Wednesday, October 31st, 2007 by Adam Wagner
Why Dave Wannstedt is an Idiot (And It’s Not Pitt’s Record)
The Post-Gazette ran an article yesterday that said:
With young talent in place at key positions, Wannstedt expects the Panthers to finish strong and carry that momentum into next season. The Panthers will lose only seven starters to graduation, and the players in the much talked about recruiting classes the past two years are starting to contribute.
If Wannstedt actually expects the Panthers to finish strong, he is more than delusional. After Syracuse this weekend, Pitt plays Rutgers, South Florida, and West Virginia. They should beat Syracuse in a competitive contest, but they will be lucky to remain within two touchdowns of the other three teams.
Pitt just is not there yet and Wannstedt can not possibly think that Pitt will be able to play with a Rutgers team featuring Ray Rice and Tiguan Underwood, a South Florida team featuring the players that Pitt used to recruit in the Antonio Bryant era, and a West Virginia team that features the best running offense in the nation. It is just not going to happen.
If Pitt can beat any one of these teams (and it is an extreme long shot at best), it will be South Florida and undersized QB Matt Grothe. If they can manage to contain Grothe and USF’s running game, then they could win. Of course, Pat Bostick and Shady McCoy would need to have huge days in order to win.
And that’s what Wannstedt should have said. Not that Pitt can carry momentum into next season, but that Pitt’s young players should use this as a learning experience against some of the top talent in the nation. He would have come off as more intelligent and certainly more informed in that instance, as even the most casual fan knows that Pitt will finish the season with three consecutive losses.
- On another note, Wannstedt should feed McCoy for the first half Saturday and let him regain any confidence in himself and his ability that he may have lost with that fumble at the end of the Louisville game. He should be able to run all over Syracuse and, therefore, revert to the Shady that Wannstedt should be running 25 to 30 times each game anyways.
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