I’ve always felt that how a team does on first down is a huge factor in how well the offense does overall. A solid gain on first and ten keeps you from long third downs and from three-and-outs. Pitt’s first down play calling and (in)efficiency has always frustrated me beyond belief. Using ESPN’s play-by-play I compiled the following information.

Note: “—” denotes the drive continued.

Obviously, a ton of passing at the end in an attempt at desperation. As you can see, on our last drive Bostick attempted a pass on each of the six first downs and only completed one. If we want to score quickly, this isn’t the way to do it.

McCoy was given the ball on 7 first down runs, with LaRod Stephens-Howling getting 2 first down carries. I’m fine with that — but notice the play/series/drive with the ** next to it. McCoy picked up 9 on first then LaRod picked up 0 on second down…then again on third. Give McCoy the damn ball.

Out of 11 drives, 3 ended in three-and-outs, 3 more ended in punts as well. Six of 11 drives ended with a punt and 50% of those lasted only three plays — ugly. Four of the times we punted came after a first down gain of 3 or less plays (including one after a sack for an 8 yard loss).
The run vs. pass stats were thrown off by the amount of passes thrown at the end of the game to try for a comeback (hah, like we’d actually make a comeback, yeah right).

Those 11 first down passes broke down into this:

I plan on doing this for a few more games this year because the stats from one game really mean nothing. Especially the way this game went, having to come from a huge deficit. I think with more and more data compiled we’ll learn more about why our offense (and any other given offense) is ineffective.