The Turning Point: A tongue lashing

Typically, our Turning Point of the Game is an actual on-field play that affected the outcome. And while you can point to things like Chad Voytik's early touchdown run to get Pitt on the board or Tyler Boyd's incredible touchdown grab to pull Pitt to within two, our Turning Point this week was for something that happened on the sidelines.

If you watched Pitt's game yesterday, there's a chance you did some screaming at the TV at some point. For a while, it just seemed as if the team needed a bit of a pep talk at some point to right the ship.

James Conner had just fumbled for the second time inside the FIU 10-yard line and with the Panthers losing to a much lesser opponent many fans and from the sound on my television, one coach let loose on the young team. As Fox Sports 1 went to break, the field mics made me do a double take. Just like the week before when Ray Vinopal had some colorful language towards the end of the game, you heard a Pitt coach absolutely lose it on the Panthers.

The only thing I know for sure is that it was not Paul Chryst. I don't know the assistant coaches well enough to pick out the voice, but let's just say that he "kindly" reminded the Pitt team that they were now down 16-0 in the game and that they may want to start playing like they are capable.

From that point on, it actually seemed like the Panthers woke up and they finally looked like the team many thought they would see when they tuned in yesterday. The score from that point onward was a 42-9 run for Pitt. The message was clearly received and the words, while not kind, were needed to be said. You hope that a young team learns from this and doesn't need a tongue lashing like that in the future. Still, it is nice to know someone is there to give it to them.

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