If I was the offensive coordinator for Pitt I’d be worried about my job. Oh, that’s right, the OC for Pitt is also the head coach. Late to do this, because it was a late game, followed by a late night, a late start home in the morning, and then I owed the wife a lot of downtime since she watched the kid without help for a 24-hour period.
There is a lot I would like to write about. From the game, to the atmosphere, to the dance team, the tailgating, and so on. Since this is late, though, I’m just going to (mostly) limit myself to the game and things I heard in the stands.
I haven’t looked online at the papers yet, because I don’t want my impressions colored by them. Those who read this blog last fall, know that is my general approach. The only thing I look at are the box score and play-by-play list — for accuracy. Aside from the win, the big positive was that no one appeared to have been hurt in the game. Considering the issues at depth all over the team, this will be a concern every game.
The defense acquitted itself fairly well. There was some pressure on the QB (4 sacks), and the secondary did very well in keeping the receivers in front of them and making tackles. OU lacks much of a running game so it’s hard to judge the run defense at this point.
The defense did a good job of tackling, not hitting up to a point. In the 3rd quarter (about the 10 minute mark) just before Postell’s interception returned for a touchdown, Postell but a body-jarring hit on the receiver coming over the middle and resulted in an incomplete pass. It got the defense fired up and really generated a lot of ooohs from the crowd. Highlight reel stuff, to be sure. The thing I noticed though, was that other members of the defense started trying to hit more than tackle after that point. They could get away with that against a team like Ohio, but it makes me nervous for the rest of the season, that they could lose their focus on the fundamentals of tackling. Hopefully Defensive Coordinator Paul Rhoads will remind them pointedly.
Special teams looked good. Josh Cummings looked good with his one field goal that he attempted and nailed. A 35-yarder that was strong and was on the open side of the stadium where kickers have always had trouble. Graessle, the punter, looks to be a seamless replacement for Andy Lee. A good thing, since he had to punt 11 times in this game.
That brings us to the offense. I have a feeling I will end up forgetting a few things because there was so much to be upset by.
The one bright spot was that Raymond Kirkley ran for 101 yards on 22 carries. A 4.6 yd/carry average. He looked strong and ran north and south. No dancing in the backfield.
Let’s start on the O-line. They just looked overmatched a lot of the time. The Ohio defense was penetrating easily and often. Palko was forced to scramble and roll-out a lot more than he should have. He was sacked 4 times in this game. By Ohio. Read those last 2 sentences again, and then swallow that lump in your throat.
Tyler Palko in his first start at QB was not not sharp in the beginning. He was clearly nervous and jittery when he dropped back in the first half. It didn’t help when he was sacked on the very first play. He clearly has mobility, since he ran several times — by design — and escaped several other near sacks. Clearly he was spooked by the speed at which the Ohio players were on him. His passes were not particularly accurate. He went 6-17 with one interception (on his very first attempt for the second half) for only 49 yards.
He didn’t pass much in the second half — only 4 attempts. He only went 1 for 4, though the one was also his first TD pass. A 7 yarder floater to an unguarded Greg Lee. That was funny. Pitt lined up, and this was at the goalline by the student section, and there was no Ohio player lined up across from Lee. Everyone saw it — except for Ohio and Palko. The students and Lee are screaming and gesturing like crazy to get Palko’s attention. Finally he sees it, and hikes the ball as Ohio belatedly realized it too but couldn’t get over there. Palko lobs it to Lee for the touchdown.
In the first half, Palko was 5-13 and threw 7 straight incompletions. He seemed to have trouble with his progressions and reading the defense. Not totally surprising for a new QB, but still a little unnerving to see. There was some early frustration in the stands, with sarcastic calls to “Put in Getsy!”
It couldn’t all be put on Palko, though, the receivers were a disappointment. They gave him no help. They couldn’t get much separation from the coverage, and were unwilling to fight for the ball when it came near them. If it wasn’t on the money and away from the defender, they gave up on the pass. Greg Lee was the most disappointing in this respect. I personally, think Lee has the talent and ability to be as good as Antonio Bryant was — or at least Latef Grim. Lee, though, was far too willing to give up on the pass if it wasn’t right on the money. In a way the receiving corp was the biggest disappointment to me, because I had a lot of faith in them. Even with the losses of Brockenbrough and Allen.
The offensive side has a lot of work ahead of them this week to get ready for Nebraska.
