Pitt has a new football recruit. An offensive lineman from New Jersey. Pitt was the first to actually offer a scholarship to Kevin Hughes. He also had Rutgers, Mich. St., Syracuse and South Carolina on his list — but none at this time appeared to have actually made an offer. It would appear he is a “diamond in the rough” type of recruit. Not ranked, but is 6’5″, 285 pounds (or 6’3″, 260 pounds depending on the report).
A nice enough puff piece on long-time Pitt radio guy, Bill Hillgrove.
The Q&A with Pitt football beat reporter Paul Zeise is a feisty one. He takes shots at the fans, the administration and one at Harris’ performance. This is a full read.
Coach Walt Harris is calling this a big game.
“There is no such thing as overhype when it comes to this game,” Harris said yesterday after practice. “This is the biggest game of the year for us, the most important one on our schedule every year. That’s just how it is. This one cannot be overhyped. We have to do our job, a better job than we’ve done the past two years, though.
“West Virginia has done an excellent job in this game the past two years and we haven’t.”
Harris has tried to downplay the game before. Then last year, he decided to embrace the “big game” concept. Hopefully this year he won’t close practices. Actually this is a big game. This will be the 97th meeting of the two teams. That makes WVU the most played team in Pitt’s history. They will pass Penn State at 96 games.
Harris also appeared to get a little testy with a Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh reporter who was pushing about whether Harris should come back next year.
The last story actually dovetails nicely with something I had been thinking about this week. The defense. Specifically, why the hell Defensive Coordinator/Secondary Coach Paul Rhoads hasn’t been taking more heat for 2 straight years of bad D? At the beginning of the season Rhoads said the D would be better. That they would stop the run. How this year they would get pressure on QBs because they were no longer “contaminated.” The usual.
Hasn’t happened. But there is enough spin to confuse. Take this version from the Game Notes (PDF, Page 8):
Traditionally Strong: Pittsburgh has ranked among the nationÂ’s top 12 in total defense in two of the last three seasons. The Panthers ranked seventh in 2001 (284.6 avg.) and 12th in 2002 (296.0).
In 2002, the Panthers ranked among the nationÂ’s top 25 in an impressive seven different categories. The ’02 defense ranked seventh in fumbles recovered (18 total), 12th in total defense (296.0 avg.), 14th in scoring defense (17.8 avg.), 15th in pass efficiency defense (100.3 rating), 17th in turnovers gained (33 total), 18th in pass defense (178.5 avg.) and 24th in rush defense (117.5 avg.).
They don’t mention last year. And this year, the Total Defense rank is 78. Giving up close to 400 yards per game.
In every game this year, except for Furman, Pitt’s D has given up more total yards than the O has produced (page 33).
Against teams with good running backs: Brockington, UConn; Reyes and Rhodes, Syracuse; and Walker, ND — Pitt has been gashed repeatedly. Overall, the team is 44th.
Pitt’s secondary has been beaten on a regular basis. Pass defense is 109th in the country.
Despite all of that, you don’t read much in the way of criticism of Paul Rhoads. I am guessing that he is just a great guy and a solid interview or something, because you would think he would be just as embattled over what has been happening. Instead you get a piece today talking about the turnaround on defense?
Statistics don’t lie, but then again, they don’t always tell the whole story.
That’s especially true when evaluating Pitt’s defense this year. Statistically, it has not been very good. On the other hand, it often has made game-turning or game-deciding plays.
The Panthers are fourth in the seven-team Big East in scoring defense (25.1 points per game), last in pass defense (264.9 yards per game) and fourth in total defense (396.4).
Not great numbers, but also not the most accurate portrayal of a defense that occasionally has been dominant.
Unbelievable. It gets worse, because the piece lets Rhoads make his case unchallenged.
“You look at the Notre Dame game,” Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said. “We missed a total of four tackles. That’s it. You see all of those points (38) and yards (438), and people assume its because we’re out of position or missing tackles like last year. That’s not the case, four missed tackles in a college football game of 60 or 70 plays is amazingly low.
“What has hurt us is the big plays. More than 200 of those yards came on six plays, 92 on two passes over the top. It is those big plays that have hurt us statistically, but we are making enough plays to win games. And, for the most part, we’re getting off the field. We just have some breakdowns, but they are coming less and less.[“]
The ND game? Those 200+ yards may have come on 6 plays, but did they or did they not set up scores? It doesn’t matter whether they came from a long drive or a few gashing runs and deep passes. They were big gains that helped set up scores. This past week, the highlights showed H.B. Blades applying a bone crushing hit to stop ND running back Ryan Grant cold near the goal line. What was quickly forgotten was that 1-2 plays later Walker ran right into the endzone for a score.
“The week before against Syracuse, we dominated them for the entire half, then on the final drive, we didn’t take the field and play with the same passion and intensity we had and we let them march down and tie the game. That was as simple as us not wanting it and getting beat man-for-man on one drive. We’re still working on getting to the point where we play with passion every play, but we’re getting there.”
You mean after you let them race to a 21-6 lead? As for that spin of “dominating them for the entire half.” No. In the second half, Walter Reyes got hurt and Paul Pasqualoni showed why he Syracuse fans want him gone. He went to the pass when the run was working:
If the first half was all about why Harris needs to go, then the 3rd quarter and most of the 4th was all about why Syracuse fans want to throw Pasqualoni out in the snow.
Pitt showed no ability to stop the run in the first half. Syracuse compiled over 300 yards in the first half. Reyes and Damien Rhodes ran for over half of it. Rhodes has already shown he is a capable back in his own right, so when Reyes hurt his back early in the 3rd quarter, you expect to see Rhodes take over the load. Not with Pasqualoni in charge. Time to have the young QB, Patterson, shoulder the load.
This led to the Patterson fumble that led to the Pitt score to tie the game. Following a 45 yard kickoff return — by the way, when did Pitt become incapable of tackling and covering on kickoffs and punts ? I’m just wondering — they go 3 and out. Pitt gets another field goal (missing a big opportunity) and again, a huge kickoff return (by Rhodes). So, time to run the ball. Chew some clock, take advantage of the bad run defense. No. 3 straight pass attempts. The last being intercepted.
Pitt failed to get a 45 yard field goal. I understand Cummings had the distance on his misses, but… Was he just hooking them? Were they even close? Anyone care to fill me in?
You look at the play-by-play list, and you see that when they do run Rhodes, they get yardage, but then inexplicably they have Patterson throwing 2-3 times in a row. Leading to punts.
Don’t tell me it was about the Pitt D dominating. I may not have seen the game, but Lee did, and he was not conveying the picture of a defense that had figured out Syracuse.
I don’t want to be negative, but all this suggests is that Pitt has won 6 games despite its defense. You also need to worry about when it catches up. If lucky, Pitt makes it through the year. Otherwise…
