Some articles and things I never got around to posting about yesterday.
Another piece asking for patience, mainly based on how Pitt rallied last season after a bad start.
Freshman offensive lineman C.J. Davis gets a puff piece concerning his quick climb on the depth chart.
At the Big East Coaches Teleconference on Tuesday, a reporter from Florida asked Coach Wannstedt about the pressures on coaches at programs. He’s been posing this question to various coaches for a few weeks now:
So, here’s the question posed to some of these coaches: If you had 10 times less pressure but made 10 times less money, would you take the trade?
This, apparently is what passes for a philosophical question on the Florida Space Coast. It seems the coaches all managed to be polite and not tell the guy what a stupid question that was. That if they wanted to make that trade, they’d be coaching at Division 1-AA or Division 2 schools. They all pretty much said that the pressure is self-imposed more than felt from others.
In the teleconference, the Coach Wannstedt’s answer was apparently much the same response given by Bob Stoops. It was during this question that he broke out the Chuck Noll quote.
Wannstedt said 90 percent of pressure is self-imposed.
“I think (former Steelers coach) Chuck Noll said it best 15 years ago,” he said. “He said pressure is when you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. When you get out there at game time, you’re confident in your game plan, that you’re going to be successful.”
A lightweight piece on the new Big East, where BE Commissioner Mike Tranghese and St. John’s AD deny that the BE will eventually split. Of course they would.
In ESPN.com’s Big East Notebook there were questions about Palko’s performance, and noting Kinder getting elevated to start at flanker. Starkey tries to add pressure to make sure LaRod Stephens-Howlings gets the ball more.
Speaking of speed, Wannstedt needs to make good on his intention to get true freshman tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling more involved in the offense.
Stephens-Howling made his first collegiate kickoff return a memorable one, taking the opening kick 95 yards for a score against Ohio, but he has only three carries for 17 yards.
Finally, an AP piece on Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh also feeling pressure about the lack of offense.
The move from the NFL to major college football hasn’t been as seamless or as successful as he wanted, with questions quickly arising about his plain-vanilla play-calling and the big falloff by one of the nation’s best quarterbacks last season.
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt isn’t alone in feeling the heat during what has been a trying and, so far, victory-free move from pro football to NCAA Division I-A.
Pitt offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, who was running the Baltimore Ravens’ offense a year ago, is getting plenty of questions about an underperforming offense. The running game has been ineffective amid a frequent shuffling of the running backs, and the passing game looks nothing like the innovative system Pitt had for eight years under coach Walt Harris.
Not that Baltimore was looking all that impressive on offense for the first week of the season without him. It may be grasping at straws, but apparently Cavanaugh is starting to realize one important thing.
“We probably should take some more shots down the field,” Cavanaugh said. “We need to give those guys an opportunity, and Tyler’s got to get the confidence that if he puts the ball up, his guy’s going to go up and compete for it and come down with it.”
Whether Pitt actually does, remains to be seen.
