Pitt had a busy weekend with games against football and basketball games against Syracuse and Tennessee, respectively. Here are my thoughts on the football game:
- There was virtually no chance the football team wasn't coming away with a win on Saturday in my opinion. The game was at home and as I wrote in the preview at SB Nation Pittsburgh before the game, Todd Graham is a master motivator regardless of how else you might feel about him. I fully expected the team to be prepared and knew he'd have them up for the game. Six Syracuse turnovers, though, helped the cause.
- Tino played pretty well - he completed nearly 75% of his passes and threw for more than 250 yards. If there's one thing I'll remember from this year about Sunseri, it might be that regardless of how well he's played at times, the fans haven't given him a break - not a single one. If he plays well, silence. But when he's awful (and he has been awful at times - no one's disputing that), the boo birds are out in full force. Tino isn't great, but to dismiss the fact that he's had good games this season is utter nonsense. I'm far from convinced he's the ideal fit for this offense, but he deserves credit when he plays fairly well - which he has in games against Notre Dame, South Florida, UConn, Louisville, and Syracuse.
- One thing I'm particularly encouraged about is that I think Todd Graham's system really could work well. Zach Brown and Issac Bennett aren't Ray Graham, but both have had success this year after his injury. I'm not to the point where I'd call the offense a 'Plug and Play' type, but it's really easy to see how very good players can put up video game numbers in it when things are going well.