The Panther-Lair Post-Game Show: Pitt comes back to beat Cincinnati on the road

well for about 40 minutes or so of game time that couldn't have gone much worse than it did I mean it really couldn't I mean it reached the point where it was it was a comedy of errors uh the likes of which we've seen all too often over the years but it was a comedy of errors nonetheless shanked punts and low snaps and bad holding penalties and just a team playing to lose a game a team doing all the things that losing teams do and then it turned around and for the final 20 minutes final third of the game it was all pit all the time and it led to a victory and there's a lot we can say a lot we will say and certainly we're going to have a lot to talk about on this postgame show but boy if they could capture that last 20 minutes if they could find a way to take that last 20 minutes of the game and expand it out to 60 well they might just win a few games lot happened in this game this afternoon I know it's a few hours since the end of pits win at Cincinnati a 28-27 victory a comeback from being down 27 to6 there's a lot that happened and I know it's been a few hours I apologize for the delay between the end of the game around 3:30 4:00 or so I started this postgame show there's a few reasons for that I had some other things I had to do this afternoon uh but you know what I also I kind of like doing these at night a little bit more I know look believe me when the game ended I wanted to jump right in and start doing this postgame show I had a lot of thoughts I a lot of things I wanted to say a lot of things to talk about I think you probably did as well but I uh I kind of like waiting a little bit I kind of like doing these at night so it's really sort of Ideal after a uh 3:30 Road game so we can just turn off the TV and Jump Right In U that wasn't uh that wasn't the case today but here we are it's 8:00 it's Saturday night and we are here on the panther postgame show after pits win at Cincinnati today it improves the Panthers to two and0 on the season they get a road win against a power conference opponent they're first since going to Tennessee two years ago uh no three years ago excuse me they beat Tennessee on the road in 2021 the last time before that that they beat a power conference opponent on the road uh I guess they beat Notre Dame couple times they beat Notre Dame a couple well they I know they won an ' 08 um and obviously ' 04 but there haven't been a lot there haven't been a lot of these games where they've gone on the road and beaten a power conference opponent and since since Cincinnati is in the Big 12 that counts as a win over a power conference opponent but like I said there's a lot to dig into with this game there there's a lot of angles to look at from Eli holstein's transformation from God awful in the first half and really the first 40 minutes to pretty damn good in the final 20 minutes uh Desmond Reed's transformation from can this short guy from Western Carolina make plays into protect this man at all costs because he is the best player on the team right now and literally gave life and limb out there to help pit win today and my fears about his usage and Longevity increase with every play but by God is he exciting to watch during those plays when he's on the field he got banged up a bit today he's going to be sore this week I think but boy howdy is he a good player I mean holy cal um some encouraging developments I think from Pitch receiving core Sans Kenny Johnson uh and and a defensive performance that started off pretty bad and ended with the defense making some huge plays you know what just since he popped up on screen that guy right there Ben SS money money in the bank I I I'm going to start this thing on Twitter I I tweeted it out earlier I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna go with it because I think we should I think collectively on pit Twitter let's start writing Ben SS with a dollar sign at the end of ss because he is money crushed from 53 and when he had to make the game winner of what was it 20 something 35 no problemo no problemo Ben SS is money I think he would tell you he had a a his year last year was not up to his standards even though I think he only missed five kicks was the same number he missed the year before but he had low volume he was 11 of 16 I think from from uh you know on field goals last year he's five of five through two games so far and and hasn't really it hasn't been interesting it was a bad snap I think on the uh the game winner he still got it down still made the kick shout out to cam guest for uh corralling that and Ben SS for making it and he made a 53 yard earlier in the game and really didn't have a problem with it I mean Ben SS is money there's a lot of guys right now that you would say are money and there's a lot of things that have to be cleaned up there's a lot of things that have to be improved a lot of areas where this team's got to get better there's no question about it uh if anything this game probably laid bare a lot of the issues that this team has in a way that the Kent State game didn't uh I think there were a number of things in the Kent State game that we said hm I wonder if that's really a problem or if it's just the first week well now we saw them against Cincinnati and we saw some of these issues creep up and we saw some of these areas where they're going to have to improve uh where they where they just weren't good enough uh certainly in the first 40 minutes and also you know in some of these issues in the the final 20 minutes but they were able to make just enough plays to hold on and get this Victory now I don't know if Cincinnati's very good quite frankly to a large extent I don't care if Cincinnati's very good uh you know we may look back on this and say well they scored 55 on Kent State Kent State stinks they came back from this big uh you know deficit against Cincinnati Cincinnati ends up stinking or something like that and and and who knows what the next 10 games will bring but this schedule's not loaded this schedule is not loaded with really good teams and challenging they're not playing Miami you know what I mean they're not playing some of the better teams in the ACC and so going out and taking care of business against Kent State like they did and then engineering this comeback to come back from being down 27 to6 be down three touchdowns be down 21 points with five a little less than six minutes to go in the third quarter and turn around and rattle off 22 unanswered points for a one-point Victory doing everything they needed to do to win the game defense stepping up and forcing a bunch of punts offense going down and scoring three touchdowns and a field goal I I mean this they they took care of of business in a way that um we haven't always seen pit do and there were plenty of things that Cincinnati did to lose this game they gave pit a fourth down conversion on was it the game-winning drive on the game-winning Drive they gave pit a fourth down conversion on a delay of game penalty for disconcerting signals Cincinnati did so they blew it I mean that that was that was stupid at at the two-minute timeout at the two-minute warning the two-minute break I tweeted out uh you know it you can feel it coming that something stupid is going to happen in this game and it might be by one or both of the teams it might be by the refs who knows what it is it could be you know smoke bomb goes up it doesn't matter like something stupid is going to happen and on third and four they handed the ball off to Derek Davis uh at the pit 26 and I said well that might have been it no disrespect to Derek Davis but come on guys you're trying to win the game here I I mean I guess they were playing as four down territory so it doesn't matter I thought that might be the stupid thing no the stupid thing was on the next play after Davis gained zero yards pit went to uh run their fourth and four play in Cincinnati had disconcerting signals and got called for it and ended up uh giving pit five yards when they only needed four to get the first down from there I mean you know what happened Eli holin scrambled Desmond Reed had a run uh Eli Holstein had a long pass to Kate mfield they got pit inside the 20 and from there it was just a matter of setting up Ben Sauls for the 35 yard field goal so Cincinnati didn't give this game away but you know what we've seen plenty of instances over the years where pit has done things to give games away and the last time I checked those games still go down in the L column and this game will still go down in the W column regardless of what Cincinnati did this is a win for pit they're two- 0 this season and they they quite literally clutched Victory from the Jaw as a defeat I I mean this game was lost and I think if you asked anyone at halftime there there was a sliver of momentum at halftime there was a brief moment at halftime where he said huh because you remember um what did they do right before half right before half they uh got the touchdown pass wait no hold on wasn't a touchdown pass it was uh Cincinnati scored right before the half right cincin he scored right before the no what am I talking about that was the Ben sols field goal ah my brain is scrambled I knew there was something good that happened so pit um Cincinnati missed a field goal pit gets the ball they drive down they get the 53 yard field goal from Ben sols and they get the roughing the Snapper penalty on that so now instead of 17-3 or instead of 20 to3 it's 17 to6 going in halftime it's not good to be down 11 but they've got this long field goal they got to stop on defense uh and they get this penalty so they're going to get really good field position they do they end up starting the third quarter at the Cincinnati 49 and so it looks like maybe they got a little bit of momentum maybe they got a little bit heading in the right direction but then they blew it and I think once they blew that which you recall Eli Holstein scrambled for a first down and Jason CER got called for a holding penalty and then after that uh Desman Reed ran them into a third and three got the hand off on Third and three probably was going to get a first down but he slipped and fell and got no yards and it was fourth and three and pit uh pit actually went for it and um whole scene scrambled it was it was a mess it was a bad play and and I think whatever momentum they possibly had coming out of halftime or going into and coming out of halftime it was gone you're like that's it that that that's it and and I know you know you never give up on games you know anything can happen football is a wild sport it's a pointed ball blah blah blah that's it game over Cincinnati got the ball they end up driving down they get a touchdown it's 24 to6 pick goes three and out Cincinnati gets the ball they get a field goal it's 27 to6 there's like you know six minutes to go or whatever it is and pick as the ball back they're down 27 to6 they have no chance except they did drive after Drive they went down the field and scored and it was great individual plays by Desmond Reed Kate mfield Eli Holstein Cincinnati blew some coverages and then there was really good defensive plays as well by P with Cincinnati blowing some things but you take advantage of your opponent's you know screw-ups you take advantage of those situations those opportunities and you go out and you it's how you win games you take advantage of it and pit in so they get a 28-27 win they get a 2-0 record they get a win on the road and I think they learned a whole hell of a lot about who they are what they can do what they need to do better and uh kind of where they go from here and now they've got I think they should have have a lot of momentum and and a fair amount of confidence not Cockiness but but confidence particularly on offense particularly for Eli Holstein going into a gigantic game on Saturday in the Backyard Brawl uh it's the panther postgame we're glad everybody can tune in tonight I know there's a lot of comments already jumping in there everybody's uh um already got uh things to say we got some super Chatters jumping in I'm excited about that uh listen there's already a lot of comments in here I'm going to read as many as we can tonight we got an hour plus who know like I say this is the other thing upside about the even doing this a little bit later at 8 o'clock because we can pretty much go as late as we want we're not going to go crazy but we'll we'll we'll stay on it for a little while so I'm going to try and read as many comments as I can but if you want to make sure your comment gets read your question gets answered be a super chatter click the little dollar sign down there kick a couple bucks of the podcast uh we appreciate that support for sure we'll make sure we get out there and read what you have to say and get uh get the interaction there we we'll try and get through as many as the uh of the the nons super chatter comments but we'll definitely get the super chats uh get as many of you guys in as we can of course before we get started you know what we got to do right we got to get the handle out for the backshore apparel shot of the game now I was thinking about what to do for the backshore apparel shot of the game and and there's options right I mean there's like the long the the 50 six-yard touchdown from Desmond Reed would be a big one um you know 38 yard either any of Kate mfield touchdowns would be Big Ben Sauls kicking from 53 or the gamewinner from 35 there's all these good options but you know what I'm gonna go a little bit off off course here and I'm gonna shout out I'm G to shout out Brandon George okay Brandon George had a couple of huge defensive plays in the fourth quarter on a second and six he had a huge tackle to stop a run for a gain of one right before rashim biles had the sack that forced the punt that ultimately set up pits uh third touchdown and then Brandon George came through third and three okay from the pit 48 less than three minutes too Cincinnati's driving and it's third and three now third and three was a very makeable third down for Cincinnati today between the run plays between throw you know with throwing to the tight end they have some good wide receivers the kid from Florida Xavier Henderson is good they have good options to convert a third down the quarterback can run I was not confident about Pit's chances of getting a stop on Third and three but Brandon George blitzed came up the middle got in Brenan or is his name Brenan whatever got in sorby's face forced an incomplete pass end up leading to a punt pickets the ball back at the 20 they end up driving down for the game-winning field goal and so there were a lot of good good options in this game a lot of big plays in this game but for Brandon George getting in the quarterback's face forcing an incomplete pass shout out to you sir the back short apparel shot of the day and I'm washing it down I gotta mention this before we jump into the comments and questions this I don't even know how to describe it it's from Voodoo Brewing which you guys know Voodoo bre Brewing they make hop water hydrogen infused hot water it's Na and it's GF and I got to be honest and and no disrespect to our friend who hooked us up I was a little skeptical do I want water infused with hops do I want a non-alcoholic hop drink I do it's delicious hops are delicious hops are delicious to drink and they're great for washing down the back sh apparel shot of the day so listen if if you're interested I mean na has become the big Trend right it's become the uh the thing everybody's really into if you're if you're interested in na drinks non-alcoholic hop water and that kind of thing go check out Voodoo you know Voodoo Brewing from medeville they have this hot water this really tasty G drink this that's good stuff but yeah Brandon George a couple of huge plays there a big tackle on on a second down play to set up the third down for rashim bil getting a huge sack biles just came off the edge pck couldn't decide what there there was a point one of the many things to talk about today is how it felt like at a certain point Pit's defense couldn't decide what they wanted to do like like they they were they were gun-shy about everything they like they felt like they couldn't Blitz because they weren't well first of all they couldn't get pressure without blitzing and this is going to tie in I mean that ties into something we talked about last week and we talked about throughout the week as far as the defensive line the play of the defensive line they couldn't get pressure without blitzing but they also couldn't cover when they did Blitz you know whether it was the tight end or one-on-one on the outside downfield and so they were really sort of stuck between a rock and a hard play you know for Randy Bates I I don't know what the right answer was and and and I sort of got the feeling that he didn't know what the right answer was either and it left them in this sort of weird limbo where they kind of blitzed but kind of didn't they stayed in their Bas events on third down a lot more than they traditionally had maybe because they were getting beat up by the Run um but they just like they couldn't decide what they wanted to do they couldn't figure out what they were good at doing and they couldn't really make they just seemed stuck um they seemed stuck as far as what to do and and so they were just in this weird in between Place uh but on that key third down they blitzed rashim biles off the edge he came untouched and just got a huge sack for nine yards uh the blitz I was talking about with Brandon George on Cincinnati's I mean next to last drive I guess be before pick kicked the game-winning field goal like less than three minutes ago third and three I mean that had been a money situation for C all game long I mean they had been really good in that spot they had been really good about converting third Downs you know they went on a pretty hot run I forgot what they finished uh let me bring up the stats for this game Cincinnati finished third and uh seven of 16 on third down um let me look in the first half they were five of nine on third down in the second half only two of seven fourth quarter 0 of four all right so so they they very much improved seven of 12 on third down through the first three quarters uh including two of three in the third quarter but in the fourth quarter 0 of four on third down actually neither team converted a third down in the fourth quarter if it was 0 of two but to to bounce back after giving up seven of 12 on third down in the first three quarters and sto Cincinnati on four consecutive third down attempts in the fourth quarter uh is pretty big uh you know I think that's a big step in the right direction and that one was the biggest of all was cna's Final play yeah their hook and lateral was uh was a third and eight so I mean that's one as well uh so you had two on on those drives the one where George blitzed and got in in sorby's face and then the one at the the very end the final play of the game um you know Pit's defense rebounded there and as much as we will talk about the offense and you know we should talk about the offense and most of the interesting story lines are on the offense you know pit defense is going to a developing story line all season long and there's going to be a question that lingers out there of how much they can improve whether they can improve where they can improve uh and where they need to improve they've got to get more pressure up front they've got to get more out of the defensive lineman and and it remains to be seen what they'll be able to get out of them uh you know as I scroll through like just looking at tackles like Nate matlack had three tackles uh Jimmy Scott had two Elliot Donald who actually played in this game after not playing at all against Kent State had two tackles nikai Johnson had one Nick James had one um and sincere Edwards had one Edwards had a tackle for loss he had a sack and matlak had a sack and I have to check this because they didn't give biles a sack they gave sharian Harrison a sack so I I think that needs to be corrected I'm guessing sharian I know sharan Harris did not have a sack I'm guessing that was the rashim bil and they got that one a little mixed up but they're just not getting the push up front that they need out of the defensive line and that's uh you know that that was a concern in the Kent State game and quite frankly it was a concern coming into the season it was a concern all off season uh the you know what they were going to get out of the defensive line and they just you know they still weren't really getting it today like I said they couldn't get pressure unless they blitzed but they also couldn't cover well enough to Blitz and and sort of hold up on the back end so they're in a sort of a tricky spot there right of trying to figure out what to do but that's where they have to improve the most on defense is with those guys up front uh they they have to play better I I think yeah Ryland Gandy and Rashad battle gave up some passes today uh I I think the first the touchdown pass that Ryland Gandy gave up I mean he was in decent coverage he was close enough uh his biggest problem was that after the guy caught it he needed to actually push him out of bounds he just kind of gave him a little bit of a shove and didn't really stick with it and um the guy ended up running in for a touchdown battle battle got beat on some plays too uh you chalk that up to inexperienced guys battle's an older player but he hasn't played that much uh Gandy hasn't played that much at all maybe you chalk it up to some inexperience but I mean they have to get better but so much of it ties into the pressure they get up front and that still isn't happening so I mean there there's some issues there the linebackers I thought were okay again Donovan McMillan had 15 tackles in this game made up for lost time uh you know getting back to the safeties he made up for lost time with all the uh you know only having like four tackles against Kent State but overall in the defense I mean was the final totals see where they end up they gave up 449 yards of offense 15 rushing yards felt like more uh 298 passing yards that felt about right like I said seven of 16 on third down um six yards per play you know they had four sacks or five sacks whatever it was excuse me uh but not you know not not not not good enough you know we asked that question at midweek of was Pit's defense good enough in the season opener and and you know they were good enough to get by against Kent State even though some of the numbers were really impressive it didn't feel like it didn't feel like it matched up to those numbers you know giving up 212 yards and you know whatever it was three third down conversions 3.2 or five yards per play or whatever it was it it felt worse than that and I think today in this game you saw it you know I mean they they were getting beat by the Run they were getting beat by a lot of the the passes and the passes they were getting beat by by were the same passes that they always get beat by those tight end up the seams whatever they call it t- shoot or Y shoot or patzi will say it I'm sure he said it in his postgame I didn't get a chance to read his postgame comments yet but uh you know the t- shoot which which they were doing with that tight end who was a really good player uh they they were getting beat by a lot of that same kind of stuff that that they always get beat by so some of it felt like standard operating procedure for pits defense uh but what they need to clean up is is Miss tackle they need to get their run fits down they and they need to get a better push up front but let's be honest here and I'm gonna get to the comments and questions in a second I I really am but let's be honest we we're not tuned in to this postgame show there's not like 300 of you right watching this right now so we can talk about the defense and What needs to improve with the defense we going to talk about Eli Holstein right because there was a prevailing sentiment not unfounded that he should be benched at halftime or maybe earlier and it was a strong sentiment and you can make a good case what was he at halftime seven of 17 for like 91 yards or something like that which make sure I I want to quote the right stats here seven of 17 for 91 yards in an interception he missed at least four passes if not five that he overthrew he underthrew a couple of passes he had guys open and and I want to talk about Eli Holstein but let me just say I'm I'm getting more and more sold on this scheme holste missed the guys but they were open the plays were there to be made like this offense through two games the the system the scheme the plays and the design and the play calling like it was working it was working really well there weren't too many head scratchers uh among the play calls and and you could clearly see guys getting open you could see those options presenting themselves and so just to set that aside you know just to throw that out there I I think this offense is a good offensive system like that's translating what hasn't translated or what didn't translate at least for the first 40 minutes of this game is the quarterback making the throws seven of 17 for 91 yards through the first half for Eli Holstein missing guys High missing guys low just still looking out of sorts into the third quarter up until that drive you know when they finally scored a touchdown [Music] um and and I thought one of the things that changed for Eli Holstein is that he just started running more you know that drive when they scored the first touchdown when they were down 27 to6 um Desmond Reed ran a couple times got him to First and 10 at Midfield and then Holstein scrambled for 11 and scrambled for 10 and I think that was um I I think that loosened him up a little bit next one first and 10 from the 29 he runs play action and throws to censer Lee for eight yards then he scrambles and throws to Derrick Davis it was incomplete they pick up the first down uh on that direct snap to Kenny Johnson and then uh they get a roughing the passer penalty he gets him to the eight Holstein takes a coverage sack he scrambles for five and then he throws to Kate mfield for a touchdown pass I I think the scrambling loosened him up and he might say it did or might say it didn't I I don't know but it like this is something you can do this is what we're told is that Eli holstein's a good runner this is the element he brings this is one of the things that separated him from Nate Yarnell is his ability to run and and improvise and get out and and move so do it your passes aren't falling you're not getting the passes online you're not throwing the ball where it needs you're throwing it to the guy it's supposed to go to uh and the guy who's open but you're just not throwing it very well so run use your legs start loosening that defense up pick up a couple first downs give yourself a little bit of confidence a little bit of moment metum a little bit of Mojo and then he starts making throws and his guys make plays for him you know first play of the next Drive pit Scott they get the ball the 18 He scrambles for five yards and then Desmond Reed gets a a big play but you know two big plays actually one on a run one on a checkdown pass and then Holstein just starts completing passes he completed three in a row including the touchdown pass to to kante mfield where he's he's stepping up he's moving in the pocket he's finding guys downfield I'm still looking for plays in this offense where where they're rolling Eli holste out getting him on bootlegs he can throw on the Run he's got a pretty decent arm on the run and he's able to keep his eyes downfield and make plays on the Run use that use that that's a skill of his uh and I'm not really complaining about the offensive play calling again I I I like what this offense looks like but I think Holstein started settling in and and no I I'm not going to pretend like he was the whole reason they won like can mfield found openings where Cincinnati busted coverage Eli holin did not score the 56 yd running touch you know touchdown he he threw the pass to Desmond Reed over the middle but it was Reed who made the play he went 56 yards for a touchdown um Holstein made short passes and took care of things and then and then when he when he had the opportunity to go downfield to Kate mfield for 34 yards on the field goal drive he stepped out of the pocket stepped up found mfield open and and those are the kind of things he can do and those are the kind of things he should be able to do and those are the kind of things he needs to do and as the game went on in those final 20 minutes those were the things he did he missed those throws early he missed those I shouldn't even say early he missed those throws in the whole first half and most of the third quarter but he got there eventually and maybe this is this is part of the process for a Young quarterback for a lot of young quarterbacks is some steps forward and some steps back that it's not all linear movement it's not all forward movement that you're not just going to keep getting better and better and better you'll get better and better and better overall but you'll have little steps back along the way and the first 40 minutes of this game were a step back from Eli for Eli Holstein from what we saw from him in the season opener against Kent State but he kept going the coaches stuck with him and he went out and made plays to win the game could Nate Yarnell have made those plays some of them I think Nate Yarnell could have thrown an underneath pass over the middle to Desmond Reed that goes for 56 yards would jarnell have stepped up and you know stepped out of the pocket and found uh you know Kate mfield 38 yards down I don't know maybe maybe not would he have scrambled for some of the Yards and first downs that that Holstein did I I don't know I don't know if that's really part of yarnell's game like it is part of holstein's game I think this game particularly the final 20 actually not just the final 20 minutes the whole game was a big step for Eli holstein's education development and maturation and I say the whole game not just the final 20 minutes when he played well but the first 40 minutes of learning how to handle that adversity of learning how to develop through that of of of wow it's not going well for me at all I stink right now and I'm a big part of the reason my team is losing but I have to stick with it my coaches believe in me I have to you know my teammates believe in me I have to I have to go out there and get the job done and there's a calculation to be made there's a calculation to be made by the coaches by Pat nzi and Cade Bell when the quarterback's playing like that when he's struggling like that what do you do and maybe it's because of how the quarterback situation was handled maybe it's just because of the uniqueness of this you have a guy who started a couple games and played pretty well uh you know sort of waiting in the wings there but inevitably when the quarterback struggles they're going to be calls for the other guy it's always you know most popular guy in town is the backup quarterback that's always going to be the case and and it's especially so now because we've seen Nate jarnell in action we've seen him play we know what he can do and so whenever Holstein enters an extended period of struggle there are going to be calls for jarnell to to come in uh and that's probably going to happen all year like unless holste can put together two or three like really solid games it's it's going to keep happening you know it's going to keep happening that people are going to say uh they should bring in Yarnell they should bring in jarnell they should bring in Yarnell but the coaches didn't bring in jarnell they stuck with hle scene and he ultimately LED them on four scoring drives four consecutive scoring drives three touchdowns in a field goal to win this game and that's not to say Nate Yarnell couldn't have done it it's not to say Nate Yarnell wouldn't have played better and never got them into that situation where they were down 21 points to begin with but they decided Eli Holstein was their guy and they stuck with him and I I think you know given what happened last year there's always going to be some extra questioning of the decision making uh but for today you know I think it worked out all right let's get into some chats here you guys uh super Chatters been very very patient and uh I I don't want to uh take advantage of that anymore let's get into Super Chatters Bill Floren was there uh real early says shock and awe can't believe it it I'm shocked too you look at those win probability charts for uh the pit Cincinnati game and they were all favoring Cincinnati for a long time there and then all of a sudden all of a sudden they were favoring pit I can't believe it either Bill uh let's see Brock says uh wow I was all but ready to fire panneri at halftime it looked like they were hitting rock bottom props the do staff and players for not giving up yeah I I mean exactly because there was like I I'll be honest there were points in this first half where I was questioning not just some of the decision making or the play but the the pride it just like it was like what are you playing for out here like what are you doing do do you want to win this game you know and it just didn't seem like there was that fire or that that Pride that we've seen out of this team in the past no eventually it came around and maybe it was always there and you know I'm I'm just judging by the results and that's not necessarily a fair way to judge Pride or energy or fire or whatever it may be uh but but I did I I wondered about it I you know what is wrong with this team that that they're playing like this that they're making the mistakes they're making um and that they're just they're playing like this so like you Brock I mean you know I agree shout out to the coaches and the players for sticking with it for battling and uh you know not giving up and and going out and I mean ultimately playing well enough to engineer what the biggest comeback uh what did our friend EJ borgetti tweet the biggest comeback for pit since like 1971 it's pretty impressive uh Damen Williams says the last two years this game is a loss no question yeah look and not just the last two years you know I like I don't think pit fell behind by 21 points in uh you know any of the games in 2021 I I'd like to think that um I'd like to think that uh Kenny picket would have led them back from that kind of deficit but I don't know that's a big hole to be in particularly with only about 20 minutes left to go in the game but you know this year's team with this offense um you know maybe with this quarterback whatever it may be they they found a way Biz says Eli was looking really suspect for three quarters he sure was he wasn't looking looking suspect he was looking bad he played poorly for the first three quarters he was not playing well um at all you he was he was missing pass and this was the worst part because and they were talking about it on the broadcast uh and and and you could see it the plays were there the passes were there the more accurate passes better thrown passes and this game's not even close you know they might win this instead of 2827 they might win it 4827 or something like that 3827 they they would have won it comfortably I think if he makes some of those passes in the first half the first quarter first couple drives you know like they they weren't necessarily bad decisions there there was one bad decision on I think it was like an RPO and he threw the quick slant and it was like double covered it's like are you even looking before you throw that pass or you just pulling the ball and you're making your read you're pulling the ball and just firing it out it was a terrible decision um and so it was it was poor play good design good play design good offense and just poor quarterback play and and so I had big questions about it big questions but I think you know Eli Holstein finishes with 300 yards right I think he uh showed himself to be up to the task 20 of 35 for 302 three touchdowns and an interception what um let me me see what's 20 of 35 what's that percentage can't do that math in my head it's only 57% but in the second half he was 13 of 18 so the first half like I said seven of 17 for 91 yards second half 13 of 18 for 210 in three touchdowns fourth quarter 10 of 11 for 189 yards in two touchdowns 10 of 11 for 189 yards in the fourth quarter you show me a quarterback who can go out in the fourth quarter and complete 10 of 11 passes that's somebody who's responding to the the challenge who's who's answering the call and and is not getting pushed back by the pressure I mean 10 of 11 for 189 that's a big time performance that rookie of the weak stuff right there and now he's thr for 300 yards uh you know in in three touchdowns in multiple games as as pit starting quarterback Michael Zimmerman as a super chatter says uh did you expect holste to turn it around did you expect patzi would pivot to Nate Arnell what would you have done if you were coaching that game all right three questions in there did I expect Eli Holstein to turn it around yeah I thought I thought he would I didn't think he would turn it around to the tune of 10 of 11 for 189 in the fourth quarter I didn't think he would be seven of 17 for 91 yards in the you know like he was in the first half I thought he would get better I didn't know how much better he would get uh I I thought there was a path for him to get better you know like I say if he start started running a little bit more using his legs I thought he could make some more plays and so I thought there was he could get better and I thought he probably would because I think he's a better player than he showed in the first half um I didn't know if he would be able to play well enough to bring pit back and certainly once it was 20176 I was pretty damn positive he wasn't going to play well enough to bring pit back um but I thought he would I thought he would improve uh did I expect Nardi would pivot to Nate Yarnell I didn't know I didn't know you know the the the end of the first half so I didn't think anything would happen during the half but at the end of the first half you know Holstein goes out uh gets 20 yards final drive before the half he gets 20 yards on a checkdown pass to Desmond Reed steps up to make a throw to Gavin birthal mutes incomplete but he makes a step up um steps up and make a pass to Kate mfield for 26 yards gets the ball to the pit 38 or the Cincinnati 38 and here's another example of Cincinnati doing know stupid things to basically give the game to pit two Cincinnati players go down with injuries and and this was the uh you know sniper took him out from the roof because you see them everybody standing there and all of a sudden two guys fall down we've seen seen this story we know how this goes and we know what this is because we've seen pit do it right except guys there's one second left the clock will start on your signal like it wasn't going to be possible to run a play like unless they snap the ball on the official's whistle I don't know how because the official waves his arms Blows the Whistle the clock starts and it's zero so there would be a field goal attempt but because these guys went down the clock stopped and it doesn't start again until the snap and maybe I'm wrong about the rules here but I heard the official say the clock will start on my signal and then they had to stop and wait because those guys fell down stupid anyway Holstein made two good passes there like I said he had 91 yards passing in the first half he had 46 out of his 91 on those two play like two out of his final three passes the final drive of the first half he got 46 out of his 91 yards and so there was enough encouraging there and then you get the good field position to start you think you might have a little bit momentum like I didn't think they would make the change at halftime but when Holstein came out seem to kind of struggle a little bit to start the second half I I was like okay if it's going to happen it'll happen here on like the second Drive of the half and it didn't it was still holen they went three and out they stuck with him I I think it comes down to to it's it's a feel question and and this is one of these things where like there's no easy way to do this there's no like book on how to handle this and and I think you know on one hand you could walk into a game and say like Eli's our guy it doesn't matter what happens he's a starter he's staying in you know it's not even a conversation to have but you box yourself in there um unless you feel like just overall this is the better quarterback and we're not going to change no matter what and and I you know there's part of me that thinks that patzi and Kade Bell came into this game thinking that like this is just it he's our guy we wouldn't never change why would we change he's our guy we stick with our guy we're not going to bench him just because he is a bad drive or a bad quarter a bad half what would I have done see this is one of these things where it's really tough to answer and and consider when you're not in it you know what I mean like like so those guys are around each other and around Eli Holstein all day long every day hours and hours together they know each other better than I will know any of them ever you know at all and so they know who he is you know I think they have an idea of who he is what he can handle and and and they're also having conversations with him on the sidelines if he's coming off and saying the right thing if he's coming off and say I I don't know what it is I I just don't I can't do it I I I I don't have it I'm I'm just off today coach well then maybe you consider it right if he comes off and he's like it's right there I I know it I just got to get that passed out I I see the play you know if he's reading everything right he's diagnosing everything right I I just got to get the pass to him I I know what well then you stick with him and so like what would I have done if I was the coach for one thing I had have a whole heck of a lot more information than I do based on history with the guy and what he's saying on the sidelines and the conversations you're having and clearly whatever he was saying on the sidelines was enough to give panneri and Cade Bell confidence that he was still the right guy to have in there as they moved through the game I mean you could say that it ultimately turned out to be right uh because of the outcome of the game um but you know I I think that's what those decisions come down to so like it's hard for me to say what I would have done but we're in such again we're in such a unique situation because we have all this information and sort of uh history and experience of the backup you know it's not just the great unknown you know it's not just you got to put in this guy you know 2009 why don't they play Tino God just put in Tino nobody knew what Tino could do I we watched him in practice but that doesn't matter nobody had an idea who Tino was or what Tino sineri could do you know everybody just knew Bill stall wasn't playing well put in Tino put in it was the great unknown you know the great unknown the the unknown is better than the bad that we know you know but but that's not the case here this case this this situation is one where uh we've seen Nate jarnell we have that experience with him we know about him we know what kind of player he is and so everybody want you there's a little bit more to go on well jarnell wouldn't have thrown that interception jarnell could have completed that pass jarnell would have done this jarnell would have done that because we've seen him do all those things and so it's a little bit unique but again it comes down to what information the coaches have what they're getting from the player and what they have as far as their their history and experience with him and so they suck with him I mean I again it's hard to say and say well it was clearly the right decision I mean who knows maybe if they change to Nate Arnell maybe they uh uh you know they don't fall on the hole that they Fallen maybe they do better than six points in the first half but it all it all worked out in the end got the win and they covered too uh of course they covered uh zc 717 says there definitely are things to clean up but it was exciting to see how explosive this offense can be in past years this is a loss yeah I I um that's the thing I mean like I think I if anything you come out of these first two games I I think think if you want things to be excited about like let let's talk highlights of the first two games all right what are the things you've liked the most what what are the most encouraging things out of the first two games number one has to be Desmond Reed I mean Desmond Reed has been awesome I mean nothing short of awesome he had 234 allpurpose yards last week he had 254 yards of total offense this week 19 carries for 148 uh plus six catches for 106 and a touchdown he was a leading receiver with six receptions game leading receiver with six receptions he had the second most receiving yards of anybody in the game um he was he was one yard behind Cory ker the the Tennessee uh or Tennessee Cincinnati running back had 149 yards on 20 carries Des Marita had 148 on 19 carries he's been he's been outstanding you know one of the best players in the ACC and probably Pit's best overall player through two games uh I just hope he can play 12 you know or even 10 uh and and he was you know he had he had a calf or whatever it was last week in the Kent State game something with his left knee maybe this week uh he gets banged up he takes but he also you know he's got he gets the ball a lot he takes a lot of contact he he makes a lot of plays uh and has a lot of opportunities to get hit uh but boy he's explosive and fun to watch and exciting to watch and clearly Cade Bell knows how to use him so number one thing to be encouraged about from the first few games Desmond Reed number two I would say it's just the offensive scheme and I said this a minute ago but I I I think you look at it it's hard to argue that this scheme works you know after watching it for two games just the the ability to get Guys open to create opportunities for guys to make plays uh you know the the plays weren't being made in the first quarter in the first half uh because the quarterback was missing the guys it's not because the guys weren't open the receivers were open the opportunities were there the plays were there to be made um the quarterback just wasn't hitting him and that I think is encouraging for for the offense going forward that if the quarterback can get a little more consistent then look out the this you know this offense can really take off uh because I think we're seeing how well it can work I mean I I think this was a uh you know through two games Cade Bell gets a pretty high grade for me you know is it a B+ I mean probably in that range like for me as as an idiot just sitting out here watching the game and saying hey look that guy was open that guy was open this play was there that play was there I don't know all enough about all the ins and outs of the chess match and well they they showed this early and then they did this off they play you know they did this thing to set up that thing to set up that I I don't know all that stuff all I know is that when the quarterback drops the back the pass there are guys to throw to in a lot of situations now this is an interesting game here because Cincinnati didn't Blitz all that much it be interesting to see the Pro Football Focus numbers on how often Eli Holstein was blitzed um you know Cincinnati a lot of times was just rushing three guys uh those front three out of that 335 defensive scheme and so there was was a lot of coverage and and that made it challenging but there were still plays to be made there were still opportunities if the quarterback makes the throws and and so that's hugely encouraging I I think if you're looking for bright spots if you're looking for things to feel good about there's a lot of question marks there's a lot of of you know seeming vulnerabilities there's a lot of areas where pit maybe hasn't been as good as they need to be but that's not one of them I think the offensive system looks really good uh I thought now again Cincinnati only rushed three most of the time but thought the offensive line held up well enough you know it wasn't perfect there were pressures Eli Hol did get sacked uh but I thought on the whole the offensive line held up pretty well so you know Desmond Reed been really good offensive scheme looks really good I think the offensive line has been okay um you know if you're looking for things to be be encouraged about I I think those are a few that that jump out certainly on the offensive side of the ball um Zachary Joy super chatter we appreciate you says love the morning pit what are the options at cornerback Cincinnati made a mistake not going at Battle all day he was terrible um so there's a couple things uh you know options at cornerback I mean Taman Liam is an option and I think he he had some nice plays today I I think battle will keep getting better you know I think this was you know he's an old guy he's been around for like four or five years but he also doesn't have a ton of experience he hasn't played that much and so it's it's sort of a a balance of yeah you've you've been around but kind of need to get that game experience we know this is a very unforgiving defensive scheme for Corners like it's not it's not for everyone it's not uh it's not for um what's the word I'm looking for it's not for the faint of heart you know like you you have to be willing you have to be ready you know you're going to get beat you're going to give up plays and that was certainly the case today there's a lot of a lot that Rashad battle can learn from uh in this game and R and Gandy as well I think gandy's okay I think battle's okay I think these guys are okay they are going to have to make some improvements as the season goes on to get better than okay to get to uh you know a higher level of play um I I don't know if there are a ton of options uh I it was hard to see the Personnel all the time on TV so I don't know uh I I don't know if they went to other Corners um I think it was mostly just Gandy battle and Lum again like it was last week I don't know if tamaran crumpley got in at all or Noah Bigalow got in we'll check see what the snap counts looked like but I think it was mostly just those three guys and I think that's largely who they will stick with uh this this season and so those guys are going to have to get better but again their job gets easier when you get pressure you know conversely it's easier to get to the quarterback when the corners can hold up in coverage but you know I I still think it's going to come back to the front four and the front four are going to have to get pressure they're going to have to find a way they're going to have to give better and better at Rushing the quarterback because right now they're not they're not doing a good enough job making plays and and you know what and it showed up in the run too uh you know I know they they only gave up 31 rushing yards to Kent State last week but they gave up how much should I say almost 200 yeah no 150 rushing yards to Cincinnati see there again like 151 rushing yards it's a lot but it's not crazy you know for for Cincinnati having 37 rushing attempts uh you know 151 rushing yards it's not it's not again it's not crazy like it's not a ridiculous amount it's not like you got gashed but they did you know they gave up a bunch of runs Cory ker ran pretty wild against them um so I don't know it's just it's got to get better and and I think it it a lot of it maybe all of it starts up front the defensive linemen have to play better um than they have been see if there's any other super Chatters in here oh yeah uh jorgan Jorgen I don't know how to pronounce your name man uh but j o r j an what do we think Jorgen jorgan air jorgan uh says need people to calm down about Holstein he has shown that he has some serious talent but is a freshman might have a real legit dude here got to let him figure it out live sometimes appreciate you Chris yeah uh that they do have to let him figure it out and that's what they did and I think he grew up a lot you know what I mean I think he figured some things out uh as a red shirt freshman playing on the road making his second career start his first career start on the road yeah he had some things to figure out and and I think he would probably be the first to tell you I got some things I got to figure out uh and I think he did figure some things out it's gonna be really interesting to see how he plays now going into week three where you're back at home but you're going to be in a crazy environment uh and there's going to be even more pressure than there was on this game uh and now we'll see how he handles that it's going to be a yearlong process with Eli Holstein but after looking like he was going to fail spectacularly at you know his first real test his first road test he ended up with a passing great threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns it's hard to argue with that although I think Keen slovis had like 300 yards in three touchdowns against uh Georgia Tech in 22 so maybe that's not uh maybe that's not the best uh best barometer but either way he ended up leading a comeback and uh leading a victory let's see oh wait where'd it go got more Super Chatters we got to get to you guys are doing a great job being the super Chatters we appreciate you says uh Kyle Peterson super chatter says what a win when was the last time we saw a comeback of this size I was also ready to call it at a few points in the third quarter uh let me um just bring up the tweet from our good friend EJ boretti borgetti in the pit um sports information Department says uh here he tweeted this after the game pit Trail Cincinnati 27 to6 with 450 left in the third quarter this is Pit's largest comeback since 10971 October 9th 1971 Trail Navy 35 to10 at halftime and came back to win 36-35 so there you go 53 years ago um you know 52 52 years and 11 months was the last time they had a win like this so of that big um it was it was historic it was a heck of a comeback uh RJC man 38 says pit one that's great but nardia does not get props so fr at despite win you know what he made the call to stick with Holstein it was his defense that made the turn like you got to give him credit if you're going to trash him for you know when they're losing the game I I think you have to give him credit when when they win the game and and I know like some people say oh they won in in spite of uh Nardi or something like that no I don't think that's fair you know I don't like the whole game it's all narzi you know what I mean it's all pit right everything that happens on offense it was all Eli Holstein and all Kade Bell everything that happened on defense it was all paneri and it was all Randy Bates I mean like he HS the whole game and and you you can trash him for some of the things but I think you have to give him some props some praise you know and and for the people and there was there was a lot of this on Twitter and this you know I'll admit to being reactionary at times but this is something I tend to stay out of all the the the religation of the patzi era Midway through the second quarter of a game that they're losing oh the nzi era see he's cooked it's over nzi is a bum they never should have extended his contract he shouldn't even be here anymore why is he even here he shouldn't even you know this whole this whole era has been a disaster what a waste of 10 years they need the program to get back on need a reset for the program and all like dudes you had a bad year last year and they're Los losing a game chill out like like at least let the game finish and then we can have conversations about a guy's Legacy we're talking about like Legacy and you know contracts and you know 10 years of coaching uh and you know it's but you know what those same kinds of tweets and those same comments and those that same Spirit was present during the Western Michigan game in 2021 see n he a bum it's over why do they even still have him here can they fire him now they're not going to win another game this year they might as well just get rid of him at the end of this season whatever the buyout is it's worth it he's never going to win anything here he's proven he is not going to get pit to the next level yeah that that was 2021 so maybe maybe we could just cool it with like the you know Grand statements and just look at this for the game that it was and it was a game where pit was down down by 21 points near the end of the third quarter and came back and won the game maybe it could just be that instead of being uh you know like I say a relitigate of the Nardi era uh Damen Williams says the Box scor said change quarterbacks but the it test said Eli was just a little off and could work it out yeah I kind of agree about that Daman I I I do I think you could look at it and um like I felt like he would get back on track you know I I didn't think he would be as effective as he was I didn't think he would end up putting up the numbers that he did but I thought he would get back on track and and he ultimately did and so I kind of agree you know the obviously the stats were really bad the box score was really bad uh but they stuck with him and and I think he worked some things out I think he learned a little bit um Christian rickets says uh you made a point about Reed getting banged up seems like that will be a problem Davis hasn't shown much yeah so that that's um that that's the thing like Desmond Reed you know played eight games last year I don't think he played a full season two years ago he's already showing a little bit of wear and tear he's an awesome player he's explosive he's exciting he's a playmaker he's been there best over again he's been their best overall player through two games just concerned about longevity and you know those concerns are heightened when you look at like well can Derek Davis what percentage of Desmond Reed's production can Derrick Davis achieve you know and who else is there I don't think they played anybody else at running back today Daniel Carter didn't play montravious Lloyd didn't play I don't even know if he traveled I'll have to check the travel roster Joel's golf is hurt uh you know Rodney Hammond's out for the year so like Hammond probably would have been your best option you know what I mean if you could have alternated and rotated uh Hammond and Reed and kept those guys a little bit fresh and healthy like that would have been your best case scenario but that's not an option anymore and so with that off the table I don't know what you could do like I guess you have to play the games with Reed you know what I mean I don't think you can go like I don't think you can go half-hearted with it I think you have to do what you want to do and what you feel like will help you win the games with Desmond Reed and then hope that he can stay healthy you mean hope that you can avoid injuries that'll keep him out long term I mean he looked like he was hurting today he looked like he was hurting today uh I did see I think I saw Jim posted the videos on our uh on our YouTube page right here at youtube.com pan.com and Desmond Reed did come out and talk to the media after the game which is encouraging okay because a lot of times these guys guys who get hurt they won't come out and talk because they're getting treatment well Desmond Reed came out and talked so that's good um that's a positive sign they just might have to take it easy with him through the week you know it might have to be like a lot of Maintenance days for Desman Reed so he's ready to go when the game day comes next uh next weekend uh that might be it from the super chatter we still have a lot left to we're still going to keep talking for a while because there's a lot of comments that are not super chats and so I want to get to those as well and of course I want to ask you to like this video And subscribe don't forget about that I don't think I even said that yet subscribe to youtube.com/ pancom you know we we didn't go live right after the game today um but if you're subscribed to youtube.com pan.com you'll get a notific and you turn on your notifications you get an alert sent to your phone whenever we go live or we post new video content right here at youtube.com/ pan.com so make sure you do that like this video And subscribe and I do want before we jump into the uh the Gen pop comments uh and of course we'll get to Super Chatters uh as they come in before we get to the Gen pop comments quick shout out to HomeField don't forget about HomeField apparel.com it's the best place to get pit gear if you're going on the road to a game at Cincinnati or if you're getting ready for the Backyard Brawl on Saturday you want to go to HomeField apparel.com and stock up on some pit gear this is the best way to do it the best way to look your best because HomeField I've told you about him for a long time they they have the best pit gear you're going to find some of the coolest designs coolest logos they're they're vintage and retro looking but they're also incredibly modern and they're instantly recognizable as being pit it's outstanding it's it's the best stuff that I've seen and it's as I always say It's Made on high quality shirts like the shirts are super soft the shirts are are they fit great they hold their shape they don't um you know they don't get you know stretched out or the neck gets all stretched out or weird around the waist or anything like that they shape I've had HomeField shirts for five six years now and they are in great shape just as good as they were when I first got them and after countless Washings because I do wash my clothes uh and and they're still it's still great so you get really cool logos and great look on high quality shirts sweatshirts hats joggers jackets anything bomber jacket any coaches jackets they've got some really cool stuff HomeField apparel.com and don't forget if you go there now use the promo code pit4 will give you 50 15% off your first order HomeField apparel.com promo code pit 24 15% off your first order RJC man 38 says what did we learn about the team do we forget the first three quarters as the outlier or was the fourth quarter the outlier what's the path forward I like I don't know if there's an outlier right like this was a team that went out and you know what what did we learn from the first three quarters we learned if the quarterback can't hit open receivers they're going to struggle we learned if the defense doesn't you know get good get enough pressure or tackle well enough they're going to give up points and yards like that's what we learned you know so I don't know if there's an outlier um you know there's a question of like well who is this team really well I mean I think what they showed is that they're capable of Good and Evil they're like Jeff Bridges in the vanishing you know I wondered if I was as capable of as good of evil as I was of good well they found out they're capable of both they're capable of of winning and losing you know they're capable of playing well and and not uh you know which team is the real Team they're all the real team it's the real Pit the real Pit is a team that if they hit the open receivers if they can make those plays and they make tackles and and they get up blocks then they can be good and they can win games the real Pit is also a team that if the quarterback is off and he's not throwing well and they're not fitting their run gaps on defense or making good tackles or sound fundamentals they'll also lose I mean that's the real team it's just a question of you know On Any Given game day are they able to do enough of the good things to outweigh the bad and here they were you know here they were able to manufacture enough positive stuff in the final 20 minutes that it did outweigh the first 40 minutes you know like I don't one I don't think one is the outlier or the other is the outlier It ultimately comes down to a balancing act of like can you play well enough to overcome the times and outweigh the times when you're not playing well and and you know obviously that's what they did last week where you know the bar was quite a bit lower there weren't that many times where they weren't playing well so it was it was pretty easy to clear the bar and then you know today was a bit tougher and and they had to play really well for a stretch to overcome all those time all the the stretch where they didn't play well so I don't really think there's an outlier this is who this team is we saw this team today in all of its many facets and then we see what shows up on Saturday and what shows up the week after that and what shows up two weeks after that and what shows up so on and so forth not that there's an outlier and and no matter what happens next week I don't think we I'm not going to look back and say boy those final 20 minutes against Cincinnati were an outlier no it's who they were and if they could do that you know if they can manufacture that then they'll have similar positive results but I you know we talk about like well was that final 20 minut was that really pit is that who pit really is that sort of makes it sound like they can just walk out there and just do that without having to uh you know um you know they they could just get off the bus and they just do that they just go up and down the field and score you know score on four straight possessions three touchdowns and a field goal well that's not really that's not how it works you know what I mean they they have to be on point they have to be focused they have to be prepared and they have to you know play really hard and that's what they did in the final 20 minutes so I don't really know if if I think there's an outlier it's just it's a question I mean we we saw it all laid out of the two sort of extremes of what they can be the really good extreme and the really bad extreme and we'll see which one they tend to over the next 10 games swim boy says the biggest crime today is no trophy you're absolutely right about that sir I don't know where the River City Riv River City rivalry trophy is it's a shame that that thing is not coming back to Pittsburgh I I assume since Cincinnati has it because they won the last time that g that trophy was in play in 2012 and so I assume Cincinnati is still holding on to it a friend uh made a joke that you know maybe Cincinnati uh you know like the Arc of the Covenant at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc packed it up and stored it away among millions of other boxes never to be seen again and that's kind of how I like to imagine that it went down uh but Cincinnati should have it and it should be coming on the bus back with pit or probably the plane they probably actually that thing probably can't go on a plane it's probably too heavy so they they should put that on the equipment truck and drive it back to pit but it is a shame there's no uh trophy but for the first time since 2010 pit has won a game in the River City rivalry so there's that all right uh let's get into some of the Gen pop questions I'm going to just read through a bunch of these and then uh you know we'll stop on a few and we'll see what's up but uh poly sure says Desmond Reed we are not worthy yeah he's pretty awesome the panther says hats off to Eli Holstein after a rocky start honestly an absolutely terrible start to shake that off and bring his team back to win another 300 yards and three touchdown game yeah I think Holstein is now what is he so he had 302 today at 336 last week so 638 yards six touchdowns and two picks take that take that stat line any day uh Benjamin Glazer says big difference between this year and last year a 32-year-old OC and a red shirt freshman showed greater leadership and Poise than a fifth year senior and a 58-year-old OC that and Reed is Sten sprouls yeah that's uh that's that sums it up pretty well tacx one says only really proud and deserving are the only ones really proud and deserving are Desmond Reed and Ben SS Eli Holstein hopefully grew a bit but I can't like much else well I I mean like Brandon George didn't make those plays I pointed out earlier rashim biles didn't make that sack that you know like I pointed out sols and Reed absolutely but like kante mfield didn't have you know his first 100 yard game in almost three years and like Eli Holstein how can you not say he's deserving I mean yeah he's stunk for the first 40 minutes but I I I mean I I almost think it's harder to play really well for the final third of a game after you've been really terrible for the first two thirds than to just come out and play well from the start you I mean if you come out and play well from the start it's easy everything's rolling it's all going your way it's all great you face a little adversity and in this case you faced a lot of adversity quite a bit of it he you know was self-inflicted but you face adversity and you know you have to you know you have to maintain your confidence you have to maintain your belief in yourself and the offense and your teammates and your coaches is I mean there's a lot you know I I think it's I think it's tough to do what Eli Holstein did today and uh I I think he's I think he's very much deserving you know credit to him played a heck of a game came to bounce back from playing as poorly as he did uh I think he gets a lot of credit oh yeah super chatter jumping in here DC3 says great win great to see the fight early in the season Desmond Reed's a great addition from uh Cade Bell and patzi how nice would it be to have Rodney Hammond in the rotation Clarity to why he's ineligible thanks Chris no there's still really no Clarity to that um I don't know if it's ever going to be all that clear you know there's rumors and it'd be irresponsible for me to to spread those rumors you know here or on the message boards or anything like that but I mean you can find those things I don't think it's academic and that's that's not a rumor I mean I I would report that it's not academic um the fact that he's still around the team um still practicing and everything sort of rules out legal issues so you know you eliminate a few things as possible explanations but I don't think we're ever going to get anything really formal and uh concrete on it so I you know it would be nice to have him I think it would certainly add another element to this offense potentially take some of the wear and tear and you know take some of the workload off of Desmond Reed but the same time you want to preserve Desmond Reed healthwise but I don't know how much workload you want to take away from him given how good he's been uh poly Shore says this game could give this team an edge um playing a rivalry Cincinnati student section was chippy uh won the game half the team ran down to the student section wave them goodbye you know what like I I'll say this I don't know usually com about crowds and things like that but like Cincinnati get your own anti- pit chant what you were cheering is largely reserved for West Virginia and we'll hear some of that from the crowd on Saturday at aore Stadium there it's not going to be 75% West Virginia fans but there will be enough West Virginia fans that we will hear that chant very clearly um Cincinnati fans it's not yours I mean come on get out of here kind of lame to try and steal West Virginia fans chance but you know there is there is a little bit of a rivalry there's a little bit of dislike you know pit in Cincinnati and the cities of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati to some extent are are kind of like um they're a lot alike you know and and familiarity reads contempt kind of going against yourself in certain ways uh and I think there is there are a lot of similarities between pit and Cincinnati and Pittsburgh and Cincinnati the cities and so there was always a possibility of this becoming a great rivalry uh I think there were some great games played in this rivalry I actually talked about it last year I think I did a whole episode where I compared the River City rivalry to Guns and Roses um that was really that was one of maybe maybe the best morning pit I've ever done I don't think very many people watched it understandably so um it had the makings of a great rivalry but then pit left for the ACC and so it never really blossomed but it's nice to see some of that hate come back in this game uh today and it's nice to see the players give it back to the students so that's always fun uh tacx one says Pan's defense is being exposed again and again don't care if its weak corners or lack of pressure rushing forward that requires blitzes to get home but this isn't a formula that will hold up uh against very good teams I mean dude it's like 10 years into this I mean this is 10 years this is nardi's 10th year are we really still complaining about the defensive scheme it is what it is we know what it is to a large extent it's a feast or famine defense where you get a sack or you give up a touchdown and that's not entirely the case but it sure feels like it then when a quarterback drops back you're either going to get to him or he's going to throw a long pass that's completed it's just what it is like this defense nothing has changed about I mean I'm sure there are tweaks and different things that have changed and obviously the players have changed in the last 10 years but it's largely the same same scheme and it's been pretty effective in a lot of situations and it's gotten exposed in a lot of situations I can't really bring myself to like you know we've got to talk about this defensive scheme nothing's ever going to change with it they're not going to do something else they're not going to play a different way they're not going to nothing's going to change it's just their defense it's what they do uh um scroll down find some different voices here a lot of the same people saying things uh Josh Newark says we're seeing a changed patent RI going with analytics even if I hated the call sticking with a struggling quarterback allowing him to grow great team win um yeah so the analyics is interesting uh you know I think probably most of you were watching on TV like I was so you heard them talking about the analytics behind going for two on the the first touchdown that you know the analytics say when you're trailing by 14 at that point in a game if you score you obviously need two touchdowns when you score the first one you should go for two it increases your win probability that it's something that's showing up in the in the uh NFL quite a bit and making its way into college uh yeah I I mean I I would have just kicked I would have just kicked to play for overtime but um you know like I just don't like it because okay so you got a chance to kick twice to be tied right you go for two and you miss then you have to go for two just to get a tie and it worked out with the time they pit had pit had time for another Drive where they could go down and get the game-winning field goal but I I just don't like the pressure it puts then on your after your second touchdown we like now you don't even have the option you know and and to some extent their offense was rolling after that first touchdown like when when they were down 14 um you know they they had momentum they just scored two drives in a row and so like yeah let's let's keep it going and quite quite honestly the play was there you know the pass was there Kenny Johnson couldn't quite get it Eli Hol probably could have thrown a little bit better but I mean the play was there to be made so wasn't really that bad of a play call either it was it was it seems like it was a good decision and a good call they just didn't execute it uh and so if it was me I probably would have just kicked I don't hate it given what they ended up drawing up and and and how close it was to actually hitting if it hits you know I mean if you if you make that then you just need to kick the extra point to get the lead and that's great you know that that's that's a lot easier but I don't know if it was me I probably would have just kicked but I'm old and I just default to what we've always done Josh nework also says cam guest hold on the Ben SS gamewinner needs to be acknowledged yeah you're absolutely right like I said that snap came in a little bit High and um you know shout out to cam guest for getting it down uh for SS to complete the kick um pit Jag says uh all right uh pit chag says can we give everyone a blanket forgiveness for anything that may or may not have been said in the game thread asking for friend what a win so this is the thing about the game thread all right on panther.com you know the website below panther.com panther-lair.com pittsburgh. rivals.com it's the most comprehensive source of pits sports news we have all the coverage that you can possibly handle but we've also got um message boards where you can talk with other pit fans and obviously it gets a little hairy during games you know as you can imagine if you're if you're just sitting on a couch or sitting at a bar or whatever talking to your friend during a game you say a lot of stuff right this guy is so terrible this coach is awful this guy's great whatever it may be you overreact to things this is what we do we're sports fans when we watch a sports game we overreact right we sit at a bar we talk all kinds of stuff well message boards that certainly happens as well and so we create the game thread and let the game thread just go during the game and and people say kind of whatever they want during the game let me see where the game thread ended up comment wise today um yeah 31 Pages more than a thousand replies including some that were 35 minutes ago now if you're watching this later it's currently like 20 after n and the game thread still got some replies 35 minutes ago so that would have been like quarter to nine or like five hours after the game ended the game thread is still going uh but that is a uh that is the um the most icely Cantina of Message Board areas is the game thread where like enter at your own risk uh watch your back and the cuz the bullets are flying you know what I mean like it it it gets it gets wild in there so yes there's always blanket forgiveness for what gets said in the game thread because it's all said In the Heat of the game it's all said In the Heat of action I mean like look at Twitter Twitter's the same way it's ridiculous during a game so yes blanket forgiveness for the game thread as always uh Mark Shu says pit needs to play Derrick Davis more in the first half Desmond Read's importance to this team is immeasurable but he doesn't seem durable and may need a few more plays off to make it through a game season I I just don't know like yes but like he's your best player like you need to get the ball to him you don't need to give him the ball 40 times in a game uh I don't even know if you need to give him the ball 25 times or 26 times like he had today Le he had 25 times right 19 carries and six receptions you take them off punts at the very least uh and then try to be judicious about how you use them but I mean you need to use your best players you need your best players to give you the best chance to win and that's that's what Desmond re gives pit Desmond re gives pit the best chance to win so you need to give him the ball and if Derek Davis is good enough to help you win then then good that's great you can rotate and you can split it up but you need Desmond Reed to give you a chance to win give you the best chance to win um Paulie Shore says what separates Eli Hol from bad from past quarterbacks he had a bad first half realized what he was doing wrong made his own adjustments and was successful that's impressive I hope it continues also whatever happened to Julian Dugger the quarterback of Pen Hills haven't seen him on the roster of the sidelines just wondering for future purposes he's he was there last week he didn't Trav I I assume he didn't travel um let me look I'll look real quick I know Jim tweeted out the uh travel roster a lot of times freshmen who are red shirting don't travel uh here's the travel roster yeah he just didn't travel but he was there last week um so yeah he's there for the future um Damen Williams says I wasn't wondering about a quarterback change Eli holin was just having freshman Jitters and just needed to calm down and work it out which he did Stan ref says this reminded me a lot of the game against Cincinnati last year the defense struggled early and against ker down 27-7 one on a 140 run and even got the ball in cinity territory after an interception but failed after yeah uh in this case pit didn't fail droing nuts says uh one bad team beat another bad team today that may be the case but even if it is it's better to be the bad team that got the win right let me see John kristovich says it's always a good day when pit wins and Notre Dame loses yeah how about Notre Dame they need Ben SS if they're going to try a 65 yard field goal to win the game they need Ben SS out there Ben SS is money I mean really is you know I like that dude's reliable he really he's he's a good one um scroll through here a lot of this is you guys talking to each other which is fun I'm glad you guys are having a good time I'm just jump all the way to the bottom uh oh here's another one RJC man 38 says I appreciate your perspective thank you hey thank you sir uh there was uh one there's a comment I saw in here this is why you guys need to be uh this is why you need to be super Chatters so I can find your comment there was something that I I did want to talk about um oh well let's see if there's anything else we want to uh bring up real quick now big poly Shore h2p says Cincinnati does have the Paddle Wheel trophy in their finance department as a decoration they need to stop being you know what's and give it up I thought I heard that nobody knew where it was um is what I thought but all right um think this might be about it excuse me uh just scroll down here see if anybody else it's a lot of a lot of the conversation that we've been covering a lot of uh covering a lot of this so far oh there's one more Super chatter John waffle comes in says I'm nervous after seeing West Virginia's offense tonight what is I don't even know what West Virginia is doing right now let me look up the uh scoreboard real quick going to the big 12 scores what's West Virginia doing oh they're 494 on Albany I mean or they beat Albany 49 14 I sure I guess but Alban's quarterback also threw for 300 yards so maybe you're concerned about that West Virginia ran for 305 yards they still have CJ Donaldson how the heck is that guy still in school dear Lord uh yeah CJ Donaldson ran for 125 yards jeem white ran for 100 Garrick green had 68 yard I mean they ran for a bunch I I don't know I mean they scored 49 against an FCS team pit scored 55 against an FBS team so maybe it'll be a high-scoring game you know maybe it'll be uh one that cover oh this didn't cover the over did it 28 27 55 points yeah so I'm too all right we now have confirmation that you should castanza every bet every piece of betting advice that I give you last week I told you I thought the under was smart on 55 a half and the O pit almost covered the over by themselves eles against Kent State and then this week I thought 62 and a half I thought the over was smart because I didn't think either defense would play very well and both offenses would score a lot the under is what hits so whatever I tell you on the over under on a pick game take the opposite all right and I'm not going to think that way I'm not g to be like well I'm really leaning toward the over so I predict I should predict the under because it's going to be the up no no whatever I tell you take the opposite all right take the opposite all right I think an hour and a half is a good spot to cut it we appreciate everybody uh who jumped in here all the um oh here we'll get one more Rick uh paparello says hey Chris and a panther fan since the late 60s I never complain with a win celebrate till next week great to hear Billy Hillgrove like always yeah I should have uh turned on the radio I was listening I was watching the stream should have turned down the sound kick it kick it old school right kick it old school all right pit wins 28-27 Panthers get a comeback from being down 21 in the final what 20 minutes of the game pretty outstanding comeback by pit pretty strong uh performance to come back and win by a point they are 2 and0 and they will host West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl a week from today and we will have a live show after that one it'll probably be around this time again it'll be around like 78 o'clock at night and I suspect we will have a ton to talk about I can't wait I'm looking forward to it I'm sure you are too that game is going to be awesome the atmosphere is going to be awesome and who knows what's going to going to happen my guess if I had to guess right now at 9:30 on Saturday night a week before the game there's going to be moments where pits defense is incredibly frustrating in moments where they step up and make some plays and there's going to be moment I I think Pit's offense is going to keep building performance after performance like game after game they're going to keep building on their performances and if they win that they got a real real shot at going undefeated in non-conference play for the first time ever which is crazy all right look thanks so much for tuning in tonight it was a lot of fun I appreciate all the comments and questions all the super Chatters everybody uh was um you know it was fun fun to have these conversations Josh Newark wants to know uh What uh time for next week's post game uh you know like I say you know I don't know probably around seven or eight depends on when we get out of the stadium next Saturday but either way make sure you like this video And subscribe to youtube.com/ panthal we always enjoy doing these postgame shows love to have you with us make sure you don't want to miss it since we don't know exactly what time we're starting the postgame show the best way to get it is to subscribe youtube.com/ pancom and then you can turn on notifications and get an alert sent to your phone every time we go live so do that and then check out the website panther-lair.com pittsburgh. ral.com for all of your pit Sports coverage and of course message boards to talk to other pit fans thanks to HomeField apparel for sponsor sponsoring us as always thanks to uh backshore for the shot of the game thanks to Voodoo brewing for the Hop water thanks to everybody most of all you for chiming in and wa watching the show and uh being a part of it in the chat have a great rest of your Saturday night like And subscribe pits 2 and0 and we will talk to you Monday morning for the morning pit right here youtube.com pancom