Pitt Football: 5 Things the Panthers Learned from Last Year

It was a disappointing 2011 season for the Pitt Panthers football team.

That probably should have been expected, though, after Pitt struggled to beat both Buffalo and Maine at home.

Things never got much better during Todd Graham's one and only season in Pittsburgh, and the season ended with a disappointing loss to SMU in the BBVA Compass Bowl.

So, while the season didn't exactly go as planned for the Panthers, we did learn some things last season.

Here's a quick look at five things we learned about the 2011 Pitt Panthers.

Steve Pederson Can't Hire a Coach

Maybe Dave Wannstedt wasn't so bad after all.

While Wannstedt was often criticized and never really won a big game at Pitt outside of upsetting West Virginia in 2007, a coaching change still needed to be made.

But considering athletic director Steve Pederson is doing the hiring, maybe we shouldn't have been surprised how things worked out.

By going the cheap and unproven route, Pitt first got stuck with Michael Haywood, who lasted a mere two weeks after being arrested on felony domestic violence charges arising from a custody dispute.

Then Pederson turned to Todd Graham, who turned out to be nothing but a used car salesman. Graham turned out to be a fraud and left the team before Pitt's bowl game to take the Arizona State job.

Hopefully Pederson gets lucky with new coach Paul Chryst.

Pitt Can't Win with Tino Sunseri at Quarterback

Playing in Graham's "low octane" offense didn't do Sunseri any favors, nor did having to play for a coach that consistently threw his quarterback under the bus.

While Sunseri took the blame on his shoulders and handled all the criticism in a very classy fashion, his performance still leaves a lot to be desired.

Sunseri never learns from his mistakes, as he continued to make the same ones time after time. All of the bad turnovers and taking bad sacks late in games is something Pitt can't have from their signal-caller. They need a leader under center and a guy that can make plays with the game on the line.

Sunseri has proven time and time again that he's not that guy.

The Panthers Can Still Run the Football

There's been some tremendous running backs to come through Pittsburgh lately that include the likes of LeSean McCoy and Dion Lewis.

Ray Graham proved early on that he was capable of filling their shoes. After seven games, Graham was the nation's leading rusher with 939 yards.

Then came the torn ACL in Week 8 and Graham's big season was over.

But if Graham fully recovers, and with the addition of highly-touted freshman Rushel Shell, Pitt should still be able to run the football very effectively in the future.

Aaron Donald Is the Next Great Pitt Pass-Rusher

Pitt's had some great pass-rusher's the past few years, and replacing Jabaal Sheard and Greg Romeus was going to tough.

With Brandon Lindsey also graduating this season, Aaron Donald stepped up and showed he can be a dominant force.

Donald had 47 tackles and 11 sacks as a sophomore and should be in store for big things in 2012.

Pitt Has Major Holes to Fill

When you're a struggling football team, your weaknesses are magnified, and that's the case with Pitt, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

The offensive line and wide receiver core needs massive upgrades.

As for the offensive line, the NCAA-leading 64 sacks for a whopping loss of 421 yards is disturbing, but so is the ridiculous amount of penalties the Panthers took in bad spots last season.

Watching Mike Shanahan, Devin Street, Cam Saddler and company made you realize Pitt's desperate need for a playmaker on the outside.

The receivers did very little to help out Sunseri last season, and until Pitt gets a couple of legitimate threats outside, throwing the football is going to be an adventure.