SWC75
Bored Historian
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PITTSBURGH Friday 10/5/12 7PM Carrier Dome ESPN
Pittsburgh, who will jumping with us to the ACC next year, had dominated us in recent years. Has a matter of fact, the history between the schools has tended to involved alternate periods of dominance. From 1964-72, we won 7 of 9. The won 11 in a row from 1973-83. From 1984-2001 we went 16-1-1. Since then the Panthers have won 8 of 9, including the last 7 in a row. The schools recruit many of the same players and they never seem to be good at the same time.
Things could be set to change again, if we don’t panic about Marrone. Pitt has had no less than four different coaches in the last three years. They fired Dave Wannstedt, then hired Mike Haywood from the Cradle of Coaches, Miami (Ohio). But Haywood got arrested on domestic violence changes and was fired before he coached a game. In came Todd Graham from Tulsa, who stayed one year and then bugged out for Arizona State. Now they have Paul Chyrst, who had been the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin. If continuity is important to recruiting, Pitt could be getting ready to sag and that could be a good sign for us.
Quarterback Tino Sunseri was sacked 60 times last year and threw only 10TD passes to 11 interceptions. Ray Graham is a heck of a back coming back from an ACL tear. Devin Street and Mike Shanahan are good receivers. They lost 6 defensive starters and are converting from a 3-4 to a 4-3 set-up. Aaron Donald is a fine tackle but will be double-teamed all year. Kevin Harper missed 10 field goals last year.
The Panthers were 6-7 last year after losing the bowl game we would have gone to if we had beaten them in that final game, (to SMU 6-28). This team is vulnerable and this series is ready to turn around again. We just need to give it a big push this year and we’re in.
RUTGERS Saturday, 10/13/12 TBA (Time is to be announced) Local Radio (TK99) only
In recent years , the Scarlett Knights have been our most hated rival. They were the doormat of the league for many years and yet they were the State university of New Jersey, a state that produces a lot more football talent than New York. But they had no history of winning in the sport, (even though they won the first ever game in 1869), and mediocre facilities and their state was constantly raided by other eastern schools, especially Syracuse, for talent. When he became coach there, Greg Schiano announced that he was going to “build a fence around the state” so schools like Syracuse could steal all their talent. With a big investment in facilities to support him Schiano turned the program around, just as Syracuse was coming apart. From 1987- 2002 we had beaten them 15 times in 16 games, (the one loss was to a team that lost all of it’s other games), and outscored them 612-250, an average of 38-16. From 2003-2008, Schaino beat our teams five times in six years, outscoring us 95-197, (16-33). We became the perennial last place team while they assumed our former position as contenders. They thus because a symbol of our decline and Schiano, who was viewed as arrogant by SU fans, was the villain of the piece.
That made Doug Marrone’s 31-13 victory over Schiano’s team in 2009 a golden moment and when we beat them at their place 13-10 the next year to clinch a bowl bid, it was especially sweet, almost like our back-to-back wins over Penn State in 1987-88. It seemed we’d turned this series around. But then came last year where we seemed to be on our way to a third straight victory in the series but bumbled away a lead and lost in overtime, 16-19, the game ending on a fumble by Antwon Bailey. Have you ever heard 42,152 people groan all at once?
Schiano is gone, (now the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), replaced by Kyle Flood, Schiano‘s offensive line coach. They used two quarterbacks last year, Chas Dodd and Gary Nova, because neither was impressive enough to keep the job for his own. They have an excellent corps of receiver, especially 6-6 Brandon Coleman, who averaged a dazzling 32.5 yards a catch. D.C. Jefferson is one of the leagues best tight ends. Jawan Jamison ran for 897 but blue chip recruit Savon Huggins, who had a disappointing freshman year, could be better. They are rebuilding the line around Maryland transfer R. J. Dill, 6-7 310 who started 33 ACC games for the Terps. They had an excellent defense last year, (8th in scoring and 14th in yards surrendered) and could be even better this year with blue chip line recruit Darius Hamilton. Linebacker Khaseem Greene was co-defensive player of the year in the conference.
It will be tough to beat them in their own place again and it will be the last meeting of the two schools for a while. (If the ACC expands against, Rutgers will be a prime candidate). It would be painful to end this series with a loss but that is very possible.
CONNECTICUT Friday, 10/19/12 8PM Carrier Dome ESPN
This is another school that got good as we got bad. They are also coached by our former coach, Paul Pasqualoni, who will be bringing an opposing team into the Dome for the first time. They are also recruiting rivals in an area where we once had none. They too, will not be joining us in the ACC, (but might in the future). It’s another team we should have beaten last year but lost to in a sea of errors. It’s another game we really, really want to win.
They also have a quarterback problem, with no less than a five man competition for the spot. Johnny McEntee is more of a passer, Scott McCummings, (who drove us nuts), more of a runner. Two newcomers could be better than either: JUCO Chandler Whitmer, who passed for 3022 yards and 25 scores last year and Connecticut player of the year Casey Cochran. Coach P wasn’t satisfied with his receivers and brought in transfers from Boston College, (Sakim Phillips) and Clemson, (Mike Smith) to bolster the corps. Lyle McCombs was a freshman All-American who ran for 1151 yards. Connecticut had the nation’s third best rushing defense last year- and the 113th rated pass defense. They have nine starters back so expect more of the same. They lost one of the nation’s best place-kickers in Dave Taggart but one of the best return men, Nick Williams, will be back.
This seems like a very winnable game but you never know.
SOUTH FLORIDA Saturday, 10/27/12 TBA in Tampa, Fla. Local Radio (TK99)
The problem with playing South Florida is that you are playing the speed that they can recruit in abundance down there. USF is actually a very large school, (36,000 undergraduates), with ambitions of joining Miami, Florida State and Florida at the top of college football. They’ve beaten the first two on the field but the decline of the Big East and their failure to be picked up by the ACC or SEC may thwart their ambitions. They can take it out on SU, whom they have beaten six times since they came into the league by a combined 70-211, (12-35). Our lone win was one of those four road wins we got in 2010, a 13-9 game. They have a history of great starts and disappointing endings, (basically what happened to us last year). They won their first four games a year ago, then lost seven of their last eight. We were the team they beat in that stretch and they did it by 20 points, 17-37 in the Dome.
B.J. Daniels will be their quarterback for the fourth year in a row. He was known first as primarily a running quarterback but he’s learned to be a better passer. He passed for 2585 yards last year and also led the team with 601 yards rushing. He cut his interceptions in half with only 7 but only 13 of his 215 completions went for scores. Sterling Griffin, who caught 43 passes before missing the last four games with an injury, leads a good receiving corps. Demetris Murray is the leading returning rusher with 503 yards. The heart of the defense is the line backing corps of Sam Barrington, Michael Lanaris and DeDe Lattimore, Ryne Giddens is another in their line of pass-rushing defensive ends. Maikon Bonani has kicked a number of game winn ing field goals for the Bulls.
This is another game we won two years ago on the road but that will be very hard to duplicate.
Pittsburgh, who will jumping with us to the ACC next year, had dominated us in recent years. Has a matter of fact, the history between the schools has tended to involved alternate periods of dominance. From 1964-72, we won 7 of 9. The won 11 in a row from 1973-83. From 1984-2001 we went 16-1-1. Since then the Panthers have won 8 of 9, including the last 7 in a row. The schools recruit many of the same players and they never seem to be good at the same time.
Things could be set to change again, if we don’t panic about Marrone. Pitt has had no less than four different coaches in the last three years. They fired Dave Wannstedt, then hired Mike Haywood from the Cradle of Coaches, Miami (Ohio). But Haywood got arrested on domestic violence changes and was fired before he coached a game. In came Todd Graham from Tulsa, who stayed one year and then bugged out for Arizona State. Now they have Paul Chyrst, who had been the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin. If continuity is important to recruiting, Pitt could be getting ready to sag and that could be a good sign for us.
Quarterback Tino Sunseri was sacked 60 times last year and threw only 10TD passes to 11 interceptions. Ray Graham is a heck of a back coming back from an ACL tear. Devin Street and Mike Shanahan are good receivers. They lost 6 defensive starters and are converting from a 3-4 to a 4-3 set-up. Aaron Donald is a fine tackle but will be double-teamed all year. Kevin Harper missed 10 field goals last year.
The Panthers were 6-7 last year after losing the bowl game we would have gone to if we had beaten them in that final game, (to SMU 6-28). This team is vulnerable and this series is ready to turn around again. We just need to give it a big push this year and we’re in.
RUTGERS Saturday, 10/13/12 TBA (Time is to be announced) Local Radio (TK99) only
In recent years , the Scarlett Knights have been our most hated rival. They were the doormat of the league for many years and yet they were the State university of New Jersey, a state that produces a lot more football talent than New York. But they had no history of winning in the sport, (even though they won the first ever game in 1869), and mediocre facilities and their state was constantly raided by other eastern schools, especially Syracuse, for talent. When he became coach there, Greg Schiano announced that he was going to “build a fence around the state” so schools like Syracuse could steal all their talent. With a big investment in facilities to support him Schiano turned the program around, just as Syracuse was coming apart. From 1987- 2002 we had beaten them 15 times in 16 games, (the one loss was to a team that lost all of it’s other games), and outscored them 612-250, an average of 38-16. From 2003-2008, Schaino beat our teams five times in six years, outscoring us 95-197, (16-33). We became the perennial last place team while they assumed our former position as contenders. They thus because a symbol of our decline and Schiano, who was viewed as arrogant by SU fans, was the villain of the piece.
That made Doug Marrone’s 31-13 victory over Schiano’s team in 2009 a golden moment and when we beat them at their place 13-10 the next year to clinch a bowl bid, it was especially sweet, almost like our back-to-back wins over Penn State in 1987-88. It seemed we’d turned this series around. But then came last year where we seemed to be on our way to a third straight victory in the series but bumbled away a lead and lost in overtime, 16-19, the game ending on a fumble by Antwon Bailey. Have you ever heard 42,152 people groan all at once?
Schiano is gone, (now the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers), replaced by Kyle Flood, Schiano‘s offensive line coach. They used two quarterbacks last year, Chas Dodd and Gary Nova, because neither was impressive enough to keep the job for his own. They have an excellent corps of receiver, especially 6-6 Brandon Coleman, who averaged a dazzling 32.5 yards a catch. D.C. Jefferson is one of the leagues best tight ends. Jawan Jamison ran for 897 but blue chip recruit Savon Huggins, who had a disappointing freshman year, could be better. They are rebuilding the line around Maryland transfer R. J. Dill, 6-7 310 who started 33 ACC games for the Terps. They had an excellent defense last year, (8th in scoring and 14th in yards surrendered) and could be even better this year with blue chip line recruit Darius Hamilton. Linebacker Khaseem Greene was co-defensive player of the year in the conference.
It will be tough to beat them in their own place again and it will be the last meeting of the two schools for a while. (If the ACC expands against, Rutgers will be a prime candidate). It would be painful to end this series with a loss but that is very possible.
CONNECTICUT Friday, 10/19/12 8PM Carrier Dome ESPN
This is another school that got good as we got bad. They are also coached by our former coach, Paul Pasqualoni, who will be bringing an opposing team into the Dome for the first time. They are also recruiting rivals in an area where we once had none. They too, will not be joining us in the ACC, (but might in the future). It’s another team we should have beaten last year but lost to in a sea of errors. It’s another game we really, really want to win.
They also have a quarterback problem, with no less than a five man competition for the spot. Johnny McEntee is more of a passer, Scott McCummings, (who drove us nuts), more of a runner. Two newcomers could be better than either: JUCO Chandler Whitmer, who passed for 3022 yards and 25 scores last year and Connecticut player of the year Casey Cochran. Coach P wasn’t satisfied with his receivers and brought in transfers from Boston College, (Sakim Phillips) and Clemson, (Mike Smith) to bolster the corps. Lyle McCombs was a freshman All-American who ran for 1151 yards. Connecticut had the nation’s third best rushing defense last year- and the 113th rated pass defense. They have nine starters back so expect more of the same. They lost one of the nation’s best place-kickers in Dave Taggart but one of the best return men, Nick Williams, will be back.
This seems like a very winnable game but you never know.
SOUTH FLORIDA Saturday, 10/27/12 TBA in Tampa, Fla. Local Radio (TK99)
The problem with playing South Florida is that you are playing the speed that they can recruit in abundance down there. USF is actually a very large school, (36,000 undergraduates), with ambitions of joining Miami, Florida State and Florida at the top of college football. They’ve beaten the first two on the field but the decline of the Big East and their failure to be picked up by the ACC or SEC may thwart their ambitions. They can take it out on SU, whom they have beaten six times since they came into the league by a combined 70-211, (12-35). Our lone win was one of those four road wins we got in 2010, a 13-9 game. They have a history of great starts and disappointing endings, (basically what happened to us last year). They won their first four games a year ago, then lost seven of their last eight. We were the team they beat in that stretch and they did it by 20 points, 17-37 in the Dome.
B.J. Daniels will be their quarterback for the fourth year in a row. He was known first as primarily a running quarterback but he’s learned to be a better passer. He passed for 2585 yards last year and also led the team with 601 yards rushing. He cut his interceptions in half with only 7 but only 13 of his 215 completions went for scores. Sterling Griffin, who caught 43 passes before missing the last four games with an injury, leads a good receiving corps. Demetris Murray is the leading returning rusher with 503 yards. The heart of the defense is the line backing corps of Sam Barrington, Michael Lanaris and DeDe Lattimore, Ryne Giddens is another in their line of pass-rushing defensive ends. Maikon Bonani has kicked a number of game winn ing field goals for the Bulls.
This is another game we won two years ago on the road but that will be very hard to duplicate.
