This year is a bit confusing. They're not exactly putting anyone away but finding ways to win, sans Iowa. They're not losing to anyone that they should've beaten. And hell, Iowa was a game that decided on an ungodly field goal. I'm unsure if I want to change my original prediction of 7-5 just yet. But I'm starting to lean on the plus side of 7.
I'm going to go with 8 wins total, which means 4-3 the rest of the way.
My logic is that we'll lose to ND and probably Duke.
I think we'll take 4 of 5 from GT, Syracuse, UNC, Louisville, and Miami.
I'll know more after we play GT. I see GT as a real wild card. I think we're either going to fare very well against the option or we're going to play horribly against it. It will require Narduzzi to break from his scheme a bit by being less aggressive and ensuring the pitch man is covered. On the other hand, we've done very well stopping the run with his base defense and that bodes well for us.
What's amazing is, we played horribly against the option and found a way to win. It was good to see the offense carry us to the dubbya. I think we beat Syracuse to become bowl eligible and the positive about our stretch run is all the games, but Duke, are at home. I'm leaning towards 8-4.
I can't believe we pulled it out after seeing GT run all over our defense. With how effective the option was, it's hard to fathom GT could have lost that one.
Of course it was great to see Pitt get the W and pull off another somewhat unlikely win. Every time this happens it feels more and more like the real deal and less like same old Pitt.
I think 9-3, but I'm generally pollyanna when it comes to the teams I root for. If I had to predict losses, I'd say Pitt loses to ND and UNC.
I'm still sticking with 8-4. Nothing's really making me think we go 3-2, or better, down the stretch. The thing I'm learning about the team is that they're a very well coached team. They keep it close and finish the game. I was kinda hoping Syracuse would've been one of those games where we put them away early and score often. Hopefully Webb gets back there for Thursday's game. He's having a solid season replacing Mitchell.
I was looking for us to put Syracuse away too. I'm not sure that Syracuse is as bad as their record, though. They've got some talent on that team. Their QB is really good. If he can keep himself on the football field and out of the concussion protocol, I think he's going to have a really nice career there. Seriously talented.
Ishmael was a huge mismatch against Maddox. We just couldn't cover him. We're going to have to find another solution for man-child receivers or it's going to come back to haunt us sooner or later this year. I'm just not sure what you do - the height of your corners is the height of your corners.
As for Pitt, it was great to see us pull out another close win that in other years would have been a loss. I'll take that all day even though I was expecting to beat Syracuse more handily. On to Heinz against UNC.
I think that UNC's offense is going to give Pitt's D a lot of trouble - Mobile QB that can throw and tall receivers. Hopefully the O has a good game because they will need a lot of points to win this one. Let's see......