Be Like Tike

Saturday, November 17th, 2007 by Adam Wagner

Bostick matures, but receivers, refs lose game

Pat Bostick finally seemed to understand. After being benched for most of the second half for the ineffective Kevan Smith, Bostick finally seemed to mature when Pitt got the ball back Saturday with roughly 2:40 left on the clock, trailing 20-16. The quarterback seemed about as calm, cool and collected as a freshman trying to save his team’s season (on the road, nonetheless) could. He looked relaxed in the pocket, sure of himself in rolling out, and was able to make every throw that he needed to.

Bostick’s best laid plans, however, were foiled by his teammates and some awful officiating.

The first instance of this occurred early in the drive, when T.J. Porter ran a sideline curl pattern. Bostick put the ball right in Porter’s stomach in a spot where no one but the wideout at a chance at the ball. Porter, however, spent time looking at his feet instead of at the ball and ended up with a potentially huge drop.

Bostick rallied from that unfortunate incident and took Pitt down to the Rutgers five yard line, where he threw a fade pass across the field to Oderick Turner, who had been covered by Devin McCourty. A flag came out right as the play ended, however, and the verdict was a pass interference call on Turner. Replays showed that there had been contact in the end zone between McCourty and Turner, but that it had been mostly hand slapping and that both had been involved. If the game had been played at Heinz Field, I am almost certain that the penalty would not have been called and that the touchdown would have stood, leading to a win for Pitt.

Instead, the ball was moved back to the Rutgers 20 yard line and Bostick had another shot at the end zone. This time, he threw a high pass over the middle of the field. The pass was high enough, in fact, that Darrell Strong was the only person on the field with a legitimate shot at the ball at the front of the end zone.

Strong’s legs, however, remained firmly fastened to the ground as the dreadlocked one waved a hand at the ball in a manner reminiscent of Jose Castillo “swinging” at strike three and the ball was intercepted, ending the game. All that Strong needed to do to win the game was jump off of the ground and catch the football, but he chose to let it float instead as Rutgers’ cornerbacks finally managed to secure the victory.

Bostick responded to his brief benching by making three passes that he needed to and he saw his efforts resolve in one drop, one awful call, and one complete lack of effort that led to an interception. He responded to two of the three situations by simply making another play, at last showing the maturity and resiliency that Pitt fans have desperately wanted to see out of the quarterback position this year.