There’s no better way to describe that loss than it was a Pitt. I firmly believe there is no other program who could lose a game like Pitt did yesterday. Plenty of programs could lose to Navy, but not like that. It took a special combination of offensive, defensive, coaching, and special teams failures along with ridiculously bad luck for it happen. Let’s look at how each unit failed.
Offense: Even though Pitt dominated the first half, they went into halftime with only a 13-7 lead. The offense shot themselves in the foot repeatedly. On the first drive, the offense had 3rd and 4 on the Navy 7. Savage throws behind Garner (or was it Weatherspoon–can’t remember) but it hits him in the hands and is dropped. It wasn’t a great throw, but still catchable. The real issue is Savage had Holtz wiiiiiiidddddeeee ooooppppeeeennnn in the end zone. It should’ve been an easy touchdown, but somehow, Pitt made it more difficult than it had to be and settled for a field goal. The next drive had back to back penalties and a drop from Devin Street. Then on the following drive, James Conner fumbles on 3rd and 1. If you want to blame someone for the fumble, blame Matt Popchock. Twitter jinxes are real, people.
To keep up the offensive WTF moments, they drive the ball down the field to the Navy 24 and are sitting pretty at 2nd and 1. Somehow, they move backwards and settle for a long FG. Remember what I said in my game preview about Navy’s run defense? RBs had 31 carries for only 113 yards (3.6 yards per carry) even though there was a massive size advantage in the trenches. Yet, they failed to get one single yard after a nine yard gain on first down there. For perspective on how pathetic the 3.6 ypc is, Delaware, an FCS school, had 29 carries for 142 yards (4.9 ypc). A SCHOOL THAT LOST TO MAINE BY 34 POINTS RAN THE BALL BETTER THAN PITT DID YESTERDAY.
People are wont to put blame on Savage and he certainly shares some blame, but I counted two huge drops, a running game that didn’t work, and a game changing fumble. Savage also threw what should’ve been the game winning touchdown and two point conversion. He was the only player on offense who stepped up in the 4th quarter. He also blew it on the last offensive drive, but if he doesn’t make plays on the drive before that, they aren’t even in a position to blow it.
Overall, the offense was pathetic. A ton of mistakes in the first half and an abysmal failure in the second half minus one drive.
Defense: The defense was basically as flawless as you can ask in the first half minus bad luck. The only time Navy actually moved the ball, K’wuan Williams picked off Keenan Reynolds and ended the drive. The third quarter started off great as well. Navy went three and out twice and twice put the offense in great position. Then they collapsed. Navy started on their own nine yard line then drove 91 yards on 16 plays to take a 14-13 lead. The offense responds and takes the lead back. The defense collapses again on a 10 play 71 yard drive in which Navy faced only one third down. Tie game. Following an offensive failure, the defense allows Navy to peacefully march down for the game-winning FG.
My main complaint with the defense is they got passive after the long touchdown drive. They played off and let Navy get at least five yards nearly every play. On their drive to tie the game 21-21, it was a ten play drive. 7 of those 10 plays were 5+ yards or a touchdown. Two of the remaining three were incomplete passes. You can’t give a running team that much room, yet I counted several plays where at least four DBs were 10+ yards off of the line of scrimmage. I have absolutely no idea why Matt House thought a soft defense was the right call there. This seems to be his fatal flaw thus far: he calls a passive game late. I’d guess this is a response to his inability to adjust, so he calls a base defense.
Then on the final drive, they couldn’t make a stop and let Navy walk into field position.
Special Teams: Yoklic’s last punt. 20 yards. Anyone who follows Pitt football knew the game was over then.
Coaching: On the second offensive drive, the offense had back to back penalties: illegal formation and illegal substitution. Back to back mistakes that are a sign of poor coaching. The offense lined up incorrectly and the wrong players were on the field the next play. The complete lack of Tyler Boyd. The passive defensive play-calling in the 4th quarter. An inability to adjust in the second half in all facets.
Unlike most, I don’t mind the clock strategy at the end of the game. The announcers criticized Chryst for keeping his timeouts. Navy is more likely to fail with less time than more. If you take timeouts, you’re giving their offense, which dominated on back to back drives, more time. They aren’t a quick strike offense. They’re methodical. Their two actual touchdown drives were 16 and 10 plays respectively. If you use the timeouts, they get more plays to move the ball.
Bad Luck: Navy’s first touchdown was the flukiest thing you’ll ever see. Words cannot describe it. I’ll just leave it at that because anyone who saw the play is still dumbfounded by it. Late in the first half, K’wuan Williams perfectly plays a pass and it deflects in the air. He somehow can’t find it and it hits the ground. If it’s picked off, Pitt has the ball around the 35 yard line or better with over a minute on the clock and three timeouts. It at least should’ve setup a FG . That 16-7 lead is a huge difference.
This was a team loss. Everyone pitched in. You can’t point the finger in any one place. If you’re going to force me to blame someone, it’s the offense. The game should’ve been out of reach at halftime. The offensive failures kept Navy around and put the defense in a position to collapse. At this point, you have to expect the defense to collapse in a close game. This is a poorly written column, and I’m sorry for that, but I wanted to break up the game thread a little and vent some frustrations. This was a little therapy for me.
Also, I have never said he should be fired, and actually I’ve seen very few say that, maybe the couple that do, maybe those statements stand out and make it seem like everyone is saying fire the coach.
However, I’m certainly gonna call out the coach and coaching if things don’t seem so good.
When bad losses happen, it tends to make people wonder.
Like myself, I’m wondering if several people on here were not right the past couple of years with there comments.
1. His recruiting stinks.
2. Does not have a head coach personality. When you look at most of the successful college coaches, folksy and down to earth doesn’t get it done. Most sucessful head coaches are firey and “A” type personalities.
3. His hiring stinks.
4. Game day coming into question.
Those things start to make me wonder after I see no progress.
I wasn’t gung ho with the hire, but I figured, let’s see what happens. I’ve backed him, but let’s just say I’m starting to have some questions in my mind.
I have no idea where Chryst became some sort of QB miracle worker like Steve Spurrier or something. Chryst’s best QB was Russel Wilson a guy he didn’t even develop and a guy who is a special talent. It would be like saying Dean Smith coached up Michael Jordan. Chryst QBs at Wisconsin were basically a bunch of Tino Sunseris from last season. Don’t make mistakes and let the running game take you as far as possible.
Spare me the lack of talent nonsense too. Lack of talent had nothing to do with the loss to Navy. Pitt is more talented. They just didn’t execute and the game plan was blah. Chryst just doesn’t adjust in games. He is almost always outcoached in the second half. Also, it is absolutely absurd the number of times this team has shown up flat or as in the words of the PG reporter “overconfident” (which I take as meaning basically the same thing) in Paul Chryst’s brief 1.5 seasons.
The whole offense is antiquated compared to the rest of college football. College football is all about scoring points. You aren’t going to win playing smash mouth football unless you are an elite recruiter or you play in the slow as heck Big 1G1.
I doubt Bostad returns to Pitt. Even though Tampa sucks, he is doing a good job with that line down there.
– This was Tom Savage’s BEST GAME as a complete Quarterback with a couple of exceptions. The one big one was his quick decision to throw a hard pass inside to Garner that went incomplete and failing to see the wide-open Holtz running free to the back corner of the end zone. The difference in the game.
I’ve been pretty critical of Savage throughout year. But in this game, Navy was geared to stop the long ball. Savage took what Navy gave him and did look a little Tino-like by throwing mostly short and intermediate routes, even dinking and dunking the football to tight ends and backs. Now if he can just combine that with the Long Ball once in awhile… he will be on his way to becoming a MORE COMPLETE Quarterback.
– T.J. Clemmings is without question Pitt’s BEST Offensive Lineman. He was pancaking his guy all day long and showed his athleticism in pass protection as he consistently got back quickly to force his rusher to the outside.
Overall, the line did a pretty good job… certainly good enough to win. But, Clemmings was clearly the standout.
– Isaac Bennett again deserves credit for running hard, this time against a Real Defense unlike Old Dominion a week ago. But his limitations in terms of speed and cutting ability are pretty obvious. Both he and Conner lack both explosiveness through the hole and the ability to make the kind of cuts necessary to create Big Plays… as we grew accustomed to seeing with Graham, Lewis and of course McCoy before them.
Rachid Ibrahim also lacks explosiveness but against Navy showed improvement in his commitment to running hard for extra yards.
– As for the Defense, Coordinator Matt House again is guilty of trying to be a little too cute with what he thinks looks good on paper.
Prior to the game, I posted that the key to stopping the Navy Double Wing was getting “relentless pursuit” from the Middle Backer. But for whatever reason, House had both Gordon and Galambos lining up seven yards off of the line of scrimmage!
Now, I understand the thinking that having the linebackers line up off the line might allow them to avoid getting blocked. But considering the personnel, placing them seven yards backs made it impossible at times for them to cover the ground necessary to be in position to make a play… especially Galambos.
Maybe House’s scheming had something to do with both Gordon and Galambos having sub-par performances… Galambos the worst between them.
– Finally, to end on a positive..
While still coming up short on too many kickoffs Chris BLEWITT again showed why when it’s all said and done he could go down as one of the MOST RELIABLE field goal kickers in Pitt history.
The system.
Sure Alabama and LSU play regular old football and do well with it.
They also pretty much have nothing but 4 and 5 star recruits and the top players in the country.
Can it be done with 2’s and 3’s.
Let’s not have a recruiting star debate, I know it’s only subjective and not always right.
Tell you what, you give me a team with 4’s and 5’s
and you take the team with 2’s and 3’s
and I’ll kick your ass up and down the street twice, then I’ll do it again.
The other 9 times I’d beat you 63-10!!!
Comment by Dan 10.28.13 @ 10:45 am
Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas….what are those
says Chyrst.
We only vacation on those places with our families.
Dr. Tom’s assessment above of just the final series really tells the tale. Leaders don’t take dumb sacks or make half hearted attempts at blocks. They don’t blow routine actions like a punt at critical times in the game. They don’t attempt to tackle an athletic QB by throwing a forearm at him when they have the clear opportunity to wrap them up and take them down. They don’t drop multiple passes (on both sides of the ball).
We have a combination of a lot of inexperienced players on the field with experienced players that are not demonstrating leadership qualities on the field when the game is on the line. No one is perfect, mistakes will be made, but good teams execute under pressure, we just play worse when the pressure is on. I put that more on the players than the coaches.
The more experience the player has, the less acceptable failure under pressure is to me. It is not about the X’s and O’s. It is about players wanting to be in those critical situations, showing leadership by knowing and executing their responsibilities. When that happens, dumb plays and dumb penalties are significantly reduced and you win far more close games than you loose.
1) It was Homecoming and it was their day! Luck was clearly on their side. The first half TD pass is all you need as evidence.
2) Navy has a REALLY ATHLETIC and SMART Quarterback who showed LEADERSHIP in the line of fire by WILLING his team to a WIN… bad ankle and all.
Not complicated.
Bennett completely whiffed on a block against a linebacker.
It was clearly his responsibility to make that block.
Since when does Navy have a real defense. 45 points to Toledo, 35 to Duke. Heck NAVY even lost to Western Kentucky. No not the Kentucky that’s in Lexington. These are the Hilltoppers from Bowling Green, KY.
As far as Savage having his best game against Navy. Surely you jest. lol
aaaaaa….6 tD’s and over 400 yards in the air against Duke and the Walter Camp National QB of the week. Maybe you missed that game POD.
I didn’t….I was there.
That was pathetic and led to Pitt being in a bad down & distance situation on our last possession.
Comment by Wardapalooza 10.28.13 @ 10:46 am
The same way he has a reputation of being a great OC. lol
Bob Bostad was the Running Game Coordinator for Wisconsin since 2006 and the O-Line coach as well.
We got the wrong one, typical of Cornhole.
We got the stiff !
I said a REAL Defense not a REALLY GOOD Defense.
Navy does play D-1 Caliber Defense… unlike Old Dominion.
How do you think Bennett looked as good as he did?
Bennett missed the block – but on the series prior he did go “mano y mano” with the end and the Navy training staff was out on the field tending to the guy. Give Bennett some slack – he’s all we got.
We basically have 2 RB’s who couldn’t start for Kent St. and you folks are so delusional that you think Pitt *should* win 6 games?? ROFLMAO. Be thankful they won 4 and pray they win 4 games the next 2 seasons!!
I was speaking more generally to be a top 20 or top 25 program consistently.
Pretty simple really.
Teams that get a boat load of good recruits and top 20 recruiting classes, more often than not are the top teams.
There is something said for heart, balls and work ethic, when teams are not that far apart in talent.
Actually, guess I shouldn’t be mad, upset or suprised.
A bad to mediocre Pitt team lost to a bad to medicore Navy team.
That, that is where we are, is really what up upsets me more than the loss itself.
Bo Pelini is going to get canned. Bring him to our factory of sadness.
