Pitt and Penn State provided an island of the expected amidst the sea of unexpected in college football Saturday. This was not a good thing.
Pitt played yet another uneven game, managing to blow a 12-0 lead in a 27-21 loss to Boston College. Make no mistake, this is a mediocre BC team, despite the 3-3 record. Those other wins were vs. sad sack Rutgers and Maine, the same Maine team that also got blown out by Elon this season and has losses to Merrimack, Sacred Heart and Bryant.
This is the pedigree of the Boston College team that sent Pitt to its second consecutive loss since Panthers coach Pat (Me On The Back) Narduzzi (No Doozy) went on a post-game tirade about his team deserving to be ranked after getting a gift win at Virginia Tech.
Well, Pitt was ranked, for a week, all the time it took to lose to North Carolina the following weekend, and now this.
No Doozy was more subdued after this BC loss, beginning his post game comments with “obviously, um (clears his throat) not a great outing . . . “
You think? Pitt absorbed 13 penalties for 133 yards, five of them for 63 yards on a single Boston College possession. I don’t want to hear about starting quarterback Mason Heintschel being out for the season with a knee injury.
Hey, Pat, that 1976 Pitt national championship team that was honored the previous weekend, it beat Miami (not Ohio) 36-19 on Oct. 16, 1976, with third-string quarterback Tommy Yewcic, he of Conemaugh Valley High School, at the helm due to injuries to Robert Haygood and Matt Cavanaugh.
Yes, that team had Tony Dorsett running the ball. Still, this week’s pick in your quarterback lottery had a 12-0 lead and helped give it away with two interceptions.
Also, admittedly, in 1976 that was not a vintage Miami powerhouse team, ending the season just 3-8. It is notable, however, that in 1976 Miami lost by only a 17-9 margin to No. 5 Nebraska, 21-7 to Penn State, and beat Boston College, 13-6.
Only one team (Notre Dame with 40) put up more points vs. Miami in 1976 than did the Panthers, playing with a third-string quarterback.
By the way, the Pitt coach back then, Johnny Majors, didn’t need to scream about poll exclusion, having opened the season by pounding Notre Dame (not Miami, OHIO, as Pitt did this season), ending the regular season by beating Penn State, then humbling No. 5 Georgia, 27-3 in the Sugar Bowl.
But No Doozy and the guys get a chance to play the real Miami, The U, Saturday. Good luck, gang.
Meanwhile, Penn State, AKA Iowa State’s Central Pa. branch campus, was losing, as usual, at Michigan. But this 21-18 setback was not the usual Penn State big flop in the Big House.
First, Michigan is an unimpressive 4-2, having beaten Western Michigan, 13-12, in early September only by virtue of officiating ineptitude.
Those Wolverines likely would not have beaten Penn State, had they not benched sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood, reportedly making $3 million this season in NIL (name, image and likeness) money.
For the second half, Michigan used Tommy Carr (grandson of legendary former coach Lloyd Carr) and erased a 3-0 halftime deficit. Carr is a reported bargain at $400,000 or so NIL.
It helped that Penn State’s Iowa State-exile quarterback, Rocco Becht (reportedly making more than $1 million in NIL), threw two interceptions and fumbled once in that second half.
Ah, $1 million doesn’t buy what it used to.
But, PSU coach Matt “Soupy” Campbell, another Iowa State expatriate, will stick with Becht, if only because they both are cornfield buddies. By the way, Penn State is 3-4 and Iowa State is 3-3 this season.
Campbell missed a chance to guarantee Penn State won’t see that losing streak reach five games this coming Saturday. His team can’t lose in a bye week, can it?
