That seems to be the theme. From the coaches down to the players. O-line Coach Jim Hueber feels surprisingly positive about the O-line.

“If you just stop for a second and think, outside of the mental mistakes, there really weren’t people coming free at the quarterback early in the game,” Hueber said. “It was mental mistakes that got us, not anything physical. I’m happy with the kids in that respect. We asked them to be physical, and you couldn’t watch the first quarter, you couldn’t watch the first quarter through the second quarter, and think that we weren’t being physical on the running game.”

Hueber said that, coming out of the locker room, Pitt didn’t know what to expect from Florida State, who was playing their first game under a new defensive coordinator. He said they adjusted as the game went on, but were surprised by some things, notably which linebackers the Seminoles would drop back into coverage at certain points.

“I think our guys have a feeling that they’ll be able to at least recognize stuff early in the game [against New Mexico],” Hueber said. “We literally came out of the locker room [against Florida State] not knowing what we’d see with the change in coordinator.”

Hueber said he was pleased with redshirt sophomore center Artie Rowell, making his first start at center after winning a training camp position battle against redshirt freshman Gabe Roberts.

“I thought he did a nice job,” Hueber said. “I thought he directed traffic, he got us where we needed to be. I don’t think he got outmatched physically at all. I thought he did the things we thought he could do going into the game, which is why we made the decision. We just thought he had matured a little bit faster than Gabe had as far as setting defenses for us and stuff.”

I think the coaching staff still would love to see Roberts eventually be the center. Simply because of his size/potential. Hueber’s comments, though, show the advantage of having a kid who has experience playing center. Rowell was adequate, physically, in the game. His bigger plus came on the mental side. Being able to handle the quick read of the defense lining up. Getting the snap off cleanly. Roberts showed that he was struggling with putting all of that together consistently in camp, which is how Rowell was able to get the starting nod.

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If I digged through the schedules for the other 64 major conference teams, I might find another program that plays as many if not more teams that run the triple option as Pitt does this year. But I’m not sure.  Georgia Tech, Navy and New Mexico. 25% of Pitt’s schedule. And in a perhaps well-planned layout, the quality of the opponent increases each time Pitt faces it. Unfamiliarity with the style will not be an excuse by the time Pitt goes to Atlanta in November.

That does mean that the defense will have to be disciplined, and a lot of pressure on the linebackers to make plays.

“It’s a totally different offense,” defensive ends/linebackers coach John Palermo said. “Florida State, they spread you out more, they use more four wideouts. This crowd wants to run the football.”

Palermo said stopping an option offense starts by playing “alignment, assignment football.”

Sometimes, that might even mean a defender going against his natural instinct of swarming to the ballcarrier. If a linebacker is assigned to stop the pitch man, he needs to stay with the pitch man.

“You better do what you’re supposed to do or else you’re going to get gutted,” Palermo said. “I’d like to tell you there’s a fine line, but if I’m supposed to squeeze and take the dive, or if I’m supposed to take the quarterback, if you don’t do it, you’ve got big issues on defense. You really do.”

Yes, the same linebackers who have been highly criticized for their performance against FSU will have to play a big role in the game against New Mexico. Even — presuming this — with safeties coming up to help on a team that primarily keeps it on the ground, the linebackers will be vital.

(more…)

At the moment, there are 17 players who have given verbals for the 2014 class. The most recent is obviously Qadree Ollison, a 3* RB from the Buffalo area. However, this class is far from done. We could possibly see a 25 or 26 man class when it’s all said and done. It could be 26 because Rori Blair is likely to enroll in January, which would make him part of the 2013 class technically. With 8 or 9 spots still available, who could belong to the final group? (more…)

Think there will be a point of emphasis on the running game this Saturday? That’s the theme in today’s stories.

One of the most troubling statistics from Pitt’s 41-13 season-opening loss to Florida State was that the leading rusher was not junior running Isaac Bennett, nor was it freshman running back James Conner. It was freshman wide receiver Tyler Boyd, who gained 54 yards on his three end-around carries.

The rushing attack never got rolling as Bennett and Conner, the lead ballcarriers for Pitt this season, only had nine carries apiece for 35 and 34 yards, respectively.

Chryst admitted after the game that the running backs did not get as many carries as he would have liked because his team had to play catch-up against the Seminoles. Getting them in more of a rhythm this week will be a focus as Pitt prepares for New Mexico.

“We weren’t very good on first down [against Florida State],” Chryst said. “We need to stay ahead of the chains. That will help. We were bad on third downs. If you convert more than 25 percent of third downs, then you get more kicks at the can. We need to sustain drives.”

The running game showed promise in the first quarter. In addition to the Boyd sweep of 18 yards, Bennett broke a 10 yard run and Conner had two runs for 9 yards. The problem was, after those first two drives, Bennett and Conner only had 36 yards on the ground for the rest of the game.

(more…)

Shaky, 2 minute video of Qadree Ollison making his announcement at Canisius High in Buffalo? Sure.

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No truly significant changes from the first week. More like subtle  adjustments to reality in the depth chart (PDF, p.3).

At running back Bennett is still listed as the starter, but James Conner is listed at number two rather than Malcolm Crockett. That’s the only change on the offense.

For the defense, Ejuan Price is not listed as “OR” at both DE spots. Now he’s only listed as the possible starter with Bryan Murphy. So David Durham has the coaches trust at the other DE spot. Mike Caprara is no longer listed behind Shane Gordon at middle linebacker. It is Mike Galambos. Jevonte Pitts is no longer listed on the 2-deep at both safety spots. Instead he is listed third at free safety behind Ray Vinopal and Cullen Christian. If Vinopal plays like he did last week, he’s going to repeat his fate from last year of not being seen again after two games.

The only other change is on kick returns. Jason Hendricks will not be back there with Lafayette Pitts. Carrying from the FSU game, it is Tyler Boyd back there. Sixteen freshmen or redshirt freshmen are on the 2-deep

On Friday (Insider subs)…

The recruiting rivalry is not as intense as some of those down in Florida or the SEC, but Penn State and Pittsburgh are often going head-to-head for prospects. The two are going at it once more for a three-star running back.

Qadree Ollison (Buffalo, N.Y./Canisius) is deciding 3:15 p.m. on Monday at his high school after taking visits to Penn State and Pitt this week. He took in Pitt on an official visit earlier this week for the Florida State game, and he will visit Penn State beginning on Friday.

At this juncture, it looks like the Nittany Lions will be on the receiving end of Ollison’s verbal commitment…

Penn State is a school Ollison has been high on all along, and he was at the Lions’ spring game despite not having an offer at the time. He also hastily put together a visit to Penn State for this coming weekend. Penn State has mined Canisius before, too, as offensive lineman John Urschel is from the school.

There are a few factors in Pitt’s corner, however. The atmosphere at Heinz Field was, as one high school coach put it, “like a Steelers game.” The crowd support has often been criticized by recruits and opposing coaches. The Panthers also have an opening at running back following Rushel Shell’s exit.

Ollison’s decision will become public Monday, but it is hard to see him picking a school other than Penn State.

Today.

After careful thought, Qadree Ollison has announced his commitment to continue his football and academic career at PITTSBURGH!

— Canisius HS Football (@CanisiusHSFB) September 9, 2013

Ollison is a pure 3-star recruit. Wisconsin, Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota and Iowa also offered him.

So, a nice way to start the week.

First off, if the title doesn’t cause you to jam out to Rage Against the Machine in your head a little bit, I recommend the song as a great one to workout to. It’s quite angry, like most of us are at Matt House’s defense right now. Thankfully the defense is getting a huge break this week, going from NFL talent surrounding a future 1st round pick QB to…well, a team who has completed 10 passes in 2 games. (more…)

Defensive Coordinator Matt House hasn’t covered himself in early glory. His co-defensive coordinator audition in the Compass Bowl didn’t wow anyone, but that was probably an unfair standard.

His debut in the season opener was more disturbing. The biggest criticism of his gameplan was having the defensive backs play off the receivers and have the linebackers do more to help in the pass coverage. It suggested a coach who either doesn’t understand his own personnel — the linebackers are the most obvious weakness on the defense while the secondary is a strength — or one that out thought himself.

Needless to say, House had some questions to answer. It was a mixed bag.

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For those of us stuck watching at home, that meant not seeing the Retirement of Larry Fitzgerald’s number at halftime.

Thankfully Pitt posted it.

Goosebumps.

One of the biggest positives coming out of Monday night — and there were a few — was that Tyler Boyd might be better than believed.

On the fourth play of the Panthers’ opening drive, he took off on a “jet sweep” around right end and gained 18 yards.

The drive resulted in a short-lived, 7-0 lead.

Boyd ran the play twice more for 20 and 16 yards. His 54 yards on three carries led the Panthers in rushing.

“I was very surprised,” he said. “When I got that first jet, I didn’t think I’d be as open as that. And the second one, they just kept opening it up for me. After that it was, like, totally comfort. I was ready for them to put the ball in my hands.”

After a first half with no catches, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Boyd in the third quarter turned an apparently errant sideline pass from Tom Savage into a diving, highlight-worthy grab worth 17 yards. He later plucked a pass off his shoe tops for a 9-yard gain.

One of 12 first-year freshmen who played, Boyd also accounted for 71 yards on three kickoff returns, including one for 35 yards.

“I could have made more plays, but I made enough plays to do right, do good,” he said.

He was given kick-off return duties at the end of the 2d quarter. As a freshman receiver he had five touches. And the issue now, is that he needs to get the ball in his hands even more. Yeah, that’s a good problem.

(more…)

After a loss, acknowledging the opponent is not the easiest thing to do for fans of the losing team. Even when the team is beaten as soundly as Pitt was by FSU. We fixate. We obsess about our team. We see all the mistakes, errors problems on one side. It’s easy to completely forget what the other team. What the other players did. I’m as guilty of it as anyone.

So, when Jameis Winston had as close to a perfect game by a QB as possible on Monday night. Regardless of the experience level, it becomes far too easy for us to make comments about how easy the corners and safeties made it for him, because they played off of him. Or that there wasn’t enough pressure from the D-line to take him out of his comfort zone or rhythm. That may be true to an extent.

At the same time, Winston just kept making the throws. He had two incompletes the entire game.

Devin Gardner of Michigan faced a completely incompetent Central Michigan team and still had 5 incomplete passes on only 15 attempts. Oregon utterly demolished a vastly overmatched 1-AA Nicholls St. 66-3 and Marcus Mariotta was 12-21. The closest comparison was Teddy Bridgewater in Louisville’s deconstruction of Ohio. Yet he even threw an interception and had 5 incomplete passes.

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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.

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I’m going to skip the self-pity over “same old Pitt.” And the tired stuff about how once more on the big stage at home, Pitt was a mess. Even if I hadn’t decided that when I got up this morning, Ron Cook writing that column clinched it for me.

My ire and disappointment is mostly reserved for the defense. I expected issues on the offense, but the defense was a wreck. From the TV perspective, the coverage was incredibly soft. DBs playing far off the receivers and giving them a cushion that gave Jameis Winston easy throws. During the game, writers up in the press box kept noting that the issue was that the linebackers were not in position.

That does seem to be a large part of it.

The defense, especially the secondary, played very passively tonight. They allowed Seminole receivers to get plenty of separation in the middle of the field, particularly on medium routes. Cornerback K’Waun Williams said after the game that the plan was to play off because Florida State ran a lot of crossing routes, but that puts pressure on the linebackers to pick up in coverage, and that unit struggled with its coverage.

Teams like Duke, Virginia and Syracuse don’t have the same athletic ability as Florida State, so maybe we’ll see a change there with a more aggressive approach. But I thought one of Pitt’s strengths last season (maybe their biggest strength) was Williams and Lafayette Pitts playing physical man-to-man coverage, and we saw very little of that tonight. A few guys talked in training camp about new coordinator Matt House‘s defense being simpler and allowing the players to “play faster,” but tonight it looked like a lot of guys got caught out of position and Florida State took advantage of that.

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We’ve been waiting for this for months. Ever since the announcement some 6 months prior. Arguably that was the moment when it was truly understood that Pitt was in the ACC. It was really happening. It wasn’t being done grudgingly. Pitt was bring truly welcomed to the ACC and offered a huge opportunity. Not only a marquee conference home game against the conference’s best program over the past 20 years. Pitt was given the ACC’s spotlight Labor Day opening conference game on ESPN. The only game on TV. No regional diversity. No competition with Breaking Bad. Nothing else. Just FSU-Pitt.

Pitt’s had the spotlight moments before. Even in the recent years of frustration. And yes, spit the bit. Badly. At the same time, Pitt has had the moments. Especially when most people don’t seem to think Pitt can hang with the opponent.

“Virginia Tech, no one gave us a chance,” Street said. “Notre Dame, even though we didn’t come out on top, we proved we can keep up with those teams. That’s what we’re doing now.”

I’m not going to pretend that I think Pitt will win. Florida State has been a more stable program. They have a lot of talent all over the field. They have a good coach in Jimbo Fisher and the rest of that coaching staff. They are ranked in the top-ten for a reason.

That said, I think Pitt can win. I think Pitt is capable of meeting this moment and not flinching.

Let’s find out.