Boxes are everywhere. The wife bought 3 pieces of unfinished furniture, that are out in the garage that she expects me to stain and poly-coat in the copious spare time. To say nothing of painting, organizing and finish clearing and cleaning the old place. All with children constantly underfoot. Probably still going to be a reduced output for a while but somehow, someway I will be setting aside the time on Saturday to watch and liveblog the Pitt-NC State game at 3:30 on ESPNU.
3-0. That is nice. Something Pitt hasn’t done under Coach Wannstedt and just has not happened since 2000. Hard to believe that the schedule is 1/4 complete.
Is it what was expected, considering the schedule and the team? You bet. Still, that has never stopped Pitt before.
After 3 weeks, though, the questions/concerns/fears actually seem to have shifted away from the offense and quarterback to the defense and secondary. I don’t think anyone saw that coming.
Bill Stull has done something you hope to see, but few expected. He has improved each week. A shaky start, a solid performance last week and then an excellent game on Saturday. 17-24 (70.8%), 245 yards, 1 TD and 0 INTs. For the season he is 49-70 (70.0%) for 540 yards, 6 TD and 1 INT.
The competition may not have been topflight, but it is clear that Stull is playing with more confidence and even something approaching a swagger. The support of his teammates and coaches has probably helped.
With teams looking to stop the run, as Dion Lewis and the running game remains a strength, teams have obviously looked to make Stull and the passing game beat them.
The secondary, however, has become extremely worrisome. Not much of an issue against Navy and their triple option, but it has been clear to anyone watching that the corners and safeties are struggling. They are playing very soft and the tackling has been inconsistent. Teams starting with NC State and including Rutgers, ND, and WVU are fully capable of brutally exploiting the secondary if adjustments and improvements are not made. Even UConn might be able to air it out a bit (USF as well, but with Grothe out for the year, I now have my doubts).
Having a dominant front four and linebckers that look to be getting better each week won’t do much if teams go with quick drops and shotgun snaps to get the ball out to the receivers quickly.
Still, if there is one side of the team where I believe the coaches are capable of adjusting to fix a problem it is on the defense. It will, however, come down to the players.
