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November 7, 2007

What a shock, Pitt struggled on offense. Even against one of the worst defenses in 1-A. Not just among BCS teams, but in all of 1-A.

Pitt scored 17 of its 20 points on drives the started inside the Orange 35, a credit to its special teams but a blight for a Panthers offense that managed only 294 yards on 71 plays against a Syracuse defense that was allowing 475.9 a game. Bostick finished 21 of 30 for 153 yards, but was sacked twice for minus-14 yards as Pitt rushed for only 141 yards.

It’s just kind of embarrassing.

On the defense, well it looks good until you realize that Syracuse was playing their #3 running back. The starting QB played with a cracked rib before being pulled after one half. So with an untested back-up, the Orange still got near their pitiful average.

Even though the Orange is ranked 114 out of 119 teams in NCAA Division I-A in total yards, Pitt’s defense did play a relatively complete game. The Panthers limited the Orange to 265 total yards, including 30 yards rushing on 31 carries. Pitt also forced 10 punts, had six sacks and the Orange only converted 2 of 14 on third down.

If you believe that Pitt’s defense wasn’t that bad during the losses to UConn, UVa and Navy; then you can’t claim it’s that good as the statistics claim versus Syracuse.

The Syracuse O-line is probably worse than Pitt’s. Pause. Let that sink in for a couple minutes. Greg Robinson even called out the O-line’s performance.

His unit entered Saturday’s game ranked No. 117 in the nation in sacks allowed with 31. Pitt’s defense entered the game next-to-last in the Big East with 19 sacks in eight contests. It recorded six Saturday, at least two of them occurring despite employing only three rushers against SU’s five linemen. SU’s last-ditch attempt to get into field-goal range to tie the game was thwarted on such a play.

“I was very disappointed in the way our offensive line played today,” Robinson said. “From what I could tell from the sideline, a lot of their pressures were coming on simple blitzes, with one extra guy coming. We need to be able to pick that up.”

The lack of adequate pass protection was equaled by the line’s inability to open holes for running backs. SU, coming off a season-high 179 rushing yards vs. Buffalo, finished with 30 Saturday. It has failed to gain 100 yards rushing in seven of nine games this season.

The best part of Pitt’s day wasn’t necessarily LeSean McCoy, but the performance of the special teams. The punt and kick returns set Pitt up with short fields that the offense was able to convert into 17 points.

Not that McCoy was exactly shabby in earning Big East Player of the Week.





Anyone check out the article on our beloved defensive coordinator in today’s Post-Gazette. I wanted to punch something after reading it.

I seriously do hope we lose our last three games in embarassing fashion, just so no one on the coaching staff has any delusions of adequacy going into the offseason.

Comment by Jeff 11.07.07 @ 10:26 am

Paul Rhoads is a great coach. Just because several running backs are in the NFL solely because of 200+ yard performances against Pitt and the fact that the defense allows 1000 yards a game are no reasons to say that it is Rhoads’ fault. The players change and the bad defense goes on. This clearly is not Paul’s fault. The players like him – which means he is a great coach with sound principles!

Comment by Joey D 11.07.07 @ 12:10 pm

yea, give the guy a break. obviously he hasnt had the talent on D to have a quality defense. i cant think of anyone that actually got drafted by the NFL since hes been here…

Comment by matt in orlando 11.07.07 @ 12:47 pm

Interesting how folks get such an emotional stake in their opinions. Many are so absolutely convinced that Paul Rhodes is a bad defensive coach (I don’t profess to know whether he is or isn’t a poor coach, by the way) that they may become near suicidal if the defense plays well the remainder of 2007 and throuhgout 2008. When you are that convinced of your position it is nearly impossible to admit to be wrong.

Comment by pitt1972 11.07.07 @ 12:54 pm

I have an extra ticket for Sunday’s hoops game against St. Louis at 6:00 p.m. Anybody who’s interested let me know at cbfillippelli@gmail.com.

Comment by Carmen 11.07.07 @ 1:23 pm

If he holds the next three opponents to 17 or less points, he can stay. One single game with 18+ points, he goes. I’m tired of watching this crap. That article was hilarious. The beat writer’s goal must be to keep him around so he has something to write about next year…he could start writing the articles now…”The Pitt D against _______ was torched for ____ yards today…”

I rewatched some Rutger vs Navy this week – and it was amazing, the safety ended up behind the line of scrimmage on well over half the plays. They didn’t just tell him to stand there and wait for someone to run into him after 15 yards… They played a 4-4 the whole time, and STILL the safety was behind the LOS. Only drop 2 into coverage.

Then again, their CB isn’t Cox… so to be fair, maybe it is a combination of awful coaching and awful players…

Comment by Stuart 11.07.07 @ 1:25 pm

We could’ve lost to ‘cuse like Louisville did.

… but we didn’t beat ANYBODY because of Paul Rhodes, we beat people in spite of Paul Rhodes.

Comment by Jimbo Covert's my Dad 11.07.07 @ 2:41 pm

I will say that I was wrong about Paul Rhoads when his defense is something more than 11 guys who take the field and get abused by any mediocre offense.

I have never seen this defense do anything in the past 5 years that remotely resembles a reasonable caliber of preparation or ability to adjust.

I bet he gets a card every year from Bruce Gradkowski for getting him in the NFL.

Comment by Joey D 11.07.07 @ 2:50 pm

Kevin Jones: at least we didn’t lose to a DII team. Remember that… Findlay beat OSU, at OSU, in an exhibition game. I guess it sucks when your entire team leaves… That’s 2 DII losses for Pig 10 teams in one week (yes, they were exhibitions, that doesn’t excuse anything – your backups should be good enough to play at a DIA school)…

What are the odds we land him? The students did as good of a job as they could the other day – got him to stand up and acknowledge them twice…cheered “we want kevin” throughout media timeouts…and they stayed on the other team all day, put on as good of a show as possible for as many people that were there…hopefully he enjoyed his visit…

Comment by Stuart 11.07.07 @ 2:53 pm

If Paul Rhodes and Dink Master Matt C stay I am not going to renew my season tickets. I can’t watch this anymore. Boring O crappy D. No thanks!

Comment by Tony In Harrisburg 11.07.07 @ 3:49 pm

Jeff – unfortunately you are just like a lot of PITT fans – you want your opinions to be more important then the success of the football team. Your last sentence is telling, and I don’t doubt it to be true.

I don’t necessarily want to see Paul Rhodes back next season either, however I certainly wouldn’t want for the team to lose in ’embarrassing fashion’ just to prove my point. But, Hey! Way to support the kids out there busting ass!

Comment by Reed 11.07.07 @ 4:37 pm

I don’t want the team to lose “just to prove my point.” I want the team to lose so that people get fired. I have reached the conclusion after watching this team for the last few years that it is not going to significantly improve or even get to mediocrity unless there are significant changes in in coaching personnel and philosophy.

Maybe it was just the tone of the article this morning, but it certainly sounded as if people are under the impression the defense has somehow turned a corner, since we haven’t gotten blown out in a few weeks. Well, it hasn’t. They’ve just taken advantage of being matched against some equally inept offenses, and it isn’t going to last through the end of this year or beyond. I just want everyone to be aware of that.

As for the kids on the team: you’re right. They work hard and it is rather cold of me to root for them to get pounded on. They deserve better. However, I would counter that with the argument that they deserve better than Paul Rhodes, too. And the sooner he’s gone, the better for fans and players alike.

Comment by Jeff 11.07.07 @ 5:19 pm

amen jeff

rhoads must go…for the kid’s sake

Comment by mike 11.07.07 @ 7:23 pm

On another note: did anyone else who ordered tickets for the Duke game at MSG get their tickets yet? I ordered mine about three weeks ago and haven’t received them yet. Maybe they just haven’t been mailed yet, I don’t know, but when I ordered them, the girl I talked to at the Pitt ticket office seemed a bit confused about where to mail them to (uh…my current address might be a nice place to start), and I’m starting to get a bit antsy, thinking that they might have been sent to the wrong address.

Comment by Jeff 11.07.07 @ 7:25 pm

Jeff – point taken, and I too feel a change might be necessary – and wonder what will happen if our defense plays lights out (which I think we are capable of personnel wise) these last three games. I’ve a feeling DW won’t be making a change in that case.

I will say that I think this year’s defense is playing better then the 2005&6 versions.

I posted on a different message board a solicitation of fan’s opinions about Gattsuo moving up to D coordinator if Rhodes is let go – what do you think?

Comment by Reed 11.08.07 @ 6:27 am

Jeff– Sometimes, maybe even often, the underlying causes for things are not what we perceive them to be. It remains within the realm of possibility that your opinion regarding a need to fire coaches may prove to be mistaken.

Comment by pitt1972 11.08.07 @ 10:53 am

to quote Wannstache….it is what it is…Pitt’s D has consistently played “soft” non-aggressive football for years…no scheme changes to enhance the strengths of our talent and mask their weaknesses….just more of the same read & react mold….we all know that coaching certainly counts for alot in college football….and if your coach is a good one….you attain a level of proficiency year in and year out…some years are exceptional with great talent…other years are solid effort with less talent….if the coach is a bad coach…the same result with ineptitude is achieved….we got….what something like 6 or 7 years of empirical evidence with PR..with two Head Coaches…he’s not a good Defensive Coordinator…you can’t convince me otherwise

Comment by deter 11.08.07 @ 11:56 am

Jeff… We have not received our tickets for the game at MSG either. If we haven’t received by the end of the week, I’m going to start making some calls.

Comment by Carmen 11.08.07 @ 3:04 pm

pitt1972,

I’ll acknowledge that there could be problems other than coaching at work here…things that aren’t obvious that we as fans cannot see, but the fact remains that it’s the coach’s job to fix those problems or, failing that, to overcome them. After watching this coaching staff for the last three years, do you think they’re capable of doing that? I haven’t seen it so far.

Carmen,

Thanks for the heads up. How long ago did you order yours?

Comment by Jeff 11.08.07 @ 8:21 pm

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