This past sports weekend was a roller coaster for my favorite teams. The bookends were high points (Manchester City defeated an up-and-coming Brighton and Hove Albion squad 2-1 on return from international break Saturday morning, and the Steelers upset the Rams in Los Angeles Sunday evening). Between those triumphs were two defeats: the Penguins lost to the St. Louis Blues on the road and Pitt lost in Winston-Salem to Wake Forest.
The manner in which Pitt lost was nothing, if not embarrassingly absurd. The Demon Deacons were reduced to their third-string quarterback making his first career college start, while Pitt came into the game flying high off of an upset of previously-undefeated Louisville the previous weekend. What ensued at Allegacy Stadium was nothing short of pathetic.
The game began well enough. Christian Veilleux (pronounced VAY-er) led the Panthers on a touchdown drive lasting almost seven minutes in his second career start (the first being the previously-mentioned Louisville clash). There was a feeling—at least for me—that we had found a QB capable of leading the team on sustained drives, unlike Phil Jurkovec before him. That was the last Pitt touchdown drive until the fourth quarter.
To be fair, Wake Forest did not set the world on fire either with their offensive ability. Their running game was productive, led by Demond Claiborne—a running back built like Earl Campbell who was very difficult to bring down. Their offense as a whole was unproductive, though, as evidenced by the 7-7 score heading into the final quarter.
The game came to life a bit in the fourth. Pitt kicked a field goal to go up 10-7, which Wake countered by scoring a go-ahead touchdown. Down 14-10 with 90 seconds left, Veilleux culminated a touchdown drive with a 22-yard strike to receiver Bub Means, putting Pitt up 3. It looked as though Pitt would at least get to overtime considering their performance on defense—coupled with Wake’s offensive ineptitude.
Indeed, Wake turned the ball over while driving for a game-tying field goal. Third-string QB Santino Marucci threw an interception in Pitt territory. On that interception, Pitt defensive back Donovan McMillan picked up two personal fouls, leading to his ejection and Pitt’s field position being reduced to the shadow of their goalpost. Regardless, the Panthers should have been in complete control. On first down, Pitt ran the ball. Wake used one of their three timeouts. Second down was the beginning of what may be the worst loss I have ever seen. A holding call on an unproductive run stopped the clock despite Wake head coach Dave Clawson declining the penalty—a smart decision as it prevented Pitt from using extra time. Third down was the worst. Christian Veilleux dropped back to pass and was flushed to his left. He ran for the first down and slid down in bounds…or so we thought. The referees ruled that the QB had begun his slide before he reached the line-to-gain, something that I can only guess was not reviewable because the zebras did not appear to check that this was actually the case.
While I do not fault Veilleux for thinking he needed to get down in-bounds—that is what you are taught to do when time is running out and you are in possession of both the ball and the lead—it was not necessary. Had he gotten the first down and stepped out of bounds, Pitt could have kneeled three times and ended the game. Alas, this never occurred, and Pitt was forced to punt.
What was a common theme throughout the game accentuated the collapse—a very poor punt by Caleb Junko, who only averaged 35.3 yards per punt over his seven boots. Set up with good field position and only being down three points, Santino Marucci and the Demon Deacons offense only needed to move the ball 20-25 yards in slightly less than a minute to get into position for a game-tying field goal.
As is so often the case in Pittsburgh-area football, the defense crumbled when it mattered. Wake dinked and dunked their way into field goal range with ample time left to take some shots at the end zone. With 7 seconds left, Marucci found tight end Cameron Hite from 15 yards out to win the game for Wake. I was in a state of shock.
That pathetic collapse was the sign that Pitt had hit rock bottom, merely 168 hours after knocking off previously-undefeated Louisville. It was not simply that they lost. It was the manner in which everything transpired. The holding penalty. The early slide (which I contend should have been reviewed). The shank of a punt. The inevitable defensive collapse. It all occurred like dominoes falling, signaling the pinnacle of a supremely disappointing season..
College football is not like the NFL. Teams do not get rewarded in any shape or form for being terrible. There are no draft picks to use, assets to trade away, or any other incentives for being bad. It does not give you a leg up in recruiting or an easier schedule. It is simply bad. Because of this lack of incentive, it leaves us to wonder where Pitt goes from here. The old adage is that, once you have hit rock bottom, there is nowhere to go but up. Is that applicable in college football, where teams are perennially bad because they cannot recruit? Is it still true when the only result of a poor season is lower expectations for the following year?
The answer, of course, remains to be seen. I would like to think that the team will be better next year. Veilleux will have more experience under his belt. The offensive line will (hopefully) be healthy. However, I was under a similar impression coming into this season. I thought Jurkovec would be a marked improvement over Kedon Slovis—how could he not be? Slovis was bad! As it turned out, Jurkovec was worse, so much so that he is now transitioning from quarterback to tight end. We have more losses through seven games than we did all last season.
Regardless of what the rest of the season brings, the Wake Forest game was the lowest that Pitt could possibly fall this year—anything else will doubtlessly be an improvement, no matter the margin by which we lose to Florida State or Boston College. It is not the losses, but the manner in which you lose. One just has to hope and pray that next year is better, because there are no resources on their way to prop the program up. No number one picks, no trade deadline moves to build for the future, and no hope for a rebuild. We are drowning, and there is no rescue boat in sight.