Big Lead Sports Bar

9/05/2009

PITT, PSU ROLL; KING PRYOR? NOT SO MUCH

Saturday was a big day for local college football fans, and both Panther and Nittany Lion backers alike can be satisfied with their 2009 debuts.

Pitt, behind freshman RB Dion "Shady Who?" Lewis' 128 yards rushing and three touchdowns, thumped the Youngstown State Penguins 38-3 in front of 48,497 at Heinz Field. Pitt's defense limited YSU to 159 yards of offense while adding six sacks and two forced turnovers. QB Bill Stull was an efficient 11-16 for 123 yards and 2 TDs, although he did throw an interception before giving way to freshman Tino Sunseri in the second half. Sunseri was 5-8 for 80 yards and a touchdown in his Panther debut. Jonathan Baldwin had 70 yards on just three catches for Pitt.

Unlike last year's toe-stubbing in the opener against Bowling Green, Pitt never trailed and held a 21-3 lead at halftime. The Panthers will be on the road at Buffalo next Saturday at 12 PM.

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As for the Nittany Lions, they destroyed Akron 31-7 on the arm of QB Daryll Clark, who threw for 353 yards and three first-half TDs en route to a 31-point haltime lead. Rochester HS's Derek Moye led the way with six catches for 138 yards and a 22-yard TD. Amazingly, 104,968 turned out in person to watch this, and to the best of my knowledge, there was no rib festival going on simultaneously in Happy Valley. Next week, PSU welcomes the heartbroken Greg Paulus and Syracuse to town.

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Finally, local folk hero Terrelle Pryor and THE Ohio State Buckeyes were nearly the biggest casualty of the day as they narrowly escaped with a 31-27 win over Navy before 105,092 at the Horseshoe. Pryor was 14-21 for 174 yards with a TD and INT through the air while adding six carries for 30 yards and one score on the ground. The Midshipmen were a failed two-point conversion away from tying the score at 29 with 2:23 left in regulation. Sounds like the Buckeyes are totally ready for that big matchup with USC next weekend.

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And the cherry on top of Saturday's coverage, a quote from the always-spectacular Sports Pickle Twitter feed:

"Notre Dame up 35-0. What will they be ranked in the AP poll this week? I'm not a math expert. Is there a number better than 1?"

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this is a blog much more geared towards the fans of Pitt and PSU, but, hey, how about some WVU love? There are many readers of MH who are Mountaineers fans too! We had a good opening game against a team that isn't a push-over. Keep doing what you guys do, I love this blog.

Billkamm said...

I know this is a blog much more geared towards the fans of Pitt and PSU, but, hey, how about some SRU love? There are many readers of MH who are Pride fans too! We had a good opening game against a team that isn't a push-over. Keep doing what you guys do, I love this blog.

Adam said...

Write it down now. I'm sayin' it. We suck.

Today was a totally underwhelming performance. Clark missed a lot of guys. The receivers dropped balls. We couldn't run block to save our lives. Colin Wagner went Vaderjagt. It was ugly.

Akron blows. We should have destroyed them.

But on the bright side, it looks like the Big 10 is going to suck more than normal. OSU and Iowa beat Navy and bleeping Northen Iowa by a combined 5 points, so I guess things could be worse.

Dom Errico said...

Actually Adam, today looked like a typical first game rusty performance. PSU WILL get better as the season goes along and the defense is already on top of its game.

nuthinhere said...

The Big 10 won't be the worst football conference this year. That title will go to the ACC. On a related note, Mike Tomlin will have trash talking rights over James Farrior this year. Is it too early to jump on the William & Mary bandwagon?

Anonymous said...

seriously. 2 teams in the ACC lost to 1-AA teams. Even Syracuse looked semi-decent. If there is a conference that needs to lose a BCS birth, its the ACC

D. C. said...

Go Pride!

Class 04

AJ said...

It is not Pride, it will never be Pride... it will always be The Rock.

curmudgeon from class of '96