Pitt has ever pulled off. 

Don't get me wrong, I still think the Big East will come down to either West Virginia or South Florida.  Pitt has a chance to prove a lot of doubters wrong, including me, and I'm curious to see if they can.

Awful football game today at Heinz Field

Notre Dame and Pittsburgh squared off today at Heinz Field and I have to say it looked like neither team wanted to win this game.

Notre Dame (2-2) quarterback Tommy Rees continued his turnover happy season by fumbling the ball deep in Pitt territory, and then later throwing an interception in the red zone.  Notre Dame was penalized eight times for 85 yards, and most of those penalties came on huge plays by the Notre Dame offense. 

One was a roughing the kicker penalty on 4th and 20 after the Fighting Irish had stopped Pitt deep in their zone.  Pitt (2-2) would go on to score their lone touchdown of the game on that drive.

Pitt's offensive line was pretty offensive in this one, allowing five sacks against Tino Sunseri, but Lucas Nix was even more offensive, being called for FOUR false starts.  You have to be more focused than that by the fourth game of the season.

Tino Sunseri as usual was not very successful throwing the ball downfield, but this time his two best deep throws of the game were both dropped by Mike Shanahan and Devin Street respectively.  Street's drop would have given Pitt the ball with a 12-7 lead deep in Notre Dame territory.

Sunseri's biggest mistakes were not getting rid of the ball quickly and taking two sacks on the critical final drive of the game. 

At least the secondary played a little bit better after being torched for over 300 yards in back to back games by Maine (yes Maine....) and Iowa.  Again though, Pitt couldn't seal the deal in the fourth quarter with the game on the line and now they have to prepare for South Florida on a short week. 

South Florida beat Notre Dame earlier in the year, so Pitt is going to have to figure out some magic if they hope to open Big East play with a win.

Thoughts about Pitt's move to the ACC

I know it's been a few days since the major announcement that Pitt and Syracuse were bolting the Big East conference and will move to the ACC.

A lot of pundits are saying this could be the spark that sets off a lot of realignment in college football.  I hope this is true.

My biggest hope in all of this is that several super conferences are formed and we'll finally get rid of the godforsaken BCS setup and move to a playoff system.

Football wise, this move is huge for Pitt.  You add Virginia Tech, Miami, Florida State, all of whom are usually national players on a yearly basis.  Of course time will tell how bad Miami will be penalized for their recruiting shenanigans. 

Sorry but the prospect of facing teams like Rutgers, Louisville, Cincinatti, and South Florida don't exactly scream "Must See" TV.  Oh wait, you don't get many Pitt games on TV around here.  That's another added benefit to this move as the ACC has a contract with ESPN to televise their games. 

More exposure, tougher competition, it all adds up to move revenue for Pitt. 

Basketball wise you could have argued it was a slight step down, except Syracuse is coming along and UConn is also rumored to be a potential member in the new ACC as well.  Take those three schools from the Big East and the balance of power will clearly be to the ACC now in college basketball.

You add nationally important games against Duke, North Carolina, and Maryland which also strongly boosts the national image of Pitt basketball. 

Pitt was smart to jump at this chance when it was there.  Look at WVU's predicament.  Both the ACC and SEC conferences rejected them.  Talk about a slap to the face!

The only question that remains for the ACC is who the next two teams might be that get them to 16 teams.  I already mentioned UConn, but another article I read mentioned Penn State and Notre Dame. 

While I doubt Penn State would leave the Big Ten, it would honor Joe Paterno's vision of an Eastern Conference from decades ago.  I think from a football perspective it would make sense for Penn State, even if they would get crushed in basketball in the ACC.

Notre Dame also needs to get with the program.  The days of being able to remain independent are over.   Pick a conference and get on board if you want to continue chasing the national championship. 

Wrapping up though, Pitt made the right choice, even if it angered the remaining Big East schools.  The Big East sealed its fate when it chose to cater to the basketball only schools and ignore the wishes of the football schools to keep the conference BCS worthy.  

You can't blame Pitt and Syracuse for this.  It's like playing chess.  You have to strike when the time is right to strike.  Even if it does put the Big East in "Checkmate"

Tino Sunseri says he played his best game yet

What does it say when your starting quarterback thinks he played his best game yet after throwing two interceptions, and fumbling twice (losing one)?

I think it says a lot about how disconnected Tino Sunseri is from real life.  I'm sorry but if I was a key contributor to my team's epic meltdown, I am not going before the media and saying it was my best game so far. 

Where does that set the bar if he thinks that way?  What does that tell the team?  "Sorry guys, but three turnovers is my BEST effort!"

Really?

Todd Graham continues to stick by this guy but given his reluctance to slow the tempo down with a huge lead, I'm still not convinced how rooted in reality HE is either.

Granted, I'll say the offense showed some explosiveness in getting to a 24-3 lead, but when Sunseri specifically said best GAME yet, he is wrong on so many levels.

Pitt fans are obviously frustrated with Sunseri's play through three games, and asinine statements like this to the media are only adding to the disgust.

This week's game against equally turnover prone Notre Dame should be his last chance to have his best game yet.  Maybe this time he'll limit himself to only two turnovers.

Field of Nightmares for Pitt

Head Coach Todd Graham preaches "Speed Speed Speed" to his offense and to the fans of Pitt football.

I'll admit, I think the team bought into the philosophy because the Panthers seemed to blow a 24-3 lead very quickly against Iowa.  The Hawkeyes scored 21 unanswered points to claim victory at Kinnick Stadium.

So much for the Field of Dreams it seemed like for most of the game.  It turned into a Field of Nightmares by the end.

Coach Graham is sure to catch a lot of heat for not slowing down the pace of the game and rightfully slow.  You have the NCAA's leading rusher, Ray Graham, and yet you're still throwing the ball up by three scores.  You are putting your team's chances on the arm of Tino Sunseri.  Dumb move.

We've seen Pitt blow leads like this before to hated rivals WVU and Cincinnati, so this should seem like old hat for Pitt fans.

One thing is clear.  Tino Sunseri is an awful college quarterback, and the longer Pitt tries to deny that fact, the longer they will inhibit their chances of getting better.  You cannot tell me Trey Anderson doesn't deserve a chance after watching Sunseri struggle in these early games.

You also cannot tell me the "High-Octane" offense Pitt runs isn't killing the defense.  The secondary can't cover anyone to begin with, and when you throw them back out there after a three and out by the offense, you start seeing James Vandenberg look like a Heisman candidate.  399 yards?  Seriously?

This is one week after the defense nearly imploded completely to let FCS darling Maine have a chance to steal a win in Pittsburgh.  Warren Smith averages 200 yards a game at the FCS level and the Pitt secondary made him look like an NFL talent. 

You'd think Coach Graham would have learned how to run out a clock after that one, but apparently he hasn't.  I can understand being stubborn to a fault as it is one of my flaws in life, but there's times you need to put your pride aside and do what's best for the team.

Hopefully Pitt can figure it out this week before Notre Dame comes to town.

Not sold on Pitt at this point....

You're supposed to destroy FCS teams if you play at the FBS level.  Especially if you're in a "high-octane" offense like the Pitt Panthers run.

The problem is the Pitt offensive line isn't exactly dominating.  I mean seriously, they gave up 8 sacks to Maine?  How many plays is Ray Graham making on his own in spite of being mobbed in the backfield.

The quarterback has problems making passes downfield that could really open up the scoring.  Tino Sunseri just does not impress me at all, and I have serious doubts for Pitt's long term success this year now that they are moving away from their high school schedule and jumping up to the big boy league.  With two more interceptions today, I think the move to Trey Anderson might come a lot sooner than originally thought.

Defensively, you need to do better than give up 29 points to Maine.  You need to actually force a turnover at some point, something the Panthers have yet to do this year.  334 yards given up to Warren Smith of Maine?  The secondary needs to start covering people. 

On special teams, you need a kicker that can make extra points and field goals.  Kevin Harper continues to struggle mightily in this department.  It may not have cost Pitt a win yet this year, but you can't leave points on the field against South Florida, WVU, Notre Dame or Iowa.

Ray Graham will be huge in keeping Pitt in many of their games this year, but you can't be one dimensional and have much success.  At some point Pitt has to be able to throw the ball downfield.  Pitt has talent at the wide receiver and tight end positions as well, they just need a quarterback that can maximize that talent.

I think a lot of Pitt fans expected to see more out of this team in the first two games.  Wins are wins, but at some point the team has to step it up and correct these problems.

High Octane Football, Low Octane Twitter.

Coach Todd Graham announced today that he was placing a ban on his players using their Twitter accounts during the season. 

Bravo!

Most of what players post is gibberish anyways, so I don't really see why anyone should be upset about this move.  It also keeps the players more focused on the task at hand, which is to win the Big East championship.

Maybe if some of the players were more focused on the task at hand last year, this team could have won a weak Big East Conference and secured a BCS bid. 

You have to do the small things first.  Every detail matters and that's why I like Coach Graham.

I'll admit I've not been a big supporter of Pitt in the past mostly because I am more of a Penn State fan, and several of my Pitt fan friends talk so much crap about how much better their team is and then I just laugh when they fall flat on their faces.

Coach Wannstadt lost control of this team last year, despite what some of the players wanted to tell you on Facebook and Twitter.  There was no discipline, and worst of all there was no proper coaching.  Wannstache couldn't outcoach a Youth league head coach.

Once again, hats off to Coach Graham for putting the kabosh on Twitter and leaving the relay of sports information to the team.

Another step in the right direction for this program.

What do Pitt and Penn State football have in common?

I have a very simple question for Pitt and Penn State football fans? Besides both schools being located in the state of Pennsylvania, what ELSE do the two teams have in common?

The answer is simple. Both teams are god awful. Both teams were severely overrated at the beginning of the season.

As I sit here and look at the flaming pile of dogcrap that is both offenses, you have to wonder how people thought these were two of the top 25 teams in the country before the season.

Every single marquee matchup both teams have faced this year, they've failed miserably.

Pitt: Lost to Utah (Currently ranked 11th in the AP poll) 27-24 on the road while being ranked 15th. That game was closer than it was only because of mindnumbing play by Utah at times in the game. Lost 31-3 at home to then 19th ranked Miami, who just got embarrassed at home the other day 45-17 to that powerhouse Florida State. Pitt also just lost this past weekend to Notre Dame who also does not have any marquee wins this season to brag about.

Penn State: Lost 24-3 on the road at #1 Alabama. Okay so maybe there's no crime in that, other than the fact the offense drove the field only to committ stupid turnovers in the red zone. Lost 24-3 to #17 Iowa on the road. Also struggled heavily against Kent State, Youngstown State, and Temple. Of course they also just got blown out at home by Illinois in the tempo setting game that might cost the Nittany Lions a lot of confidence.

My friend Chris Mueller posed a question recently. What team will end up with more wins? Pitt, Penn State, or Temple.

How many of you would have said before the season began that Temple would have more wins?

Penn State's problem is that they are inexperienced right now. It was a rebuilding year so this isn't completely unexpected. Pitt though was a darkhose candidate for a national champion if you believed some of the local hype.

The only saving grace for Pitt is the disaster of a conference they play in. Honestly all they need to do to go to a BCS bowl is beat WVU. Could you imagine a 7-5 team playing in a major bowl game? It could happen with this crew.

Oh well, at least we appear to have a strong Steeler squad to root for around here.