Just some of the info and quotes you will see in stories for this week.
Coach Wannstedt’s weekly press conference transcript is, as should be expected, stunningly positive despite the Ohio debacle. It’s just the way he is, and its part of why he has had success he in recruiting. (Just a thought, can we steal the recruits cell phones or is that unethical?)
Opening Remarks:
In reference to the Ohio University game, after studying the film I was very pleased with our defense. We know how disappointing the Notre Dame performance was and we knew that we were better than that on defense. The key for the Ohio game was to come out focused and play with the intensity it was going to take and I feel like they did that for the entire football game.
When you look at the statistics, Ohio’s longest play from scrimmage was the 18-yard screen pass. We held them to seven first downs (excluding four gained by penalty) and a field goal. After we went for it on fourth and one and didn’t get it, the defense kept them from gaining any more yards and Ohio missed a field goal to give our team an opportunity to win the game. I feel like they made some strides as a defensive unit, while we continue to play young guys. It was good to get Thomas Smith and Clint Session back in action, but players like Gus Mustakas, Rashaad Duncan and Nick Williams will also see time.
The turnovers are what I was disappointed in. When you turn the ball over for touchdowns or in the red zone, you are not going to win the game. Tyler Palko is our leader. He has won a lot of games around here and he will continue to win a lot of games. The two of us sat down and went over the film and saw what went wrong. A lot of the problems are not just on the one person making the decision. As a team we need to run better routes and protect Palko better. Our passing game was not balanced. There was pressure on the passer, we missed some throws and dropped passes. We really didn’t throw, catch or protect the ball the way we needed to. …
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On the slow start:Notre Dame may be better than everybody thought. Last week’s disappointment falls into that category for us. I don’t want to lump the whole team (in that category) because we did make progress in certain areas of our team. We need to continue to clean up in the other areas and put it all together. We need to play all three phases at a high level to beat Nebraska.
To date, Pitt has only gotten one turnover (an interception by Revis against ND) and given away the ball 4 times (3 INT and 1 fumble). On 3 of the 4 turnovers touchdowns were scored either directly or on the ensuing possession. That’s what you might call a disturbing trend.
On the defensive side, not only has there been little pressure on the quarterback, but there has been no forcing of mistakes on the QB or getting takeaways.
On the Big East Coaches weekly teleconference (you can listen here — Wannstedt comes on at about the 25 minute mark after 17 minutes of elevator music and Cinci Coach Dantonio), Coach Wannstedt admitted that the defense has not been able to force any turnovers.
There were a few questions about the trend and transition from the pros to college for him and coaches in general. These came from non-Big East beat writers including a couple from Nebraska.
Coach Wannstedt defended Tyler Palko saying that he was learning a new offense, playing behind a new O-line and with a new tailback.
Someone asked him if he saw a common thread in both losses, but he didn’t see any.
Let’s see, poor O-line, not good tackling, too many penalties, no pressure on the opposing QB, and conservative play calling. Yeah, other than that I didn’t see a thing.
Pitt has a “Game Day Central” page for the Nebraska game up. It has links to the Nebraska website and more Pitt info. Nebraska has a press release and game notes (PDF) available. In the notes I see that Nebraska forced 4 turnovers — with 3 defensive touchdowns — and sacked Wake’s QB 5 times. Ugh.
