Pitt Panthers All-Decade Football Team

The Pittsburgh Panthers all-decade football team shouldn't be too hard, especially since I went to Pitt for 4 of the years this decade. I will mention some close calls who didn't make the list who possibly deserve to. Clint Session, who is a possible pro-bowler this season for the Colts did not make the team at linebacker, as he was caught in a numbers game. There are 4 Pitt linebackers in the NFL right now, including Session, however the other 3 all played at higher levels at Pitt. Pitt is the real Linebacker U. Dion Lewis is breaking all types of records at Pitt, but has only done it for 1 year, whereas McCoy was a beast for 2.

Take a look at the all-decade team below--

Offense
QB: Tyler Palko

RB: LeSean McCoy

FB: Lousaka Polite

WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Antonio Bryant

TE: Kris Wilson

OL: Jeff Otah, Jason Pinkston, Mike McGlynn, Rob Pettiti, C.J. Davis

Defense
DL: Greg Romeus, Mick Williams, Joe Clermond, Claude Harriot

LB: Scott McKillop, Gerald Hayes, H.B. Blades

Secondary: Darrelle Revis, Torrie Cox, Shawntae Spencer, Tez Morris

Specialists
K: Conor Lee

P: Andy Lee

PR: Darrelle Revis

KR: LaRod Stephens-Howling

Coach: Dave Wannstedt

MVP: Larry Fitzgerald

Close Calls: Clint Session, Rashaad Duncan, Dion Lewis, Jonathan Baldwin, Rod Rutherford

Pitt Football... We're Back Baby

The Pittsburgh Panthers finished their season at 10-3 on the year, with a victory in the Meineke Car Care Bowl over the North Carolina Tar Heels. A Panthers 33 yard field goal with 52 seconds left gave Pitt the 19-17 lead. Pitt came into this this game ranked 17th in the nation, and will finish right around there, maybe move up a couple spots.

The game was played in Charlotte, which created somewhat of a home atmosphere for UNC, but I was surprised and pleased with how many Pitt fans were at the game. It was close the whole game, and both teams made at least 1 costly mistake. Dion Lewis, the Panthers star freshman running back rushed for 159 yards in this game and a TD. He finished the season with 1,799 rushing yards, breaking the Pitt records this season of Ironhead Heyward, LeSean McCoy, Curtis Martin, and Tony Dorsett. Not a bad list. I was very concerned coming into this season, as I figured we would miss Shady McCoy a lot, as McCoy was basically the only weapon on offense the past 2 years.

It was a very successful season for Pitt, and Dave Wannstedt is finally putting his stamp on this team, and bringing Pitt back into national prominence. Wannstedt said after the game when asked why a 10 win season is important that everyone knows that Pitt football is back. Dion Lewis agreed, "It's back," Lewis said regarding Pitt football. We're not satisfied with just 10 wins. We want to get more next year." Lewis was named game MVP. This Panthers team is stacked with solid freshman and sophomores, including Lewis, Raymond Graham, Jonathan Baldwin, Dan Mason, and Mike Shanahan to name a few.

As far as the actual game goes, the Panthers had a tough time getting into the end zone, and settled for 4 field goals, the final one being the difference. The Panthers also missed a field goal, and missed a touchdown opportunity, when Lewis was trying to reach for the end zone, fumbled, and the ball went out of bounds in the end zone, giving the ball to UNC for a touchback. UNC also had some costly mistakes, throwing an interception inside the Pitt 5 yard line, and also going offsides on the final drive, as Pitt was going to attempt a 47 yard field goal.

The final Pitt Panthers drive was very impressive, and was exactly how Pitt wants to play offensively. Anyone who is a fan of running the ball had to appreciate the last drive. The drive started at the Panthers own 5 yard line, and went to the UNC 16. The drive took 8:47 off the clock, lasted 17 plays, which included 14 Dion Lewis runs, 1 Bill Stull run, and 2 pass attempts. It resulted in the game winning field goal.

Obviously, Pitt would have liked to be in a better Bowl game, and I am not trying to say that a bowl win over UNC is anything real special, but it was still a positive note to go into next season on. This was important, considering the way Pitt ended the season with 2 straight heartbreaking losses to West Virginia and Cincinnati. A 10-3 season is successful, and Pitt should be ranked very high going into next season.

Pitt-iful

The first Pittsburgh Panthers football game is in the books, and what looked like a somewhat easy win going into the game, turned into a disaster. An offense that never got on track, a defense that couldn't come up with the big play, and 4 turnovers proved to be the difference in a 27-17 loss to Bowling Green, dropping my Panthers out of the national rankings, and to 0-1 on the season. Nobody looked sharp in the game, from the players to the coaches, which I guess can be somewhat expected in the first game of the season, but not to the extent that it was. Pitt opened up a 14-0 lead early in the game moving the ball at will up and down the field. From that point on, we would be outscored 27-3 the rest of the game, in what was a painful game to watch for all Pitt fans. Stull was forced to throw the ball 51 times for 264 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT. LeSean McCoy could never get it going, and ended up with 23 carries for 71 yards, and 1 TD. The play calling was equally as bad as the play on the field. Pitt punted twice from the Bowling Green 35, and punted in the 4th quarter on a 4th and 1 from their own territory while down 10. LeSean McCoy, who can carry the ball anyway he is asked, simply ran the ball up the middle every time he seemed to get a touch. With his speed, you need to give him carries to the outside, and he will most likely break one. Bowling Green has run a spread offense for the past couple season, yet Wannstedt stated after the game, "They gave us some unusual formations and we had a tough time adjusting to it." Are you freakin kidding me? It looked as if Pitt didn't do any game planning at all for this game, and was not ready to play.

The most obvious thing to say after this loss is to fire Dave Wannstedt, and even offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, both Pitt graduates. I am trying not to jump to these conclusions, although it is hard not to. Dave Wannstedt recruits very well for the University of Pittsburgh, yet can't seem to win. I know I sound like a broken record, but you have to give Wannstedt this season to see what he can do over a full season. This season can still be a success, I believe we can compete with anybody in the Big East, and can still be in a decent bowl game, which would be an improvement over the past few seasons. I place a lot of the blame of this game on the scheduling. It is simply not smart to schedule this game, even if it is in our back yard; only bad can come out of this game for Pitt. We win, no one cares, cause all we did was beat a non-BCS team that we should beat. We lose, and it is the biggest upset of the week. You don't schedule a very good non-BCS team if you can help it, it is common sense. For example, Pitt basketball played at Dayton last season. Dayton was a very good team, however, no one cares or knew it, because they are not in a major conference. If you don't win a game like that, even if the other team is very good, you are going to get destroyed by the media. Instead of scheduling a good non-BCS team, you schedule an average BCS team. We play Michigan State in week 1, and lose, it's not a good thing, but it's not real surprising, we lose to another decent BCS team.

Either way, it is a tough loss to swallow, and made for a tough weekend watching college football. We still have a lot of good games left, and plenty of time to get back in the mix in college football. Next game, 09/06 at home vs. Buffalo at 6 p.m. Let's hope this turns out a little better.