Under center with Palko

From Fiesta Bowl magic to senior-year mediocrity, a Notre Dame delight to a Notre Dame… From Fiesta Bowl magic to senior-year mediocrity, a Notre Dame delight to a Notre Dame debacle, graduated Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko experienced it all. He led the Panthers to a BCS bid and quarterbacked a 6-6 club, riding the crests of success and the troughs of tribulation.

Palko came to Pitt with big expectations on his broad shoulders. USA Today named him to its All-American second team as a high school senior after he won three consecutive WPIAL AAA titles at West Allegheny High School, located in Imperial, Pa., roughly 30 minutes from Pitt’s Oakland campus.

“I decided to play for my hometown school because I knew it would prepare me,” Palko said. “If you want to get to the next level, why not put yourself in a pressure situation? Why not give yourself a chance to learn things in a competitive environment?”

When Palko joined the Panthers, the program seemed destined to return to its successful days of old. After two consecutive 7-5 seasons under then-head coach Walt Harris, Pitt stormed to a 9-4 finish Palko’s freshman year, capping off its season with a resounding victory over Oregon State in the Insight Bowl.

In 2003, Sports Illustrated ranked the Panthers No. 11 in its preseason poll, and starting quarterback Rod Rutherford was a big reason for the high ranking. With Rutherford running the show and backup quarterback Luke Getsy ahead of him on the depth chart, the sophomore Palko redshirted the 2003 season.

But when Rutherford graduated and Getsy transferred to Akron, the Panthers suddenly became Palko’s team. The redshirt sophomore made his first start at Heinz Field against Ohio, and the spotlight couldn’t have been hotter.

When Palko stumbled to a six-for-19 performance in his debut, fans and the media alike spoke of switching the youngster to safety. After throwing an interception against Ohio, the 6-3 lefty tossed three picks in the first half against Nebraska.

Under those circumstances, a young starting quarterback in Pittsburgh would be folded up like a lawn chair and tossed into the basement of history. But, like he would constantly do over his career at Pitt, Palko rebounded.

In the second half of the Nebraska game, Palko led a ferocious comeback with 158 yards passing and a touchdown toss that kept Pitt in the game until the final whistle. With his heart on his sleeve, a new star was born.

“It was so tough at that Nebraska game,” Palko said. “But after I started getting more confident, things took off.”

The season brought numerous benchmarks in Palko’s legacy, including a 41-38 victory over then-No. 24 Notre Dame and a 16-13 upset in the Backyard Brawl over then-No. 21 West Virginia. Palko’s five touchdown passes against Notre Dame and game-winning 2-yard run against West Virginia electrified his status among Pitt football fans.

“Things starting going really well that year, and we felt like we had a really good team,” Palko said. “My success was something that just came along as I matured within the system and our team kept getting better.”

But Pittsburgh is one of the few cities that doesn’t crown its quarterbacks – there are no golden boys in the Steel City. When Palko took the field, it didn’t matter that he graduated from West Allegheny High School – the only thing that mattered was whether he completed his next pass.

Learning under Harris, Palko matured significantly, attributing much of his progress to Harris’ no-nonsense style of coaching.

“Coach Harris was like a strict dad to me,” Palko said. “He had an offensive mindset and helped me understand my role as a quarterback and the game itself.”

In just one season as Pitt’s starter under Harris, Palko earned second team All-Big East honors, throwing more than 3,000 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. The Panthers soared to an 8-4 record, a Big East Conference title and an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl as the Big East’s BCS representative.

In spite of the success in Palko’s first year, Pitt dismissed Harris before the Panthers’ Fiesta Bowl appearance. Current head coach Dave Wannstedt filled Pitt’s head coaching vacancy, and Pitt football morphed into a new style.

But Palko never flinched.

“Coach Wannstedt knows what a quarterback can do not to lose a game,” Palko said. “But he deferred a lot of my coaching to [offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach] Matt Cavanaugh, and Matt and I worked on getting me to that next level.”

The redshirt junior Palko started the 2005 season listed as a Heisman Trophy candidate by CBS Sportsline. With the field general at the helm, the Panthers entered the season ranked No. 24.

Pitt struggled to a 5-6 record in Wannstedt’s inaugural campaign, and it all started with some Notre Dame payback in the season’s first game, as the Fighting Irish trounced Pitt, 42-21. Still, Palko continued to shine, tossing his way to a second-consecutive second team All-Big East honor.

Palko’s focus on being the best never waned, and his final season in a Pitt uniform showed it. The fifth-year senior rated 17th nationally in passing yards, and his 25 touchdown passes placed him 15th nationally.

The statistics produced by the gritty quarterback couldn’t alter the Panthers’ downward spiral, however, as Pitt plummeted from a 6-1 start to finish 6-6. According to Palko, it was more than just frustrating.

“I believed in our coaches, the system and our players this year,” Palko said. “We just didn’t have the experience and didn’t get the bounces to go our way. I just wanted to be a part of something this year, and it was disappointing.”

So, as Pitt undergoes another off-season transformation, the Panthers will do so without their coolest hand and their fiery leader. Palko will enter the 2007 NFL Draft, hoping to resume his football playing at the professional level.

“Now I’m looking to hire an agent and preparing to chase my dream,” Palko said. “I’m just going to bust my tail and hope things go my way.”

In his time at Pitt, things didn’t always go Palko’s way. But he never backed down from a challenge, and he always came back.

In a way, it seemed only fitting for Palko to end how he started – tumultuously. But no Pitt fan could ever complain about a lack of entertainment during the quarterback’s time as Pitt’s starting play-caller.

“Not many people can say they’ve experienced the highs of the highs and the lows of the lows,” Palko said. “But I’ve had an incredible experience at the University of Pittsburgh, and I’ll never forget the years I spent at Pitt.”