Pitt Football: Dave Wannstedt Is Trashing Another Panthers Football Season

Futility.

Anger.

Resignation.

These are the emotions which invariably precede a flash of the "Same Old Pitt" mantra known far and wide by Pitt fans young and old.

You will see it on the blogs laced with some choice expletives.

I never understood how Jeff Long and Chancellor Nordenberg could get all giddy about hiring Wannstedt in December 2004.

He had never won a championship as the head guy. He was fired from two programs. The dude was bringing enough baggage to fill the Pittsburgh's Hilton lobby.

Now with two early season defeats it's easy to see what this season has lost already.

Getting into the Top Twenty-Five will be difficult. Getting into the Top Fifteen will be impossible.

Instead of playing for a BCS bid, the harried, hapless, injured Panthers will be looking for any bowl bid they can get.

Given Wannstedt's track record at Pitt - two winning seasons in the five he's completed, a losing record so far this season, and three seasons that seemed to spin out of control after some bad luck - what are the odds of a complete turnaround like the one Walt Harris made in 2001?

In his last six games, Wannstedt is 2-4.

It's starting to feel a lot like 2007 when the entire season crashed because an untested quarterback, Wannstedt's choice, was injured in the first game.

An insider's blogger, no fan of Wannstedt's coaching ability, wrote that Wannstedt and his assistants were sure they were going to be terminated and worked harder than they ever had before at Pitt to orchestrate the big win over West Virginia.

In 2007, Wannstedt's contract was not extended until the day of the Pitt-West Virginia game.

In the complain and blame game, Wannstedt is a pro.

As a recruiter he still gets positive P.R.

"Big freakin' deal" is the thought around town tonight.  Does it matter, coach, if you can't win the big game?

Yes, we are all aware of this team's injuries. Yes, it hurt to see Mason carried off on the stretcher. But don't good teams figure out a way to win when adversity strikes?

Dave Wannstedt is just a clog in the Pitt athletic department's football on the cheap. When was the last time Pitt beat a ranked non-conference opponent at home?

An announced crowd of 58,000 saw it live. Many season ticket holders in the crowd will be scurrying around on Ebay to unload some tickets after the pounding tonight.

Pittsburgh fans are not as rude as their cross state brethren can be, but they won't suffer the circus that currently consumes the young Panther team. Poor game preparation, clueless quarterbacking, under-utilized receivers, ineffective in-game coaching decisions, a plethora of injuries - these have the effect of creating a lot of yellow empty seats at Heinz for the remaining home games and keeping fans at home in front of the big screen TV.

Maybe if Wannstedt could keep his rowdy players away from bars and fist fights, they would have a lot more juice for the game.

I hope I am wrong. I hope the Panthers come out psyched and ready to destroy Florida International then run through the Big East.

Experience and knowledge dampen my enthusiasm tonight. I've been a Pitt fan since 1967 when Ted Hendricks and his Miami teammates put a big hit on the Panthers, 58-0.

Should I feel better it wasn't that bad tonight?