Pitt Football: Panthers overcome sloppy play to roust Black Bears
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Pitt receiver Hubie Graham avoids Maine's Shawn Bodtmann to make one of his four receptions Saturday at Heinz Field. -
Pitt's Ray Graham had another big day with 121 yards and three touchdowns in the win vs. Maine. -
Pitt's K'Waun Williams tackles Maine's Derek Buttles.
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There were two things about Pitt's game Saturday against Maine which should make Panthers coaches happy when they sit down to look at the tape today.
One is that the Panthers won, 35-29, before a crowd of 41,230 at Heinz Field and improved to 2-0; the other is that Ray Graham rushed for 117 yards and three touchdowns and also had five catches for 30 yards.
The second item is not exactly a shocker, and the first nearly was a foregone conclusion, considering the Black Bears are a Division I-AA team.
"About the most positive thing I can say is we are 2-0," Graham said. "But we definitely played down to the level of competition. We just didn't play very well, we have to work hard to get better. We had too many mistakes, we are killing ourselves by making mental errors.
"We're playing good offense for periods of time, then we turn the football over. I have tremendous belief in our guys and what we are doing, but it was very lackluster.
"And, defensively, we're giving up stupid plays in the passing game. It's ridiculous and it should not be happening."
Graham credited Maine with playing a strong game, and some of the Panthers problems were due to what the Black Bears did well.
The bottom line is quarterback Tino Sunseri got off to a slow start and never seemed to settle in, the offensive line gave up seven sacks and the Panthers pass defense was shredded for 334 of the Black Bears 371 total yards.
Pitt kicker Kevin Harper also missed another field goal and an extra point, and a bad snap on a punt led to a shanked kick that set up the Black Bears for a touchdown.
Sunseri was replaced by backup Trey Anderson with 12:33 left and the Panthers leading 28-15.
Todd Graham said he simply wanted to get Anderson some work against an opponent Pitt "should dominate," but the timing of the change raised a few eyebrows because it came right after Sunseri threw his second interception of the game.
"In all honesty, the last interception that Tino threw was on us [the coaching staff]," Graham said. "We planned on putting Trey in anyway, it wasn't that I pulled Tino, it was a planned deal, we were going to play [Anderson] anyway. I still have 100 percent belief in Tino and like I told you at the beginning of the year, he has a very difficult job, he has a lot on his plate and we've got to execute better at that position.
First Published September 11, 2011 12:00 am
