So Brandon Miree will play against Temple. This comes on the heels of Harris all but calling Miree “soft” by saying he’s physically healed, but not mentally. I’m not sure Miree will do much against Temple. But then, I think this is a “shake off the rust” game that Pitt won’t put him in much of a position to be the game breaker — and hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.
Of course, while the problem in all of Pitt’s losses hasn’t so much been the inability to run, it has been the inability to stop the run. With all the questions and a defense rated 87th against the run, some members of the defense are getting testy. Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads attributes it to a lack of “playmakers” on defense who can make up for screw-ups by other parts of the defense. Uh, yeah. This just isn’t translating well. He may have a point somewhere in there, but comparing the defense to Oklahoma’s will not work.
“A year ago, we had guys who I would refer to as erasers,” said Rhoads, whose defense returned three fumbles for touchdowns last season and did not yield 450 yards in any of its 13 games. “If we left a gap open and somebody didn’t get there, Gerald Hayes might have shown up. Or, Torrie Cox would have got over top of his own block, beat his guy, then showed up somewhere else to make the play.
“If you would put on (No. 1) Oklahoma’s tape, there’s going to be a fair amount of mistakes on that film, but erasers show up. Unfortunately, right now, we don’t have too many of those guys on the field. And if one guy or two guys don’t quite get it, then it’s the potential to be a breakout play.”
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Because the defense is inexperienced — Rhoads has used as many as five first-year starters — the Pitt coordinator said it’s been tough to implement blitz packages, limiting the opportunities to make big plays. He said every one of the long runs by Notre Dame’s Julius Jones en route to 262 yards came off of failed assignments on blitzes.
Except that Oklahoma isn’t making the same number of mistakes each play, which means the “erasers” don’t have to be worn down to a nub. Stupid metaphor.
