Coach Wannstedt had to face a lot of questions and second-guessing in his New Hampshire preview presser. Not surprising on two fronts. First it was a loss in OT, with some questionable decisions by the coaches in calling the offense. Second, it’s New Hampshire. A 1-AA team, that regardless of how good they are, Pitt should and better crush.
“We discussed that (to run or pass on third down). Obviously every call stops with me — offense, defense or special teams. Where we were at with the third down-and-ten, the one thing you don’t want to do in the red zone, which we obviously did in overtime, was to turn the ball over and you don’t want to knock yourself out of field goal range.
“On the third-and-ten they were bringing a lot of pressure. If it’s third-and-three, third-and- four or third-and-five it’s obviously a whole different call. All you have to do is look up the percentages in the third-and-ten situations when you’re thinking in the back of your mind that you have a young quarterback and he can’t hear himself talk, you want to make sure that you’re making the right call. Plus, we thought if we went into overtime that we would win the game.
“On top of it all, you’re handing the ball to a great player. We did the same thing last year against South Florida when Dion Lewis went for 50 yards. Two years ago, if you remember the last play before the half against Navy down there, we handed the ball to LaSean McCoy on the draw and he went 50 or 60 yards. I think they’re anticipating the pass, but you’re also giving the ball to your best offensive player.”
There’s are some significant differences in those situations and this. The first being that 2008 and 2009 had a better/different offensive line. The next being that there was a more experienced QB that made it more expected that there could be a pass. Finally, and this is key: Pitt was inside the 15, not “50 or 60 yards” away. You know they were prepared for a running play at that distance.
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