Tomorrow our PITT Panther football team travels up to one of the great US cities, Boston, to play the Golden Eagles of Boston College. BC is an old rival of ours from the Big East days and our matches with them have always been pretty close games. They compiled a 7-6 record last year (4-4 ACC) and then ended that season in fine fashion by going 4-1 with bigger victories over Virginia Tech, NC State and Maryland before losing a close one up in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse.
As we all know by this point we are coming of a convincing 62-0 drubbing of Delaware that, for me at least, didn’t answer too many of my preseason questions about the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
We last played BC in their home place, Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, where they play their ballgames, in 2003 and won by 11 points 24-13 and surrounding that ’03 season we won two games against them, both close overtime games, at Heinz Field. However and overall Chestnut Hill has not been good for us as we have lost games there at a 1 win – 5 loss clip. Ugh.
But those were the bad old days and now we fans are standing on the shore of a beautiful beach watching a new PITT football sunrise which is starting to show it’s glorious and warming rays to us faithful. (How’s that for a New York Post-type sentence?)
Seriously, at this point we really have no idea what we have in the 2014 version of our team. After the Delaware game we have an idea of what we should see; an aggressive defense that cuts LBs and DBs loose to blitz, a strong running game that works behind a massive OL and a punt returner who can move with the ball, even with a heavily bandaged hand.
BC’s head coach Steve Addazio believes having a mobile QB is important because it upsets the defense.
“The minute you implement quarterback runs,” he said, “on defense, you no longer can get the extra hat (defender). That’s the beauty of the QB run. In a conventional, two-back run game, you are always fighting the extra defender, the eighth defender, the seventh defender, the ninth defender. Whatever set you’re in.
Wow – that sounds so familiar! Let’s see if they take the hobbles off Voytik a bit more this game and let us see how he can move the ball without that ‘extra hat’ on defense.
He also thinks college ball has gotten away from the run as evidenced by this quote:
“I won’t name teams,” he said. “But I’m watching some of these games, and it seems to me sometimes people just want to throw it to throw it. “I swear, if you threw it more and you lost, (fans) would be happier. To the average fan, that’s what it is.” Addazio has a better idea. “I want to win,” he said.
Well, duh! I’ve a feeling he won’t think that about PITT at around 10:00 on Friday night as we’ll probably see more of the same offensive approach we had against Delaware which was ‘run the until they stop us from running the ball’.
What to look for on Defense
We’ll know who is going to be the better running team by the end of the 1st quarter. BC is built along the same lines PITT is with an emphasis on pounding the ball down the field even if their OL averages out to less bulk than we have. They were pretty good at it last week in their opener with 338 yards and averaging 5.5 yards per carry. That is good work and their QB, Tyler Murphy, kicked in 118 of those yards moving downfield at 9.1 ypc which is kind of scary to me.
So on defense I want to know if our DEs Durham and Soto are 1) quick enough to pursue Murphy if he leaves the pocket and 2) disciplined enough to keep Murphy from getting the around corner on us. Those are pretty big and important tasks for them.
In addition, I want to see the same aggressiveness we saw with the blitzes run by the LBs and DBs. I’m not too concerned about BC running into the middle of our defensive line as I think Render and Mosley-Smith can handle that.
BC’s featured RB is Myles Willis who as a true FR last season carried the ball 60 times for a 5.8 average. Let’s not sleep o that guy either. Their best WR of the
What to look for on offense:
The staff may let Chad Voytik open up his passing a bit but unless we are coming out of halftime with a big deficit I think he still gets less than 20 attempts. But I don’t know that as I thought Voytik would get 20+ passes last Saturday. I think part of the holding back last week was because the staff is wary of QB turnovers at this point and want to see him actually go downfield safely before opening that faucet.
Of course for him to drop back more often on Friday night we’ll also have to see exactly how our OL can pass protect against a stronger FBS opponent. DiPaola of the Trib says this about the various movement of players on our OL:
Redshirt freshman Jaryd Jones-Smith, a mountain of a man at 6-foot-7, 335 pounds, is pushing hard for a starting job at left offensive tackle. When Jones-Smith entered the game last Saturday, starting tackle Adam Bisnowaty moved to left guard, replacing Dorian Johnson.
The switch wasn’t merely an exercise in giving everyone a ride on the merry-go-round during the 62-0 romp over Delaware. Bisnowaty and Johnson remain No. 1 on the depth chart, but Jones-Smith will be a major part of the mix again Friday in the ACC opener at Boston College.
This isn’t surprising at all given how well Jones-Smith played in camp and considering how his huge body is built. With Voytik being a right handed passer and a brand new one at that, PITT needs to keep that right side DE off of him. Jones-Smith, at 6’7” and 335 lbs, is part Gigadactyl and part offensive lineman. He may be more like a Mega Dactyl now that I think of it but whatever.
His wing span is enormous so he can steer his DE in an arc past the original pocket established after the snap. I said it early from camp; don’t be surprised if Jones-Smith doesn’t supplant Dorian Johnson in the starting five down the road.
I also want to see how Chryst and Rudolph are going to handle the four current RBs we have playing in Conner, Bennett, Ibrahim and Chris James. Earlier last week before the opener Chryst said he’d use Conner and James on 1st and 2nd downs then Bennett and Ibrahim on the 3rd downs. Hmmm, OK – but if it’s 3rd and two and Conner isn’t in the backfield something ain’t right.
I think we’ll see this season go much like last year when one back would have a monster game then go a bit cold and another back steps up with a monster game then goes a bit cold and another… etc.
Every football team head coach wants to mount a balanced offensive attack and Chryst is no different in saying that. Last season with Savage at the wheel we threw more than ran. This year who really knows at this point because last week Delaware’s defensive line was about as hefty as Irish Lace and parted as easily as Noreen O’Leary’s … you get the point. Rival’s Chris Peak has a more in-depth take on this in one of his Tuesday pre-game articles (really good and detailed stuff):
“Certainly we want to be balanced, and we wanted to get the run game going. But yeah, I think if you have the ability to run the football, it helps you offensively, it helps you defensively; it’s a good thing. But there aren’t many games where you can probably do that, so we have to be a balanced offense.”
Pressed on the idea of a target ratio for run plays and pass plays, Chryst stressed on Tuesday that the game dictates the play calls.
“I honestly don’t care about the number, the percentage; I don’t ever go into a game thinking that. There are going to be games where you have to win it by running the ball, and there are going to be games where you have to win it by throwing. And I think you have to be able to do both.”
With all that I’m hesitant to offer a prediction on tomorrow night’s game. Not only because I feel we don’t know what our Panther’s are capable of but also because I have no idea what Boston College is capable of. Both teams whooped up on vastly inferior opponents and both schools are carrying out some rebuilding processes. I like what I’ve seen in the PITT team from the beginning of August until now though, so I’ll go out on a small limb and say…
A close defensive game
We are happy to have Papa Justin back. But, you are the guy. I look forward to all that you write. I am glad that you are one of us crazies.
H2P
Was surprised to see we first played in 1959..would have bet it was earlier.
I think we score TD’s they kick field goals. 35-16
BTW – I actually dated a wonderful girl named Noreen O’Leary who lived in Shadyside in the 1970s. I lost track of her but what a smart kid.
Voytik can move around but we aren’t going to see called running plays happening all the time with him.
We’ll see some – like this 19 yd pickup against Bowling Green:
Or this TD against same team:
But let’s remember that we really need his solid passing game to develop as we have four RBs who are better at carrying the ball than he is. I’d like to see 20 passes and five called running plays for him… and let the scrambles come as they may.
pitt 31
BC 17
h2p
I can’t get a read on what you think of voytik..you seemed quite critical all during camp and seemed weary of what he could really do. Then other times I see you say you think he will be a good player.
I can’t tell if you think he’s going to be an above average college qb at best..or if he can be more than that.
But as far as expectations for 2014 I try to get fans to temper the star talk.
He was not real impressive in camp and that concerns some people, myself included.
That said I also trust the HC and the OC to gameplan to his abilities.
So, yes I think he has the talents to be a good college football player as long as he is surrounded by top shelf talents.
Haven’t changed my mind since posting on the last thread.
Difference in the game is; we will be able to pass if they play 8 in the box. Whereas BC won’t be able to.
Let him roll out and run if need be. We also need his passing on the run to improve over last game. His performance will determine how open our offense will be.
The defense has got to limit BC’s QB.
Tomorrow night we find out if we have a team or not.
I may be off base and we’ll see but I think the staff wants to bring Voytik along gradually rather than just push him out onto the field and make him pass to win the game.
Voytik has too many skilled players around him to have to be anything but a ball distribution machine for week #2 of his starting career.
I think what we’ll see tonight is a strong running game plan and a pretty good aggressive defense to lessen any pressure that may be on Voytik. The staff will open things up a bit but unless we’re are down by 10+ points in the 2nd half I think it will be ‘run first, pass second’ by kind of a large margin.
Get past BC in this way then we have FIU at home, which should be a game in which we get a nice lead early on, and then we can start letting Voytik air it out to get ready for the rest of the ACC schedule.
“As [head coach] Steve Addazio has said before, ”I want a thrower who can run and not a runner who can throw,” and Murphy showed against UMass he fit that bill, converting some quarterback runs on the read-option. But Murphy recognizes that he cannot solely rely upon his feet to make BC’s offense go, and therein lies his greatest strength and weakness: While he possesses the ability to breakdown a defense with his feet, he knows he must resist the urge to do so if he intends to help BC’s offense establish any kind of vertical passing threat.”
I think PITT fans would do well to remember this as it is just what Paul Chryst wants out of Chad Voytik also. let’s remember that we have four very good RBs who can get chunks of yardage on the ground – five RBs if you add Boyd as he gets carries also. It just isn’t that important at this point that Voytik take off and run all the time.
We need a balanced offense way more than we need a sixth RB and we’ll get that by getting Voytik comfortable as a passing QB as soon as possible.
With a short week to prepare, the Eagles made the passing game a point of emphasis during practice.
“It was good to establish the run game, because first off, our plan to win is to run the football,’’ said offensive coordinator Ryan Day. “That’s what we really had to establish, especially with so many young guys in the game early on. You could see later on in the second half we were able to hit some play-action passes when they started to play the run.
“That’s the philosophy, but we’ve got to be explosive in the pass game if we want to score a lot of points this year. So that’s something that we’ve talked about and working on, but obviously balance is key for us.”
If you watched the UMASS/BC game, Murphy moves quickly to the side he is rolling to on planned roll out plays in his initial step from under center. Coach Douglas has to see this tendency on the film too. Therefore the corners and LBs should be all about lateral movement to shut down the corners rather than penetration via blitzes since this Murphy guy is not the classic stay in the pocket passer.
The defensive key for success will be our corners beating Murphy to the edges and anticipating well enough to disrupt his passing with penetration to that side, when he attempts passes if he is beat to the edge by our guys.
Pretty funny how know one has asked how many snaps will Conner play on defense tonight? Obviously depends on if the other guys are getting pressure on Murphy.
Major difference in coaching philosophy/style, Addazio has 15 fifth year seniors, Chryst has the youngest team and cleaned house.
Dr. Tom – I think we’ll see at least a couple blitzes because if we do nothing but play passive defense all night they will chew us up. Look for Grisby or Bradley to have a sack.
WE ended up winning the game but it was much closer than necessary.
On offense, Voytik doesn’t need to air it out. We have plenty of weapons on offense and along with Voytik’s mobility, the gameplan can be very creative while still being somewhat safe. Run the ball with 4 quality backs, quick hits to Boyd, sweeps to Boyd, rollouts looking for Parrish and Orndoff. Plenty of options.
The team that executes will win (how’s that for coach speak). Still no idea how polished we are but I’ll go 27-20 Pitt.
HTP
We’ll know for sure in about ten hours.
All I know is that my position on the subject is substantiated if he takes one to the house this evening or,”Heaven forbid” he gets dinged up returning a punt again tonight, I’ll be labeled with that big “L” in the middle of my forehead for having such a stupid conviction.
Also BC is hardly an intimidating place to play so that helps.
