Wow. Pitt got six votes in the AP Top 25 poll. Love my "Panthers"...C'mon. a 2-2 record, a 30-14 beat down at home to the now no. 18 team in the country, a 20-10 win over Ohio (who lost at home yesterday to Louisiana-Lafayette 45-20), an impressive loss at no. 12 PSU, and yesterday's last minute win over now previous no. 15 now 22nd UCF. I did not expect a single vote. Chuckled to myself when I decided to look down at the fine print. They got six. The win over UCF was huge. Humongous. But I didn't think six votes worth of humongous.
They are passing the eye test with voters, is my guess, if not all of the game tests. Two weeks in a row AP has used the term "swaggering" for their D (yesterday, only the secondary only was deemed "swaggering"). They can't run the ball but junior QB Kenny Pickett is having a fine season and with a "swaggering" defense you can go a fair piece. Now, it could be, it could be, that the "Panthers" did not pass the eye test with six voters. Could be. I am 90% sure of this (so not certain): It is possible that six voters did not give the "Panthers" one vote each for 25th. AP's rankings are tabulated according to points given for each spot in the Top 25 a voter ranked a team; so 25 votes for first, down to one point for twenty-fifth. Despite what AP says about "others receiving votes" it's actually points received. Pitt's six points correspond to a twentieth-in-the-country ranking. Nice round ranking number there, twentieth. And that made me a little suspicious. It could be, therefore, that one voter put Pitt in at twentieth. That actually seems more reasonable than that six different voters evaluated Pitt's body of work and each gave them a vote for twenty-fifth.
In any event, FCS Delaware comes to the 'Burgh next week. The "Blue Hens" will leave with egg on their faces and the "Panthers" will pick up another point or two, I predict.
They are passing the eye test with voters, is my guess, if not all of the game tests. Two weeks in a row AP has used the term "swaggering" for their D (yesterday, only the secondary only was deemed "swaggering"). They can't run the ball but junior QB Kenny Pickett is having a fine season and with a "swaggering" defense you can go a fair piece. Now, it could be, it could be, that the "Panthers" did not pass the eye test with six voters. Could be. I am 90% sure of this (so not certain): It is possible that six voters did not give the "Panthers" one vote each for 25th. AP's rankings are tabulated according to points given for each spot in the Top 25 a voter ranked a team; so 25 votes for first, down to one point for twenty-fifth. Despite what AP says about "others receiving votes" it's actually points received. Pitt's six points correspond to a twentieth-in-the-country ranking. Nice round ranking number there, twentieth. And that made me a little suspicious. It could be, therefore, that one voter put Pitt in at twentieth. That actually seems more reasonable than that six different voters evaluated Pitt's body of work and each gave them a vote for twenty-fifth.
In any event, FCS Delaware comes to the 'Burgh next week. The "Blue Hens" will leave with egg on their faces and the "Panthers" will pick up another point or two, I predict.
