CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — There have been plenty of low points in the past decade and a half for Pitt’s football program, but Saturday night’s 44-14 loss at Virginia ranks right up there with the best of the worst.
I was at the 63-21 loss to Virginia Tech in Johnny Majors’ home debut in 1993. I traveled to Toledo in 2003, only to see Walt Harris’ eighth-ranked Panthers fall to the upset-minded Rockets. But neither of those, nor even Dave Wannstedt’s first game as Pitt’s head coach in 2005 – a 42-21 home drubbing at the hands of Notre Dame – were as embarrassing for the Panthers’ as Saturday night’s debacle.
Only the 72-0 loss at Ohio State in 1996, which I mercifully missed, was indisputably a worse loss.
What’s frightening is that onlookers wondered on Saturday if the previous week’s 34-14 home loss to Connecticut might have been even more depressing.
It’s hard to imagine how. The Virginia game started with an act of desperation – a failed onside-kick attempt by Pitt – and quickly went downhill. The Panthers couldn’t stop the Cavaliers on defense, couldn’t move the ball on offense, couldn’t’ tackle Virginia’s return men on special teams and fumbled away a possession on a kickoff return. Throw in seven first-quarter penalties and it was amazing Pitt was only losing by 27 points after 15 minutes.
Things did improve for the Panthers in the second and third quarters – they managed to pull within 16 points at one point – but Virginia coach Al Groh made sure they went home with their tails between their legs by running a fake field goal for a touchdown with 51⁄2 minutes left.
The scary thing is, things might not get better this season. It’s hard to call anything a guaranteed win with this team.
The Panthers have a week off to regroup before Navy visits in one of the two remaining games they have any kind of chance of winning. A Nov. 3 game with Syracuse is the only other contest in which they seem to have any shot. The rest of the schedule includes home dates with Cincinnati and South Florida as well as road trips to Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia. Each of those teams is either currently ranked in the top 25 or has spent most of the season there.
To be fair, this team has faced plenty of adversity.
Wannstedt lost arguably his best player on offense (wide receiver Derek Kinder) and his best player on defense (defensive tackle Gus Mustakas) to season-ending injuries. He lost his starting quarterback (Bill Stull) to thumb surgery and found out on Monday that offensive tackle Jason Pinkston will undergo shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season.
If there is a silver lining for Pitt, it is that Wannstedt has turned the keys to the offense over to a pair of true freshmen in quarterback Pat Bostick and running back LeSean McCoy.
That should help pave the way for better times in 2008.
The question is if Wannstedt will still be around then. With Pitt searching for an athletic director, Wannstedt’s job might be on the line. He has gone 13-15 since returning to his alma mater, and this year looks worse than last season, when the Panthers lost their final five games.
Wannstedt has done an excellent job of recruiting, but he hasn’t been able to translate that into any on-field success. He might deserve another season at Pitt, but it would be hard to argue that offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh – and possibly even defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads – deserve the same fate.
Otherwise, the weekly embarrassments might continue next year as well.
Eric Knopsnyder is the sports editor of The Tribune-Democrat.
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Eric Knopsnyder | Another Pitt-iful performance
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