Didn't see the game, but that third paragraph made me crack up.

And although I haven't seen a match in a long time, women's volley ball has always been for real at PSU.  It also is one of the sports we seem to dominate the Big 10 with.  In fact women's sports seem to do well there, not too long ago the Lady Lions made it pretty deep into the bball tourney.  Wish I had the Big 10 network...

Pitt had a week and a half to prepare for the game and Navy still had them completely fooled.

Interestingly enough, Wannstedt was the defensive coordinator at Miami, when Miami beat Oklahoma's wishbone in the 80's.  

If you didn't hear the commentary, Lou Holtz continually stated that the way to break the option offense is to attack it, rather than try and read it.  

The Pitt guys were looking for the ball.  They needed to man up.  

Navy is a fun, fun team to watch.  Especially since they're giving away around 50 pounds on the line and some of their RBs are 160 pounds.  

Women's Volleyball?  A big thumbs up.  The PAC-10 is #1 in my view.  Some real hotties out there.  

and what a disgrace Pitt is.  Here is how the final sequence went down.  4th and 2.  Pitt calls Time out.  Video replay board shows overhead shot of Pitts huddle.  You can clearly see Wannstadt instructing Bostick on throwing the fade route to the right.  Receiver #88 pats the target man (#14) on the helmet and wishes him luck.  Navy sees this and calls time out before Pitt even fully lines up.  They go to time out again and again they are on the replay board.  This time it is Wannstadt giving the same fade route instruction to Bostick.  They come out in the same formation and everything and Navy easily defends it.  Almost as bad as when we had Zack Mills and he used to tell you if it was a pass or run whether he shook his right or left hand when we huddled up!

I follow PSU basketball because I am a close friend of Mike Walker. I was always a big PSU fan and almost went there and played along side mikey again. He is a terrific leader on the court and i really think that barring injuries this years team is going to have a solid year. I will not be able to watch many games out here but I do talk to mike on a regular basis and can get a little insider information on the team. Go Lions, God Bless you all.

I may be able to contribute a little about the swim teams. I was a swimmer at Penn State (hence the screen name).

I'll be at the Navy-Wake Forest game next week.

The Pitt harassment today was first class.  Me and my buddies had every Pitt fan feeling even worse about their miserable lives by the end of the day.

Pitt is a place where the coach needs fired.  Not Penn State.

Renewing the Penn State game SHOULD be the least of the worries of the athletic department right now.  The level of apathy in the Pitt fanbase for this football team is approaching the same apathy that diehard baseball fans in this town have for the Pirates.  And that's not a good thing because Pitt doesn't have the portion of the fanbase that gets suckered into going to games thanks to some dumbass promotion.

I'm not even sure how much I blame the fans for not showing up anymore. I used to think it was ridiculous when half the fanbase complained that Pitt wasn't an elite program, but then they'd admit they weren't going to the games because the Pitt team or opposition wasn't good enough to merit them dropping the cash on tickets. Fans at elite programs support their programs unconditionally.

But maybe this is a sad testament to the legacy of an administration that doesn't seem to give much of a damn - starting with Jeff Long.

This is very much a program without any sort identity.  Change the colors, Jeff.  Change the jerseys and change the logo once every couple of years, Jeff.  And in the process, completely ignore the elephant in the room - namely, generating, maintaining and - God forbid - actually BUILDING interest in the program.

The one time they made a change for the better that EVERYONE seemed to love - the throwbacks worn during the YSU game, where even the players were clammoring for a switch back to the old blue and gold - the administration decided against actively using it. Why? Well, why give the fanbase what it wants - some shred of an identity - when we can have more crap like this...

http://www.shoppittpanthers.com/catalog/product/82965

Nice to see the Long administration aced that Marketing 101 class taught by Profs. Nutting and McClatchy.

What about the rest of the tradition (and I'm not talking about 1976 and 1982 and Dorsett and Marino)?

There is no other major sport in America where fan involvement, interaction and the atmosphere it creates is more prevalent than college football. It creates the environment that brings recruits and thus helps bolster the program. I had friends who went to ND, Michigan and PSU for college in part because they wanted to be there for gamedays.

So what sets Pitt apart?  There's no Rocky Top. There's no Howard's Rock.  There's no dotting the "I".  You know how it's great to be a Florida Gator?  There's no cheering about how great it is to be a Pitt Panther.  There's no Big House, no Swamp, no Death Valley.  There's no stepping off at the Golden Dome.  There's no pregame walk to the stadium anymore.  There's no school-specific cheer on the run-up to kickoff.

No Roll Tide. No Pig Sooey. No Sea of Red. No Boomer Sooner. No Tomahawk Chop. No 12th Man. And even as much as I hate it, there's no Zombie Nation.

Now I know why so many fans clammor for the administration to bring back the Script logo and the old colors.  It was the ONE thing Pitt had that it could link to an identity.  It was the one thing that helped set Pitt apart.

Does the fact that they share the football market with an iconic pro team or the lack of a campus stadium have anything to do with this? I'm not so sure.

I understand tradition is something that takes time to build. I understand the program has more immediate concerns like a coaching staff that can't get out of its own way. And I understand that the best way to get fans interested is to win, but let's be realistic here...that isn't going to happen year in and year out under the best of circumstances.

Tradition also needs to start somewhere and this is one of only a few Big East schools that can lay claim to any sort of long-standing football history. Until this administration stops marketing this team like a friggin' Arena League team and starts taking steps to create more of a college identity, the fanbase will continue to be casually interested and that's it.

Sorry for the length of that, guys.  There's a lot of venting, a lot of frustration and a lot of hurt going on in Pitt Nation today, at least from those of us who still care.  And I think it's not so much the loss, but the way it happened last night.  I felt terrible for the Pitt players...they busted their asses last night despite being forced to play in a seriously-flawed scheme (especially on defense) that was doomed to fail from the start, and the coaching let them all down.  

...the on-field issues at Pitt are many, and they are all great.

I brought up the above because I just can't believe how apathetic the fanbase here has become.  It's sad, and the school needs to address it just as much as they need to address this disaster of a football program.

I'm not sure Wannstedt gets canned this year.  If the alumni start making enough noise, perhaps.  But he's got two years left on his deal and I can't see Pitt ponying up the $$$ to pay him for two years as well as a new coach.  You never know...I'm just not holding my breath.

Then again, they will eventually be hiring a new AD and that person may not have any allegiances to the Stache.

Then again, it seems everyone from the AD to the chancellor to the Golden Panthers to the Golden Panthers' checkbooks to the lady behind the counter at the bookstore has some sort of say in the process of hiring a new coach.  So who knows what to expect?

IF Wannstedt is retained, I expect some organizational changes similar to what Rutgers did after 2004 with Schiano (Schiano was 12-34 in four years heading into 2005 and the school basically told him to make changes on his staff if he wanted to keep his job).  Rhoads (def. coord.) will almost certainly be let go and I think the same will be said for O-line coach Paul Dunn.

If not, the new direction will depend on the new AD and the 120,000 other people who have a say in this mess.

...you go for the win there.  Its obvious you're never going to stop Navy.  It was just 2 stupid play calls.  You lose with the ball in the hands of your best player for the last two plays, or you win.

Our defense is crap.  It is what it is.

We don't need a 2 for 1.  We need to win games.  A couple of years ago we were selling out Heinz field - because we were expecting to win.  That's all it takes.  If you want to play some games, sounds good to us.  I didn't see you signing up for a 2 for 1 with 2 at Pitt a couple years ago when your were terrible.  Even after this losing season, we STILL won't have as many losing seasons are you have this century.

Shady is for real - Navy or not.  He runs for 100 against anyone, with no offensive line.  Could you imagine if you had gotten him?  You could be undefeated instead of not even making a BCS bowl...oh well.

The other day people were whining about being jealous the Big East is on TV too much, not its back to "we don't want to play on Wednesdays anyways, we prefer to be on a network no one gets half the time."  It doesn't matter what day of the week you play on or what channel you're on - wins and losses matter.  We're just not winning now.  I don't care if Pitt plays every game on wednesdays and thursdays, as long as they start winning again.  You guys can play on Saturdays all you want - doesn't matter to me, as long as you don't succeed.

...at the beginning of the year he had you guys going 12-0 and Morelli taking a "step forward."  How'd that work out for you?  If you're going to rely on what "Herby" says as gospel, well, good luck with that.

You must not understand the definition of "need."  Of course, on the years PSU plays here, it will sell out that game, and whatever other game we force you to buy, and get a significant number of season ticket packages sold.  But if we play a 2 for 1, thats one year of sales.  On the other hand, if we begin to win, we will sell tickets regardless if we play PSU or not.  This is a fact based on history: see 2003.  The expectations were high, and we had good attendance.  We know we're not in the middle of cow fields, and not everyone in this city has only 1 thing to do on the weekends.  But if we win, people will come.  Obviously, we'll never beat you in attendance.  But i'm not sure why you're so hung up on it.  We want to play a game against PSU for the sake of playing the games, not selling tickets.  We're just not putting up with a bullshit deal.

Same thing with TV deals - we're not the greatest right now, so whatever TV we get is fine.  And when we are good, I still don't care if we're on Wednesdays or Saturdays - i'm not sure why you're worried about this either.  Funny, your fans are more concerned about our TV schedule than us...some jealous, some in denial...

And finally, I love how PSU fans can't comprehend they have a school 4 times as large as ours, and it has been for a long time.  There is nothing out there to do, and you have a ton of alumni.  Yes, you have people go to games when you suck.  I just don't know what this has to do with anything I said.  Nice straw man.

...for the sake of playing the game.

Then Pitt would not force PSU to buy tickets to see Grambling and whoever else.

Also, if it were just about playing the game, the venue wouldn't matter.

So, no, you're wrong... it is about selling tickets.

I don't blame Pitt for having high demands or expectations, but please don't delude yourself or anyone else into thinking that ticket sales aren't a primary motivation for Pitt playing PSU.

By the way, the ladies (currently ranked #3) host Michigan tonight at 8pm at Rec Hall. If you get a chance, catch it. These girls are very athletic, and have a mean streak. Seeing it live is just like any other show: it takes it to a whole new level.

I've been taking my daughters up to watch them for 15 years, and am pretty familiar with the program and it's history. If I get time, I'll post a diary with some info on the program and it's ballsy head coach Russ Rose.

My daughter is now a senior at PSU, and has converted a lot of her friends into WVB diehards. It's a tremendously impressive program.

Like it or not, that's just a reality of college football these days, and it's not like there aren't other big-name programs playing games on weeknights.

Florida State was on ESPN last night.  Miami and Texas A&M squared off on a Thursday night back in September.  The night after, then-#4 ranked Oklahoma played on a Friday night.  What's this world coming to when Oklahoma is playing on a Friday night?

South Carolina and Kentucky played each other last Thursday night.  Who would've ever thought the SEC would stoop so low to get two ranked teams on against each other on a Thursday night?  In a couple of weeks, Boston College and VT - both ranked - will meet on an ESPN Thursday night.  VT plays again the following Thursday.  Oregon gets in on the act in mid-November.

There's only so much time and so many networks that can cover Saturday afternoon games.  CBS gets the SEC.  CBS has had those games for as long as I can remember and I don't see the Big Ten, Big XII, Pac 10 or anyone else ever bumping the SEC out of the way.  NBC has Notre Dame.  

That leaves the ABC/ESPN conglomerate.

I don't see what the big deal is about this.  College football has become a six-day-a-week televised sport and teams that were never getting on television ten years ago are now finding themselves on national television three or four times a year.  Are some teams "selling out" for it?  I guess that's what you could call it.  But like I said, there's only so much prime television time to go around for college football on the major networks.  Most of those major networks already have deals in place with other conferences (or schools, like NBC).  So many of these teams would never have a chance to be a part of a national broadcast otherwise.  For a lot of these schools, limited exposure is better than no exposure, and it's worked out fairly well a lot of them.

...was the attendance count.  And compared to Crappy Valley, it is the epicenter of entertainment.  You could list dozens of things to do here every Saturday, that don't involve bovines or college football.  And considering Stillers play on Sunday, a lot of football fans have to choose how to spend their money.  This is a problem the gross majority of teams who play in Pro cities have to deal with.

And still no response to the "need" to play PSU to sell tickets.  We all agree it will help sell tickets, but we don't "need" them to do that.  There are other ways - such as winning games.

And quit whining about other tickets that you have to buy with PSU tickets.  Whats the difference between being charged a higher price for the game, or getting charged the same price for two games?  Its just a dumb ploy to get rid of some tickets to a game no one wants to see.  We could easily charge more for that one game like some schools do, or we could just do what we did.  No difference there.  Play the game - at this point, it should be a guaranteed win - you could replace a directional school and no difference for you.