Pitt Panthers Looking Ahead After Big Win

The Pitt Panthers have yet to get caught looking ahead, and that trend will need to continue when we face off against West Virginia the Friday after Thanksgiving for the Backyard Brawl.

The Panthers got a late bye this season, which meant they started the season playing 8 games in a row with no bye. Coming out of the bye with a 7-1 record and a #13 national ranking, the Panthers were looking at what looked like an easy, but trap game against Syracuse, and then their 3 toughest games of the season against Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Cincinnati.

The Syracuse game seemed easy, but Pitt could have easily gotten caught looking ahead. However, Pitt came out and stomped the Orange 37-10. Next up, the Fighting Irish. Again, Pitt could have been caught looking ahead of this game. Not because Notre Dame isn’t a good team, but because the game was essentially meaningless in terms of the Big East and Big East standings. Also, Pitt had their rivalry game to look forward to against West Virginia. Kotite’s Corner was live in Pittsburgh for this prime time game, and the game did not disappoint. Neither did the tailgating, which was one of the best tailgates I’ve ever been too. A prime time game, tailgating from 3:00-8:00 in weather that seemed more like a June baseball game all led to an unbelievable atmosphere for the game. As for the game itself, Pitt almost let a large 4th quarter lead slip away, but was able to come out on top 27-22.

This leaves the Panthers at 9-1, and #9 in the nation going into their 2nd bye this weekend, before their final 2 games of the season, which include the Backyard Brawl, and the final game at home against #5 Cincinnati, which is for the Big East championship, no matter what the outcome of the West Virginia game is.

This Pitt team has a lot of weapons. Dion Lewis is probably the best freshman in the nation, and already one of the top RB’s in the nation. His backup, Ray Graham is as solid a backup running back as you are going to find, and he is also a freshman. These 2 guys have made the transition moving on from Shady McCoy seamless. Pitt also has stars at wide receiver, and tight end. Jonathan Baldwin, sophomore, is becoming one of the best wide receivers in the nation, and had a coming out party against Notre Dame, where he made a couple highlight reel catches, including a very Larry Fitzgerald-like diving touchdown reception. At tight end, Dorin Dickerson has been a great surprise. Dickerson is one of the 8 finalists for the Mackey Award, given to the nation’s best tight end. At quarterback, Bill Stull have overcome a season’s worth of bad play to put together a tremendous senior season. Without Stull’s solid play, this team would not be in the position they are right now.

Pitt had put together a very solid season, but they need to continue to focus on each game, and it starts on Black Friday with West Virginia.

Eagles Look to Bounce Back Against Bears

The Eagles travel to Donovan McNabb’s hometown this weekend to take on the Chicago Bears who currently stand at 4-5. The Eagles will try to bounce back after losing two straight games to the Cowboys and Chargers.

Traveling to Chicago isn’t exactly the ideal situation in trying to break a 2 game losing streak. Even though the Bears aren’t playing well, and Cutler has been flat out bad this year, it is never easy to play a road game in Chicago. McNabb does always seem to play well there though when he goes back home. The defense has to bounce back after a disappointing performance against the Chargers. The defense has had to battle through injuries as of late, and might even be without Sheldon Brown this weekend. Sheldon Brown has never missed a game in his career, and is one of the veteran leaders on defense. Due to injuries and suspensions, the Eagles are very thin in the secondary, and at the linebacker position. As of now, the Eagles have not brought in any help at the cornerback position.

On offense, the Eagles will obviously be without Brian Westbrook, which unfortunately, they are probably used to by now. Just like the cornerback position, as of right now, the Eagles have not brought in a running back to help out at the position. LeSean McCoy, rookie phenom, should get most of the carries. In Andy Reid’s offense, this means he will get about 5-7. When Westbrook has been out this year, the Eagles have also given Leonard Weaver a good amount of carries each game, which they should continue to do.

The Bears have struggled all around at points this season. Even in recent years, when the Bears have not been good, their defense was always good. This year their defense isn’t bad against the pass, but is 21st against the run. The Eagles have played teams who struggle stopping the run already this year, but have not yet taken advantage of it, and Andy Reid is to blame for that. I believe the Eagles need to run the ball effectively to win this game. The offensive line finally pass blocked well against San Diego… unfortunately, they couldn’t open up any hole against an average San Diego defensive line. The offensive line has also been an area on the Eagles that is banged up, and they have not done a great job getting a push on the defensive line for the running backs. The Bears have also struggled on offense, mostly because Cutler has been bad, and Matt Forte has regressed in his sophomore season.

The Eagles need this win badly, but it won’t be easy. If the defense can hold up, the offense should be able to put the points on the board to win… assuming Andy Reid doesn’t lose the game with his play calling.

Friday Football Picks

Willard – Overall Record: (23-16-1)
Notre Dame (-6) vs. UConn
Colts (-1.5) at Ravens
Browns (+3.5) at Lions
Bills (+9) at Jaguars

Dr. G - Overall Record (22-18)
Notre Dame (-6) vs. UConn
BYU (-10) vs. Air Force
Cardinals (-9) at Rams
Bengals (-9.5) at Raiders

Jack Flack – Overall Record: (23-19-1)
TCU (-31) at Wyoming
Rutgers (-8.5) at Syracuse
Clemson (-21) vs. Virginia
Colts (-1.5) at Ravens

Roget – Overall Record: (22-21)
Temple (-10.5) vs. Kent State
Miami (-19.5) vs. Duke
Eagles (-3) at Bears
Colts (-1.5) at Ravens

C-Money – Overall Record (17-18-1)
BYU (-10) vs. Air Force
Penn State (-3) at Michigan State
Temple (-10.5) vs. Kent State
Steelers (-10) at Chiefs

Mr. Green – Overall Record: (18-24-1)

BYU (-10) vs. Air Force

Rutgers (-8.5) at Syracuse

Michigan State (+3) vs. Penn State

Packers (-6.5) vs. 49ers

Hollywood – Overall Record: (15-28)

Bowling Green (-10.5) vs. Akron

Ohio (PK) vs. Northern Illinois

Arkansas (-11.5) vs. Mississippi State

Eagles (-3) at Bears

Overall Winning Percentage

1. Willard (59%)

2. Dr. G (55%)

2. Jack Flack (55%)

4. Roget (51%)

5. C-Money (49%)

6. Mr. Green (43%)

7. Hollywood (35%)

Andy Reid Is Not Irreplaceable

Eagles coach Andy Reid is flat out no longer a very good coach. His pass happy offense now gets the Eagles into more trouble than it does well. There have been multiple times in Reid’s tenure with the Eagles, and multiple times just this season when the Eagles would be smart to just run the ball, but have not chosen to do so.

I’m not exactly sure who is calling the plays at the point, or who does what with the offense between Reid and Mornhinweg, but it makes no difference, because Mornhinweg just does whatever Andy Reid tells him to do. Andy Reid’s coaching style and attitude towards the fans and media is just getting old. It’s actually been old for a while, but I figured I would write another article stating my belief of wanting Andy Reid out of town.

Reid passes the ball way too much, doesn’t make adjustments during the game, doesn’t take advantage of other team’s weaknesses, can’t put together a successful game plan, is way too arrogant, doesn’t answer any questions during press conferences, treats the media like crap, and treats the fans like crap.

Andy Reid has been directly responsible for losses on the schedule. Take the game this season against the Oakland Raiders. This is a game that the Eagles should not and cannot lose. The Raiders are one the worst teams in the NFL against the run, and aren’t bad against the pass. Donovan McNabb was coming back from an injury, and wasn’t real sharp. This usually means to run the ball to help McNabb out. Instead, the Eagles passed the ball 46 times, and ran the ball 12, which does not include 2 McNabb runs. The Eagles were never down by more than 7 points in this game, so there was no reason to throw the ball. Reid’s play calling was directly responsible for a loss on the schedule that just can’t happen. To make matters worse, the following week the Raiders played the Jets, and the Jets ran the ball 54 times for 316 yards, and only threw 15 passes, and blew the Raiders out 38-0. Imagine that.

This notion that Andy Reid is the only person who can coach the Eagles, or that we won’t be able to find anybody else to coach the team successfully is a joke. Some people seem to think that Reid is a Joe Pa figure and can coach the Eagles for as long as he wants. That is ridiculous. Reid has had a great run as head coach of the Eagles; I am not trying to discredit that, and I am not trying to say he hasn’t done a solid coaching job here, because overall he has. But this team is going nowhere under Reid, and I believe that we can find someone better.

Unfortunately, Reid is loved by the organization, and I have a very bad feeling that a Reid extension is right around the corner, no matter how the Eagles do this season.

Big East No Longer the Big Least

Lots of people have liked to pile on Big East football for being weak recently after the conference lost Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. I’m not here to claim the Big East should be compared to the best conferences, but the fact remains, the Big East is no longer the weakest of the major BCS conferences.

Just a week ago, the Big East had four teams in the BCS top 25, which was tied for the most of any conference. At that point, it was more teams in the top 25 than the Big 12, ACC, and SEC. Currently, the Big East has 3 teams in the top 25 of the AP poll, 2 in the top 10. The only other conference with 2 top 10 teams is the SEC, which has 3, and that includes a very overrated LSU team. The Big 10 is horrible, and extremely overrated. It’s funny that the top 2 teams in the Big 10 are Ohio State and Penn State. Those two teams are currently ranked lower than their 2 Big East counterparts in the same state, which would be Cincinnati and Pitt.

Take a look here, as Big East Blogger Brian Bennett for ESPN.com breaks down how good the Big East’s situation currently is.