You know, one of the most peculiar things I've noticed about football at Pittsburgh is their (usual) lack of depth; I dunno if this is still a problem, but it was a problem back when Dan Marino was their quarterback.
I was young and green in judgement then, and it was their season-ending game, Pittsburgh versus somebody else.
Dan Marino got hurt, and so the second-string quarterback was sent in.
The captioning on the bottom of the television screen pointed out that this second-string quarterback for Pittsburgh, that season, had.....31 seconds' playing experience under his belt.
I gasped, and thought, "What the fu.....dge?"
Pittsburgh had had a really good season, and some real runovers that year.
Now, under the Nebraska system, so as to give depth, players are substituted if Nebraska is comfortably in the lead (or if the first-string player is having a bad day).
There were plenty of times that particular season that Pittsburgh had built up comfortable leads against opponents, and so one could've given the second-string quarterback some playing experience.
But no; Pittsburgh had played Dan Marino all the time that season, other than a measly 31 seconds.
So.....Dan Marino got hurt, and this second-string quarterback, who hadn't had but half a minute of playing time, was sent in. The substitute quarterback ended up doing really lousy, getting sacked, getting passes intercepted, whatnot.
Pittsburgh lost that game; I wish I could remember to whom.
