Todd Graham’s first game as Pitt head coach isn’t going as he envisioned it, I’m sure.
The Panthers are at home and leading Buffalo only 7-3 at halftime. There are sure to be countless jokes this week about Pitt’s ‘high-octane’ offense if it continues sputtering. The team has been able to move the ball at times, but two missed field goal attempts by Kevin Harper killed a couple of promising drives.
Quarterback Tino Sunseri has been steady, but unspectacular, recording a few nice plays, but also missing several receivers with flat out poorly thrown balls. Running back Ray Graham has looked very good finding large holes at times running the ball and catching a couple of passes out of the backfield. And as expected, the wealth’s been spread around a little with six different receivers catching at least one pass.
This game so far has been reminiscent of Pitt’s 2008 season-opening loss to Bowling Green. High amount of anticipation, big disappointment. If Pitt wants anyone to stick around for its big celebration of lighting the river on fire (no, really) and fireworks, things had better turn around in the second half.