Two at 3-0

It was a very successful football weekend in Pittsburgh as both the Steelers and the Pitt Panthers won and improved their records to 3-0 on the season, and both teams did it in similar fashion - with suffocating defenses.

Pitt defeated Louisville 23-20.  Louisville was in the game because of two big plays - a 70+ yard run for a TD and a pass where the receiver got behind what appeared to be broken down coverage in the secondary.  Other than that, the Cardinals were pretty much impotent against Pitt's defense, which appears to be as strong as we've seen in Oakland for quite sometime.   

The other big news of the day was that Pitt was wearing an "alternate uniform" on Saturday.  It was monochromatic steel grey uniform and helmet with the Panther Head logo.  The helmet was pretty cool, the rest of the uniform, not so much.  The uniform was designed to be a tribute to the region's "Steel Heritage."  If they want to do that next year, why not make the unis back and gold and call themselves the "Steelers"?

On Sunday, the Steelers trailed the Houston Texans 21-17 at halftime, and things looked dicey, especially on defense.  However, whatever Mike Tomlin and his coaches devised at halftime sure worked, because the Steelers defense took charge and positively smothered Deshaun Watson and the Texans offense.  I think that they managed all of two first downs in the second half, and the Steelers came away with a 28-21 win.

The "feel good" story of the day was the appearance of all three Watt Brothers, JJ, Derek, and TJ, in the game.

Derek got injured early and didn't play much, JJ was held to only four tackles, and TJ had his usual big day for the Steelers, including a monster sack of Watson late in the game that pretty much ended all hope for the Texans.

One of the cooler moment of the day was the pre-game coin toss, that featured the two brothers as Captains....

Up next, Pitt takes on North Carolina State on Saturday, and the Steelers face the Titans, also 3-0, in Nashville on Sunday.  Before that, though, is a dandy game on MNF tonight, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens.  These are the two best teams in the League (according to the Grandstander Power Rankings) and a possible preview of the AFC Championship Game.

Pre-Season GPR and College Football

One of the wildly popular features of this blog has been my weekly Grandstander Power Rankings for the NFL, wherein I rate the NFL as if it were college football - the Top Four teams only.  I usually begin issuing these after the sixth week of the NFL season in order to give the League (or as Booger McFarland would put it "our League") time to shake off early season kinks and let the dust settle, and that is what I shall do in 2020 as well, but what the hell, here's a pre-season look at the GPR.  Along about Week 6, I'll get serious with this, and we'll see how accurate I might have been.

1. Chiefs
2. Ravens
3. Saints
4. Titans

No real surprises there.

******

Now for college football.

Alabama to defeat Clemson for the National Championship in the CFP.  This comes after hours upon hours of reading voluminous scouting reports and analyzing hundreds of hours of game films of schools throughout the Power Five.  It was tough call, but I figured, BE BOLD in my predictions!

I'm not going to wade into the topics of the decision of the Big Ten and the PAC 12 to postpone their seasons.  That's been discussed and over-discussed, and we can always revisit it later, especially (a) if schools continue to cancel and postpone games, which has already happened with some frequency, and (b) if the Big Ten caves to financial and political pressures and backtracks on their decision not to play.

So the, let's just stick to the local scene and the Pitt Panthers.

Pre-pandemic, all signs pointed to 2020 being the year when all of Pat Narduzzi's building of a program would come to fruition.  The defense would be experienced and very good, and the offense would be led by senior QB Kenny Pickett.  The thought of a possible canceled season was quite frustrating to Pitt fans, because it would be yet another stroke of bad luck for Pitt.  You know, "THIS is the year we were really going to be good, and now we can't play."

Well, Pitt and the ACC are going to play, and it begins in three days against Austin Peay at Heinz Field.  There then follows a revamped ten game ACC schedule, which includes a games against Clemson and its sanctimonious coach and Notre Dame and its grumpy coach.  No divisions in the ACC this year, and the top two teams will meet for the Conference Championship in December.   However, as I alluded to a few paragraphs back, we are already seeing some college games being postponed or cancelled due to COVID concerns, so that while we are pretty sure that Pitt and the ACC and other conferences will begin their seasons, there is no guarantee that they will finish them.

Will Pitt be in the mix?  I have no idea, and the only prediction that I will make is that if Pitt turns in another 6-5 or even a 7-4 season, the heat on HCPN will be turned up considerably.

Sadly, there will be no one in attendance at Heinz Field to see the Panthers this year, at least at the beginning of the season, and even if fans are allowed to gather at some point, it will be without me and my fellow ticket holders in our group.  We have elected to roll our 2020 payment towards our tickets in 2021, hoping that circumstances will once again allow large gatherings in our society.

#H2P