Cincinnati News, Pittsburgh News, Ray Mernagh, Uncategorized

‘BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP’ GAME AN EPIC BATTLE

by RAY MERNAGH

2001 was the year Heinz Field opened, rising from the ashes along the banks of the Ohio River. It was such an occurrence that lame-brains in some PR capacity convinced the city’s leaders to try and change the name of the area from the North Side to the North Shore. Forever leaving first-time visitors to wonder: Where’s the beach? Note to new residents/visitors: don’t ask for directions to the North Shore because you’re libel to be laughed at — I’ve seen it happen here in Greenfield — or find yourself in the parking lot of the Monroeville Mall.

Since that time there has been some monumental games played inside the generic-looking edifice that houses both the pride of Pittsburgh sports, the Stillers, and its coattails-riding nephew — Pitt football. The North Side has seen three AFC Championship games in those eight years, meaning at least three different times preliminary applications for second or third mortgages spiked in the city as the mighty Steeler Nation got busy, ready to travel to the Super Bowl should our hero’s prevail (it’s all about priorities Junior and Missy, besides, that’s what student loans are for).

But here’s the funny thing: nephew just played the greatest game ever at Heinz Field. No game, no matter how great, will ever match Pitt’s 45-44 Big East Championship loss to Cincinnati yesterday. It’s just not possible.

Why?

Because watershed moments are never topped, that’s why. Yesterday was the day that Pitt football, despite how much it hurts right now, not only re-captured the city but re-emerged as a legitimate program in the modern college football landscape. The brilliance of first-year running back Dion Lewis was on display all day long, and Lewis will be back next year. With any luck, so will the Lennon to his McCartney, the ridiculously talented wide receiver Johnathan Baldwin. How many really good high school football players watched that game yesterday, on national TV, and thought dang, that looks like a real attractive option all of a sudden. Which brings me to the next reason it won’t be topped, the atmosphere.

63,387 people were bouncing up and down as if House of Pain’s classic “Jump Around” was blasting from the speakers the entire time. Only it wasn’t, just 22 college kids putting on a show for the ages despite the snow, wind, and cold. Hell, the elements added to it. No empty yellow seats could be seen at the beginning of the third quarter (the normal pro fans beer-run) and nobody left early. The college atmosphere not only inhabited Heinz Field yesterday, it took it over. It was a passionate three hour orgy of plays being made, referees being screamed at, and Oh-my-God moments that only the college game brings. Cincinnati’s Rudy Gilyard showed why he’s one of the top-five players in the country by saving Cincinnati’s perfect season by having a game for the ages (ditto Pitt’s Lewis, who at 5-8 carried the ball 47 freaking times for 194 yards). The show those young men put on was masterful. The glory they’re feeling today is deserved, and Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly should leave a special gift behind for Gilyard when he leaves for Notre Dame. His counterpart, Pitt’s Dave Wannstedt, continued to grow on me with his post-game actions and words.

Wannstedt went out of his way to protect the holder on the botched extra point that ultimately created the one-point difference. “I told him after the game that it wasn’t one play, this game wasn’t one play,” Wannstedt said post-game, “everyone in that room could have done something during the course of the game to make a difference, he’s been great all year.” Wannstedt followed up with tunnel vision thoughts about the state of the program. He, unlike Kelly, isn’t going anywhere, and despite what some message board yahoos might think (and what I even thought early last-season) that’s a very good thing for Pitt football.

“I was convinced we were going to win this game,” he said. “I was and our whole football team was. We’re a lot closer than we were a year ago, and light years from where we were four years ago. We’ll recruit and keep building.” Wannstedt is Pittsburgh through and through, and with his ability to recruit plus the recent additions he’s made to his staff, he’s perfect for Pitt football. The players he brought to Pitt were on the brink of a championship yesterday, a real championship. They lost a heart-breaker to a team that’s now 12-0.

Pitt — and Cincinnati — played a game that will be remembered forever in this city.

A game that, in the future, will be seen as the seismic shift for Pitt football.

Wow, it’s 12:30 on Sunday afternoon — Do the Steelers even play today?