BG's opening opponent...The Pittsburgh Panthers-

Falconfreak90 · Post by **Falconfreak90** » Sat May 31, 2008 11:30 pm

http://cfn.scout.com/2/753712.html

I am concerned about Pitt...more than I was a few months ago. This RB of theirs is awesome.

Phil Steele has Pitt at #25 preseason.

BG is gonna have to play VERY well to get a win there. I think we can do it but Pitt sounds like a challenge. Win in Pittsburgh and that can put BG back in a positive light after the debacle in Mobile. And it's only 3 months away.

GO BG!

NY-BG-FAN · Post by **NY-BG-FAN** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:26 pm

25? Give me a break. If Rich Rodriguez had been more concerned about West Virginia instead of Michigan last November, they'd be ranked about 75th preseason. They caught a greedy coach napping, pulled a big upset with a bad team, and suddenly it's hands across America for Pitt. They aren't that good. It's always a challenge to get a road win, and I'm sure Pitt is improved, but they're not 25.

MarkL · Post by **MarkL** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:40 pm

NY-BG-FAN wrote:25? Give me a break. If Rich Rodriguez had been more concerned about West Virginia instead of Michigan last November, they'd be ranked about 75th preseason. They caught a greedy coach napping, pulled a big upset with a bad team, and suddenly it's hands across America for Pitt. They aren't that good. It's always a challenge to get a road win, and I'm sure Pitt is improved, but they're not 25.

You know, I also have not bought this Pitt hype. They've recruited very well, including that amazing HB (McCoy, I think is his name), but the talent has not turned into wins yet. To me, that falls on coaching. Yes, I think they will be improved, but I don't feel they will be good enough to win more than 7 games this year. I think it was Pete Fiutak at Fox Sports picked Pitt to win the Big East in the preseason picks. That's just ludicrous.

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 6:40 pm

Don't forget the Dave Wannstedt factor...not exactly Knute Rockne,

tiznow · Post by **tiznow** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 7:28 pm

Don't underestimate the motivation that the BG players from the Pittsburgh area will have in this game. It will be tough but winnable. Pitt doesn't have a real home field advantage either.

MarkL · Post by **MarkL** » Sun Jun 01, 2008 8:26 pm

tiznow wrote:Don't underestimate the motivation that the BG players from the Pittsburgh area will have in this game. It will be tough but winnable. Pitt doesn't have a real home field advantage either.

Home field advantage ... yeah ... about that ...
So I say we should do everything we can to get BG fans to travel en mass to Pitt and turn Heinz field into Doyt Perry East. Sound good?

BGDrew · Post by **BGDrew** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 2:32 am

Let's not forget that Pitt beat arguably the best team in the nation last year. This game scares me more than Wyoming and Boise combined.

tiznow · Post by **tiznow** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:06 am

MarkL wrote:
tiznow wrote:Don't underestimate the motivation that the BG players from the Pittsburgh area will have in this game. It will be tough but winnable. Pitt doesn't have a real home field advantage either.
Home field advantage ... yeah ... about that ...
So I say we should do everything we can to get BG fans to travel en mass to Pitt and turn Heinz field into Doyt Perry East. Sound good?

Exactly. labor Day weekend. Only a four hour drive from BG.

60yearsofsicsic · Post by **60yearsofsicsic** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:53 am

Oh Boy!!! I agree that this game scares me more than an other games on the schedule. We all saw what Kevin Mcare (SP?) form OU did to us last year. This RB from Pitt will be a first round pick in the NFL draft one day. That said if our conerbacks can single cover and make them throw and someone taught our "D" to tackle and wrap in the offseason!!!!!!!!!! Then maybe we have a chance. But if the same lousey tackling happens again it could get ugly WANY might run the ball 50 times.

I am just so happy to be talking football agian!!!!!

GO Falcons!

cw08 · Post by **cw08** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:52 am

I'm not going to trust our run defense against this team. If they give up as many yards as they did against MAC teams imagine what a guy like McCoy can do to them?

I'm not counting BG out by any means but the offense is going to have to score almost every time its on the field to win the game because of the clock control a team with a good running game has against it.

Jacobs4Heisman · Post by **Jacobs4Heisman** » Mon Jun 02, 2008 12:27 pm

Underestimating Pitt is a mistake. Yeah, Wannstedt is no Lombardi, but Brandon is no Wannstedt. On talent, they have us easily. Add that to home field, and it will be a very tough game. They might not have had much advantage in the past, but the marketing push down here has been unbelievable. I have no doubt we'll travel well, but it's still a road game and the yinzers down here will be lathered up as usual.

I have no love for Pitt, and I think we definitely have a chance to go in there and steal one, given our nice track record in road openers against big schools. However, to say they are "not that good" or "they should be ranked #75" is just lying to yourself to make yourself feel better. Pitt will be a very good team this year. 25 might be a bit high, but it's not far off.

CiContention · Post by **CiContention** » Tue Jun 03, 2008 9:21 pm

It's easy to talk any team down. With enough effort you can talk down the number one team in the nation to a cupcake.

Pittsburgh, as an opponent, reminds me very much of Wisconsin out of the gate two years ago. Probably a little overrated, still a bit better than us. We didn't execute then and that entire year was a disaster offensively. The team is going to be a lot better this season, but to beat Pittsburgh to open up the year would indeed be a pretty charming little upset. Still, an upset.

JoeFalcon · Post by **JoeFalcon** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:40 pm

Why do we get these darn non-conference teams just as they're hitting their stride? Instead of the anemic version of Pitt that Ohio got to beat up on a couple years ago, we get them with LeSean McCoy coming off a win over the #2 team in the country.

Falconboy · Post by **Falconboy** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:18 pm

JoeFalcon wrote:Why do we get these darn non-conference teams just as they're hitting their stride? Instead of the anemic version of Pitt that Ohio got to beat up on a couple years ago, we get them with LeSean McCoy coming off a win over the #2 team in the country.

I guess so it can be sweeter for us when we win.

MarkL · Post by **MarkL** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:28 pm

Well, the prospect of us beating Pitt just got a lot better.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3426347

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt receiver Maurice Williams will sit out the season after being declared academically ineligible.

Williams, a former star at Strong Vincent High School in Erie, played in 10 games in 2007, catching five passes for 100 yards and a touchdown.

Williams was expected to be Pitt's top deep threat this season, and his absence will create an opening that could be filled by incoming freshman receiver Jonathan Baldwin of Aliquippa.

Williams plans to remain on Pitt's team and take a redshirt season. He would have three seasons of eligibility remaining.

"We believe Maurice can achieve a lot at Pitt, both academically and athletically, and our expectations are for him to use this as motivation for improvement," Panthers coach Dave Wannstedt said in a statement.

Something about a RB as good as McCoy and a good deep threat receiver on the same team just seems scary ... we'll see if they can find another great deep threat or not. At least our defense may not be THAT spread out now.