9-3-19

The Pitt News

ONLINE at pittnews.com SGB preview: Plans for 2019 school year

Action for the Amazon comes to Pittsburgh

T h e i n d e p e n d e n t s t ude nt ne w spap e r of t he U niversity of Pittsburgh | PIttnews.com | September 3, 2019 ­| Volume 110 | Issue 16

NO PLACE LIKE HOME SEE STORY ON PG.6

University seeks to cut ‘Pitt,’ ‘Panther’ from student group names Janine Faust and Emily Wolfe The Pitt News Staff

Andrew Mellon.

Pittsburgh is well-known for being the cradle of the labor rights movement of the early 20th century. The Homestead Strike of 1892, when thousands of striking steelworkers at Carnegie Steel Company were eventually violently suppressed by Carnegie, Frick

Pitt plans to implement guidelines preventing independent student organizations from using University trademarks or wordmarks such as “Pitt” or “Panthers” in their names, according to the University.

Under the guidelines, independent student organizations — most student organizations on campus — would not be allowed to use the words “University of Pittsburgh,” “Pitt” or any other Pitt trademark or wordmark like “Panthers” because the organizations are legally separate entities from the University. They would still be able to use the words in their title to identify where the organization is located by wording it as “at Pitt” or “at the University of Pittsburgh.”

“The Office of Student Life has been working closely with Student Government Board leaders to review these guidelines and will continue to provide updates to student organizations as these conversations progress,” Pitt spokesperson Kevin Zwick said in a Friday email.

Student government president Zecha-

See Labor Day on page 2

See Name Change on page 2

Zach Lefever, left and Nick Wolf, right fist bump just before crossing the finish line in first and second places respectively at Friday evening’s cross country meet at Carrie Blast Furnace. Theo Schwarz senior staff photographer

PITTSBURGH’S LABOR DAY LEGACY EVOLVES Maureen Hartwell

faculty members and even undergraduate students in the area seek union representaFor the past 37 years, Pittsburgh has tion.

James Young, an author and a professor hosted the largest Labor Day parade in the United States — Monday’s parade drew an of history emeritus at Edinboro University estimated 50,000 marchers Downtown. And — which has a faculty union — said PittsPittsburgh’s rich history of labor strikes and burgh has experienced tumults in labor ever unions is still growing, as library workers, since the days of prominent industrialists Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and

Staff Writer

News Labor Day pg. 1

and Pennsylvania state militia, featured one of the first well-organized and purposeful unions that would come to typify labor relations in the 1900s. The American Federation of Labor was created in Pittsburgh in the 1880s, and today, the United Steelworkers, one of the country’s largest trade unions, is still headquartered in the City.

But, Young said, the labor movement didn’t stop with blue-collar workers. As a professor himself, he said he sees the importance of involving academics and professionals in a labor union.

“I’ve heard a lot about how professionals don’t need unions,” Young said. “But you can’t really wear prestige, it’s not that warm.”

Labor unions act as an intermediary between workers and their employers, negotiating for higher pay and benefits. Union membership has been on a downward trend since the 1980s, with about 10% of American workers today represented by a union compared to about 20% in 1983. Ongoing unionization campaigns are working to make that number bigger.

Workers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the state’s largest employer, are engaged in an ongoing battle to form a union. Union organizers at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Library have been more successful — last month, workers voted overwhelmingly to form a union through United Steelworkers. More than 300 full- and part-time workers will become part of the union.

Matt Broocke, a Pitt student who interned with the Carnegie Library campaign through the United Steelworkers over the summer, said he hopes the library’s union vote indicates a rise in organized labor among millennials and Gen Zs. “I feel like it’s normalized that people in our generation are expecting so little of their workplaces that they anticipate little pay, fewer benefits than their parents had,” Broocke, a senior studying political science and Spanish, said. “I see the concept of forming a union as a really good way to counter that and strike back and win back more of what we’ve lost over the past few decades.”

Union approval hit a low a decade ago

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with the onset of the Great Recession, but Americans are warming to them once again.

In a recent Gallup poll, 64% of Americans said they approved of labor unions, one of the highest union approval rates Gallup has recorded in the past 50 years.

Broocke said workers have “so much more power” when they form a united front, adding that unions can build solidarity across different social cleavages.

On Pitt’s campus, the ongoing movements to form unions for faculty and graduate students often provide support for one another.

Across the country, graduate student union movements have become increasingly popular — a trend which itself springs from the existence of more faculty unions.

Most graduate student unions formed in the 1990s at public universities. The National Labor Review Board ruled in 2016 that graduate students at private universities are employees, creating a new widespread push for graduate student unions at private universities. According to the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions, grads from more than two dozen campuses across the country have undertaken the fight for a union.

Hannah Bailey, a Pitt junior majoring in urban studies, said she hopes shifts towards unions in the academic setting will inspire undergraduate student workers to ask for more from their university employers. Bailey said undergrads are often forgotten despite their contributions to the regional economy.

This summer, Bailey worked on a project through the Honors College about the basic needs of undergraduate student workers.

Close to 50% of college students reported experiencing food insecurity in a survey released earlier this year by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice. At Grinnell College, a small liberal arts college in Iowa, student workers have established the country’s first independent undergraduate labor union in the country, demanding wage increases and paid rest breaks.

“Everyone forgets about the undergrads, but many of us are workers too,” Bailey said.

“And a lot of us who work are struggling to make ends meet, which means we may not be able to be the kind of students that we, and Pitt, wants us to be.”

Name Change, pg. 1 riah Brown said in a phone call that SGB is “definitely” working to allow student organizations to keep their current names. Brown said he mentioned concerns about the change in an unrelated Friday meeting with Dean of Students Kenyon Bonner and has already scheduled a meeting with University officials next week to discuss the changes.

Brown said the University currently plans to implement the policy in the fall of 2020, though Zwick said the University is working on the timeline with SGB. “We’re in the very early stages of figuring out what we can do about it,” Brown said, adding that he understood administrative concerns about student groups using University logos like the Pitt script, but thought student groups should be allowed to use the words “Pitt” and “Panther” in their names.

News about the policy began to spread after SORC announced the change at student leadership training this week. A change.org petition is circulating asking Pitt not to implement the rule, calling it “devastating to the brands and image” of the hundreds of student organizations which use one of the words in their name.

As of 6 p.m. on Friday, the petition had 160 signatures.

Justin Fernsler, the technical director of Pitt’s 32-year-old race car design club Panther Racing, said members of his club are concerned that changing their name would affect their name recognition. The group raises some of its funds through sponsored posts on Instagram, where it has more than 3,000 followers, and officers are worried rebranding would affect their relationships with sponsors.

They’re also concerned about the possibility of having to buy new equipment, Fernsler said.

“We have a lot of expensive equipment and a lot of our stuff is branded as Panther Racing, too,” Fernsler said. “Depending on how far they want to take it, we might have to replace a lot of equipment.”

September 3, 2019

The guideline only mentions independent student groups, not the set of sponsored student groups that make up SGB’s Assembly, which includes Pitt Program Council and Pitt Serves.

Some universities in the United States observe similar policies. Organizations at the University of Houston may not use their school’s name or an abbreviation of it as part of their title, except to designate location or chapter. Registered student organizations at Montana State University may identify themselves only as “The [Club Name] Club of Montana State University, a Registered Student Organization.”

Pitt Archery president Julia Lam said in an email that she would be disappointed if her club was not allowed to represent the school in name and logo while competing, viewing it as a way to showcase Pitt pride.

“I founded the team and am proud of my past 3 years’ work on developing this club’s brand recognition within USA Archery, and changing it now would feel like a loss,” she wrote. “Our leadership has been discussing options to change our name in a way that would comply with the new rules but still preserve the identity of the club, and are waiting to hear more about this development.”

Ian Pamerlau, the former president of Pitt Fencing and current president of the Pitt Jazz Ensemble, said in an email that he found the guideline to be “not only unfair, but a little insulting.”

He said while student groups are legally considered independent, since many receive funding and resources through University departments, SGB or SORC, he views them as still closely connected to Pitt.

“In addition, most clubs (for example competitive club sports) go to conferences and competition that compete for Pitt, and only Pitt students may be members of the clubs,” he wrote. “In summary, we, the clubs of the University, follow all the rules of the University and effectively are an extension of the University, but do not get the respect of being a part of it.”

2

Opinions

Online Editorial: As labor evolves, so should labor day pittnews.com

column

HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Ana Altchek

Staff Columnist

I

n wake of the devastating Amazon fires, it seems like Instagram users have picked up a new trend of posting climate-related articles and memos to their stories. This is not the first time social media has been used as a platform to spread awareness of political or social issues — feminist activists used social media as an outlet to speak out about the pending Alabama abortion laws in May, and #MeToo gained its strength as a movement through social media as well. In a similar pattern, the forest fires have caused a seemingly never-ending chain of posts intended to spread awareness and make a change.

On the contrary, these climate-related posts merely acknowledge that there is an issue, without activating any change. Thus, the result of this trend is limited to a polluted social media feed filled with a variety of different calls to action that everyone should be taking, like eating less meat, using less electricity or starting a compost.

And yet nothing changes. These lists become redundant and fail to make a lasting impression with most users. In fact, the basic psychological principle of habituation explains this as a natural human tendency — the more we encounter something, the less likely we are to react. Since every article virtually explains the same thing — the future of the planet is dire unless we do something about it — people become accustomed to seeing hundreds of versions of these posts and begin to simply scroll past them.

The good news is that social media can be a constructive and efficient form of activism. However, it would be significantly more effective if people publicize their own actions instead of posting about the actions others should take. We need to change our strategy on social media if we want any results.

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In an article addressing the lack of motivation people have when confronted with the effects of climate change, the Harvard Business Review references the Construal Level Theory. This theory explains that people have trouble concretely conceptualizing psychologically distant things. Thus, since most natural disasters, including the Amazon fires, are not happening where most people live, the dangers and future consequences of climate change do not directly resonate with people.

The reality is that people are busy, humans are naturally selfish and climate change has yet to personally impact most of us. If people are interested in reading up about the Amazon fires, or other global happenings in the world, then they can do so by clicking on any of the news articles that Apple sponsors and sends to our phones every hour of the day.

However, when people open up Instagram for just a few seconds at a time, they most likely do not want to learn a lesson on how to stop global warming, and they’re probably already aware of the “small everyday steps” everyone can take to help the planet — like using fewer lights or switching to a battery-operated car.

PBS published an article earlier this year explaining the phenomenon surrounding people’s lack of action in dealing with climate change. The article explains that while people are well aware, and often reminded of the issue of climate change, the innate human tendency to focus on the present causes them to ignore the cause. The problem is not a lack of exposure to the facts of climate change, the problem is that people are not invested in the issue because the long term consequences don’t affect them in the immediate future.

Robert Gifford, an environmental psychologist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, explains these “dragons of inaction,” or barriers that intercept our view of climate change and discusses how we can train our

Elise Lavallee contributing editor brain to diffuse these hurdles.

“So people change their minds about the issue rather than changing their habits because it’s an easier way to cope,” Gifford wrote.

Acknowledgement and self-education are crucial elements of enacting change — but at this point, despite the White House’s denial — most of us are very aware of the issue at stake.

It’s time to stop posting about it and time to start doing something to change it. Thus, it is unlikely that Instagram stories intended to raise awareness and initiate change will ignite the necessary transformation.

Instead of continuing in the trend of issuing vague calls to action and reposting useless links, users should start a trend of documenting themselves taking these forms of action.

This may include attending a protest and advertising the event on social media, or perhaps keeping a compost and putting that process on your Instagram story.

The human tendency to follow the crowd serves as an advantage in this aspect that, along with being selfish, humans are also naturally followers. The same way users have latched on to the trend of reposting planet-related stories, they might also partake in following through

September 3, 2019

with these suggestions if that became a trend as well.

For example, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge went viral on social media a few years ago. Not only were people spreading awareness about the disease, but they were partaking in an interactive challenge that resulted in $115 million in donations. Whether or not people knew the specific details of the sickness proved ultimately insignificant because a mass amount of people around the country were making an active difference about it.

If people are so eager to blindly follow the crowd toward any senseless direction — even if the act poses a potential death sentence — then a simple “grow your own tree challenge,” or “start a compost challenge” could easily go just as viral.

Not only would it raise awareness of the issue and increase discussion on the topic, but it would simultaneously promote change through action.

When it comes to climate change, we do not have time to read every detail and educate ourselves on all of the science — and to assume that we do is presumptuous and overly ambitious. With that said, social media can spread the word and enact change, it’s just a matter of avenue.

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Culture

Online Escaping Hillman: A frst person perspective pittnews.com

Pitt’s Chris Kilburg

crafts midsummer melodies

Alex Dolinger Staff Writer

Chris Kilburg is a man of few words and many talents.

His songs, though they lack words, are still meant to tell stories. His debut album, “Early August,’’ consists of 11 lyricless songs which, when listened to in order, offer a definite beginning, middle and end.

Kilburg released the beachy, acoustic instrumental album, written and performed solely by him, on July 23. The song titles relate to various aspects of the outdoors and nature, from “Cloudburst” to “Octopus Dance” and are the perfect “soundtrack to a summer day,” according to Kilburg. The official album description on Bandcamp refers to it as “part Beatles, part Nintendo, part clouds and sunshine and trees and sky.”

Kilburg has been a musician since childhood, and a Pitt employee for nearly a decade. He has been working on improving “Early August” since he released the first demo version 10 years ago, while also juggling his position as the supervisor of bulk mail services at Pitt and being a father to his three children.

“I don’t get a lot of time to work on [my music],” he said, laughing.

Creating the songs was quite time-consuming, Kilburg said, because he had to write, play and record the numerous layers of instruments featured in each. Everything on the album is his doing, and it’s all homemade — Kilburg’s music setup lives in his dining room and living room, where he records all of his songs.

Kilburg created the recordings with an

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audio interface on his personal computer.

After a song was composed, he recorded each instrument’s part individually before combining them to create a full piece.

Amy Amrhein, 44, a resident of Brentwood, the manager of mailing services at Pitt and supporter of local musicians, said she was excited to support someone she knows and works with. She first listened to Kilburg’s album in her home with her family, asking their Amazon Echo to play it.

“We’re all really proud of Chris,” she said. “I thought that’s cool when you know someone who has music out, and you can just tell Alexa to play Chris Kilburg and there it is.”

Kilburg has been making music his whole life. He began experimenting with the guitar when he was 13 before learning to play other instruments like the xylophone and drums. His musical tastes and the styles he later adopted were inspired by the bands he grew up listening to.

“I grew up listening to bands like the Beatles, the Beach Boys and John Denver — my parent’s old records,” he said. “I think you hear a lot of the Beatles in some of [my] guitar work.”

Kilburg also grew up with friends to collaborate with, like Tom Esch. The two friends were in a band together in high school, and would practice every Saturday, typically for 12 hours at a time. Esch is an adjunct professor of history and politics but, like Kilburg, has always found time to make music. Esch said the two act as a “behind-the-scenes sounding board” for each other.

“We trust each other so much we inundate each other with parts of the process

that we absolutely wouldn’t with other people,” he said.

When it comes to future projects, “Early August” is part of a series of albums Kilburg would like to create about the four seasons. A demo is currently in the works for an album about autumn, and it’s coming along smoothly. But it’s not always smooth sailing with these kinds of projects, and the spring album is a source of confusion.

“I’m having a lot of trouble composing the album for spring. It’s been mysterious in revealing itself to me,” Kilburg said.

When thinking about the next steps in his musical journey, he is mostly interested in getting the word out about this new body of work. Kilburg, like many artists, is chasing the dream of making a steady income from music, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

“I think the instrumental aspect of the music lends it to be used as background music for licensing,” he said. “I’m definitely interested in looking at that route.”

Kilburg’s biggest dream as a musician is simple and reminiscent of the childhood

September 3, 2019

Chris Kilburg, a University employee of nearly a decade, recently released his first complete album entitled “Early August.”Courtesy of Chirs Kilburg that created the artist he is today. He isn’t very interested in playing live to giant stadiums.

“I’d love to press my music into a record one day,” he said.

Esch agrees. Kilburg has more music up his sleeve, and isn’t ready to be done with music now that “Early August” is out in the world.

“I want people to know that Chris isn’t just a one-off, he’s got more to come,” Esch said.

Making music is a permanent fixture in Kilburg’s life, and provides him with another outlet of communication and selfexpression. His music is a reflection of his own quiet and calming nature.

“I think a lot of the music that I write is sort of like a self-portrait,” Kilburg said. “It speaks for my character.”

“Early August” by Chris Kilburg can be streamed on all major music streaming platforms.

4

City of Asylum hosts poets laureate from across the country

Maggie Young

Contributing Editor When asked what exactly a poet laureate does, Raquel Salas Rivera, the poet laureate of Philadelphia, has a very brief answer.

“Nobody knows,” Salas Rivera said. “In the most practical sense, I tell a joke which is ‘it means answering emails.’ But beyond that, it means creating civic projects, creating programming, but also kind of designing it in the way you want it to be.”

More than 60 people attended a poets laureate celebration event hosted by City of Asylum in the North Shore Monday. The four poets laureate — Paisley Rekdal, Salas Rivera, Kim Shuck and Molly Fisk — each read from their own collections.

They also discussed their work as poets laureate at the state and city level, which consists of putting on local readings and mentoring younger poets and other members of the artistic community. Local poets laureate are different from the U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, who is appointed by the Library of Congress to incite nationwide appreciation of poetry.

Since its inception in 2004, City of Asylum/ Pittsburgh has welcomed international writers seeking refuge from their home country. The space in the North Shore also serves as a bookstore and performance venue, the latter of which hosted Monday’s event.

After a brief introduction to the poets by Director of Programs Abby Lembersky, each of the poets took the stage for individual readings. Shuck — the poet laureate of San Francisco — gave the first reading, where she read from her collections “Murdered Missing” and “Deer Trails.”

Shuck’s collections highlight the gentrification she’s seen in San Francisco, in addition to her experience as a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. During her time, she spoke about the violence Native women face, which serves as the topic for the work she read. Shuck cited a statistic which states that Native women are 10 times more likely to be killed or vanished than any other group in the United States.

For her reading, Shuck recited multiple entries from “Murdered Missing,” each beginning with a day and a number, like a journal.

“Day 40 / Last seen wasn’t her first name /

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Paisley Rekdal, Utah’s poet laureate, reads while on stage at City of Asylum’s “Poet Laureate Celebration” on Monday afternoon. Maggie Young contributing editor they sing for the women at risk / offer them smudge, she searches / because it could’ve been her / they bring licorice, and check in / because everyone deserves to be looked for,” Shuck read.

Following Shuck was Molly Fisk, the inaugural poet laureate of Nevada County, California.

“The thing about reading after another poet is you’re kind of drowning in their words, which is good,” Fisk said.

Fisk then read from a variety of her poems, many of which meditate on California wildfires.

Prior to this rendition, Fisk told the audience the difficulty she had in ordering an N95 mask — which protects from floating air particles — in order to go outside.

“I live close enough to some of the big fires we’ve had in Northern California to have had to write to Amazon to order an N95 mask to wear whenever I went outside of the house, but they had sold out by that time. So a lot of us were wearing the sort of bandanas you see in Western movies, which are absolutely useless,” Fisk said.

She then read from another one of her poems, “Summer Lightning.”

“If you think about joy enough, maybe death

will make sense: / a matter of balance,” Fisk read.

“The deer caught in the fire outside Redding, / the rabbits and bear cubs, king snakes … and you know when 30 boats / melt at an Anchor in Whiskeytown, fish in that lake have perished.”

Following Fisk was Salas Rivera. They consider themselves to be both a Puerto Rican and Philadelphian, although they noted that distinction can be “polemical.”

“I don’t identify as an American. I identify as a Puerto Rican and a Philadelphian,” Rivera said.

Salas Rivera read from their collection, where they dissect what it means to be Puerto Rican, especially following the devastation of Hurricane Maria — the Category 5 hurricane that affected Puerto Rico, Dominica and the U.S. Virgin Islands in September 2017.

Throughout their reading, Salas Rivera alternated between English and Spanish lines.

They later categorized this styling as “fragments in English and footnotes in Spanish.”

“There have been nine reported suicides since the hurricane,” Rivera read.

September 3, 2019

Following Salas Rivera was Utah’s poet laureate, Rekdal. She shared her book-length poem and multimedia project she was commissioned to write for the 150th anniversary celebration of the Transcontinental Railroad.

After giving a brief overview of Utah’s history, Rekdal then asked for someone to dim the lights. She stood quietly while her multimedia project, which featured a history of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Chinese Exclusion Act, played on the screen next to her.

“We do not ride the railroad,” an anonymous voice said in the video on the screen. “The railroad rides on us.”

Following Rekdal’s presentation was a Q&A session, where the poets laureate fielded questions from the audience.

When asked what it means to be a poet laureate and how these poets came into their role, each poet emphasized the importance of bettering their individual communities.

“This is not a position about you,” Paisley said. “It’s about other people.”

5

Sports

Online Weekend Sports recap pittnews.com

PITT XC DOMINATES LONG-AWAITED HOME MEET

Griffin Floyd Staff Writer

After a long-awaited home meet — two decades in the making — Pitt’s cross country team did not disappoint.

Set in the shadow of the Carrie Blast Furnace, a remnant of the region’s once mighty steel industry, the course imparted Pittsburgh’s history on the spectators and competitors both.

“There’s nothing more Pittsburgh than a steel mill, so when [assistant coach Brad Herbster] found this course we were instantly excited,” coach Alonzo Webb said. “We always talk about having that blue-collar identity, that Pittsburgh mentality.”

The opener marked a significant step forward for Pitt’s cross country team, which hasn’t had a course to call its own in over 20 years. The Panthers have raced at nearby locations like

Schenley Park, but only as visitors to Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne.

In a sport known for its backcountry races, often placed in hills and valleys, the course itself was unusual — especially for Pittsburgh’s rugged terrain. It looped around the mostly flat grounds of the blast furnace several times, each cycle about a kilometer in distance.

Having a course of their own is often an advantage for the home runners because they know its ins and outs — where to pick up the pace and where to coast. But Pitt entered the race without a distinct advantage, as the “home” course was as unfamiliar to the Panthers as it was to their opponents.

“We came into it cold, our athletes never got a chance to compete or even practice on the course,” Webb said.

Pitt still dominated the race in spite of the

team’s unfamiliarity with the course — both the men’s and women’s teams won their races. Both teams took on competitors from Bucknell, Kent State and Marshall, and additionally Robert Morris in the women’s races.

In the women’s 4K race, sophomore Brenda Ayuk, a transfer from Kennesaw State, impressed in her Pitt debut with a second-place finish. Her time of 14:11.19 paced the women’s team.

Beyond Ayuk, the team took three of the top five places. Sophomore Devon Hoernlein took third and senior Sam Shields came in fifth, which was good enough for the team to win in a landslide with 28 points.

For those unfamiliar with cross country, the score is the total of a team’s first five finishes — like golf, a lower score is better. Bucknell, Pitt’s closest competition, scored 50 while Kent State, Marshall and Robert Morris rounded out the

field with 56, 94 and 149 points, respectively.

“We went out a little bit harder than we should’ve, especially towards the middle of the race, and we paid for it,” Webb said. “But luckily they were tough enough to hang on.”

The men’s 6K was even more lopsided as the Panthers took the top four places and five of the top six. Senior Nick Wolk and junior Zach Lefever finished within .21 seconds of one another, fist bumping each other just before the finish line.

The team finished with 16 points, one place shy of a perfect 15-point sweep. Bucknell, Kent State and Marshall finished with 61, 66, and 77 points, respectively.

“We talk about having that pack mentality.

You want to go in and stay close to each other and keep that differential between the first and See XC on page 7

Takeaways from Pitt football’s opening loss Nick Carlisano Senior Staff Writer

With Pitt football’s 30-14 opening loss to Virginia Saturday night came another annual tradition — fans voicing their overreactions to the game. This piece will contribute to the noise, and there’s certainly plenty to unpack from the Panthers’ opener.

Under the helm of new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, the Panthers utilized a passheavy attack as the backfield took a backseat. On the opposite side of the ball, Pitt’s defense had its moments but couldn’t contain senior quarterback Bryce Perkins and the Cavalier offense enough to eke out a win. The game also featured several Pitt blunders that proved too much to overcome.

Has the Balance of Power in the Offense Flipped?

Last season, the Panthers relied on the run game to power them to their first Coastal title.

Junior quarterback Kenny Pickett (8) rolls out to his right before throwing Both Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall rushed his second interception while being chased down by junior Virginia outside for over 1,000 yards behind a hard-nosed oflinebacker Charles Snowden (11). Thomas Yang assistant visual editor

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September 3, 2019

fensive line. If one wasn’t getting in rhythm or dealing with an injury, the other ran rampant and picked up the slack. The backfield was a two-headed monster symbolic of Pitt’s history as a running back school.

With both Ollison and Hall now in the NFL — and many of Pitt’s 2018 offensive line gone to graduation — Pitt was certainly expected to downgrade in the rushing department. But not many would have suspected that Whipple, although known as a passing guru, could alter Pitt’s offensive game plan so dramatically.

Junior quarterback Kenny Pickett attempted a career-high 41 passes, completing 21 of them for 185 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. In comparison, the Panthers’ three tailbacks combined for a total of 17 rushing attempts, and the entire team netted only 78 yards on the ground. Junior A.J. Davis led Pitt with eight carries and managed to reach the end zone on a two-yard plunge. He put himself in position to score with Pitt’s biggest play of the night, a 59See Takeaways on page 7

6

XC, pg. 6

Takeaways, pg. 6

seventh runner as close as possible,” Webb said.

“That’s how you win races.”

Looking to the rest of the season, Ayuk and Shields will be runners to watch. Last season, Shields was the only member of the team to qualify for nationals and, as such, was forced to run there alone. With the emergence of Ayuk as another threat, the two runners could push each other to new heights, and the rest of the team along with them.

“On the freshman side, Mary Borkoski is going to find her stride and end up doing some pretty special things,” Webb added.

On the men’s team, Lefever could be poised for a breakout season after steady improvements each year, and his high finish in Friday’s meet may be the start of a potent one-two punch alongside Wolk.

In addition to the strong performances and early season hope, Webb said one of the things that impressed him the most was the amount of fans who showed up at the meet.

“It was a way bigger turnout than I thought it was going to be. It was just amazing,” he said.

The Panthers will hit the road for their next challenge this Friday at Shippensburg’s Galen Piper Invitational.

yard catch out of the backfield earlier that drive.

Pickett’s performance was a mixed bag. He made a few big plays with his feet as he’s done in the past, and deserves credit for putting his body on the line to pick up an extra yard or a tough first down. He made some solid throws in tight windows at times, but also had several head-scratching misses on deep balls. Junior wideout Taysir Mack didn’t help Pickett by committing an uncontested drop.

There’s no use in making assumptions that the offense will be so pass-happy all the time after only one game, but it’s quite clear that airing the ball out will be a much more prominent strategy. Whipple seemed to favor a short, move the chains style in order to help Pickett get the ball out quickly, mixed with a few deep shots. It felt like the Panthers went entire drives without running the ball. Even if the run game isn’t taking off, Pitt still needs to utilize it to avoid predictability. Repetitive play-calling almost certainly contributed to Pickett’s first interception, as Virginia linebacker Matt Gahm seemed to know exactly where the ball was going that play.

Whipple was hired to bolster the pass game, and it appears he is going to do exactly that. He

still has much work to do with Pickett, who could’ve changed the outcome of the game with a few more accurate throws. Whipple would do well to give the run game a greater opportunity to get going or else face the consequences of a one-dimensional offense. Next week’s matchup against Ohio should provide a better look at what fans can expect to see during Whipple’s first season.

Errors End Chance of Victory Good football teams don’t usually make stupid mistakes. And if they do, they often have enough talent to overcome the blunders through big plays. The Panthers committed several slipups that proved fatal Saturday night.

The first came about halfway through the first quarter, with the Panthers in punt formation deep in their own territory. Pitt sophomore linebacker Cam Bright, charged with protecting sophomore punter Kirk Christodoulou, made a half-hearted attempt to block the edge rusher coming at him. His man managed to block the punt, putting the defense on the field and on its heels. A few plays later, Perkins found senior tailback Chris Sharp on an out route for the score.

As mentioned before, Pickett failed to connect on several deep throws. When he finally

put one on the money, Mack, who was quite reliable last season and made several eye-popping downfield grabs, failed to haul in an easy catch.

Pickett and his receivers just couldn’t quite get on the same page on longer throws. Those are exactly the type of plays Pitt needs to win, especially if the run game struggles.

Pickett also tossed two costly interceptions in the second half. The first was bad for several reasons, as Pickett eyed his receiver up the whole way, allowing an opposing linebacker to easily predict the throw. Whipple also may be to blame, as Pitt had run a similar play repeatedly leading up to the turnover. Like the blocked punt, the interception occurred on the Panthers’ own side of the field. Virginia received easy field position and again capitalized with a score. Pickett’s second pick was a bad throw into tight coverage that ended any chance of a comeback with the clock ticking down in the fourth.

The Panthers have struggled with discipline and turnovers under head coach Pat Narduzzi at times. Although Pitt only committed two penalties, the turnovers proved enough to prevent a win. This is something that must be buttoned up if the Panthers hope to win close games and keep the tougher matchups on the schedule from getting ugly.

The Pitt News SuDoku 9/3/19 courtesy of dailysudoku.com

pittnews.com

September 3, 2019

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