The University of Pittsburgh Panthers
Pitt is Bowl-Bound!
Despite the disappointment of Saturday’s game, Pitt fans have reason to be happy. The Panthers have accepted an invitation to play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl held in Charlotte, NC on December 26, 2009. Pitt will play the North Carolina Tar Heels (8-4, 4-4 ACC).
The Panthers are familiar with this bowl game. They played in it when it was known as the Continental Tire Bowl back in 2003.
This may not be the prestigous bowl game that Pitt fans had hoped for just a week or two ago, but it does actually look pretty appealing. WVU, who won the Gator Bowl invite, gets to play a mediocre Florida State team (6-6, 4-4 ACC). Pitt fans should look at this as an opportunity to show support for the Panthers. They’ll need support too, as Charlotte is just a short 2.5 hour drive from Chapel Hill, NC.
Tickets and packages are already available through the University of Pittsburgh and its travel partner, Champion Sports Tours. Tickets and travel packages are available as follows:
| Ticket/Package | Price |
|---|---|
| Single Upper Level Ticket | $35.00 |
| Single Lower Level Ticket | $65.00 |
| Single Club Level Ticket | $85.00 |
| Coach Bus Travel Package (One Night Hotel Package) | Starting at $355.00 |
| Charter Plane Travel Package (Single Day Air Travel) | Starting at $775.00 |
The travel packages include a single upper level ticket, official Pitt pre-game tailgate party, souvenir gift package, and hospitality staff. Upgrades for better tickets are available with each package for a fee.
Get your tickets Panther fans! Help support Pitt and show the nation that Pitt fans can travel well too!
Visit Bowl Central:
Pitt Bowl Central
Order Tickets:
Order Meineke Car Care Bowl Game Tickets!
View and Order Travel Packages:
Champion Sports Tours
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12/08/2009 - 9:58 am
Let me ask a question that needs to be addressed: Why was Ray Graham’s talents wasted this year? With all due respect to fellow phenom freshman tailback Dion Lewis, Ray Graham is of equal skills yet he wasted 25% of his college career watching from the sidelines. He was given the ball 59 times from scrimmage for the entire season while Dion was given the ball 47 times alone in the final game. That is a slap in the face to a VERY talented young man. As coach Wanstedt has stated most great running backs need to carry the ball a number of times to get into the rhythm of the game and start breaking some runs. How about Ray Graham’s opportunities: 3 carries vs. Notre Dame, 3 carries vs. Cincinnatti … Yet even with his limited opportunities he has shown glimpses of brilliance. This young man, like Dion Lewis is a superhuman talent and a great team player. Just watch him block for the quarterback or on kickoff returns. It is a real shame that he was wasted this year at Pitt. Remember before the first game following his super performance in Pitt’s final scrimmage that coach Wanstedt said, “One thing I know for sure is Ray Graham’s going to play and he is going to play a lot.” I can’t see how the coach can make it up to him that he wasted 25% of this kid’s college career. All I do know is that when he is given the chance, the nation will see what a mistake Pitt’s coaching staff made by keeping him on the sidelines. Ray Graham deserved better and the fans of Pitt deserved better.
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12/08/2009 - 10:39 am
I see where you’re coming from, but you have to realize something: Dion Lewis earned the #1 spot. Graham wasn’t “slapped in the face” by not getting the ball as much as Lewis. Ray knew coming into this season that he was the backup.
Lewis had come to Pitt a semester early so that he could work with the Panthers throughout the spring semester. He had extra practice time and extra time in the meeting rooms to learn the offense, study film, and apply coaching advice from Walker and Wannstedt. Graham came in as a regular true freshman. He was behind Lewis as far as learning the offense and making adjustments that were being taught by the coaches.
Ray also struggled early on with ball control. There was a reason that Lewis jumped ahead to the #1 spot (even ahead of returners Chris Burns and Shariff Harris). With that said, no one overlooked Graham. He jumped up to the #2 spot. That’s quite an accomplishment in and of itself for a true freshman at a school like Pitt.
I agree, Graham has talent. But I just don’t think that he’s better than Lewis at this point. You can’t put him in as a starter just yet unless you NEED to bench Lewis for some reason.
Should he have been given the ball more? I don’t know. It’s hard to argue that with Lewis’ 1600+ yards, 16 touchdowns, and 0 fumbles this season.
I don’t think it was a mistake. I don’t think Graham views the season as a waste either. Honestly, I think it’s great that he took the backup spot. Next year, they’ll both be experienced, talented running backs. Pitt will have a lot of depth at the position and can switch it up a bit more. But as for this season, I think it was handled the way that it should have.
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12/08/2009 - 6:12 pm
I too see where you are coming from but I am not saying he should be number 1 back or get the ball as much as the number one back. What I am saying is that had Graham been given the ball all those carries instead of Lewis the outcome would have been about the same. When you have 2 backs of near equal talent, they should both get plenty of touches to to help the team with their talents. To give Dion the ball 47 times and Graham 3 is like saying Dion is many times better than Graham. That simply is not true.
Although you like many others believe Lewis is the better back, you must admit that he has been given the opportunity to showcase his skills and Graham has not. Therefore, a fair comparison can not be made yet at the collegiate level. If a comparison of their high school films were made you can see that Graham is of similar ‘freakish’ talent.
Don’t forget the way Graham jumped to the number 2 spot was with an outstanding performance in the final scrimmage where he averaged over 8 yards a carry against Pitt’s number one defense which has turned out to be a pretty good one.
I too think it is a great honor to be a true freshman and be the number 2 tailback at Pitt for most guys. However, when you are of the talent level of Ray Graham, it is not enough. He was treated as if he was inferior to Lewis judging by the distribution of carries. Granted Lewis was phenomenal. The shame is that Graham could have been as well had he been given the opportunity and Pitt would have been better for it. Lewis should not have been benched of course but neither should Graham have been and that is what it was like.
I think that once Graham is given the opportunity, it will become clearer how he was misused this year.
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12/08/2009 - 6:34 pm
He is, no doubt, a great running back. However, none of us can say with any certainty that he would have performed as well as or better than Lewis. Just the same, we can’t say that he would have performed poorly if given the chance either.
The thing is, the coaches make that call. Obviously they had more confidence in Lewis than Graham. Personally, I trust their judgment. We only get to see a sample of his abilities throughout the season as fans. The coaches spend four days each week in full practices with these guys, as well as countless hours in the UPMC Sports Complex analyzing video and coaching the players off of the field. While to us he may appear “ready” to play, you have to put confidence in the coaches’ abilities to make that decision based off of more than just some limited game time during the season.
Again, there’s no question that the kid has talent. I’m just saying that personally, I put my confidence in the coaches. You certainly have a valid case though. It may turn out that he’s spectacular next year. Unfortunately, we’ll never know if he was truly ready to play more this season.
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12/08/2009 - 8:08 pm
Not to get off the subject, but Pitt fans need to buy these tickets. Pitt has a reputation for not selling tickets to their bowl games, which really hurts what bowl games Pitt gets selected for. I realize the game is the day after Christmas, but prices are relatively cheap, and North Carolina is only about 7 1/2 hrs away from Pittsburgh. Try and fill the stadium fans, lets turn our reputation around.
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