While the rest of us get to second guess.

Another article about how the Pitt defense has kept its plans very simple.

According to weakside linebacker J.J. Horne, the beauty of the accomplishment is that they’ve done it without trying to get tricky. Instead, they have scaled back the defensive game plan, with an emphasis on keeping it simple.
…
Blades, who intercepted a pass in the first half and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown, said a reason the more basic approach is so successful is that the underclassmen and first-year starters aren’t overloaded with assignments and keys.

“You can’t get much simpler than what we did [Saturday],” Blades said. “Guys were just running around, making plays and having fun. We just went full speed to the ball on every play. We didn’t blitz much, we basically ran one call the entire first half.

“And the younger guys don’t have to think as much. They all know their responsibilities in the base defense and they just go out and play. It comes more naturally.”

The article points out though, that this has taken place against Cinci, USF and ‘Cuse. The 3 worst teams in the Big East in terms of offense. The next team Pitt faces will be Louisville.

Louisville is the best offense in the Big East by a wide margin, and the #7 offense in the country. They get nearly 500 yards per game (300 in the air, 200 ground) and average almost 47 points a game.

So here’s the quandry for the defense. What do you do with the schemes and game plan?

This is the bye week. They have time to work on more things. Do they go back to adding some more schemes, disguising coverages, blitz packages, etc? Or does the coaching staff work on keeping it simple and basic? Emphasize and focus on fundamentals and drills.

Either way, they are setting themselves up for second-guessing.

Stick to what they have been doing and get torched and everyone will question why, when they had extra time to add some wrinkles, and how could they rest on what they did against the bad offenses.

Go with new stuff and if it doesn’t work then everyone will ask why they didn’t just stick to the basics which had been working and focus on the fundamentals of defense.

I don’t have an answer at this time. Hope they do.