I realize Coach Wannstedt has always been a players coach. The good cop, who doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of the players. The problem comes when a move has to be made because of a player being better than a starter or veteran. So, I guess it’s comical the way Elijah Fields has made it past Dom DeCicco on the depth chart at strong safety.
Pitt defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said Thursday that redshirt sophomore Elijah Fields has been promoted to starter at strong safety.
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt softened Bennett’s statement somewhat, calling Fields and Dom DeCicco virtual co-starters for the Panthers’ next game, a week from Saturday against Iowa.
“It’s not fair to say who’s going to start,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve still got a week-and-a-half. We’re practicing and working hard. We’ll make that decision come game time. They’re both going to play.”
Now, is that softening, backtracking or undermining? The DC says Fields is starting then Wannstedt says, well, maybe not, we’ll see.
You have to believe Greg Cross, the JUCO QB, has to be wondering how he let himself be talked into committing to Pitt. I’ve read this bit several times and I still don’t think I’m following it.
Offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh indicated yesterday that Cross will have a role in the offense.
“At some point, we will [use him],” Cavanaugh said. “To be honest with you, now that the first two games are done, we didn’t think we’d need him. In hindsight, we probably could have used him as a changeup. He’s been getting some reps. We do have a little package we’ll introduce.”
Cavanaugh said it’s a matter of finding the right time and situation to implement the Cross package.
“Are you putting him in there just to get him on the field or do you really need him?” Cavanaugh said. “Either one could be correct. If we’re struggling and we need a change of pace, maybe he’s the guy we go to. If things are going well and you still want a change of pace, he’s still the guy you go to.
“We weren’t so comfortable with what we were doing [the first two weeks] that we could throw him in as a changeup. Looking back at the first game, maybe he would have been a good changeup. We’ll try to get him on the field.”
So, eventually he’ll get a snap. They didn’t think they’d need to play him in the first couple of games, but looking back, it may not have been a bad idea? But they still don’t know when the right time to use him will be?
No wonder the offense is a mess. If that’s how Cavanaugh communicates the playbook, it makes a lot more sense why it takes a couple years before any player sees the field on offense.
People do realize that the Wildcat package wasn’t so much the brainchild of Cavanaugh’s innovative streak as it was a last resort last year, right? Kudos to him for having the foresight to have the package avaialble, but they unveiled it last year mostly out of necessity. He HAD to go to the wildcat package because the production from the quarterbacks was so bad, direct-snapping the ball to the f’ing tailback proved to be a better relative option.
NOW he’s got the personnel to run it – or some variation of it – with Greg Cross, and he’s decided he’s going to wait for some sign from the football gods as to when the right time to unveil it might be. Here’s a clue, Scooter. When you’re the 25th ranked team in the country, playing a team from a lesser conference at home and what you’ve been doing for three quarters on offense has been the equivalent of a two-year old entertaining himself by running into a wall over and over, maybe that’s a good time.
And please, none of this “he doesn’t want to throw Greg Cross into the fire” bull that I saw Gorman mention on his blog. It was Bowling Green and Buffalo, not USC and LSU. What’s he waiting for? Moon High School to show up on the schedule?
And of course, there’s the patented Matt Cavanuagh “well, looking back on it…” crap as well. Yep, that’s the same way he looked back at the Ohio loss a few years ago and realized well after the fact that he never should’ve asked Tyler Palko to make that throw on the 8-and-out all the way across the field. Why? Because AFTER LOOKING BACK ON IT…he realized the that because the play was starting at the left hash mark, it made it the longest possible throw across the field a QB can make, AND Pitt was deep enough in Ohio territory that you couldn’t keep the deep coverage honest, so the DBs were playing up tighter and had an easier break on the ball.
Shouldn’t an offensive coordinator at a Division I-A program be able to pick up on a nuance like that?
Ridiculous.
You know what would be even better?
Taking steps to fix it.
Very well stated!
It just makes me boil with rage every time I hear Cav and Wanny speak. Cav is just now coming to terms with the FACT that the coaching staff FAILED??? He must’ve been the only guy in the stadium that couldn’t see the offense was stalled and needed something different. Hell, running a no-huddle with Stull may even have gotten something going and thrown the BG Defense off their game. AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! They would be better off just keeping their mouths shut instead of proving all our worst fears to be true.
This Fields business is more of the same- we all saw flashes of greatness at last years spring game and figured based on pure athleticism alone he could be a force on the D. Then we all bought into this “he isn’t ready” BULLSHIT they keep throwing our way.
Same deal with Baldwin. You burned his redshirt- you better frickin use him. I’m sorry, but I cannot accept that lame excuse anymore. You are a coach- stop making the excuse that guys aren’t ready. GET THEM READY OR QUIT IF IT’S TOO MUCH FOR YOU TO HANDLE.
When you listen to Wanny and Cav it is sadly very clear that they have NO faith in their players. Their attitude is to rein them in enough so that they don’t screw up.
When it was clear you did NEED him how about using him!
About the Ohio play, you’re right on almost everything.
However, Cav’s main excuse was that the hash marks are much wider in college than the Pro’s, thus making the throw longer than what he thought it would be.
That was his excuse at least…Incompetence.
I have no reason to believe otherwise at this point.
The Big East really took it on the chin, very poor performance by RU!!
I have given up on Cav and Wanny, they continue to amaze me with their “offensive” gameplans.
Dennis stated this a few years back, the Pitt coaching staff could not coach a pee-wee team to victory. It is going to be a another long and losing year. When will someone be held accountable?