There’s SO MUCH to talk about. Alabama is in. Ohio State is out. People are jammed. We debate the Final Four, the structure of the College Football Playoff Committee, and whether or not they should expand the playoff field to 6-8 teams. We also talk about the absolute craziness that has been the 2017 coaching carousel, focusing on how Tennessee is making Pitt’s past coaching debacles look like a non-issue. Then, we dig into the 2017 Pitt basketball season to date. The theme of this year: progress. We want to see it, and we explain what that means.
Don’t Play Pitt in November; Pitt Upsets Miami
The Kenny Picket era has begun.
We’ve Hit Our Breaking Point; Pitt Loses to UNC
Pitt lost to North Carolina. You can probably guess how this episode is going to go….
Predicting the CFB Playoff; ACC Teams That Suck; Previewing Pitt-UNC
Pitt is undefeated against bye week. Take that to the bank. Now that things like yard work and enjoying the outside world are in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to get back to business and preview America’s biggest college football game: Pitt-UNC. How bad does UNC suck? A lot. Can Pitt beat them? Probably, but we are terrified of predicting it.
Before we get into breaking down Thursday’s game, we look at the College Football Playoff and break down who’s in, who’s out, and who needs help to get in (hint: The Big Ten is screwed). We also break down the entire ACC team by team, with the fourth quarter of the season just around the bend.
All that, and more, ahead in episode 262!
STUFF IS HAPPENING; Pitt Beats Virginia
Pitt is starting to improve, and that’s worth getting excited about. No, they’re not perfect. The team is far from that. But it’s improving with a lot of young talent, and that’s what this episode centers around. For once, we start things off talking about the defense, because that unit had a dominant performance on Saturday. From pressuring the quarterback, to creating turnovers and providing strong defense in the secondary, the defensive side of the ball was as good as we’ve seen in a long, long time. The offense continued to be effective running the ball as well, and Ben Dinucci seemed to progress a bit from last week’s win at Duke. All of that combined with another punt return from Quadree Henderson to create a banner day, in what was otherwise a cold, wet, dreary, uninspiring atmosphere for football. We talk a ton about this game — as well as how Mario Lemiuex actually hates Penn State and how not watching is sometimes better for your health — in Episode 261!
Who Wants to Be A Pitt QB? Pitt Beats Duke
Too often, we haven’t had a lot of positives to focus on this season. So, with Pitt’s come-from-behind victory at Duke this weekend, we do our best to focus on the positives. Darrin Hall, the offensive line, and the Pitt secondary all had banner days. However, there were some questionable coaching decisions and lingering offensive issues that we have to discuss as well. All told, it’s nice to talk about a win. Couple that with Chris’s road trip, and then previewing Pitt-UVA, we hope you’ll join us for Episode 260!
I Wanted it to Go Better; Pitt Loses to N.C. State
We’re back with the same old story. Defense? Pretty darn good. Special teams? Not terrible. Offense? … I don’t wanna talk about it … But we do, in great detail. The offense, in a word, was putrid, and it’s hard to blame anyone other than Shawn Watson and the Pitt coaching staff. There was confusion at quarterback, the play calling was super confusing, and once again this offense wasted a strong defensive performance. We break all of that down, plus go through your reaction to Kenny Pickett’s debut and the coaching decisions from this game, in Episode 259.
I Never Liked That Red Shirt Anyway… Pitt Loses to Syracuse
Well, that was interesting… Pitt lost another game they could have won, and we’re left to pick up the pieces. This one was extra strange, though, as Max Browne got hurt and Kenny Pickett’s red shirt ended up getting burnt for the last play of the game. Along the way, there were positives and negatives. Some positives? Well, the defense played mostly well, Alex Kessman was automatic from distance, and Jordan Whitehead is still REALLY good at football. The negatives? Pitt doesn’t seem to have any semblance of identity on offense, mistakes cost them the game, and oh yeah that redshirt thing…
Tons to talk about in this one, as well as your calls, texts and tweets. All that, and more, in Episode 258.
Pitt Beats Rice, Scheduling Strategies, & Cheating in College Sports
Finally, for the first time in the 2017 season Pitt did exactly what it should — dominate an inferior opponent. That being the case, we have mostly good things to discuss in this week’s episode! Max Browne was slingin’ it, the receivers were catching it, and Pitt racked up the points. On defense, it was a solid effort from a lot of young players. There were question marks — the offensive line, running backs, etc. — and we talk about them, too.
Then we move on to talk about our confidence levels headed into the Syracuse game. What are the chances Pitt can go on the road and win? Also, what type of scheduling approach would you prefer Pitt to take with its non-conference schedule? A harder schedule like this year, or softer like in years past? And lastly, we dig into the college basketball scandal that resulted in Rick Pitino’s firing and discuss cheating in college sports. All that, and more, in Episode 257!
Searching For an Identity; Pitt Blown Out by OK State
This week was rough. Pitt got blown out and looked terrible in just about every facet of the game against Oklahoma State. With that said, we do our best to try and figure out what Pitt is, and what Pitt isn’t, through three games. We break down offense, defense, special teams, and coaching, and we also do a lot of searching for answers. All that — plus listener voicemails, texts, and tweets — are straight ahead, in Episode 256!
Chris & Dan Podcast 