Previous Season
The 2008 season saw the Panthers begin the year in the rankings, #25 in the AP Poll, their first preseason ranking since 2003. However, the Panthers lost their opening game at home to a lowly-regarded Bowling Green team that finished 2008 with a 6–6 record and without a bowl invitation and saw their coach fired the day after their last game. However, the Panthers seemed unfazed by their opening-game defeat and went on to win five straight games, including a home win against Iowa and a road win on a Thursday night at then-#10 South Florida, who later finished the regular season 7–5 and unranked. The win at South Florida vaulted the Panthers back into the polls, but their stay was short-lived when, two weeks later, they lost at home to a then-1–5 Rutgers team, whose win over the Panthers was the beginning of a run that saw the Scarlet Knights finish 8–5. Quarterback Bill Stull suffered a concussion in the Rutgers loss was forced to sit out the Panthers next game, a 36–33 road win over Notre Dame in which the Panthers, led by quarterback Pat Bostick and running back LeSean McCoy, came back from a 17–3 halftime deficit. The Panthers followed up their victory over Notre Dame with a 41–7 victory over Louisville. The Panthers lost their next game on the road to league-leading #19 Cincinnati, who indeed went on to win their first Big East championship in football. The Panthers closed out the regular season with two victories, a 19–15 win at home against West Virginia and a 34–10 road victory over Connecticut. Immediately following the Panthers' victory over the Huskies, bowl officials were on hand to invite the Panthers to the 2008 Sun Bowl, where the Panthers faced Oregon State in El Paso on December 31. Both teams struggled offensively in the game, and the Panthers were shut out for the first time in 12 years, falling to the Beavers 3–0.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Pittsburgh Panthers Football Team
Famous quotes containing the words previous and/or season:
“No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business; and few people do business well, who do nothing else.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“At this season I seldom had a visitor. When the snow lay deepest no wanderer ventured near my house for a week or fortnight at a time, but there I lived as snug as a meadow mouse.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)