Big Lead Sports Bar

9/07/2010

Pitt Drops Out of AP Top 25



We all knew the Pitt Panthers would drop in the polls after last week's overtime loss to Utah. But was it possible to fall all the way out of the top 25?


The answer to that question is a big, loud, "YES", as the Panthers are now 28th in the AP Poll and eight spots below the team that beat them, 20th-ranked Utah. That seems a little harsh, but hey, you have to make room for teams like Stanford after their dramatic 52-17 home win over Sacramento State, and South Carolina, for their heroic 41-13 win over Southern Miss, the 98th-ranked team in the RPI. So much for the value of close road losses to good teams. North Carolina, which also dropped from the rankings, knows what I'm talking about.

Other rankings of local interest include opening-week schedule-padders Penn State (#18) and West Virginia (#23), which won by 30 and 31 points against their respective cupcake opponents. But hey, they're no dummies - they know the recipe to move up in the rankings.

A week after opening with Youngstown State, the Nittany Lions will face perhaps the ultimate test in college football right now, top-ranked Alabama, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide is currently 11.5 point favorites in this clash of college football titans.

Saturday's respective Pitt and West Virginia games have considerably less on the line and should both result in Ws for the Big East reps. The #5 team in the FCS, New Hampshire, comes to Heinz Field for the Panthers' home opener at 1 p.m., and West Virginia travels to Marshall for the state championship later that night at 7. 

For more:
AP Top 25 [ESPN.com]

Mondesi's House: The Director's Cut (more links, commentary, etc): twitter.com/mondesishouse
Email: mondesishouse@gmail.com

19 comments:

jmarinara said...

If Utah is #20 (and I'm not going to argue with that, I think it's about right) then Pitt ought to be #21 or #22.

If the game Thursday proved anything, it proved that those two teams are pretty even.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

VaTech had a similar close loss against Boise State and I believe only fell 6 or 7 spots.

Boise's probably a little bit better than Utah, but it was almost a de-facto home game for the Hokies.

I thought that Pitt would wind up around 24th or 25th, but oh well.

We're near the top of the mighty "Other teams receiving votes" list, so if we do our job and kick the bejesus out of New Hampshire and a couple teams in the 20s lose, we could reappear in the rankings next week.

Unknown said...

Is this as good as it gets? Decent, nice guy coach who recruits well but loses all the big games. Arguing over whether we deserve a crack at the top 25 based on a close loss?

I am afraid it is.

Anonymous said...

You complain about PSU and WV scheduling cupcakes so they move up, but then you turn around and salute Pitt for doing the same and say you hope they move up in the rankings?? How does this make sense?

okel dokel said...

I believe it is called irony. Don may have been pointing out the hypocrisy of the so-called "system" associated with college football.

Adam said...

I'm pretty sure Don just hates Penn State.

In any event, no team with a loss really has any gripe about not being ranked. You can't claim to be a top 25 team on the back of talent that hasn't won anything, regardless of how weak opponents of other teams may have been.

myWifeHatesFun said...

I can't wait till penn state gets whacked in the first half and then scores 10 pts in the second half against alabama's third stringers. Then all of the Penn State homers will be calling in to all the radio shows to talk about how good they looked in the second half. Penn State, the most overrated college football program... ever

Don said...

You guys should worry less about PSU and more about not losing your game this week in front of 6 thousand strong at Heinz. We may lose this week, but we're in a rebuilding year, while Pitt is not. Also, you should never complain about PSU's schedule since we have to navigate the Big Ten. We have anywhere from 3-5 teams that would win the Big Least annually if they had the misfortune of playing in that conference.

Jokes.

Spatula said...

Try being a Penn State alum living in the land of mouth-breathing, cousin-marrying, holy-than-thou hypocrites known as Alabama ("Bammer" to the fine folks down here).

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy college football is back. I forgot how quickly things erupt. Fun.

Greg said...

Why is it that you say PSU and WVU scheduled a cupcake opening week....Pitt is playing NEW HAMPSHIRE!!! Wannstache even said he made a mistake playing on the road against a good team the first week....Pitt fans can bash PSU all they want because they are still bitter they don't play PSU

Chip said...

I'm not a PSU fan but I don't see how you can attack their schedule. They had a cupcake game 1 and then have a really tough game 2. Pitt just did them in the reverse order. It's not like PSU is playing a laughable Boise State schedule.

I kinda figured Pitt would drop out of the top 25. Utah isn't a good team. Only in the fevered imagination of hype-buying Pitt fans or Wannstache apologists can that be considered a "good loss."

They played a sloppy stupid game and lost to an opponent a top 10 or 15 team doesn't lose to. Period. Don't hate the system, place blame where blame belongs.

Adam said...

Funny that a Pitt fan is preemptively talking shit about how we're going to act after losing to Alabama when they were acting the EXACT SAME WAY after losing to Utah. Gotta love it.

Win 11 games once in 25 years, then tell us who's overrated.

HomeRunFromBehindTheMeatballs said...

Pitt (& NC) being bumped for Standford and South Carolina is total BS! That being said... 0-1 teams shouldn't be ranked (including VA tech). I know VA Tech lost to the #2 team in the nation (#2 if 1st place votes), but they shouldn't be on there either. Once they win, they should climb more quickly than other 1 loss teams, but this perfectly illustrates the flaws of using rankings to determine champions (&, also, why the BCS rankings don't come out for 8 weeks). If you're gonna drop PITT/NC out, VA Tech should be out too.

I'm also not a fan of the Penn State hating. Are you really gonna argue that Utah/New Hampshire(Kreider's alma mater) is less 'cupcakey' out of conference than Youngstown St/Alabama? To hell with sequence.

@Chip - not just a 'really tough game 2', but THE toughest game 2 of ANYONE.

The Big East is terrible this season, even after PITT falls to Miami(FL), they should still take the conference if they can beat WVU.

How far will PSU fall after a 'tough road loss' to bama?

Matt said...

Chip, I am not going to argue that Pitt should remain in the top 25, but to say Utah isn't a good team is retarded.

They won 10 games last year, including their bowl game, and are consistantly at the top of the WAC standings. They've also finished in the top 20 each of the last two years. And, they beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in '09.

Their coach, Kyle Wittingham, is on most schools' wish lists when it comes time to fill vacancies, not to mention that whole moving to Pac-10 thing that starts next year.


And to me there is no such thing as a "good loss" regardless of who it's against.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Who gives a shit about Penn State?

Last I checked, they're not on our schedule.

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Oh, and there is only one Big Ten team that would win the Big East every year, Ohio State.

And don't even say Iowa. Didn't Pitt beat them a couple years ago?

Adam said...

Ohio State would only co-win the Big East every year.

Dom Errico said...

One can always count on Don for more PSU bashing. Last I checked Penn State is playing the number one team in te country ON the road, as opposed to an unranked team like Pitt did in the opener.

You fit right in with the monkeys on 93.7 The Fan Don. They love to talk crap on how bad Joe Pa looks, and how Pitt is an outside dark horse for the national championship and are then real quick to offer up excuses and try to justify Pitt keeping a place in the top 25.

The Big East sucks. WVU is the only ranked team and they don't even deserve to be there.

Oh and by the way PSU playing a cupcake didn't help them gain much ground in the rankings. Several other teams leapfrogged them. Now an upset win over Bama this weekend would sure change that in a hurry.