"Experts": Pitts 35, NU 30

[FeliSilvestris]

Per betting sites consensus, Pitt is a 5 pt favorite (down from 5.5 days ago) and the over/under score is 65 pts. Put both together (I suppose that's OK), and you get a 35-30 Pitts victory.

Actually, I find surprising how close they view the game. Granted, NU did end the season stronger than it started. But still NU's best win was against an underwhelming IOA, which has lost 4 times this season, including 3 in the B1G. NU next best win was against 4-5 (6-6) Indy, and then Ill (only 2 conf wins) and Purdue, MSU and Duke, each with a single conference win. On top of that, NU lost all its games against top teams, plus against a mediocre Minny and a possibly overrated WMU. And of course NU lost to an FCS team with a non-winning conference record.

Not impressive at all!

By contrast,not only is Pitts a top 25 team. Their "signature" win was the only loss of No. 3 Clemson! They also beat No. 5 PSU, as well as (4-4, 8-4) Ga Tech, plus several weaker teams, including FCS-#9 Villanova. Their losses were against #13 OkSt, #18 VA Tech, Mia and NC (both finished 5-3, 8-4). Without questions, a far more impressive resume!

Finally, against the only common opponent, Duke, NU won a relatively close game (24-13), whereas Pitts obliterated the Devils 56-14.

The only question is WHY on earth is Pitts only a 5-pt fave.

 

[Bwm57]

No, there is one other question.
Why do you waste everyone's time pretending to be an NU fan?

 

[Bwm57]

Great prediction, Feli...

 

[FeliSilvestris]

Great prediction, Feli...

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

 

[Catreporter]

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

Good try to downplay the win, but NU was right with Pitt at the time both got hurt.

 

[RhabdoWildcat]

Great prediction, Feli...

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

you suck. Go away!

 

[SciCat]

Per betting sites consensus, Pitt is a 5 pt favorite (down from 5.5 days ago) and the over/under score is 65 pts. Put both together (I suppose that's OK), and you get a 35-30 Pitts victory.

Actually, I find surprising how close they view the game. Granted, NU did end the season stronger than it started. But still NU's best win was against an underwhelming IOA, which has lost 4 times this season, including 3 in the B1G. NU next best win was against 4-5 (6-6) Indy, and then Ill (only 2 conf wins) and Purdue, MSU and Duke, each with a single conference win. On top of that, NU lost all its games against top teams, plus against a mediocre Minny and a possibly overrated WMU. And of course NU lost to an FCS team with a non-winning conference record.

Not impressive at all!

By contrast,not only is Pitts a top 25 team. Their "signature" win was the only loss of No. 3 Clemson! They also beat No. 5 PSU, as well as (4-4, 8-4) Ga Tech, plus several weaker teams, including FCS-#9 Villanova. Their losses were against #13 OkSt, #18 VA Tech, Mia and NC (both finished 5-3, 8-4). Without questions, a far more impressive resume!

Finally, against the only common opponent, Duke, NU won a relatively close game (24-13), whereas Pitts obliterated the Devils 56-14.

The only question is WHY on earth is Pitts only a 5-pt fave.

Secretly, after his post and when he started reading the responses, he stole upstairs, closed his bedroom door, turned off the light, snuggled under his duvet, reached down and started his bliss. He was so thrilled.

 

[NJCat]

Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

Anyway, you're not!!!!! Completely ruined your day.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

Stop pretending that you're happy. Bowl games are meaningless, right?

 

[pawildcat]

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

On the other hand, maybe Northwestern was hurt by having its starting cornerbacks out virtually the whole season. Can't recall the number of times over the past few years that I've read posts pooh-poohing injuries as a contributing factor to NU setbacks, but there certainly have been a lot of posts. I believe Pitt's sub QB led them to at least one TD drive. Would Peterman have done better? Maybe. Maybe not.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Per betting sites consensus, Pitt is a 5 pt favorite (down from 5.5 days ago) and the over/under score is 65 pts. Put both together (I suppose that's OK), and you get a 35-30 Pitts victory.

Actually, I find surprising how close they view the game. Granted, NU did end the season stronger than it started. But still NU's best win was against an underwhelming IOA, which has lost 4 times this season, including 3 in the B1G. NU next best win was against 4-5 (6-6) Indy, and then Ill (only 2 conf wins) and Purdue, MSU and Duke, each with a single conference win. On top of that, NU lost all its games against top teams, plus against a mediocre Minny and a possibly overrated WMU. And of course NU lost to an FCS team with a non-winning conference record.

Not impressive at all!

By contrast,not only is Pitts a top 25 team. Their "signature" win was the only loss of No. 3 Clemson! They also beat No. 5 PSU, as well as (4-4, 8-4) Ga Tech, plus several weaker teams, including FCS-#9 Villanova. Their losses were against #13 OkSt, #18 VA Tech, Mia and NC (both finished 5-3, 8-4). Without questions, a far more impressive resume!

Finally, against the only common opponent, Duke, NU won a relatively close game (24-13), whereas Pitts obliterated the Devils 56-14.

The only question is WHY on earth is Pitts only a 5-pt fave.

The only question is why Feli has such trouble remembering the well worn adage "that's why they play the game."

 

[Bwm57]

Anyway, you're not!!!!! Completely ruined your day.

I would agree with this, he was probably more upset than most Pitt fans.
His day was ruined, he has nothing to complain about.

 

[d'son d]

And he left out the near miss at OSU. I think that was the team that showed up today. Their loss to ped U was a weather issue even though both teams had the same weather. We had the chance but didn't win, saving it for the bowl game.

 

[docrugby1]

Secretly, after his post and when he started reading the responses, he stole upstairs, closed his bedroom door, turned off the light, snuggled under his duvet, .

Did he find Villox there ?

 

[pawildcat]

And he left out the near miss at OSU. I think that was the team that showed up today. Their loss to ped U was a weather issue even though both teams had the same weather. We had the chance but didn't win, saving it for the bowl game.

A weather issue? I was at that game. How was it a weather issue?

 

[clarificationcat]

Well, I had no idea Pitts would lose BOTH its starting QB AND star tailback.
Experts apparently only knew one of the two would be lost. Hence both I and the experts were wrong...I more wrong than they since I could predict future injuries worst than they did.
Anyway I am glad to be wrong!!

What motivates you to post? You are such an unbelievably strange dude (2-4-5-4-3-3-5-1-3-6-5)! Their "star" running back had 32 yards on 8 carries in the first half when he was healthy and got stopped on the goal line on the biggest play of the game. If you failed to notice, they were unable to run the ball with any consistency with any of their running backs. Their starting quarterback led them to 10 points through 2 quarters and 17 points through 3 quarters. He also threw a costly interception at the goal line. Given your love of facts and figures, it would seem that if both players had stayed healthy for the whole game, they would have scored approximately 24 points. And neither played defense and could help stop our long, time-consuming drives. I must say, though, as much as I am happy for the coaches and the players for persevering after a really bad start to the season, I am even happier for you because I know how much the victory means to you. Congratulations!

 

[FeliSilvestris]

What motivates you to post? You are such an unbelievably strange dude (2-4-5-4-3-3-5-1-3-6-5)! Their "star" running back had 32 yards on 8 carries in the first half when he was healthy and got stopped on the goal line on the biggest play of the game.Their starting quarterback led them to 10 points through 2 quarters and 17 points through 3 quarters. He also threw a costly interception at the goal line. Given your love of facts and figures, it would seem that if both players had stayed healthy for the whole game, they would have scored approximately 24 points. And neither played defense and could help stop our long, time-consuming drives.

You may have a point. Just b/c the star RB had over 1000 ys for the season (4 ypc in this game), and the starting QB had 250+ ys in 3Q (14.1 ypa) doesn't mean the 1 TD score difference could be fairly attributed to the absence of both player for much of the game. After all, the frosh who took over at QB did complete 1/3 of his passes and manage 1.78 (yes, one point seventy eight) yards per passing attempts while throwing only 2 INT's. And of course neither player could have caught the potentially game-tying TD that hit both hands of a Pitts TE inside the EZ, in the last minutes of the game.

Furthermore, neither player could have helped the D, so their absence couldn't possibly be blamed for NU going FOUR-for-FOUR in 4D attempts. In fact, none of these 4D conversions could be blamed on Pitts D, nor even the critical one in which a NU player caught a pass and went untouched into the EZ, with no Pitts defender in his zip code (that was NU superior scheming!). And nobody missed any tackle on JJ, certainly not in his 70y gain from the NU's 1, nor in his TD from the 40, although in both plays it seems there were Pitts defenders positioned to stop JJ for a shorter or even no gain.

So, yes, it may have been just NU playing great (thanks mostly to PF, of course), as opposed to injuries or opponents miscues accounting for the 7 pts that separated both teams.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

You may have a point. Just b/c the star RB had over 1000 ys for the season (4 ypc in this game), and the starting QB had 250+ ys in 3Q (14.1 ypa) doesn't mean the 1 TD score difference could be fairly attributed to the absence of both player for much of the game. After all, the frosh who took over at QB did complete 1/3 of his passes and manage 1.78 (yes, one point seventy eight) yards per passing attempts while throwing only 2 INT's. And of course neither player could have caught the potentially game-tying TD that hit both hands of a Pitts TE inside the EZ, in the last minutes of the game.

Furthermore, neither player could have helped the D, so their absence couldn't possibly be blamed for NU going FOUR-for-FOUR in 4D attempts. In fact, none of this 4D conversions could be blamed on the Pitts D, nor even the critical one in which a NU player caught a pass and went untouched into the EZ, with no Pitts defender in his zip code (that was NU superior scheming!). And nobody missed any tackle on JJ, certainly not in his 70y gain from the NU's 1, nor in his TD from the 40, although in both plays it seems there were Pitts defender positioned to stop JJ for a short or even no gain.

So, yes, it may have been just NU playing great (thanks mostly to PF, of course), as opposed to injuries or opponents miscues accounting for the 7 pts that separated both teams.

Can we all agree to stop feeding the troll? Please?

 

[clarificationcat]

You may have a point. Just b/c the star RB had over 1000 ys for the season (4 ypc in this game), and the starting QB had 250+ ys in 3Q (14.1 ypa) doesn't mean the 1 TD score difference could be fairly attributed to the absence of both player for much of the game. After all, the frosh who took over at QB did complete 1/3 of his passes and manage 1.78 (yes, one point seventy eight) yards per passing attempts while throwing only 2 INT's. And of course neither player could have caught the potentially game-tying TD that hit both hands of a Pitts TE inside the EZ, in the last minutes of the game.

Furthermore, neither player could have helped the D, so their absence couldn't possibly be blamed for NU going FOUR-for-FOUR in 4D attempts. In fact, none of these 4D conversions could be blamed on Pitts D, nor even the critical one in which a NU player caught a pass and went untouched into the EZ, with no Pitts defender in his zip code (that was NU superior scheming!). And nobody missed any tackle on JJ, certainly not in his 70y gain from the NU's 1, nor in his TD from the 40, although in both plays it seems there were Pitts defenders positioned to stop JJ for a shorter or even no gain.

So, yes, it may have been just NU playing great (thanks mostly to PF, of course), as opposed to injuries or opponents miscues accounting for the 7 pts that separated both teams.

My apologies. I didn't realize that your prediction was based on Pittsburgh not making mistakes. Who could have expected that? After all, they played a nearly flawless game in giving up 61 points to Syracuse. Next time I will think before I post.

P.S. 4 yards a carry in college does not a star make (See J. Jackson for a star performance) and one quarter is not "much" of the game. The backup quarterback led them on a touchdown drive in his first series so I don't think the starter would have done much better. There was a fumble on the next drive (perhaps the star quarterback would have uttered some inspirational words to prevent the fumble?). That left two drives for Pitt to try and tie the game. Of course, a tie still doesn't cover the spread in regulation and is not even close to the blowout that you seemed to have predicted. But, again, your prediction was based on the very reasonable assumption that Pitt's crappy defense would not not make any mistakes. Got it.

 

[clarificationcat]

Can we all agree to stop feeding the troll? Please?

No. I like to do this once or twice a year. And it's more fun after a bowl victory.

 

[NJCat]

[QUOTE="clarificationcat, post: 387103, member: 466"The backup quarterback led them on a touchdown drive in his first series so I don't think the starter would have done much better..[/QUOTE]

Not much of a "drive". Pitt started at the NU 22 after the blocked punt.

 

[clarificationcat]

[QUOTE="clarificationcat, post: 387103, member: 466"The backup quarterback led them on a touchdown drive in his first series so I don't think the starter would have done much better..

Not much of a "drive". Pitt started at the NU 22 after the blocked punt.[/QUOTE]
I get that. The point was that they scored a touchdown and you really can't top that. I am not claiming the backup quarterback played great - only that there were just two series that the starting quarterback missed where he could have made a difference. And if led them to a touchdown, we likely still would have had time to drive for a game winning field goal instead of being pinned back and having to punt.

 

[NJCat]

Not much of a "drive". Pitt started at the NU 22 after the blocked punt.

I get that. The point was that they scored a touchdown and you really can't top that. I am not claiming the backup quarterback played great - only that there were just two series that the starting quarterback missed where he could have made a difference. And if led them to a touchdown, we likely still would have had time to drive for a game winning field goal instead of being pinned back and having to punt.[/QUOTE]

Fair enough.

 

[DaCat]

Felix Sylvester sinks to new lows with his sad lame arguments... in his twisted world view the fact that the Pitt defense had no answer for Justin Jackson had nothing to do with Justin's incredible running and cutting ability.. oh wait, Jackson just scored again.