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.
This game is very important, IMHO. This is the type of game Pitt (and Wanny) usually loses.
The secondary stinks. But if Romeus/Mick Williams and co get the pressure on the QB, it won’t matter. One thing the secondary DOES have is playmakers. Fields, Berry, and even Dom DeCicco, are capable of playing takeaway. And I think we all already knew this, but Dan Mason is a complete beast. Put him, Adam Gunn, and Greg Williams on the field at the same time, and you’re going to really have something.
I also believe our new OC is promoting the “playing to win” collegiate sttrategy instead of the “playing not to lose” approach common in the NFL … (this pro approach was very obvious in the Sun Bowl.
How about a guest blogger, like you do sometimes during the Bball season?
link to espn.go.com
Tim Tebow, Florida: The Gators don’t beat Tennessee unless Superman churns for 76 well-earned yards on 24 grinding carries.
– – – – – – – –
The national shows and media are clearly all about the hype amd appealing to the masses … with no substance.
All of the above subject to the assumption that the rules haven’t changed…
I like this excerpt;
“This group has proven that wonderful talent can make coaches look like geniuses, even those who have degrees from Penn State…..(relax, we’re just joking. We think the world of Greg Gattuso, he is an excellent coach and he has done a marvelous job with this group, but every so often we feel it is our job to make sure he stays at least a little bit humble….)”
Do you mean solid opponents… road games…?
Recent history for PITT begs to differ – DW has done well winning games against ranked opponents in the last two years (WVU x2, USF, ND), and played very well on the road (5-2 last year).
I guess I just don’t follow your reasoning here.
BTW, this situation may help justify using Tino, who has never played in a pressure situation … as we saw last year vs Rutgers, the 2nd team QB is one play away of taking over. Which now leads to the next question … if Stull would happen to get hurt on Saturday? (and I am NOT wishing it) … does Tino or Pat take over?
I wrote an email to espn last year on this very subject – Im sure it was ignored but at least it was some effort to voice my opinion.
You can go here to voice your opinion to espn if you wish:
Here’s what really gets me. As you said, the BE are nobodies nationally .. that is until Auburn beats WVU, both previously ranked in the 30s. How all of a sudden WVU is significant win and Auburn moves up 10 spots to 23. Do you think WVU would have even reached the Top 25 if the would have won? Total hypocrisy
Now can one take that for the fact.. we probably cheated and played the run.. and had to keep everybody up… and basically didn’t care if they beat us via the pass ?
Thats why the NC state game will be very interesting to finally see if we play D all around. I don’t think there are any questions around the D line and linebackers… Offense is looking efficient as well.
If the secondary solidifies, (fields need to get his head in the game.. but i think he did improve)
this could be an exciting season.
Its nice to be 3-0.