Pitt (5-1) at Rutgers (4-1)
Time: 8:01 p.m. TV: ESPN
Radio: WOR-710 AM, WCTC-1450 AM
90 minutes before Kickoff: I’m up here in a press box that’s almost as busy as the one we had Week One, when Cincinnati was in town. If I’m not a player, am I allowed to admit there’s a different (read: big game) feel to this? Oh wait, I could definitely say that if I was a Pitt player.
Assorted Panthers have been out on the field, running around, doing high kicks, whatever it is they do to loosen. I haven’t seen any of Rutgers’ kids yet. It’s not quite as cold out there as it was this morning: hopefully the weather isn’t scaring away tailgaters. I know Security’s in top form. The gentleman who checked my bag wanted to know if there was vodka in my water bottle.
63:23 before Kickoff: Rutgers is honoring Cappie Pondexter and Gary Brackett at halftime. Cappie just won her second WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury. She had surgery for a scratch she got on her retina during the championship game, so she can’t go straight overseas and I think she’s hanging out in the area for a little bit. When she was here, she was definitely the most dynamic athlete I’d ever covered and I remember the way she said, “Awww” when I told her that.
Gary was just awarded the 11th annual Arthur S. Arkush Humanitarian Award by Pro Football Weekly. The award goes to an NFL player “whose contributions to the community and charitable organizations are especially outstanding” and for Gary, that’s highlighted by his IMPACT Foundation, a charity that gets opportunities and resources to kids affected by cancer. I was just talking to Rutgers corner Devin McCourty about Gary Tuesday and how he is probably my all-time favorite story ever. I did an SI.com column on him before the 2007 Super Bowl and I think that will explain exactly why. I hope I get to see him tonight.
48:22 before Kickoff: Rutgers’ wideouts are out, catching balls. It’s not raining apparently. It’ll be interesting to see if weather is going to affect the game plan.
42:03 before Kickoff: Pitt’s extraordinary sports information director just came by to share the shaking in Pitt’s secondary. In the bad news department, starting corner Aaron Berry hurt his right shoulder against UConn and he’s still hurting, so he’s out tonight. Ricky Gary, who’s been a little vulnerable to the deep ball (Paul Zeise of the Post-Gazette just looked at me and said, “He’s been VERY vulnerable. You don’t have to be nice”), will start in his place. In the good news department, starting free safety Elijah Fields, who missed last week’s game, is healthy. He won’t start, but he’s available.
27:03 before Kickoff: Oh boy. Paul just said this Gary-for-Berry thing is huge. “He never met a pump fake he didn’t fall for,” Paul said.
6:13 before Kickoff: The gentleman from the Rose Bowl just smiled nicely at me. The gentleman from the Orange Bowl is wearing a VERY orange blazer. Reps from the Sugar, Fiesta and Papajohns.com Bowls are also here.
4:44 before Kickoff: More tinkering from on the Rutgers o-line. Howard Barbieri is starting in Desmond Wynn’s place at right guard.
1:19 before Kickoff: Freshman Steve Beauharnais came out with the axe. I’m still not into this thing. Pitt’s running out and the boos are pretty good. This is most definitely a late-arriving crowd. Bummer that ESPN can’t pan to a packed stadium.
9:41 left in the 1st Quarter: Argh! The internet was down here in the Rutgers press box and they JUST got it back up. We’re tied at 7 already!
Hi to Spanky: how’s the Scotch? Did you do the count of your collection? Rutgersguy, you’re so right. This crowd was bopping after that ball bounced off Dom DeCicco’s heel and the Sanu playcall. (Funny how Greg Schiano said this week the Wildcat package isn’t there as it stands… but if you sub the main dude?) That huge Ray Graham return and then the huge Dion Lewis run sucked some air out for sure.
9:24 left in the 1st Quarter: Direct snap to Sanu again? For eight yards. And now Lovelace? Watch, it’ll be a play action and he’s going to throw a pass. No! He hands off to Martinek. We’re all looking at each other funny up here.
6:27 left in the 1st Quarter: After three picks in the season’s first two quarters, Rutgers’ offense hasn’t turned the ball over since. But now tonight, Savage has thrown two balls that could’ve been picked already. One was tipped byPitt’s Jabal Sheeard, the other by Rutgers’ Tim Brown. Last week some of Savage’s balls were low. Today some look a little high. I’m sure he’ll settle in.
People are still coming in. I hear the traffic’s awful out there.
6:14 left in the 1st Quarter: Uh-oh. Antonio Lowery’s hurt. He’s laying flaton his back at the 15, pounding his legs into the ground. Okay, the trainers have him up, walking off the field. I can’t find Antonio’s brother Antwan.
4:00 left in the 1st Quarter: Lewis gets around the corner FAST. Scott Vallone, meanwhile, is having a good game for Rutgers. He’s in the middle of everything it seems.
Rutgersguy, thanks. If you look back at the old open posts, I was begging for you to come back!
End of 1st Quarter: Rutgers just sent six or seven guys at Bill Stull on a third down, Freeny was all over him… and he completed a 17-yard pass to Dorin Dickerson. He leads the league in pass efficiency, but he’s also got to lead in getting the ball out. He’s 7-for-7 so far and Pitt’s completed all four of their third downs, including the one just now, where Stull ran for 16 yards. Rutgers needs to clean that up.
Squire 2-0 still?
14:08 left in the 2nd Quarter: That’s Hutchins’ first-ever miss. He’d made his first seven attempts and the 42 yards he just tried from would’ve matched his career high, which he hit last week at UConn.
Oh man. Did I not just say Savage has looked close to being picked? I suppose DeCicco redeems himself with that one. Well, maybe not if Pitt doesn’t convert.
So we haven’t seen Jonathan Baldwin thrown to yet. He’s 6-5, runs a sub 4.4 40, has a 42 inch vertical and Pitt hasn’t even thrown to him. I have to be honest: I don’t know if he’s being blanketed. I need to pay attention.
11:29 left in the 2nd Quarter: Hutchins just nailed one from 45. Smart call by Wannstedt to throw him right back before he can lose any of his confidence. Spanky, I’d guess the stadium’s about 75 percent full. At least that’s what the four of us on this end here in the box are guessing. But it’s hard to tell because there are some people under the overhang. The Yankees are on one of the four TVs in the press box. I don’t remember Rutgers EVER showing something besides the Rutgers game during a game. And Rutgers’ sports information director, Jason Baum, is an Orioles fan.
10:00 left in the 2nd Quarter: They’re playing Bruce out on the field and someone in the press box asked if it was Elvis Costello. Someone from Pittsburgh. (Obviously.) Are they really talking about Texas-Oklahoma? Nothing about Cincy-USF even?
8:30 left in the 2nd Quarter: The officials are having all sorts of problems tonight. They were just looking for a spot on the Pitt punt and no one knew where it went out of bounds. I’m not sure, but I think this crowd just booed the dance team. Maybe because they’re wearing pants and fleeces? I have to say, the crowd is not impressing me. The students have done a great job and that section is definitely packed. But the rest… I see a lot of bleacher.
7:27 left in the 2nd Quarter: Welcome back to the Rutgers offense of old. Three-and-out, three-and-out before that, one-and-out before that. Rutgers still hasn’t converted a third down. Meanwhile, Kordell Young takes an opening dump-off 16 yards and we haven’t seen him since.
How do you feel about Greg Schiano’s big red sweatshirt? Remember when he used to wear the sweater vest?
3:41 left in the 2nd Quarter: The officials are reviewing that previous run by Lewis. Rutgers thought there was a fumble. I have to say, George Johnson’s unnecessary roughness was disappointing. Just like that opening chop block call on Ryan Blaszczyk. Unacceptable to have penalties like that on seniors in a game like this. The ruling on the field stands, Pitt has a second-and-goal from the one.
3:24 left in the 2nd Quarter: Lewis is making it look very easy. Pitt, 17-7.
Rutgersguy, interesting you mention the punt returns. I asked Greg Schiano this week about that (I think Sanu’s 2.5 yards per return is one of the worst in the country) and he said the one thing he never does is question a punt returner. He said it’s the hardest thing to do in football and he has to trust his returners’ judgement.
3:10 left in the 2nd Quarter: That’s Rutgers’ first first down since something like the 7-minute mark of the 1st Quarter. Nice to see Shamar Graves wasn’t entirely buried. Did Sanu just try to leap someone? At least he made something of a clearly busted play.
1:06 left in the 2nd Quarter: Tim Brown’s 39-yard catch-and-run is now under review. Apparently the officials aren’t sure if he actually stepped out three yards before the 15 the ball’s spotted on right now. These officials are not inspiring much confidence. I don’t think in the crowd either. That was a decent boo for the head official who announced the review. The thing he’s looking at looks like an iPod. Is he really looking at anything or is he just listening to the booth guys? Or downloading music? Ooh, Tim stepped out at the 23-yard line, he says, so take away eight yards and a few seconds.
1:01 left in the 2nd Quarter: Greg is LIVID. He’s out to the hashmarks and stomping his foot. There were three flags on that one. A face mask of (on?) Savage, a late hit after Savage got rid of the ball. Rutgers accepts the second one. And Greg’s still stomping.
Now Pitt’s Andrew Taglianetti’s offsides puts Rutgers on the 3. First and goal from the three, Rutgers HAS to convert.
Oh, the crowd is NOT happy. NOT happy at the way Rutgers runs the play clock down, not happy with how Joe Martinek couldn’t turn the corner (loss of a yard) and not happy with that little shot in the flat to Kordell (loss of two yards).
Halftime: Cappie and Gary are out at midfield with Tim Pernetti right now. Tim’s giving them both their old jerseys. I don’t get it. Don’t they have versions of their jerseys? They’re walking by the student section right now and the kids are cheering. That’s nice.
Alright, so I kind of can’t believe Rutgers is only down a touchdown. The Scarlet Knights have rushed for only 31 yards, they haven’t converted a single third down (0 for 5) and they couldn’t score a touchdown with a first-and-goal from the 3. Pitt, meanwhile, has had the ball for 17:39 (to Rutgers’ 12:21), is 6-of-9 on third downs and has Stull and Lewis. But Pitt missed a field goal and the Panthers gave Rutgers its first touchdown, on that awful bumble by DeCicco (letting that first punt hit him). The score could just as easily be 20-3.
12:14 left in the 3rd Quarter: We finally saw it. Khaseem Greene tackled his younger half-brother Ray Graham. Of course, it was only after Graham broke through two or three other hand-tackles. I talked to Graham this week and he was an incredibly sweet, well-spoken young man. He said his big brother is “the best big brother” and he said they talk every day before their games. I wonder what they said to each other today.
10:40 left in the 3rd Quarter: Rutgers finally converts a third down! 34:20 into the game! And then Savage is sacked… beautiful.
6:35 left in the 3rd Quarter: Kevin Haslam is hurt and being tended to. Anthony Davis hovered the whole time the trainers worked on Haslam and then sent him off the field with some encouragement. People in the press box are starting to complain about how slow things seems to be moving.
The hold on Art Forst was awful, especially because it called back a great catch up the middle by Shamar Graves. It killed momentum a bit too. And yep, 4th and 1 from the Pitt 42, Rutgers appears to be going for it and Blaszczyk is called for a false start. These penalties are just awful penalties. Oh man – Antonio Lowery a face mask going the other way, after the punt. What is the matter with Rutgers? This team is usually much more disciplined.
5:19 left in the 3rd Quarter: Ooh, the Pitt fans are chanting “Let’s go Pitt” and they are LOUD. Of course, they had a 58-yard touchdown run from Dion Lewis to fire them up. I’m not quite sure what Rutgers fans have to fire them up. PAT good, Pitt 24, Rutgers 10.
Spanky, I’d wager the O-line looks WORSE from where I’m sitting.
3:18 left in the 3rd Quarter: San San Te misses the 53-yard field goal. It’s cold, the ball is heavy, I think Rutgers should’ve just gone for it. Or punted.
Rutgers just announced attendance at 50,296. A writer sitting next to me just asked, “Is that counting split personalities.” No way is this crowd just a couple thousand shy of capacity.
:17 left in the 3rd Quarter: This is what’s so maddening about Rutgers. Khaseem Greene gets a big 3rd down sack, Devin McCourty blocks the ensuing Pitt punt, Rutgers takes over on the Pitt 39 and… 13 yard sack of Savage. Two incompletions later, Rutgers is punting. How do you waste a drive start at the Pitt 39?
12:40 left in the Game: Okay, just let the defense stay in and see if it can score. That fumble cause and recovery puts the offense on the Pitt 49. And here comes Jabu Lovelace.
10:13 left in the Game: It’s Bon Jovi time and that means the kid who does the air guitar gets on the big screen. And the crowd is getting really POed every time the scoreboard camera moves off the kid. Some girls got booed, the dance team got booed, there were huge cheers when the kid came back – even the Pitt players are standing around watching the scoreboard. Okay, fourth-and-three.
10:06 left in the Game: It looks like a Pitt defender accidentally walloped Sanu in the head with his knee, when Sany was down. He’s laying on the 20 and not moving. Oh wait, he just sat up. Big catch on fourth down by the freshman. And really boisterous boos by the crowd before that, as the play clock whittled to five and the offense kept staring at the sideline. I think the fans have had it with this playcalls-from-the-sideline thing.
9:37 left in the Game: Oooh, we have a game. The call was reviewed, and the 19-yard touchdown pass to Tim Brown stands. Kick is good, and it’s 24-17.
The crowd’s back into it. We have an R-U chant.
2:31 left in the Game: Yeah, and Spanky can you believe he had offers only from Miami of Ohio and Tulane? Rutgers didn’t even officially show interest.
1:30 left in the Game: Can Rutgers move with some urgency? The clock is running and these kids are sauntering back to their spots. Run!
That was a catch and fumble by Sanu and Pitt’s just going to knee this game out. Ick, what an ugly game. Rutgers rushed for 38 yards. Deion Lewis rushed for 180, on 31 carries. Ray Graham just went and hugged Tim Brown. I didn’t see if he and Khaseem did anything special. Tim and Andrew DePaola are the last Rutgers players off the field. Pitt’s gathering by its fans, waving and raising their helmets. The fans are chanting, Let’s go Pitt. Alright, down to the locker room…
So far in that first drive I’ve liked all the playcalls on offense even if they didn’t all work out, screen to kordell, moving pocket for Savage on that bomb to Sanu, attempt a pass to Corcoran out in the flat, delayed handoff, all good stuff. I’ve been wanting to see this kind of play calling I hope it keeps up. Nice heads up on the punt recovery too.
Oh baby, where has this been a lot of us have been asking for Sanu or Martinek to run the wildcat and we’ve done it and it scored. Great job and great play call and use of personnel. Where has this been the whole season?
Alright, I’m online!
There was a block in the back on that play, I don’t know why they picked up the flag.
Ah shoot, that sucks scoring a td but then giving one right back on the next possession. Killed all the momentum, we have to do better than that.
An actual handoff from Jabu to Martinek, didn’t gain much but nice to see something different. How about Jabu and Sanu in the backfield at the same time. I’m liking a ton of the stuff I’ve seen, regardless of how successful it has been.
Haven’t had a scotch yet – just got in from the gym. Trying to fix something to eat.
watching on PIP offense seems to have good pace. For those interested Yanks 2-0
Even the ESPN guys are saying this hasn’t been seen the last month. I don’t know what’s gotten into them but it’s great. BTW Aditi glad to see you’re up and running with the blog again, only found out about this place a little while back.
Nice penetration by 94!
Those Pitt backs are scary fast, it’s a shame we couldn’t get them here. I’d like to see D. Williams be used some more for us, I think he could be similar. Similar build and speed. Get him to ball outside in space with a swing pass or maybe a pitch and I think he could be as effective as these guys.
Sheeze, even when we’re offsides we allow the QB to run for a first down.
why is d’imperio in on 3rd and long and not munoz?
Man have to get them off the field on these 3rd downs, can’t get them into these 3rd and longs and then give it up.
Storm the dorm coming up on ESPN – they were at Chi Psi last night to shoot it.
Phew! That was his first incomplete pass of the night.
MISSED IT!!!!!!!
Hey Aditi, how full would you say the stadium is? People are reporting on the Rutgers Rivals Board that it’s pretty empty.
Finally a stop. At least held them to a fg and they missed it, whew. And now we’ve turned it back over, darn it. We get momentum and then hand it back again.
Sheeze, Savage just threw into quadruple coverage!
when is the last time RU was a home underdog vs. an unranked team?
How is it a penalty on Rutgers?
Offsetting personal fouls, doesn’t the down get replayed?
Oh, good, ESPN just broke away for a NASCAR update!
Nice coverage there, we need more pressure on Stull. He’s too comfortable back there, he’ll pick us apart. We have to make him uneasy. Didn’t get lucky twice, darn they converted.
Boy, we were lucky Rowe wasn’t called for PI!
YOU MORON!!!!!!!!!
OMG whislted down at the one, my god. He’s gotta know better than that.
We can’t go 3 and out here defense has been staying out on the field too long.
Jesus Christ, they just keep babbling on and on about Oklahoma and Texas.
Bad job there, needed to move the chains now they’ll also get the ball near midfield somewhere and our D back out again.
It wasn’t a factor on this punt, but I have a question do we ever set up a punt return. Or are we always going for a block. It seems like literally 90% of the time or more it’s either a fair catch or let the ball bounce.
How bout we get a short passing game going again, quick outs or bubble screens, pass out to the flat get Savage in a rhythm.
Have to block better than that on the bubble screen, but I like the call.
Nothing about Cincy-USF, but they keep bringing up OU and UT.
Man, we’re killing ourselves with penalties.
Man, can we stop them on 3rd down. Play hard for 2 downs and then give it up and dumb personal foul. We’re gonna get worn down at this rate.
Talking about Texas again.
Damn it, this game is a microcoscm of what I think our season might be. Our D is good but not good enough to compensate for anemic offense. The O need to find ways to move the ball give them a rest and score some points, not necessarily a lot. The also needs to step it up a notch and get them off the field when they have the chance.
Speaking of Schiano’s wardrobe I suppose he’s been fishing around in Belichick’s closet. I rather see him fishing around in Belichick’s playbook and may be pick up a few pointers. False start another mental mistake, sigh. And we have Sanu trying to make the Leonard leap.
Thanks for the response in regards to the punts Aditi. I don’t question the returners either. I question the blocking. I feel like there’s never any blocking set up so the guy can catch the ball and go. That has nothing to do with the return man and all to do with the scheme.
2 personal fouls, good about time some on them.
I wish the personal fouls could be tacked on one after the other, that would be nice, lol.
I didn’t like that play at goal line, always why does every coach look to run up the gut on first and goal. Why not a pitch out or may be four wide draw, darn. We need a td, a fg is good but not momentum boosting.
I would not have minded that Young play on first down, it would have been unexpected. On third down it’s not surprising.
Or you know may be even a wildcat with Jabu and Sanu in the backfield for all 3 downs I wouldn’t have minded.
1st and goal from the 3, and all we come away with is 3 points. This is so typical Rutgers. Why not spread the field and try to ram it through the middle? Why not do the wildcat as rutgersguy suggests?
Again another 3rd down conversion. Our front four can’t get any pressure, honestly it doesn’t seem like we can get much pressure unless we bring the house with multiple blitzers. Even if we could get pressure with just one blitzer consistently that would be helpful.
Finally, we need more of that from the defense. Get off the field on third down. Actually, seemed like a return might have been set up on that last punt. It didn’t yield much this time but I like that better rather than consistently going for a block. On occasion is fine but not all the time.
Oh, god, they’re babbling about Oklahoma/Texas again.
I don’t like that spot, looked like he was across the line to me.