That might be the best way to sum up a tidy win. Pitt looked particularly sharp in the 2nd half - something that had been missing. The defense pitched a shutout, led by stellar defensive line play, and Bill Stull was master of the deep ball.
Speaking of Stull, he's been making most of us doubters, including Ron Cook of the PG, eat our words:
I'm more than happy to admit I had this one wrong. While I wasn't sure that Stull would flounder this year, I was more than happy to give someone else a shot at the beginning of the season.
Mistakes got the better part of Pitt in the first half, but they came back to play a strong 2nd half.
Last week? Oh yeah, almost forgot - don't remind me. This is one of the things Pitt does to us diehards. They can lose games they should win and win games they should lose. Right now, truth be told, Pitt should be 5-0. A 14-point lead late in the third quarter of a game should net you a win. But alas, this is Pitt. Not that I want to be too hard on them, but it is frustrating when you consider they could realistically be a top-15 team had they won that game.
And by the way, looks like NC State's quarterback, Russell Wilson ended his interception streak one week late.
As I alluded to yesterday, Bob Smizik points out that Stull is indeed one of the top passers in the country statistically- at least in terms of passer rating:
If he keeps this up, Pitt could be looking at a 10-win season...or better.
Meanwhile, down in Louisville, one columnist goes so far to say that this was their program's worst home conference loss.
And Louisville just a 'couple of plays away?'
Not sure I buy that one. 35-28? Sure. 35-21? Maybe. But you can't score zero points in the 2nd half of a 25-point loss and proclaim it was pretty close.
Pitt didn't get through the game completely unscathed. There were some injuries.
Meanwhile, Brian Bennett at ESPN.com calls Cincy and South Florida the class of the conference so far. Hard to argue with that.
It appears my pleas did some good - the Pitt/UCONN game next week has a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
In a somewhat unrelated note, the Big East announced its partnership for a new bowl game. Yep, exactly where I want to be in December - New York City. What a joke.
And some ESPN.com personalities make early projections for bowl games, putting Pitt in the oh so interesting International Bowl or the St. Petersburg Bowl. The Big East is really tied into some bad bowls. With the Champs Sports Bowl not until next year, it really is BCS or bust in my opinion.
Speaking of Stull, he's been making most of us doubters, including Ron Cook of the PG, eat our words:
Stull has played well enough for Pitt to be 5-0 and ranked in the top 25 instead of 4-1 and -- to this point -- not even an afterthought in the minds of the AP poll voters. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and just one interception.
I wish I would have predicted that before the season.
I feel a bit foolish about now for thinking Stull was going to be Pitt's weak link. Not that I was alone. Even Wannstedt gave him a lukewarm endorsement before the season.
How much fun Stull must be having proving all of us wrong. He doesn't look at all like the quarterback who was so bad in that Sun Bowl fiasco.
I'm more than happy to admit I had this one wrong. While I wasn't sure that Stull would flounder this year, I was more than happy to give someone else a shot at the beginning of the season.
Mistakes got the better part of Pitt in the first half, but they came back to play a strong 2nd half.
"At the half, we knew we really made too many mistakes to score points," Pitt quarterback Bill Stull said. "But we cleaned some things up and took some shots and made the two big plays to sort of take control of the game a little. It was nice to finish this one after the way things went last week."
Last week? Oh yeah, almost forgot - don't remind me. This is one of the things Pitt does to us diehards. They can lose games they should win and win games they should lose. Right now, truth be told, Pitt should be 5-0. A 14-point lead late in the third quarter of a game should net you a win. But alas, this is Pitt. Not that I want to be too hard on them, but it is frustrating when you consider they could realistically be a top-15 team had they won that game.
And by the way, looks like NC State's quarterback, Russell Wilson ended his interception streak one week late.
As I alluded to yesterday, Bob Smizik points out that Stull is indeed one of the top passers in the country statistically- at least in terms of passer rating:
NCAA statistics posted this morning on its web site show Stull to be fifth in the nation in passer rating at 167.49. He has completed 77 of 116 passes for 988 yards. He’s thrown 11 touchdown passes and one interception.
If he keeps this up, Pitt could be looking at a 10-win season...or better.
Meanwhile, down in Louisville, one columnist goes so far to say that this was their program's worst home conference loss.
And Louisville just a 'couple of plays away?'
"We're just a couple of plays away," Froman said. "We had a good game plan. We knew what they were going to do. We just didn't execute."
Not sure I buy that one. 35-28? Sure. 35-21? Maybe. But you can't score zero points in the 2nd half of a 25-point loss and proclaim it was pretty close.
Pitt didn't get through the game completely unscathed. There were some injuries.
Meanwhile, Brian Bennett at ESPN.com calls Cincy and South Florida the class of the conference so far. Hard to argue with that.
It appears my pleas did some good - the Pitt/UCONN game next week has a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
In a somewhat unrelated note, the Big East announced its partnership for a new bowl game. Yep, exactly where I want to be in December - New York City. What a joke.
And some ESPN.com personalities make early projections for bowl games, putting Pitt in the oh so interesting International Bowl or the St. Petersburg Bowl. The Big East is really tied into some bad bowls. With the Champs Sports Bowl not until next year, it really is BCS or bust in my opinion.