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September 3, 2007

Going On After Stull

Filed under: Football,Injury,Players — Chas @ 4:17 pm

I hate trying to read too much into the season opener, especially when going against Eastern Michigan.

As we all know, QB Bill Stull went down in the third quarter with ligament damage to his right thumb. He had the surgery today. Last year Louisville QB Brian Brohm had a similar injury and was out for 2 games over a 3 week period. As I recall his first performance was rather shaky. Right now, I’m assuming Stull is out for at least 4 weeks. That means, it’s unlikely to see him until the Navy game (October 10). Maybe the Virginia game (September 29), but I doubt it.
It was so odd when he got hurt. From the vantage point I had, he came out from under center and staggered backwards, the ball tumbling behind him. The initial thought was that he had tripped over his own feet, but he immediately gripped his hand with the other.

Kevan Smith came in and was better than I expected — considering the way he was killed in training camp reports he would have had to work to play down to that. He did have a fumbled snap, and fumbled another when he was blindsided as he was trying to set himself. Can’t totally kill him for the latter. Still, he would be well-served to figure out the basics of taking a snap real soon.
The O-line looked horrible. I mean, I was rooting for Chris Vangas to win the center spot, but it now looks that as soon as Mike McGlynn is fully healthy — not just going in for a play to keep his games played streak alive — he will be taking that position unless Vangas can somehow improve quickly. The middle of the O-line was just a sieve. No way for any of the backs to run straight ahead, and pass protection was shaky.

Both McCoy and Stephens-Howling got nothing that way. McCoy has great lateral speed that he could get outside better to make some plays. Stephens-Howling was successful if they started him running to one of the sidelines. Then he could give a burst at an opening.

I can’t buy into the O-line was looking better as the game wore on, because what it looked like to me was that the EMU D-line was worn down. Pitt’s line was better conditioned. Not a tremendous surprise. The O-line rightfully is unnerving.

“We were inconsistent in our running game on offense,” is the way the head coach put it, which is the more palatable synonym for “stunk.”

Aside from Shane Brooks’ 1-yard plunge that overturned a 3-0 Eastern Michigan lead with barely two minutes left in the first quarter, Pitt tried 10 running plays in the first half. Three went backwards a total of 7 yards, five others went forward at an average of 5 feet, and two — wait a minute — two actually worked, gaining 6 yards apiece.

Stull played well enough without much time to throw and until someone yanked his thumb, but offensive conclusions were simply not to be drawn due to an overall lack of evidence.

Coach Wannstedt appears to be leaving the possibility of Bostick starting a very real possibility. Some are calling for it.

It has to be Bostick, doesn’t it?

Wannstedt confirmed his plan for this season was to redshirt Bostick, the Gatorade Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year last season and Pitt’s long-term hope at quarterback. That was especially true after Bostick left the team in August and missed the first week of training camp, returning home to Lancaster to deal with personal issues.

“That redshirt is out the window now,” Wannstedt said.

Wannstedt needs to learn from Penn State coach Joe Paterno’s mistake with his hotshot quarterback, Anthony Morelli, now the senior leader of a Nittany Lions team that should contend for the Big Ten Conference championship. Paterno didn’t redshirt Morelli in ’04 but hardly played him, wasting a year of his eligibility. That extra year would look pretty good next season, wouldn’t it? Or, look at it the other way: Wouldn’t Morelli be even better now if he had received significant playing experience in ’04?

If Bostick is going to use a year of eligibility this season, he has to get the most out of it by playing extensively. Starting him at home against Grambling Saturday is the right call. Wannstedt couldn’t pick a better opponent. Pitt should win easily and Bostick could ease into the lineup without having the pressure of carrying the team. That pressure will come soon enough; Pitt plays at Michigan State the following Saturday. Bostick needs the Grambling game under his belt to have a fighting chance against Michigan State.

I’m torn. I don’t think Bostick should start, but the issue of preserving his redshirt seems extremely unlikely unless they move Maurice Williams from WR to QB as a stopgap.

Really, given the state of the O-line the last few years it’s actually a bit stunning that this is the first time a Pitt QB got hurt in some time.

I want to see what Kevan Smith can do. He has an arm, but accuracy is an issue. He also has speed and can run. Given the O-line, that seems more like what Pitt needs. Of course, if he can’t hold onto a snap, then he won’t be playing.

So really, the offense was already an unknown and it remains one with a change in QB.

As for the defense. Well, clearly it looked good, but again, no conclusions based on the foe faced. No fumbles forced but then again, only 39 yards rushing.





Question to the group. I am a bit confused about our offensive line. I thought heading into the season that this was going to be a strength of the team, based on the gradual improvement of the last couple of years. We have Otah and this kid out of Cleveland who got a lot of reps last year as a true Freshman. I think the beat writers even blessed this as a potential team strength. Then, during camp, everyone (the sports writers and bloggers) sort of took a 180 on the O-Line (which by everything I have heard from Saturday, appears justified). Can someone help me understand what changed?

Comment by NYC Panther 09.03.07 @ 6:19 pm

NYC Panther,

Vangas is not a very good center, McGlynn is still “out” and some of the other guys haven’t stepped up. Joe Thomas (a FR AA last year) has regressed and CJ Davis played his best football two years ago. Pinkston has his first career start…. All of that adds up to a bad oline.

Comment by T-Money 09.03.07 @ 7:03 pm

I am a contrarion regarding the OL situation. While it didn’t blow gaping holes in the EMU defense, I am not convinced it is bad and think it will be pretty decent by mid-season. First game of the season–plain vanilla trying to run between the tackles against 8-9 in the box is not going to make any OL look good unless they have 50-60 lbs per man over the defenders in front of them. That was not the situation Saturday. EMU has pretty decent size on the DL and didn’t get blown of the LOS last year much (judged by the number of close low scoring games they ere in last year). Also, EMU ran some defensive allignments and sets that were new this year and so Pitt hadn’t practiced against them. The situation turned around dramatically in the second half when we went to “zone blocking” so our OL knew who to block. I heard no complaints that they were physically overpowered. Only if that were the case, under the conditions stated, would I conclude the OL is truly “bad” and a lost cause.

Comment by Pitt1972 09.03.07 @ 7:53 pm

LSH is not as good as McCoy. That is the only conclusion I can draw from Saturday’s game. We need McCoy to get the ball 20 times a game. He is electric. LSH is great on the draw, screen pass and in the open field, but he is useless between the tackles. McCoy can make something out of nothing. We haven’t had a player like him since Fitzgerald. Get him the ball!!!!

Comment by Omar 09.03.07 @ 8:26 pm

Indeed the line did suffer from simply having too many people to block. HOWEVER, Joe Thomas looked awful and completely clueless for the most part. Vangas wasn’t great, but CJ Davis played a great game. He looked like he was in great shape and frankly, had to deal with those other two dude’s problems have the time. Thomas still has talent and McGlynn will probably end up playing Center with Vangas a solid backup, but I hope to see a bit of competition this weekend. Need to push these guys to wake the heck up.

Comment by ryan 09.03.07 @ 9:56 pm

Call me crazy, but putting aside for a second who was named Gatorade Pennsylvania High School Player of the Year and who wasn’t, shouldn’t Stull’s replacement be the player who gives the team the best chance to win? I understand Bostick is likely the quarterback of the future, but isn’t Game 2 of the 2007 season a little early to start playing for 2008?

Cook’s column strikes me as asinine.

Comment by Jeff 09.03.07 @ 11:00 pm

ive talked about this alot with my dad…lets say stull is out 4 games. why burn bostick’s redshirt for 4 games if you are going to go back to stull when he gets back? with everything playing out like next year being pitt’s year to make a move, to me having a senior qb next year would be better than a true sophomore qb.

that argument goes out the window if bostick proves hes head and shoulders above everyone else, but to my knowledge he hasnt.

Comment by matt 09.03.07 @ 11:38 pm

I think the redshirt is pretty much gone at this point, unless Smith just looks like the second coming. But if he does, hey, great break for us. So get Smith in there first and see how it plays out. That’s my feeling.

Comment by ryan 09.04.07 @ 12:42 am

PITT fans always worry too much about what could possibly happen in the future and tend to space out on what needs to happen right now. DW has a responsibility to all the seniors on the team to put the best players on the field that give PITT it’s best chance to win each week. If that means burning a QB’s redshirt – so be it.

Smith got his chance as a second string QB to fill in where needed, and I think DW is doing the right thing by opening it up for who is most prepared to start against Grambling. If it turns out to be Smith then game plan an approach that allows him to get into the swing of the game (run first) and gradually increase his responsibilities by opening up the passing game. Should he fail to produce put in Bostick.

Pretty simple really. Play to win this week.

Plus, I don’t buy into all the doom sayers after one game. Damn, win a game 27-3 and hold the other team to under 150 yards total offense, and only PITT fans can find no silver lining. It’s mind boggling how pessimistic our fans are.

Comment by Reed 09.04.07 @ 5:31 am

Don’t you guys think Bostick might be a bad match for our Oline right now seein’s how he doesn’t move well? For those of you who saw the game…..how often did Stull get flushed out the pocket?

I agree with Reed though that it seems like we are always looking to make the future better, never worrying about winnning today……I say put in the better QB.

Comment by Jon C 09.04.07 @ 7:32 am

My conclusions from the game. I love Pittsburgh. I love watching my Pitt Panthers. I can’t beleive we can’t even partially fill Heinz field. Shady needs to get the ball, LSH is only good in the open field, he was absolutely dominated and it had nothing to do with the Oline, you have to be able to break a tackle not just get thrown down to the carpet, his 30 yard scramble was a fluke of blown coverage. Nothing personal he just can’t get it done. Lets let Smith and Bostick battle it out an see who’s the best. Stull looked suprisingly good. I think alot of the problems we see are a result of the system still not fitting the players and maybe that system is flawed.

Comment by Jason in Columbus 09.04.07 @ 9:29 am

Jason in Columbus is a smart man. After three days, I can’t get over how much better McCoy looked versus LSH. It was like watching a man and his kid brother. You pet LSH and he goes down. You actually have to tackle McCoy. Stull looked pretty good, but he has a weak arm. Pestano should have scored on the deep ball and Stull underthrew him by 5 yards. Smith supposedly has a big arm and mobility. I would like to see a QB that can move and throw the ball deep. I am sick of this dink and dunk for 3 yards bull-shit. We have the skill players. Air it out! Especially with a mobile QB that can roll-out and still chuck it. I want to see what Smith can do before we go to Bostick.

Comment by Omar 09.04.07 @ 10:34 am

Fans only go to the games when the team is ranked (esp. the local non alums). Makes me sick. We’ve got to get more people in the seats. I think this is a substantial issue- one that’s not addressed enough. But, winning IS the answer to anything and everything. Just look at Rutgers: Sold out w/ a waiting list for season tickets. Amazing…makes me a litle more sick.

Comment by Eric R 09.04.07 @ 11:51 am

Wining Winning Winning is the only way attendance will increase, granted a decent schedule helps. When Pitt had some nice runs under Harris the stadium had quite a few packed houses and tickets were very affordable. Since then tickets have went way up, the schedule has been seriously lacking, and we are losing, so you do the math. Realistically, we have to remember where Pitt really is, how long has it been since we were a serious national contnedor? Fans just arent going to magically show up to see EMU, and the other d2 chumps we schedule.

Comment by Rex 09.04.07 @ 12:26 pm

Im also tired of hearing about the talent DW is recruiting, this is the third year, its time to at least see some progress. The first game was less than spectacular…lets hope things get better. Maybe we can convince DW to stay at the University in some sort of recruiting/front office role and search for a head coach that can get the job done.

Comment by Rex 09.04.07 @ 12:28 pm

The Rutgers game last year was a great atmosphere. Pitt was 6-1 and on a roll coming off the 54-7 thumping of Central Florida. Heinz Field was as loud as I have ever heard it. Great game. It’s too bad we blew it. That would have been one of the bigger wins we have had in the last 10 years.

Comment by Omar 09.04.07 @ 1:34 pm

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