For a half at least, the Pitt Panthers looked well underway to knocking off their second Top 25 team of the season. The they came out of the locker room after halftime and everything changed. No. 18 Louisville outscored Pitt 21-0 in the third quarter and turned a 21-17 halftime deficit into a 38-21 lead, cruising the rest of the way to a 45-35 victory, ruining Pitt's homecoming. Louisville's Senorise Perry rushed for 101 yards and a career-high four touchdowns and Teddy ... Read More
Despite Slow Start, Pitt Defense Coming Along Nicely
In case you are still angry about the fourth quarter of Pitt's most recent loss to Syracuse, there's a silver lining in the Panthers 2-3 start- the play of the Pitt defense. Coming into the season, the Panthers defense was a huge question mark. They returned only four starters from a season ago and had only one senior starter in safety Jarred Holley. But since then that number has grown to three as linebacker Manny Williams and defensive back Andrew Taglianetti have been added to the ... Read More
Panthers Must Eliminate Mistakes vs. Louisville
Through five games, the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde season for the Pitt Panthers football team has unpredictable. You never know which of Paul Chryst's teams- the good one that beat Virginia Tech or the bad one that lost to Youngstown State- will show up on a weekly basis. But the one consistency through five games have been countless mistakes, win or lose. Pitt is ranked near the bottom of FBS schools in two penalty categories — 87th in number per game (7.2) and 83rd in yards lost per game ... Read More
Sunseri, Missed Opportunities Doom Panthers
The bye week came at a bad time for the Pitt Panthers, as Paul Chryst's team had the makings of beginning to look like a good football team for a couple of weeks before having to wait 13 days in between games. That had an effect Friday night against Big East Conference rival Syracuse, as Pitt shot themselves in the foot all night long, eventually falling to the Orange 14-13, as Syracuse won its first game against an FBS team in their past eight tries. Coming off two of the best ... Read More
Week 6 Big East Power Rankings
The Pitt Panthers are coming off a week off, but other teams were busy during Week 5 of the college football season. Cincinnati won the biggest game of the week by defeating Virginia Tech, but no one else in the conference had a particularly good showing. How does all of that effect my latest power rankings? For one, we have a shakeup at the top and some movement throughout. Let's take a look at how the Big East teams stand as they head into Week 6. 1. Rutgers (4-0, 1-0) Last Week's ... Read More
Tino Sunseri Putting it Together as Pitt QB
Through four weeks of the 2012 college football season, things have been a roller coaster ride for the Pitt Panthers. However while there have been many inconsistencies on both sides of the ball for Paul Chryst's team, the one constant has been the play of quarterback Tino Sunseri, which is not only quite surprising for Panthers' fans, but also quite nice to see. Other than a couple rough series' against Cincinnati, Sunseri hasn't done anything to hold the Panthers back. He's not making ... Read More
Pitt rolls over Gardner-Webb for 2nd straight win
After what Pitt fans saw on Saturday from the Pitt Panthers, the bye week is coming up at a bad time. The Panthers ran up 626 yards of offense and got another inspired effort from their defense en route to a 55-10 victory over FCS opponent Gardner-Webb. After starting the season 0-2, being outscored 65-27, the Panthers have bounced back by winning two straight games, outscoring Virginia Tech and Gardner-Webb by a combined 90-27, putting up a combined 1,163 yards of total offense. Much ... Read More
Pitt’s Jahmahl Pardner Lost for Season
There wasn't a whole lot of bad news that came from Pitt's 35-17 victory over Virginia Tech last Saturday, but they did receive some when it was made known that talented freshman cornerback Jahmahl Pardner will have surgery to repair a torn ACL this week and will miss the rest of the 2012 season. Pardner suffered the injury against the Hokies on Saturday. He appeared in all three games this season on special teams and as a nickel-back, recording three tackles, one sack, and one forced ... Read More
Pitt Defense Looking to Build Off Encoraging Performace vs. Hokies
After Pitt’s big win last Saturday against Virginia Tech, much has been made of the way Tino Sunseri and the Panthers’ offense performed. Why not? All Sunseri did was win Big East Offensive Player of the Week after completing 19-of-28 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. In addition, the Pitt offense racked up 537 yards, their highest total since 2000. However while Sunseri and freshman running back Rushel Shell’s 157 yards on the ground were a big part of the Panthers victory, that ... Read More
Big East Conference Week 4 Power Rankings
Now that the college football season is entering Week 4 and most teams have played at least one conference game, it's time to take a look at my weekly Big East Conference Power Rankings. Thanks to a big win against Virginia Tech, the Pitt Panthers moved up, but they still have a bit of work ahead of them before cracking the upper half of the conference. With that being said, let's take a look at how the Big East teams stack up. 1. Louisville (3-0): The Cardinals avoided a scare in a ... Read More