PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – After consecutive losses in September, the Pitt football players heard a lot of bad stuff about their team. After five straight wins, the tune has changed. Pitt hasn’t lost since September, College Gameday is coming and they are hosting Notre Dame Saturday with both teams 7-2.
The players promise they aren’t feeding into the hype. They are approaching this the same way as any other game, captain Javon McIntyre said they believe they are still disrespected underdogs.
“We were having a lot of noise before the season started about us,” McIntyre said Tuesday. “It should be nothing different now. For us, it’s about winning every day and about staying on the same approach every day. That’s just being us, being Pitt football. Just because right now our record looks great and everything, it’s still the same motto. Nobody knows about us, just keep working, putting our head down and getting better every day. Do what we do.”
“We don’t approach it any different week-to-week,” said Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates. “The kids are working hard. We practice physical. We practice aggressive. I haven’t seen any difference between this week, last week or the week before.”
“I, being the old guy, my first goal in the morning is to wake up at my age. When I get that, I stand up and cheer. It’s easy for me to show them that we go one day at a time. You are never given a second day. You got to embrace the day.”
Bates also knows it’s nearly impossible to keep 18-22-year-old kids from getting on social media, but he is trying to tell them to keep it all in stride. For McIntyre it’s about maintaining the edge, no matter Pitt’s record.
“It’s important to keep that chip on your shoulder,” McIntyre said. “We call it rat poison. We can never let the media come in and feed us how good we are doing. How great we are doing. When you are doing bad, media will bash. Nobody knows it all. The only ones that really know stuff and the things that are going on are people in this building. We keep it like that. For us it’s staying focused and keeping it one day at a time.”
McIntyre said it’s not hard to do given the upsets in college football. He said on any given Saturday, anyone can be beaten. They just need to keep that chip on their shoulder.
“We are playing a great team, we all know that,” Bates said. “We think we are a pretty good team too. We are going to line up and see how it works.”
Panthers pregame starts at 9a on Saturday with Bob Pompeani and former Pitt players Dorin Dickerson and Johnny Petrishen. Larry Richert and Pat Bostick join the All-American Dickerson at 10a and the Voice of the Panthers will call the game starting at noon on 93.7 The Fan.