Went to bed in a foul mood. Woke up still pissed about the game. Managed to resist the urge to start drinking right away as I started thinking about the game again — need to make it to at least noon.
Before I try to do any serious recaps, I want to post a few of your comments from after the game, and maybe add my thoughts.
We’ll be fine..this year will suck but with our recruits and more
experience, we’ll run the table next year.
Whatever you’re taking rjb, I’d like a double. That’s some strong, relentless optimism.
Jason had a lot to say.
Maybe it’s me but are you noticing all the “false starts” this year in
big 3rd down situations. Walt’s offensive lines were notorious for “moving”,
but I just don’t feel that those penalties happened big situations like this
year. With better offensive line talent that will diminish, hopefully, along
with making sure the QB isn’t laying on his back all night.
They were flinching. They knew the blitz was coming, because it was coming all night. Talking briefly with Pat after the game, he noticed that Rutgers d-line would actually start a little off the line and move closer as the count was being made. I think that had something to do with it.
As for the abuse Palko took, I’m not sure if there is a tougher player on Pitt right now, or in all of college football. He is getting killed in every game. I am honestly concerned that he will not make it through the year. After last night’s game he has to be one complete bruise.
Every team with a non-comatose defensive coordinator has realized just how bad Pitt’s O-line is at protecting Palko and are going to bring pressure on every play. Hell, they really don’t have to. Just rush 4 and the line crumbles.
Why is the coaching so slow to adjust. You have some “meatball announcer”
in the booth telling the staff that the 3-step drop is working better than a
5-step drop and getting Palko killed on every play. (Funny Thing…”meatball
announcer” is right!!!).
Honestly, the only thing worse than having the 5th string game announcers calling your team’s games, is when they are actually making correct points. They were also making the point that Pitt’s receivers were not particularly fast, so the risk with the 3-step drop was that the receivers wouldn’t be ready or finishing their routes when the ball was thrown. At least that is the best I can figure. Actually, I’m giving the coaches something of a break on the issue of adjustments. They actually didn’t wait until 2 minutes left in the game before doing it. There was definite improvement in that respect. A lot more passes over the middle — something I’ve been complaining about.
Palko is pressing. He tried to get away from taking a couple of sacks and
instead lost more than double the yards twice. He is trying to do too much.
Minimize the negatives!
Those were frustrating. Never good when you find yourself shouting at your own QB to just go down. The problem, for this game was that he was the only thing actually working on offense. How could he not try to do too much?
The quick running backs are injured and Murphy had to run in the TB spot. Did
you see how slow he was on the draw play at the end of the game. LaRod could’ve run past those guy who were coming upfield. Stephens-Howling needs to get better b/c Pitt has to have his speed back in the lineup yesterday!
It points up that Jennings is a much stronger back, as well. Jennings has shown the strength to power through at times. Murphy just couldn’t. The O-line provided no holes. I don’t know why they misused Kirkley either. He was running best off-tackle or trying to get outside where he could try and find some space. Instead they had him running in the middle where he would be stuffed. I have to wonder, though if part of the reason why they are hurt is because they have already taken so many hits.
#1 we obviously overachieved last year. …
#2 we returned a lot of players but at the wrong positions. our
skill players are very talented but they dont mean anything without any linemen.
…
bottom line, right now, we ARE that bad. and its all about the
line play. The last person I would want to be right now is Tyler Palko. I feel
so bad for that guy, have you ever seen someone take more hits??
Jamie is right that we overachieved last year — though, the ND game was a back and forth game not really so much of a comeback. This year, though, it is equally clear that Pitt is underachieving. Pitt is not that good, but they shouldn’t be this bad. The lineplay is a mess, and injuries hurt, but this is just ridiculous.
There is no excuse for the loss to Ohio. Nor is there one for going down 27-0 in the first half against Rutgers.
Chris has a collection of points.
2) By now, if you’re going to pursue a balanced offense and botch the
entire 1st half according to your philosophy – at least work in some of the
younger talent to get some experience for down the road.
Uh, maybe they still hope to redshirt some of them? I don’t know, butI’m guessing that’s why Conredge Collins hasn’t made it out there. The balanced offense was abandoned early in the 2nd quarter (believe it or not). Pitt was around 3-1 pass to throw once they were down 20-0.
3) The team is plagued by having too many skilled tight ends. You
can’t feasibly take Gill or Buches out of the lineup. Strong is an amazing
talent catching the ball… but if he has to practice with the second team QB he
will bobble every single pass that Palko throws to him this year. I think he
works well in the slot where he won’t make mistakes like moving early – I say
give him a chance to catch the football.
That’s on the coaching staff to figure out, because it looks to be just as deep next year. Gill may be graduating but Byham is coming. I’m wondering why Pitt isn’t trying some more 2 or even 3 tight-end sets. It seems like there is a lot of potential for some creativity with the tight ends.
I refuse to turn my back on the coaches and what they are trying
to do. It is very different from the brand of football that I have come to know
from Pitt, but that’s life.
The tough part right now is realizing that they are pretty much remaking the Panthers from scratch. It took watching 3 (bad) games for me to accept that. The thing that this staff needs is time. More time to fill their own rosters, more time to build the program. In time I think Pitt can build a new winning tradition. Lucky for me, time is one thing that I have on my side.
Faith is all we have at the moment. And boy, is it being sorely tested. Coach Wannstedt and his staff aren’t going anywhere for the next few years. I know I keep saying that, but I have to remind myself.
Here’s the thing, during the game, the announcers said that Coach Wannstedt told them he knew the team wasn’t as good as the preseason ranking, and he may have let the kids buy into the hype.
I have a problem with that. It strikes me as some after-the-fact excuse making and ass-covering. Something I wasn’t expecting from Coach Wannstedt. There was no indication or hint that the team would struggle like this.
This isn’t just starting from scratch, this is also wasting the talent that is there. Maybe it is good for the overall health of the program. I don’t know. I do know that I feel very badly for the kids that are there now. They are playing now and want to win. They aren’t being put in a position to do so.
Tim Mason had a couple thoughts.
Granted we were awful last night, but the broadcast announcers and
their bias against Pitt was even worse. Midway through the first quarter I was
ready to put the TV on mute. Someone needs to teach the defense how to tackle.
This was a bad announcing crew, but there wasn’t a bias against Pitt. The bias was against bad football, and Pitt was the guilty party. Keep in mind that this was the second time in 3 weeks this crew had to endure Pitt’s performance. If anything, in the second half, they were doing their best to pump Pitt’s chances to try and keep people watching.
Yeah, we saw the return of the bad tendency to just hit and not tackle.
More later (unless I’m too drunk).
