As the almost consensus preseason favorite last season, fans and fellow Big East-ers (except probably West Virginia) alike were understandably disappointed that the Panthers didn't live up to what many projected them to do. Pitt's unusual season ended with a series of events that led to the firing, hiring, firing, and hiring at the head coaching position. Out of the teams in the conference, Pitt has probably lost the most stars from last year, whether it was to graduation or to the draft. This year, with new head coach Todd Graham on the sidelines and a significantly less experienced team, the Pittsburgh Panthers may be in store for a pretty tough season.
2010 Record: 8-5, Big East Co-champions
As the season was winding down, Pitt lost to Connecticut and West Virginia, thus losing sight of an outright Big East championship. The Panthers athletic staff was clearly tired of perennial mediocrity and fired coach Dave Wannstedt. In their down time between the end of the regular season and their BBVA Compass Bowl game against Kentucky, Pitt hired, then fired Miami (Ohio) coach Mike Haywood. Interim coach Phil Bennett, previously the defensive coordinator for the team, led the Panthers to a resounding 17-point victory in their bowl game before Pitt's AD decided to head down to Tulsa to pick up Todd Graham to lead the program. Graham will unfortunately be without a good amount of the talent of last year's team, as many of the team's most important players went to the draft this past season. Perhaps the biggest hole left for the team is on the defensive line, where Pitt's Greg Romeus, Jabaal Sheard, and Brandon Lindsey have all graduated and moved on. They also had their two most productive offensive players drafted in Dion Lewis (Eagles) and Jonathan Baldwin (Chiefs). Needless to say, there will be no shortage of growing pains for Pitt this year, and it may turn out to be a year where Pitt just fast forwards to basketball season.
The good news is that Pitt doesn't start with the hard schedule until Week 3. They open with Buffalo and Maine before traveling to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, then to Notre Dame, then to USF. That three-game stretch may be the hardest out of the entire Big East (except maybe USF's, who plays Miami, Louisville, and West Virginia consecutively to close out the season). That rough part in the early half of the schedule combined with a new coaching squad and the losses of their top players could all be a recipe for a long rebuilding year for Todd Graham.
This season will be successful if: Pitt can win 8 games again. Last year, Pittsburgh won 8 games and it was unsatisfactory for Wannstedt's bosses' standards (actually, Wannstedt only won 7 games). This year, in a rebuilding season with a new coach and new blood on the field, 8 wins should satisfy the fans and the people upstairs. But with Iowa, Notre Dame, and Utah on the non-conference schedule, they may just have to wait until the bowl game to get that 8th victory.
2011 Record: 7-6. I have a seriously hard time believing that with a new staff and the losses they endured that Pitt can beat any of those BCS (and Notre Dame) opponents. What's going to be even harder is playing USF and West Virginia. If all goes the way I plan, that's five losses already. Add one more fluke loss to Syracuse or Louisville, and you've got a team that will be lucky to make a bowl game. I think they'll have a 6-6 regular season, but their team and coaches are too good to lose a bowl game to another 6-6 team. Much like Louisville last year, they'll probably get matched up against an average-to-pretty good mid-major team and get over the .500 mark there. Allow this as speculation only, but I do think Tulsa might win C-USA West and see Todd Graham in the 2012 Beef O'Brady's Bowl.
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