It may be hard to accept that Rutgers is better than Pitt this year, but is it so hard to accept that the Rutgers lines were definitely better than Pitts’? I don’t think so.
What made this game so frustrating. So annoying and familiar. There were coaching adjustments that could have been made to at least partially compensate for this. I’m not saying Pitt would have won, but it would have put Pitt in a better position consider Rutgers managed to miss a bunch of opportunities in the first half.
On the defense, as discussed ad nauseum, you bring the linebackers closer to the line, bring up at least one safety. Maybe even mix in a blitz, though, not totally necessary when a team is running the ball 71% of the time. Just do something to accept the reality that the run was coming. If you want to make a QB throw, you have to make it attractive to take the chance. It’s not going to happen if the run is there, the entire game.
For the offense, keep the tight ends in to block more frequently. If there is a need to pass go with max protection. In other words, if the lines couldn’t do the job straight-up, give them some help.
These adjustments weren’t made. Again.
The defeat cost the Panthers a chance to move into the Top 25 and, once again, exposed their run-defense deficiencies — a troubling revelation with the No. 1 rushing team in the nation, West Virginia, and Louisville, ranked seventh, looming on the Big East horizon.
“Physically,” coach Dave Wannstedt said, “we didn’t hold up like we need to.”
Rutgers sophomore Ray Rice rushed for 225 yards on 39 carries, both career highs, and the Scarlet Knights offensive line mauled Pitt’s undersized defensive front.
The only hope I am taking from this is that it forces Coach Wannstedt to make the change at defensive coordinator. These “run defense deficiencies” have been there for the last 4 years or so. A run-only offensive team that everyone knows will be running, just imposes their will. The defense doesn’t prepare or adjust to it.
I know I’m not unbiased to Paul Rhoads. I’ve wanted the DC gone since the 2003 season. I’ve made no secret of that. It isn’t the lack of blitzing, or even the actual “bend-but-don’t-break” defensive philosophy. Or even seeing the team regularly make a good back look like Tony Dorsett. No. It’s the soft coverage even with talent in the secondary. It’s poor recruiting work on the D-line. It’s poor gameplanning. It’s the complete lack of adjustments after halftime. It’s not playing to the defense’s strengths and exploiting the opposing offenses weaknesses. It comes down to not putting the defense in a position to succeed.
Rhoads follows more of a “read-and-react” approach on defense, which is why he won’t make adjustments. He concedes to the offense what will be dictated. It doesn’t allow the defense to play to its strengths and mask or help at the weak spots.
On the offensive lines, I admit to being willing to cut a bit of slack. Not just because there is a new offensive system and OC, but because I honestly wasn’t even expecting this much from them this season. Talented players like Joe Thomas give hope for the future. The loss of Simonitis and injuries to back-ups also provides something of an excuse.
Rutgers has a very good and fast D-line. They used their strengths to attack Pitt. They didn’t blitz Pitt repeatedly because they always do. They did it, because they could exploit the weaknesses of Pitt (the O-line) and cover their own weak area (secondary).
Dave Wannstedt is responsibe for all of this as the head coach. I would say this is the last year he can even mention that he is still learning things about the college game and differences from the pros.
DW complains about the refs, he is right. I saw the head linesman miss at least 6-8 tackles on Rice, drop 3-4 catchable balls, miss numerous blocks on the line…. Man this isn’t seattle and Holgren, don’t look at them for blame, didn’t help but too many other problems….. I have already had people starting to call him WHINESTEDT – don’t let it get to that…..
“There were some real questionable [penalties],” Wannstedt said yesterday. “We had eight penalties Saturday, we had only two last week [in a win against Central Florida]. Of the eight, I think half of them were very questionable to be quite honest with you. We’ll address them because we know how important penalties are, but sometimes things happen that are out of your control.”
Complaining about the refereeing when it was poorly done is part of the head coaches job, it’s how you keep the refs honest in the long run. There were some ridiclous calls and they do need to be addressed, and I would hope that in addition to his public comments he has sent a letter to the BE commissioner.
Regardless, I don’t remember DW saying bad refereeing was the cause of the loss, or blaming the loss on any one person, or group. He has been pretty honest in his post game talks, especially saying we were physically kicked around, and that Rutgers was much faster than us.
Also, as bad as our rushing defense was, I don’t think Ray Rice needed us to make him look good – he has had 4 200+ yard games in his short career -he is very good on his own.
This season would be a perfect time to make a major staff change – it’s needed and if done right after the last game it will give the new hire, the rest of the staff, and the returning players a good amount of time to get on the same page. DW is recruiting speed and needs to have someone scheme to unleash it, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
“What to expect as a premier program
Fans of every school want to be an elite program so that they can be in the running for a National Championship every year. Obviously being a premier program means that you have what it takes to win the National Championship in any season and that is a great thing as a fan. But that doesn’t mean huge success is always there. I took a look at seventeen programs that over the past 10 years have to be considered programs that in any year would not surprise if they won the National Championship. I found the results interesting, mainly because I found that the best programs in the country average three losses a year. For the record, Pitt’s record over the last ten full seasons (none of the results include this season) is 61-57, which is a yearly average, rounded up, to 6-6.
USC: 85-39 (9-4 avg.)
Texas: 95-31 (10-3)
Oklahoma: 87-38 (9-4)
Nebraska: 98-31 (10-3)
Virginia Tech:95-30 (10-3)
Michigan: 93-30 (9-3)
Ohio State: 96-27 (10-3)
Penn State: 76-45 (8-5)
Florida: 95-32 (10-3)
Georgia: 92-32 (9-3)
LSU: 84-38 (8-4)
Alabama: 71-48 (7-5)
Auburn: 82-42 (8-4)
Tennessee: 95-30 (10-3)
Florida St: 100-26 (10-3)
Miami: 95-26 (10-3)
Notre Dame: 73-47 (7-5)
Overall: 1512-592
(9-3)”
Yes we have so many people whining about how bad Pitt played against MSU and Rutgers. The historical data of the last 10 years says Pitt has been a 50-50 team.
I concurr with Reed, Doke, and others who believe we are headed in the right direction. What is the one constant in all of those premire programs? The constant is good to great recruits. Give it time.
PGH Sports Reporters has a article on Pitt & Penn State Basketball recruiting. I’m not much of a BB fan, but at least PITT has it all over PSU in that department.
Lookiing at it from the other side in respect to top recruits being there this past Saturday, I would hope that DW and staff would be telling them “Hey this is where we were, this is where we are at, this is where we want to be, and we need you to get us there.”
I am wondering if something like not seeing Dickerson and Fields play right away will hurt recruiting in the near future. These are two kids that probably could have started elsewhere (I’m guessing) and they pretty much have sat on the pine so far. If I’m a big-time recruit that wants to play right away that has to make me think twice.
On the other hand, we see someone like Joe Thomas come in, play a lot, then get a starting job and succeed, and that has to have some influence also.
In a way DW was faced with a two edged situation with the incoming recruited talent this year. If we had completely sucked last year, say 3-7 or worse, he could have said “What is there to lose?” and played all these talented freshman just to get them experience. But, since we had a close to winning record (and could easily have had with a couple breaks) in ’06, he had to figure that his upperclassman would be able to carry the day to a winning record this season – which they have for the most part.
He’ll be faced with much the same situation, on a smaller scale, with Stull & Bostick next year. That will be an interesting training camp to follow. I’d like to see him clear the depth chart over the winter and hold open competitions at every position, that would put the best talent on the field including the incoming freshman. Sometimes coaches say they are going to do that to get the most effort out of everyone, but really have the starters already set (which is what DW did this year I believe).
Irrespective of their one year cinderella season and the fact that their coach went to Florida, which no doubt was due to the fact that he seemingly worked a miracle with a team from the mighty, not highly regarded, Mountain West con where of course the elite prospects want to go.
Yes Pitt lost to a team from the mighty Mountain West in the Fiesta bowl. Now who would want to come to a program that lost to a team from the mighty Mountain West con in a BCS bowl, a loss the was truly lopsided for the team from the mignty Mountain West con?
Seems that many top prospects from the class of 05 wanted to come to Pitt and seeminly many from the 06 class as well. Perhaps many if not most of these recruits want to win it all and on the side want to insure that Pitt does not again in the futrue lose to a team from the mighty Mountain West con.
I do not want to have an adversarial exchange on this message board. I concede, Pitt is a national recruiting power ever since Wannstedt got here. Every game we lose is because our talent level has not recovered from the Harris era. We should all just wait three years before we should have any expectations. Who cares if we are wasting the senior year of one of the best quarterbacks in the country?
We are not wasting TP’s seinor season but rather doing the best with what has been left over from the WH era with a little (emphasis on little) of DW’s era sprinkled in.
I enjoy your posts but sometimes I go a little to far when I believe a certain position is correct.
I think Palko is very good, but maybe not for the same reasons you do. I actually feel his physical skills are not elite, but that he makes up for it with his intangibles (moxie, leadership, drive), and his strong football foundation of being a successful coach’s son.
Being the sole shining star of the PITT offense is a pretty good position for him to be in. He could easily have signed on for a team four years ago that had as good as, or better, QBs on the roster. There is no guarantee that he would have been a three year starter at a larger football factory – just ask Morelli about his first two years or Andrew Johnson about his time in Miami, and if I’m not mistaken they were as highly recruited as Tyler was.
Plus, I do believe that the Pro scouts trust DW’s assessment of his players, and Wanny has been very vocal about how he thinks Palko will do in the Pros – so that’s a plus for him being at PITT also.
Look at the Pro QBs we have seen drafted, and succeeding at that level lately – many from the MAC conference, Cutler from Vanderbilt, etc…. One does not have to play on a championship team to go pro.
