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September 3, 2013

Yesterday was rough. We learned a lot about the team. Some fears were realized, some new questions arose, and overall we saw how good FSU is. I knew Jameis Winston was good, but I didn’t expect him to have the best game of any BCS QB. Winston had a better game than Marcus Mariota, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, and Tajh Boyd. Only Boyd played a BCS opponent in Week 1 so he arguably had a better game since he beat Georgia. Even still, Winston leads FBS in passer rating after Week 1. He’s also top 11 in yards, touchdowns, and yards per attempt. Insane.

There are a lot of justifiable complaints about the defense yesterday. Something you can’t account for is a QB who does not miss a single throw. Were guys open? Yes. But never in a million years did I expect to see a freshman QB starting his first game to play like that. Winston replaced EJ Manuel, a 1st round pick. Go ahead, look through Manuel’s game logs. I challenge you to find a better game than Winston just had. That includes opponents like Savannah State, Murray State, etc. The defense sucked yesterday, but they weren’t Savannah State bad.

That’s enough Winston praise. I want to start off with what went right yesterday. One of the complaints many Pitt fans have had about Chryst is recruiting. Yesterday, we saw 11 true freshmen in the first 17 minutes. When I started listing off players that were goats yesterday, none of them were the freshmen. Anthony Gonzalez was lost in coverage and got benched for Todd Thomas in the 3rd quarter. Heck, the entire LB corps was awful. There’s no reason FSU TE Nick O’Leary should’ve been wide open all game long. Ray Vinopal and Jason Hendricks were slow in coverage all night. Aaron Donald had Winston in his grasp thrice and only brought him down once. DEs were useless in the pass rush.

Yet those 11 freshmen didn’t look out of place at all. I’ll go over Tyler Boyd more later, but not only did he belong, I’d argue he was the 2nd best player on the field yesterday. Paul Chryst can build an offense around Boyd. James Conner showed a lot in his first game. Jaymar Parrish impressed me with his blocking and added a nice catch too. Scott Orndoff got open for what should’ve been a huge play had Savage put more air under the ball. It’s tough to see missed assignments on defense, but when I had “WTF” moments on D, they weren’t normally the freshmen.

I think there are a lot of talented 1st and 2nd year players on this team and by the end of the season I’d expect 9 or 10 1st and 2nd year players will be starters or backups who see a lot of playing time. That’s a big positive for the future.

I’ll start with Tom Savage. He definitely had a subpar game. We saw flashes of his talent. His first throw to Devin Street on 3rd down was something we haven’t seen a Pitt QB do in a long time. He threaded the needle into double coverage. That throw gave him a ton of confidence. It led to a touchdown and a successful start to the second drive. Then, the interception shot his confidence.

I actually don’t think it was a bad interception. If I read the defense correctly, FSU DB Jalen Ramsey was covering Manasseh Garner. He looked back at the perfect time to see the throw. It was just a great play by Ramsey. Sometimes, the defense makes a play. You could see his shaken confidence after that unfortunately. On the ensuing drive, he nearly threw an interception in the end zone when he forced the ball to Street on 3rd down. After the FG, FSU had a dominating 14 play 78 yard touchdown drive.

Savage’s interception late in the 2nd quarter was the game ender. It was a good read and a bad throw. Orndoff was open. Savage needed to put some air under the ball and let Scott run after it. He gunned it. You’ll notice Orndoff tried to stop and come back. He was slow to adjust, but he shouldn’t have to. A QB needs to know that if you miss that throw, it needs to be an overthrow. If you overthrow Orndoff, it’s an incomplete pass and it’s only 3rd down. Unless you’re Jameis Winston, you’ll throw incomplete passes and that would’ve been an acceptable one. Savage’s overall accuracy wasn’t that bad. Excluding his last four passes (forced them to try and score late), he was 15/24. Take away his bad interception on the throw to Orndoff and his near pick mentioned earlier, he wasn’t that bad.

After that, the defense caved again and the game was pretty much over. I’m very eager to see how Savage does against New Mexico. I think an inferior opponent will really benefit him. QBs are very confidence driven. You could tell Savage’s confidence was shaken by the first interception and a great game on September 14th will do wonders for his season. It looks like the secondary will get a huge break too. Just look at New Mexico’s passing stats.

I will argue that the WRs and TEs/H-Backs had a great game. Street was the real deal and Tyler Boyd exceeded what was already lofty expectations. I think the gameplan on Boyd was to keep it simple and see how he handles the big stage. It’s safe to say with a catch that made ESPN’s top 10 plays (#7), 3 rushes for 54 yards, and a kick return he almost took to the house, Boyd is ready for an expanded role. Street and Boyd combined for 221 yards from scrimmage. Add in Boyd’s return yardage and 2 players accounted for nearly 300 total yards. WR was a question mark headed into the season. As long as these two stay healthy, there won’t be any issues.

At TE/H-Back, it looked like outside runs were very effective. I didn’t log each run, but that seemed to be the trend. When outside runs are working, TEs are doing their job. Parrish is more of a FB and Garner is more of a TE, but the combo of the two along with Holtz and Orndoff at the traditional TE spot was superb. I think this group was under-used, but a lot of that had to do with the massive differential in time of possession (roughly 10 minute FSU advantage). FSU had nearly a 2:1 advantage in the 2nd quarter when they put the game away.

The OL definitely struggled. Savage was sacked three times and officially hurried seven more times. Several of those times were unblocked rushers. Not that unblocked rushers are good, but in terms of upside, that’s a mental error, not a physical one. It’s much better to see mental errors. Those are coachable and fixable. If your OL is losing without mental errors consistently…that’s when you get really scared. We will not see a DL as athletic as FSU the rest of the season. Two of the sacks were by a DB, Lamarcus Joyner. The other came from a future 1st round pick, Timmy Jernigan.

At times we saw the OL’s ability to give Savage time and to open some running lanes, especially for Conner. Other times they struggled. Inconsistency was inevitable for this inexperienced group. I saw enough though that I have a lot of faith in their ability to consistently win against the next 6 opponents (New Mexico, Duke, Virginia, VT, Old Dominion and Navy). Hueber will coach ’em up.

RB is actually my biggest concern going forward on the offense. Bennett did not look good. I’m guessing his knee is still bothering him because he showed no explosion. At least that’s what I’m hoping. He missed a lot practice this summer and did not look anywhere near as good as he did in the spring. Conner impressed, but who knows if he can carry the full load? Crockett is obviously buried on the depth chart given that Ibrahim had a carry and he did not. There’s a huge hole for a freshman RB in 2014, Shai McKenzie.

Overall, the slow start was not a surprise, but the two interceptions and horrific defensive play killed any chance the offense had to get into a groove. The inability of the defense to get off the field in the 2nd quarter was the real killer in this game. Pitt was never going to win, but if the defense even holds FSU to FGs and Savage gets some air under the second interception, the final score ends up a lot more respectable and the offense gets a much better shot at getting into a groove in the second half. There were a lot of coachable moments and I think the right players are in place to respond well. Prepare for New Mexico, dominate, then hit the reset button and start anew in the ACC.

I have two requests from yinz. First, does anyone have a way of sending me the ESPN telecast? I’m an idiot and I forgot to DVR it. Second, I have Sprint for my cell phone carrier (I need unlimited data) and my signal was so awful at Heinz that I couldn’t tweet or text. Any advice on how to get better signal without getting a different carrier? It’s not a phone issue, I have a Galaxy S4.

On a slightly off topic sidenote, WVU fans are pathetic. Sitting next to me in 219 were two WVU fans incognito there to root against Pitt. The one had clearly not bathed. Behind us? A group of WVU fans who bought FSU gear to root against Pitt. Really? I guess when you barely beat William and Mary you need to find solace in your former rival, who wants nothing to do with you anymore, losing.





Graham quickly realized that the Pitt admin wasn’t going to allow him to do what a lot of schools will put up with to win. He left ala Jackie Sherrill

Comment by PittStadiumShuffle 09.04.13 @ 6:14 am

To Graham’s credit, he ain’t stupid. I agree that he saw the writing on the wall. A chancellor who is uncomfortable with sports and doesn’t know the rules of the game preferring to sip tea with other academic intellectuals, an incompetent AD who alienates and offers no real support when needed, a fan base that doesn’t care and isn’t passionate enough, a student body that doesn’t show up, doesn’t cheer and leaves after a terrible song, a boring uninspired stadium, a media that includes the likes of Smizek and Cook who rip on you every chance they get, the weather, the food, the neighbors, and Penny having relatives in Arizona.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 6:23 am

Yes rust. Even the announcers mentioned it. Tina had no excuse. He might not have had three picks but he would have been sacked six times. As for Chad, if he gives us the best chance to win, he will play. I think Savage will only get better. Mental toughness is what he lacks and confidence at this point. Too slow, too undersized and too vanilla on D is the big problem. The O will be fine. In Chryst we trust.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 6:45 am

A couple of weeks ago I posted that all the signs point to Pitt having a quarterback problem.

The conslusion was based on Savage’s play at Rutgers revealinghis susceptibility to interceptinos and sacks due to a tendency to focus hard on receivers and as a result become oblivious to roamng defensive backs and blitzing linebackers.

That’s exactly what we saw Monday. And the bad news is this is likely not to change.

However, what really gives cause for concern after his debut Monday was Savage’s 7.2 Yards per Pass Attempt.

Yes, it was Florida State. But also a Florida State playing a prevent defense in the secondary the entire second half as a result of the big lead at halftime.

the fact is that you don’t win many games with a 7.2 YPA. Last year, Tino Sunseri was better than that last year… way better… with an 8.37 YPA… and a total of three interceptions.

The secret is out. Pitt indeed has a quarterback problem.

It is also no secret athat I have not been a big fan of Voytik when it comes to throwing the football. Voytik lacks the ability to consistently “spin” the football with pinpoint accuracy. This was evident in the Pitt Spring game despite his gaudy numbers against a predictable second-string defense.

Like Savage’s tendency, this is also not likely to change.

However, Voytik is smart and a strong athlete with a definite ability to run the football.

My guess is that in the next couple weeks we will see some change at quarterback… short of a complete renaissance on the part of Savage.

It won’t be a panacea, but Voytik deserves his chance to show if he’s a winner.

Comment by PittofDreams 09.04.13 @ 6:51 am

No one has to worry about Pitt’s offense. It will be much better than last year.
I give House two more games. I keep thinking of the first FSU touchdown. K. Williams was sitting back by himself and watched the tight end run right past him. He was in perfect position to cover the guy and turned late to cover. It was like he was sleeping.
We all know he is better than that. First game screw up or bad coaching? We shall see.
I do agree the lack of adjustments were horrible. Sorry, I don’t agree Winston is that good. That will be his best game this year.
I am sure House makes the final decision on D but it also does not say much for the assistant coaches.
Please please please put Todd Thomas in for Gonzo and Vinopal out of there.

Comment by notrocketscience 09.04.13 @ 6:54 am

By the way, Voytik’s replacement at Cleveland High School in Tennessee has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and thrown for more than 600 yards in two games.

Even as a sophomore, Austin Herink was said to be a better passer than Voytik. Herink has shown that to be arguably the case since Voytik left for Pitt.

Pitt should give consideration to recruitting Herink… Tennessee and some others have already taken notice.

Comment by PittofDreams 09.04.13 @ 7:14 am

Reply to POD’s “By the way, Voytik’s replacement at Cleveland High School in Tennessee has completed nearly 60 percent of his passes and thrown for more than 600 yards in two games.”

Point of order: Completing “…nearly 60 percent…” means completing less than 60%.

I don’t know anything about this Herink kid, nor what that says about Voytik if (key word) this kid is better.

But I do know this: Pitt doesn’t need a QB who only completes 50-some percent of his passes. Against high school defenses.

Comment by Imma Man! Im 40! 09.04.13 @ 7:27 am

Pitt needs that FSU QB and going up against a soft D like Pitt’s each week. We could run the table with that combination.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 7:32 am

Nice overview, Justin. Some called it optimistic. I just say it is objective. While I saw plenty to be disappointed about in that game. Like you, I saw many positives to build on as well. Those are the things I choose to focus on, because it wasn’t long ago that it seemed there were no positives at all.

Some people just like to rant. It’s tiresome. They will be ranting even if Pitt does well. They will just be different rants with higher stakes. But I appreciate you taking a moment to refute their thin arguments as well.

Comment by JCE 09.04.13 @ 7:34 am

I think the focus on Savage’s first game is understandable, but misguided.

Those two picks were a problem, to be sure.

But that moronic and ill-conceived defensive game plan was THE problem: give FSU’s freshman QB all the time and all the room he needed to carve us up. Then compounded by making zero noticeable adjustments the entire game, when everybody except our infant DC — including FSU’s OC, QB & WRs — realized how fatally flawed it was.

Had Dan Marino somehow suited up and inserted his junior-year self into the game, we still get smoked with (Matt) House in da house.

I’m not say fire the guy after only two games (altho that thought has certainly occurred to me…). But the early results, based on those two games, suggest that DCMH certainly appears to be in waaaay over his head.

Comment by Imma Man! Im 40! 09.04.13 @ 7:41 am

But on the bright side: I definitely liked the new stripes on the helmets, as did every member of the local alumni club who watched the game with me in a local sports bar.

Comment by Imma Man! Im 40! 09.04.13 @ 7:49 am

So matt house appears to be working out pretty well so far… right?

Comment by Coach Ditka 09.04.13 @ 7:50 am

Imma Man,

FYI…

Voytik completed 57 percent his senior year and 53 percent his junior year in high school.

Records show Winston completed 66 percent his senior year and 46 percent his freshman year. Looks like he took time off for baseball.

However, a BIG caveat… Winston only threw a total of 188 passes in high school.

Seems like Pitt really better start recruiting Henrink.

Comment by PittofDreams 09.04.13 @ 7:52 am

JCE – Just come out and say you don’t agree with Upitt and you love Kool Aid. It’s ok.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 7:53 am

I already have. Long ago. You must not have been paying attention…

Comment by JCE 09.04.13 @ 8:08 am

Are there any underlying stories about how the many recruits felt after the game?

Comment by Frank MD 09.04.13 @ 8:09 am

Regarding recruits, I won’t steal directly from Chris Peak’s work since it’s behidn a paywall, but the reactions are overwhelmingly positive.

The two things most guys seemed to like are the atmosphere from the fans and that 11 true freshmen played. Guys see a fan base that will come out if the game is good and that Chryst will play whoever deserves to be out there, even if they’re true freshmen.

A lot of coaches will play seniors over underclassmen even if those seniors don’t deserve it. Chryst is clearly not that kind of coach and players respond to that.

Comment by Justin 09.04.13 @ 8:20 am

JCE – LOL – Have a good Hump day. I can agree to disagree.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 8:20 am

Given the amount of inexperience on the field and the caliber of the opponent, I think the offense wasn’t all that bad, and I can definitely see some potential there. Savage was rusty, but even so I still think he’s an upgrade from Tino. However, we were 3 scores down by halftime – it’s hard to really judge this offense when it’s put in that position that early in the game. This was a tough one, but I think Savage, Boyd, Conner and the O-line will get much better over the next few games. If nothing else, it’s nice to actually see a more complex offense out there for a change after 7 years of vanilla power plays.

The defense, however, was atrocious, and given the personell we have, that’s down to bad coaching. Others have mentioned that it reminded them of Paul Rhodes and his useless “bend-don’t-break” approach, which simply doesn’t work against a bigger, faster team (if it ever does). I’ve been a supporter of Chryst, but like other people, I was skeptical of House at DC. Unless things improve very quickly, I think a change has to be made there. I like PC and the general direction he’s taking, but he really needs to learn to get out of his comfort zone a little bit and start hiring outside his immediate circle.

This may be going out on a limb, but IMO if the defense had had a reasonably aggressive gameplan and played up to its talent level within it, I think the offense could have at least kept this game respectable. In the end, we couldn’t beat the speed of FSU, but I’d feel alot better if we had made them beat us, instead of us beating ourselves.

Comment by SteveS 09.04.13 @ 8:22 am

Justin – We were beat by 30. Kids want to win. If that’s positive then maybe I am crazy. Most of the recruits, not the traditional 2 star MAC kids Chrysts seeks are going to play wherever they go as Freshman. Unless of course we are talking about Bama or UF/LSU. So, they can go elsewhere and play for a winner in front of 90k and win.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 8:24 am

@goalie44, from yesterday.

I wonder that too. I wonder if Pitt mediocrity is the elephant in the room at the athletic offices, the chancellors office and the board meetings.

No one will ever say it, but when Pederson, Nordy and Cohcran get together, I wonder if they look at each other and say….

“Don’t these football fans get it, this is it, this is best were gonna be, this is it. They keep wishing for top 20 rankings and big bowls, but you would have thought they would have picked up on this by now. We’ll throw a couple bucks at football, and if they win some fine, if they lose fine.”

I wonder that sometimes.

Comment by Dan 09.04.13 @ 8:50 am

were is Wbb he has not posted hope he is ok.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 9:09 am

Thank Chas Greats analysis!

Has anyone mention that the TE for FSU o’leary who caught 3 TD’s is Jack Nicklas’s grandson and Jack was there for the game!

Hard for Pitt to win when every game is an “away” game!

Comment by Dan 72 09.04.13 @ 9:55 am

FRANKCAN, I’m fine, thank you.

I have nothing to say really except that, unfortunately, nothing surprised me about the opener.

You and I both emphasized what a curious hire House was when he was hired .. especially for an ACC school.

Walt Harris, an offensive mind, had a great DC with Larry Coyer but the program started to slip after he left. It is imperative that HCPC has some quality coaching on the defensive side of the ball … but I’m becoming more and more convinced that winning is not a priority (not necessarily of the coach but by the admin) … thus, there is no reason for me to offer any comments here.

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 10:12 am

link to foxsportsarizona.com

A Pitt Alumni is giving his Arizona State program money. He may be many of the things we all called him but there is WAY MORE to this Pederson / University not supporting Athletics than the locals want us to believe.

In another article, Graham said maybe in 10 years or so I will share why we left and what wasn’t happening in the support of football at Pitt.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 10:54 am

He left because the mess was bigger than he wanted to clean up.

Comment by Justin 09.04.13 @ 10:59 am

Chris DokishSeptember 3, 2013 at 8:41 PM
I think it’s both. The administration always wants to go cheap. While past Pitt head coaches fought it Chryst is okay with it because he just goes with who is familiar and easy anyway.

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 11:04 am

Dan:
Excellent comment but I hope they are including all Pitt sports in their can’t-be-bothered posture. Pitt basketball, baseball and a handful of other sports do well but that’s it.

The Hayward hire didn’t bother them until Hayward became a public relations nightmare. We don’t know if Pitt being cheap resulted in the hire of House or if Pederson told Dixon to bring back Slice.

The news media in Pittsburgh doesn’t appear to pressure Pitt for information. Starkey, who has been critical of Pederson, was silent about his extension.

Football problems are only the tip of the iceberg. Pitt’s tuition – the highest in the nation for a public institution – gets passing coverage.

Dixon is the highest paid employee at Pitt. The university seems to have the money when Pederson asks for it. I needn’t say more.

Comment by TonyinHouston 09.04.13 @ 11:07 am

Tony – Beleive me when I say this. Pitt Baseball in the ACC will not go .500 in league play over the next 5-7 years. The ACC and SEC are the nations best Baseball Conf. You can’t hide like last year. That’s why we didn’t get an invite. We had one of the weakest D1 Schedules. It’s a very tough league buddy.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 11:16 am

Pitt can find the money. But it is cheap on athletics. The admin would rather spend their money supporting academics and the medical school. I have no issues with their priorities but right now athletics isn’t given enough of a priority. That’s why we get the results we get. The next generation of Pitt leadership can change all that by emphasizing sports a bit more. Totally unbalanced situation we are in today. I’m asking for a 60/40 emphasis on academics to athletics. That’s not money…that’s emphasis. Today it’s more like 90/10.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 11:46 am

– Wanny and staff were the lowest paid in the conference (that’s the BE, no the ACC.) They also received a slash in the recruiting budget after the 08 season
– Heyward was hired for a reported $1.4M, while at the same time WVU was hiring Holgerson, with no HC experience, at a reported $2M.
– After the Hayward fiasco, Pedersen felt he needed a name, offensive coach to bale him out .. and hired Graham at a reported $2M.
– I have no idea what HCPC is making but read that it is approx $1.5M.

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 11:49 am

Since as far back as Walt, it seems it takes a few public humiliations for Pitt to get serious and start playing well — if somebody could compile our record in the first 3-4 games of the year over the past dozen seasons or so, I bet its atrocious…with some horrific losses to both good and not so good teams — thinking of the 2001 season in particular, but also 2005, 2010, 2012, etc. etc. Why do we have to get mugged before we get ready to play? I would not be surprised at all if we barely get by New Mexico, or even lose, and perhaps lay an egg at Duke, then come out throwing haymakers and clobber UVA and the next 2-3 teams we play. Schizoid.

Maybe we can schedule two exhibition games versus good teams in August, get the public shaming out of the way, then get on with a good effort season.

Can’t say I got a real sense of Savage on Monday but he did at least stand tall in the pocket under some pretty good heat from FSU — and didn’t fall down into the fetal position whenever a defender got within five yards of him…like El Nepotino.

Comment by Matt N. 09.04.13 @ 11:53 am

If it turns out the hiring decisions on the D side of the ball are poor… then that is going to just be a really bad signal about this program on many levels…

…boy I hope not… still too early to tell but I do suspect we made FSU look better than they are… next few games will reveal the truth.

After everything my biggest problem is that people who know football… the professionals… must have known this Pitt team just was not ready for this…

… so why did they hype it up so much? Just like they did with ND and Wanny… with equally bad results.

I just don’t get that. This was a game to underplay because too many aspects of the team will need the season to fully develop (QB ,OL, RBs, etc…).

Defense is another story… if the coaches suck on D. we are screwed this year and beyond because it means the HC makes poor decisions… not just because the D is bad.

Comment by Pittscript 09.04.13 @ 12:19 pm

I have no problem with Pitt striving for academic excellence. Afterall, it’s a university.

1. Seems like lots of university’s across the country have good academics and good sports teams, they’re not mutually exclusive.

2. If that is the case, then just come out and say it. Don’t toss me crap that “we’re here to win conference and national championships”. Stop with the silliness if you don’t mean it.

3. Also, if the case, stop with the calling, mail outs and email bombs asking for more money. Then when I donate, asking for more.

Just let us know what exactly we’re trying to do down there.

p.s. This and my above post are in no way related to the FSU game. These are thoughts I’ve had for awhile, as I’m sure many of you do also. Just getting to the point amongst my family, friends and tail gaters that we’re all getting pretty tired.

Many of my cohorts saying things like “hey, what are we doing here. If the administration isn’t in this %100, why am I livin’ and dyin’ with them?”

Comment by Dan 09.04.13 @ 12:27 pm

On the bright side, we look a hell of a lot better than Cuse. Their QB got destroyed by PSU far worse than Savage did by FSU. Cuse’s secondary gave up 275+ yards and 2 TDs to a true freshman.

Keep in mind, win the next 3 and all of the sudden the FSU loss doesn’t seem that bad. Football is a season, not a game (unless you’re fighting for a national championship, which we obviously weren’t). We are equally or more talented than our next 6 opponents (New Mexico, Old Dominion, Duke, Virginia, VT, and Navy).

We have a huge advantage against Duke because they play GT and their triple option the week before. That’s a huge adjustment in one week.

Comment by Justin 09.04.13 @ 12:30 pm

The genesis of these discussions the past year, and at the tail gate Mon nite were this.

Cut through all the bs and nonsense spewed, and all the excuses and blah, blah, blah.

Almost an ephipany. Quite simple actually. Doesn’t need to be over anaylzed.

If you really wanted to be a top 20-25 program, you’d go out and get a big time coach the past 10 or 20 years or whatever.

I mean, if really, at the end of the day, if that is what you really wanted, to be a top program, you’d find the support, you’d find the money, and you would have made it happen.

They have not.

Comment by Dan 09.04.13 @ 12:31 pm

That may be true, Dan. But I would say that the vast majority of DI programs have not either. So, its not like Pitt is on some kind of self made island. I would almost call it the norm. Not trying to make excuses — just trying to look at both sides of things.

Comment by JCE 09.04.13 @ 12:44 pm

House said before the game that the key was to defend the run and force FSU’s young QB to pass. I guess that didn’t turn out so well. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to keep his plan a secret.

He also played zone because FSU was known to use crossing patterns and he didn’t think our LBs could match the speed.

When neither worked, I suppose he just didn’t bother to have a back-up plan. Keep it simple.

Comment by 66Goat 09.04.13 @ 12:49 pm

If PITT’s secondary is considered a strength, then play press coverage and keep the linebackers close to the line. They gave way too much cushion.

Comment by Pittastic 09.04.13 @ 12:54 pm

Looking back, I think the FSU-Pitt game was set up for $$$. Make a big splash, national TV, FSU very good team, Pitt big underdog, ACC sfuff, etc. Sometimes I think Pitt ADmin wants to make a big deal and uses athletics as a money maker every chance they get but not realizing they can make more $$$ and prestige by putting a little more into sports and by winning.

Comment by Frank MD 09.04.13 @ 1:09 pm

@JCE, agreed, good point.

I guess my thought is, there are about 125 Div I teams now.

Seems like it’s always the same 30-35 programs in the top 25 every year, besides the occaisonal lightning in a bottle team.

We are always around 60th or 70th or so when power rankings come out. In bowl years, 70 teams make a bowl game, we’re always one of the last ones to get in.

Arbitary numbers, to make a point.

Why can’t we be one of the top 35?????

Guess I’m just getting tired. Nothing new, been tired for quite a few years now. The rest of the family has caught up to me.

First time we ever had a discussion about renewing our season tickets.

Was never even brought up before.

I won out, using the ACC as my close.

Oh well, what can you do.

Comment by Dan 09.04.13 @ 1:35 pm

We were ranked as late as ’08 (20th), ’09 (17th) and ‘010 (29th) — BCS final ranking … and was as high as 8th in November, 2009

Ah, the Good Old Days!

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 2:00 pm

YES — another vote for Tom Bradley for DC, here!!!

This HOUSE guy is way over his head. DK’s article in the Trib-Review was “spot-on” ….no aggression….sit back & get slaughtered….what a SHAME. Let’s see if the rookie DC is capable of making adjustments with the benefit of days of time; he couldn’t make “in game” adjustments.

Comment by LeBats 09.04.13 @ 2:21 pm

Wbb. We can thank the Big Least for those rankings.

Comment by Upittbaseball 09.04.13 @ 2:23 pm

Big East has little to do with them .. these were national rankings, and the BE finished higher collectively than the ACC in 2 of those 3 years

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 2:45 pm

and in 2011, ACC was rated bettter but when the the 2 champs met in the Orange Bowl — WVU 70, Clemson 21 (or something like that)

Comment by wbb 09.04.13 @ 2:52 pm

House may not be good enough, but to be convinced of that after two games is silly. In the bowl game many of our best did not play. Those of you that say our players are better than they looked and a scheme change would have been better must have been watching a different game than I watched. I was in sec 110 11 rows back, right next to Pitts and # 80.

Pitts had no chance. If you think chucking him at the line would have helped, I contend that 80 would have gone deep on him all day long.

K’whan was 10 yards behind #35 on the first touchdown, and Gonzalez was barely in the picture frame on the other two.

I had laugh when someone said Winston won’t have a better game all year and he is not that good. What are you smoking, cause I want some. Duh, how could you be better than 25 for 27? He only missed one throw. Usually hit his men in stride, no overthrows, no underthrows. Pretty good under pressure the few times it happened. Great footwork.

How is a scheme going to improve our pass rush? Do you think we were going to trick them?

When Donald and Ezell were out of the game they ran up the middle at will. They were bigger, faster and stronger than us.

Let’s see how the D does over the next several games. I am really concerned about the pass rush. Enough time for a quarterback can make all d-backs look bad.

Comment by gc 09.04.13 @ 3:28 pm

The offense will be fine. The line already looks ok and against a good d-line. Savage will be ok. Street played very well and Boyd looks to be outstanding, wait till he catches one in stride. By the way, he looked pretty fast even against FSU. He will break some kick-offs this year. Hopefully the running backs get healthy, we need a strong ground game. We have great tight ends.

It was really tough to start against FSU, I can’t wait to see them play Clemson and am glad we miss them this year.

All is not lost boys.

Comment by gc 09.04.13 @ 3:39 pm

Oh yeah, we have a kicker and a punter, they may come in handy.

Comment by gc 09.04.13 @ 3:40 pm

Punt on third down!

Comment by PittStadiumShuffle 09.04.13 @ 4:07 pm

Wbb good to hear from you glad you are ok and yes
you and i were pissed that they hired house.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 4:31 pm

House is in over his head..you don’t go from h.s coach to defensive coordinator coaching in the acc! that was not a smart hire.. even though he is a lebo boy, that cuts him no slack from me.

Comment by goalie44 09.04.13 @ 6:31 pm

@gc,

maybe so about going deep, but you have to do SOMETHING ELSE. anything! if u try one or two other things, and that doesn’t work, then you know for sure it’s just pure talent thats beating you. house did nothing but get kicked in the balls over and over again.

Comment by goalie44 09.04.13 @ 6:35 pm

Chas what are you mad for here is who talked abought graham first not me.
tex panther
justin tony in houstin
pittstadium shuffle
upitbaseball
all i did was answer there post from sept 3 on the post you put up late on sept 4
and if we put down peterson so what every one does
what bee got in your bonnet
i was not the first to go off of what you posted i just fallowed some thing that was intresting .

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 7:35 pm

Living in the heart of ACC country, I took some crap from my colleagues. But, I took the lumps and made no excuses–FSU is just plain better. That being said, I’m looking forward to our next game. New Mexico should seem really slow compared to FSU! Let’s keep our eyes out for improvement over the course of the season. Hail to Pitt!

Comment by panther94 09.04.13 @ 8:52 pm

Simple enough adjustment, if you play Pitts in press coverage, you have the Free Safety play long in coordination with Pitts. It’s called a Cover 2. If they’re running 2 WR’s (with one in the slot) on one side of the Field and another WR on the opposite side of the field, you can play Cover 3

This is done all the time. These are standard defenses all major colleges and NFL teams run.

Whatever we were playing it looked like some sort of Prevent Defense, used in the last minute of the half when you’re defending 80 yards of the field and you don’t want to give up a bomb.

Of course even if the Secondary was on their guys like glue, you can only hold coverage like that for a few seconds. You can’t let any QB, just stand back there and survey the field, have a clear field of vision and pick out who he wants to throw to.

No pressure at ALL from the DE’s (save Price once) and no blitzing from the LB’s that I could discern at all. Led to FSU QB playing a 7 of 7 drill. No QB is that good to go 26 of 27 (one his incompletions was ruled a no catch) unless again he has pressure at all in his face. The 1rst half of the UConn last year, that very average Uconn QB torched us. Huxtable made some coverage changes for the 2nd half and they scored zero points.

The only thing that can lead to a QB (and a guy starting his first college game ever to boot) to go 26 for 27 (96%) for over 300 yards, is a very bad defensive scheme. And an unwillingness or inability to change that scheme.

It was absurd to the point FSU ran the same play 3 times in a row, because PITT had NO CLUE how to stop it.

Comment by EMel 09.04.13 @ 9:26 pm

panther94 but if new mexico is that bad will be sure
we have improved or will we have to wait for the game after new mexico to know for sure.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 9:28 pm

Pretty strange.

ASU’s AD name is Steve Patterson. haha

Comment by EMel 09.04.13 @ 9:30 pm

Good point FrankCan. We won’t know for sure. But, I think we can see how the defense is coached as Emel points out, regardless. Let’s look for a win, some better coaching, and build some momentum and confidence on that.

Comment by panther94 09.04.13 @ 9:33 pm

All very interesting takes and I appreciate the collective Blather insights. My take is a tad different.

Talent – Pitt does not have enough talent to beat FSU. Plain and simple. Pitt has two players on offense that would crack the two deep for FSU. Boyd and Holtz. Perhaps a third in Street if he is the slot receiver or perhaps a lineman as a reserve. That’s it. On defense, only Aaron Donald would be on the two deep. He wouldn’t start. So the facts are that Pitt just doesn’t have the talent to go against a top 10 program…..yet!

Defense – Everyone is complaining about House. We should probably consider a whole different rationale on this. Had Pitt applied pressure, there was no indication we could catch their qb, which would have led to quick strikes for big yards and a much higher score. It may have been a bend defense to keep the score in the 40’s and not let it get out of control in the 50’s or 60’s. The potential for FSU to hang that many is there. Another example that no one points out is that our safety position is in bad shape. The main difference in safety play was that their safety made some picks and our safety made tackles because he was a step slow to be in position to make picks. Problematic for sure. Our linebackers couldn’t cover or tackle. It may have been a good idea to put 7 defensive backs out there and rush 4, Backers were lost, sorry! How many other times did our rush get within one step of their qb just to see no sack? Again a step slow against a superior team of athletes. We made the qb look bette than he is and our defense looked worse than it is.

Offense – I liked Boyd and Conner. The oline struggled in protection but they sure had some nice seal blocks when conner ran to the outside and Boyd ran too! Overall, Pitt will not face another team with this type of defensive speed other than a Clemson at some point. Pitt has some weapons. Now we need to go use them and I am confident Chryst will.

Defense – Of course they played off them because they couldn’t play with them. We would not be able to contain their qb and were susceptible to big plays. Instead we didn’t pressure him and he picked us apart. Not a problem. The defense will improve against slower opponents of which we have many coming. More disappointing was the lack of hard hitting and passion. I guess they can’t hit what they can’t see. Old baseball analogy that rings true here. An aggressive defense is attractive for a recruit. A passive one, not so much.

Pederson Booing – Spot on everybody!

Special teams – Not a bad performance at all. Solid actually.

Let’s see how we come back against the fighting Davies in a week or so. I think it is conceivable we go on a nice run.

Comment by dhuffdaddy 09.04.13 @ 9:34 pm

EMel bye the end of game 3 we will know for sure if house has a hope of being a DC.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 9:34 pm

Chryst deserves support. Stevie does not. I believe the offense can be special. The D needs a new coordinator and some size and speed. Not too tall of an order. But not something that can be fixed this year. I did like the stripe on the helmet. Still longing for the script. I’m pretty sure Nordy likes the tea in the ACC.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 9:41 pm

New Mexico should be exactly what the Doctor ordered. Btw, haven’t heard from Doc Tom, hope he didn’t jump off the Brooklyn Bridge.

Last week against a very suspect opponent, New Mexico QB’s combined to go: 6 of 17 for a whopping 84 yards Passing.

The starting QB did run for 118 yards on 16 carries. The rest of the rushing attack didn’t produce much; 26 carries for 75 yards.

The Lobos like our Panthers managed to score 13 points, however they got shutout in the 2nd half.
And managed to blow a 13-0 lead.

Sounds exactly like the Prescription for PITT !

Comment by EMel 09.04.13 @ 9:41 pm

@ Frankie,

Well we’ll know a little more. New Mexico should be a blowout win unless Bob Davie is some sort of magician or has some dirt on someone at PITT. lol

I haven’t looked into what Duke has lost from their pretty good team last year. I figured I’d wait until we get by the Lobos. UVA doesnt’ have much of an offense from what I could gather from their game, winning the game but totaling ONLY 223 yards offensively.

Certainly the talent level of these next 3 opponents will be substantially less than what we just played. Thinking positively.

Comment by EMel 09.04.13 @ 9:51 pm

+1

On the Helmet Stripe.

From the pics on saw on the Trib and they had many more than the PG. The color of the blue jersey tops didn’t seem to exactly match the color of the blue bottoms. I guess they decided they didn’t want both teams to have gold pants.

But even if they would have wore pink and purple I would have loved it, if they would have won !!!

Comment by EMel 09.04.13 @ 9:57 pm

duffdaddy EMel and panther94 if duff and outhers are right abought are lack of speed.
you know what that means dont you it means we all
should be ashamed of our selves for giveing JD
a hard time what did jd allways worry abought
speed jd woud look at are recruits and bitch abought
there speed he would say what are there 40 times
i guess he was right.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.13 @ 10:06 pm

It’s one thing to simplify a D scheme so the players don’t have to think as much and can just react but it’s another when you simplify and the players are still slow. That tells me our 40 times are over 5. I might be able to do that and I’m slow. Sign me up. I can at least tackle.

Comment by TX Panther 09.04.13 @ 10:28 pm

I continue to be amazed by the 25 of 27 performance by the FSU QB. I would guess that most QB’s would not go 25 for 27 in a passing drill with no defense, much less in the face of a rushing D line and any kind of pass coverage.

This is not another poke at our D. There’s certainly been enough of that. But 25 for 27? That’s just impressive.

Comment by dinosaur 71 09.04.13 @ 10:59 pm

Regarding the offense: Savage will play better in the future but he won’t be making us forget any of the PITT QBs of the last decade. The mistakes he made Monday night will repeat themselves because that is what his talent level is. It’s possible that we may see as many, if not more, INTs than TDs thrown this season.

It wasn’t the ‘rust’, it was his ability with a decent defense in front of him.

Our running game is going to be fine. Those two nine year runs we saw from Connor in the 1st quarter are exactly what he was ripping off constantly in practices. He’ll get more carries and get more productive week by week.

Really, no one should have been completely surprised by what we saw on Monday night. It was a bit worse than expected I suppose but everyone pretty much knew we were not as talented or as fast as FSU going into the game. Everyone and his brother have been predicting right around 6-6 on the season before PITT took the first snap in a real game. Nothing I saw has changed that much at this point.

Comment by Reed 09.05.13 @ 6:07 am

Reed

I have to disagree about Savage. I think he will make us forget about recent Pitt QBs. If Chryst can make Tino an efficient passer he will do a lot more with someone that has D1 physical abilities. Time will tell.

If I am not mistaken, didn’t last years YSU game start with the same kind of defensive showing? DBs sitting back on their heels getting tourched.

Comment by notrocketscience 09.05.13 @ 7:11 am

One comment on the quickly emptying stadium – it was a Monday night and many people had work or school the next morning. Had the game been close I bet many people would have stayed.

Comment by Caw Miller 09.05.13 @ 12:07 pm

notrock – we’ll see as the season progresses and I truly hope you are correct. My opinion isn’t negative about Savage, just that he might not be the QB PITT fans want him to be.

I see him as an average talent, average football awareness behind center and negative mobility. In other words just about an average D1 QB.

Comment by Reed 09.05.13 @ 3:44 pm

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