That was something. I’ve been struggling with the words. After staying for the entire game. Then a trip to Oakland for dinner and a milkshake from Dave & Andy’s as a reward to my daughter for braving the entire game. The drive back to the Cleveland area seemed longer than usual. Too much time to think, as my daughter immersed herself in some game on her tablet. We left in darkness and returned in the same.
Wiped out from all parts of the day, I barely made it through the second half of the Auburn-Ole Miss game before giving it up and collapsing. The bright side was I made it the bed instead of sleeping on the couch.
I began this morning making breakfast and making sure all the clocks were set back. Busy work. Anything to put off writing about it.
Then my wife in an attempt to be nice to me said, “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I know you want to do some writing.”
…
…
…
Bitch.
So sitting at my computer. Trying to sketch out a post. Looking blankly at the screen. Wondering where to begin. How to put it into the proper context. Find the words.
AHHHHFUCKTHISSHITSOFUCKINGTIREDOFTHISEFFINGNEVERGETTINGABREAKONLYLUCKISBADLUCKDEFENSEBLOWSSPE
CIALTEAMSSUCKFIREEVERYONEFIREHOUSEFIRECHRYSTFIREPETERSENFIREFIREFIREICANNNOTSTANDTHISCHARLIEBROWN
LUCYFOOTBALLYANKEDAWAYSHITNEWANDCREATIVEWAYSTOBEMISERABLEOVERASTUPIDGAMEWHYDOIDOTHISTOMYSELFWHYWH
YWHYWHYANGSTANGSTANGSTANGST
/delete
That felt a little knee jerk. And a bit too emotional. That’s really not my style. And probably not entirely true. There’s more than just that. Maybe look at the positives. Can Pitt *cough*build*cough* on this?
The offense looked as good as it has all season. The offensive line looked better then it has pass protection since Artie Rowell went down. James Conner is a beast. Chad Voytik found the tight ends, was making more reads, and looked about as comfortable running the offense as I have seen all season. There is some real improvement in Voytik over the last two weeks, even if it has taken longer than hoped or expected. All while still finding Tyler Boyd with regularity to let Tyler Boyd do Tyler Boyd things. The field goal at the end of the game, well–AHHFUCKTHEREISNOTHINGGOODTOSAYABOUTTHEDEFENSEANDSPECIALTEAMSSPECIALTEAMSSWUNGPOSSIBLY13POINTSAGAI
NSTPITTINFLUBBEDHOLDBADKICKANDKICKOFFRETURNEDFORATDFIREHOUSEFIREHAERINGBLOODIWANTSCALPSFORTHISYEA
R
/delete
Clearly I was having a problem getting the emotions in check.
Deciding that the best option was getting away for a bit. I ran some errands get out of the house. Perhaps find some perspective. Oh, and stop by the store and pick up a new bottle of bourbon.
I made an audible and went with gin.
Tried to watch a little NFL, but my heart wasn’t in it. The laptop was in sight and I knew I needed to write something.
Put the bottle of gin at the end of the table. Told myself, not to drink anything until I got something, anything written.
Stared at the screen. Looked up at the bottle. Back to the screen. Focus. Just be rational and take a longer view.
Chryst isn’t going anywhere and to be fair does deserve a little more time. But changes on the staff are clearly needed and warranted–FIREHOUSEFIREHOUSEFIREHOUSEFIREHOUSENOW–Paul Chryst needs to make some hard choices–FUCKHISPENCHANTFORSTAFFCOHESIONANDCOMFORT–It also is concerning that Chryst himself after over two years as a head coach struggles with game management and crunch decisions–WTFKINDOFEXPLANATIONISTHISSEREIOUSLYAREYOUDRINKINGONTHESIDELINESORDOYOUJUSTGOBRAINLOCK–
/delete
Screw it. I’m having some gin.
As for the “centering the kick” – reading between the lines, Voytik was going to try to see if he could score, or gain significant yards, and get out of bounds. After which the time out would be used to center the kick. Unfortunately, Voytik did not get out of bounds. Regardless, the kick should have been made. I don’t even thick it crossed the back line of the end zone before going out of bounds, it was so shanked.
And while I think going for 2 would have been a gutsy move after the TD in overtime, if it would have been unsuccessful how many people would be blasting Chryst for trying it?
Jesus F Christ — I can’t believe this!!
Comment by Oklahomeboy 11.02.14 @ 5:18 pm
Agree Oklahome…..Chancellor Gallagher is also a Pitt man.
The script was a ‘poke in the eye’ to Cornhole.
Next is the ‘kick in the ass’….out the door.
Leaving a true freshman in single coverage against a receiver who is going to be in the NFL next year was absolute lunacy. It speaks volumes of House’s inability to game-plan. Perhaps even more, it’s a horrible indictment of this staff’s inability to fix whatever the hell is wrong with Lafayette Pitts.
Pitts has perhaps the worst awareness of any starting DB I’ve ever seen at the Division I level. He absolutely refuses to even try to turn back and play the ball when it’s in the air. You can’t succeed as a DB in Division III playing the way he plays, yet no one – neither House nor Douglas – seems to be capable of teaching him proper technique.
What’s especially frustrating about Pitts is that the physical talent is there. Go back and watch Crowder’s long catch to end the first half. At one point, Pitts actually has his head turned, looking back at the ball and he’s STRIDE-FOR-STRIDE with Crowder, boxing him out to the sidelines. He was in almost perfect position. I actually thought he was going to jump up and make a clean pick, but as Pitts ALWAYS does, he inexplicably turns his head to look for Crowder. In so doing, he lost a step on him, and that allowed Crowder to get separation.
If Pitts keeps his head turned, he stays with Crowder and at best comes up with a pick or bats the ball down. At WORST, he makes contact and gets flagged, but it’s 15 yards from scrimmage so whatever. This kind of lack of awareness in a redshirt junior is inexcusable, and it’s been going on since last year.
The saving grace in all of this is that I do think there are impact-caliber players on defense. The problem is that I think they’re just very young (Blair, Amara, Maddox) or not yet on the roster (Whitehead). If they can somehow lock up guys like Shareef Miller, Stocker, Petrishen, Curtis and Brightwell, that would go a long way towards continuing to build the depth this program needs.
If Conner can play better then that he should petition the NFL to get drafted to get away from Pitt.
8-4 was my prediction for this year with this year’s weak schedule. But hey enjoy the kool-aid.
And no….regardless of the voytik play, the ball should have BEEN CENTERED to make the kick as easy as possible, for still a sophomore kicker under an extreme amount of pressure to win the game.
It could have been an extra point type try. That is what you want, the EASIEST KICK POSSIBLE, NOT THE HARDEST KICK POSSIBLE.
And if you ever played, or even watched college football over a number of years (decades), the short wide angle kick from either college hash mark, is the TOUGHEST kick for any kicker.
Sheesh, can’t believe we’re still having to explain this.
But to make such an egregious error when the game is on the line such as he did on Saturday is non-defensible … he is just way over his head.
This is his 3rd year
1.) That Chancellor Gallagher did have something to do with Pitt script being put on the helmet.
2.) That Chancellor Gallagher purposely was dotting the “i” in Pitt Saturday at the game.
That’s it. If not, then we’ll be on here 10 years from now writing and ranting about
the same shit.
“We won’t tolerate mediocrity at Nebraska. Firing Solich. We won’t let Texas & Oklahoma dominate the Big 12.”
His boy Callahan: 27-22
Solich: 58 wins in six seasons, better than Nebraska legends Devaney and Osborne
To Zeise in 2007 “My goal is to sellout Heinz. Make the games a reason to come to watch your city team…”
Pederson’s M.O.: Lofty rhetoric, diminishing results, then silence.
Why aren’t the lazy media types in Pittsburgh harassing him for an interview? Why are they so far behind the fans?
I’m glad I don’t pay to read the Trib or the Post.
The readers know more than the supposed experts.
They should have been pulled over the sidelines, and you try to get their mind off, relieve the pressure, I know putz couldn’t get them to laugh, anything to lighten the situation.
Then they(the field goal unit) run back in, like they practice every day, you run back in from the sidelines. As this is what you practice.
They don’t practice just standing there, thinking, mulling, stewing….over the situation, game on the line, etc.
Cutcliffe knew his man, Chryst….knew he was dealing with an amateur….and took full advantage.
Should he have made it, ya, I guess, he’s a kicker, that’s what he’s supposed to do.
However, no coach in their right mind, (Pro, College, High School), does not move the ball to the middle of the field, especially with a time out remaining.
Hell, that’s the one play, where everyone in the stadium and on tv and anywhere else
takes a bite of their hot dog and a sip of their drink because you know this play is just a dive left to put the ball in the center of the field.
“nothing to see on this play, get the ball in the middle, kick it and let’s celebrate a win”.
You don’t give your kicker a geometry problem when there is no need too!!!
I was big on Chad Voytik before the year, and have been as disappointed with his progress as anyone.
Even said, “what’s it hurt, start Anderson if you want”.
But, “they’re not gonna win until Voytik is replaced???”
HUH????
Chad Voytik Saturday vs Duke
16-24, 236 yds, 2 TD’s, 0 INT
9 different receivers had catches.
Several nice runs, including picking up 1st dns
Offense scored 41 points in regulation!!
I know, Conner was a beast.
But what in the world did Chad Voytik do with the price of apples in the world on Saturday that had to do with the loss???????
Didn’t get out of bounds???
Really?? Should have been a dive left to begin with. Should have never been in that position.
Other than that??
I admitted I was wrong, that he hadn’t worked out as well as I expected.
But, geez, fair is fair, he played pretty well,
give the kid a break!!!!!
Steve h, answer me this. If you are going to kick the field goal, why wouldn’t you make it easier … but instead they advanced the ball on the last play, making it a more severe angle. IT MADE NO FREAKIN’ SENSE WHATSOEVER!!
Comment by wbb 11.02.14 @ 7:23 pm
Got a link to that study dhuffdaddy. Love to see it.
Maybe he was thinking Duke would call a third timeout. They got in his head. I was at the game, he missed it by a mile. It was just that–a badly missed field goal because of a nervous kicker.
Hard to believe that not ONE coach on the staff, didn’t say…..duh Paulie…….do you think Paulie we should maybe, perhaps, maybe …..center the ball before the kick. ? Huh Paulie huh.
And further, there is a graph that shows the degree of angle different yardages … and the point is that the shorter the kick, the more difficult the angle.
But, as you know, that is just plain common sense
What don’t you people not understand here? Have you ever seen him make such a bad kick. He made a winning FG in the bowl game last year of over 40 yards
That doesn’t give Chryst a pass for one of the
stupidest blunders in years, that a high school coach doesn’t even make.
From the decades of college football games I’ve watched, I can remember lots of wide angle FG’s missed, especially short ones. And those were mostly attempted because the head coach DIDN’T HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RUN ANOTHER PLAY, TO CENTER THE BALL.
Far less infrequent were misses from basically extra point range, straight on.
I mean, this is silly to even discuss.
Every football fan knows this.
Chryst’s rope certainly has gotten shorter for me after this season. If he can rally the troops and win two out of three to finish at 6-6, I’ll give him another shot for next year. If he goes 5-7 or 4-8, I think its too damaging and we have to say thanks and good bye…and good bye to Pederson, with a fresh start for 2015…maybe bring back Walt for Walt II?!
On it’s own, just a stupid blunder.
Chryst is now starting to build quite a resume of blunders.
Then listening to his explanations afterwards,
make them even more suspect.
Hey, I was a kool-aid drinker for a couple years.
The Akron game threw me for a loop, soured me, and I’ve never recovered.
In Hackett’s 3 years, 1990-1992, he had the all-time leading QB in Pitt history at QB. Alex Van Pelt.
And he had Curtis Martin at RB, who went on to a NFL HOF career. And another guy at WR who was from Erie, Pa named Dietrich Jells who averaged 20 ypc in 1992 and over a 1000 yards receiving.
These guys could score.
Problem was Hackett couldn’t recruit anyone on defense and had a crap DC.
Sound familiar.
The parallels are remarkable.
Paul Hackett. You are absolutely right. No defense. Pretty decent scoring. Losses.
Hackett was supposedly a bright jerk. Now we have Farmer Paul who seems pretty much a dim light bulb.
He’s probably not like stupid stupid.
but stupid is…as stupid does.
He just has no football in-game coaching acumen.
Which is the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions.
heck it took him 2 -3 months to appoint a DC and then it was some flunky on his own staff. lmao
Comment by Chris 11.02.14 @ 8:03 pm
Feel for you bro. The Jets, like Pitt and the Cubs are one of those…….
…..”but next season we’re gonna be good”…teams.
NO, None, Zero, Nil, Nada ….. 000000gats!!!!!
Comment by wbb 11.02.14 @ 8:09 pm
lmao
Somebody never took geometry wbb.
Now if the kick was say from 40 yards out, the kick wouldn’t have to be so severe or angled since the ball was in the air longer on it’s flight path.
When the ball is traveling longer distances, like from the 40, the longer distance allows the ball to have the time to hook back in, thru the posts.
This obviously is not the case on very short fg attempts that are from a severe angle.
All of this geometry could have been avoided.
That’s the point of this whole discussion.
Any coach that could think on his feet, would want to make this play as easy as possible for the kicker.
Not one that needed geometry.
Now I do realize Chyrst is not alone in not being able to think on his feet.
This is a problem that effects many people in America.
I just don’t want those people in positions that call for good judgments and quick decisions, where those decisions effect other people.
Is people who can’t string together 3 or 4 coherent sentences.
I’m guessing now, this is why he never interviewed well.
I agree on the pass rush. The lack of a pass rush is a major issue and it’s something that really needs to be fixed one way or another.
Where that fix comes from exactly, I’m not sure.
There are a lot of younger guys we know nothing about and while that presents a ton of unknowns, I also think it’s an opportunity to improve starting next year. Some of these guys may just need that extra year that this has provided them in the program to make that kind of impact.
At DT, Mosley-Smith and Render have been OK but I’m not sure I’d put either of them at Alexcih/Mustakas/Mick Wiliams levels yet. If they can get there next year, that’ll help. Maybe if it doesn’t come from either of those two, it comes from someone like Taleni, Dintino, Jarrett, Herndon, Moody, etc. I heard a lot of good things about Dintino; maybe he steps up.
At DE, Blair looks like he could be that impact-caliber pass rusher that they need but he has needs to get bigger & faster. Unfortunately, some of that only comes with age. Soto has been underwhelming but it’s too early to write him off. If Price can come back healthy, that would be huge because he was very good in limited time last year. Otherwise, that leaves MacLean, Roy and Trahan to take a step forward.
LB could be interesting. LB starts for me with Bradley. He has struggled at times a bit this year with the full-time move to LB, but he’s just a redshirt sophomore and still has room to develop. He seemed like a LB from the time he was being recruited and he has far and away the best pedigree of anyone on the roster.
Grigsby will be back at least in his pass rush role. I’m at least intrigued by Wirginis. Galambos has been OK but I don’t know that he has a very high ceiling. Caprara seems like a backup/special teams guy. Of the unknowns, I’d like to see if either Jamal Davis or James Folston could step up.
If the front seven can help generate ANYTHING in terms of a consistent rush, it’ll help because the defensive backfield does appear to have at least some talent and depth to build around next year.
Comment by Tossing Thabeets 11.02.14 @ 8:23 pm
Thank you. You obviously have a Pitt education. Some of these others I’m kind of wondering about.
haha
I haven’t yet given up on Soto but his play this year has been a bit disappointing
The thing about defense is it helps when you are bigger, faster and stronger and can win the individual battles. Recruiting is the only thing that can really make a difference.
Then there is coaching, it is much easier to tackle someone when you are running forward and have momentum. Our defense is always on it’s heels, trying to make tackles from the side or from behind, not nearly as effective. Some of this is because we don’t have the talent to get off the blocks, but some of it is the style (coaching) we play.
GT was a perfect example of this. To beat the option, you have to anticipate and gamble by shooting the gap to meet the play head on. Sometimes you are going to miss, but sometimes you will blow up the play before it gets started. If you just try to hold your position, the play is past you before you have a chance.
This lack of aggressiveness is on the coaches. Way too many times our linebackers and safeties are making tackles after 7 yard gains. You have to gamble a little to stop the play at the line of scrimmage. When you are standing still or on your heels, you are easily blocked.
Coaching is a problem, but a couple of blue chippers makes a coach a lot smarter. Conner and Boyd make plays. Since Donald is gone there is no comparable player(s) on defense.
Thomas is the closest, but he is off the field on too many crucial downs, go figure.
In fact, we can call it a Pedersonism
Have a Running Back leading the ENTIRE NATION IN rushing.
Have a superlative WR who is one of the best in the nation.
If you can’t win while having 600 yards of Total offense, 250 yards and 3 TD’s from the nation’s leading rusher and 2 TD passes to….your favorite….the TIGHT END.
And last year we had an NFL QB, an NFL WR in Street plus Boyd AND THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN NCAAF WHO swept all the national awards.
What makes anyone think, that regardless of who they recruit, we’re gonna win other than 5 or 6 games a year with maybe a loss to a rent-a-win.
And a shit bowl to boot.
I’ve had my fill of Kool-Aid for a lifetime.
if i have to remind you.
Still waiting for the first 4 star QB. That doesn’t have only offers from MAC teams.
Comment by pittisit37 11.03.14 @ 3:43 am
ESPN was talking up the fact that Pitt & Duke played the first nationally televised football game in 1951.
Don’t ask me why, Pitt was 1-8 in 1950 and 3-7 in 1951. haha We lost naturally.
I believe that we also played them in the first radio broadcasted game in the Fred Flintstone era.
It is a prerequisite that that person’s initials are either, J.S. or J.M. .
Jock Sutherland
Jackie Sherrill
Johnny Majors (1)
John Michelson
See… finding the right fit at Pitt for a HC isn’t that hard after all. 😉
And every major bowl bid Pitt has EVER had. (save one slightly tainted one)
It’s too bad hardly anyone at Duke cares about football.
Sort of like Pitt, sans this board.
Dukes largest home crowd of the year……drum roll…..opening day against Elon. lol
31,000
1. Our D and DC should now be called “Bad & Worse”
2. Whoever made the decision to run to the side lines so as to make the 26 yard field goal as difficult as possible had to of had a recent lobotomy. It’s the only possible explanation!
3. The coaches job is to help make his players successful. Whether if Blewitt makes the kick or not, THE COACH ALWAYS DOES THE BEST THING FOR HIS PLAYERS! Kicking the ball STRAIGHT ON at 26 yards is only 6 YARDS longer than an extra point. How many COACHES DO YOU KNOW THAT ASKS TO HAVE THE BALL PLACED FOR AN EXTRA POINT ON THE HASH MARK??????????????????? NONE – why? Because it’s a difficult angle!!!! DUH
4. Did anyone else notice that on our drive before half we were snapping the ball with 15 to 20 seconds still on the clock? We give Duke nearly 2 minutes to have a first half ending drive for a TD when with any kind of clock management they have NO TIME to score!
5. I feel really bad for James Conner, the kid kills himself to win the game (260+ yards) and we’re too stupid to get the W.
Don’t give Paulie the putz any ideas.
He’ll be having blewitt kick xp’s from the hash marks next game.
The main problem is that the defense is terrible – absolutely stinking terrible. Yes, they’ve made a few plays here and there, but for the most part teams can effortlessly move the ball up and down the field at will. If I were playing Pitt, I’d throw across the middle of the field on every down – you know, where the defense is always 10 yards away from the receivers. I don’t think we have the talent right now to be a top defense, but we certainly have enough to be much better than what I’ve seen on the field. With a simply competent defense, we win most of those games we’ve dropped.
I’m not all out on Chryst yet and I still like a lot of what he is doing, but he’s got to make significant coaching changes on defense this year, including the DC position. If not, then Pitt needs to consider moving on to the next chump.
no need to worry, if he’s like TT, House will have him OFF the field on 33% or more of the plays.
It’s become the Keystone Cops.
Friggin’ hilarious!!!!!
In college football, many people believe
that good coaching is 2nd to good recruiting.
And it’s not our forte???? LMAO!!!!!!
Are you serious?!? Gruden makes $4.3M with ESPN… And he doesn’t have to recruit, kiss the asses of baby faced 16 year old primadonnas, coach, deal with alumni, crappy administration, shoestring budget, and sharing rented facilities with the main attraction while playing 4th or 5th fiddle in town… I could go on, and on about how ridiculous that idea is… but I can’t tell if you’re serious, so I won’t.
haha, man… Gruden and Jimmy Johnson… why not throw Cower’s name into the ring… or Tony Dungy..
I don’t want Rhoades back in any form.
He had a very passive defense and he’s 13 games below .500 as Iowa State’s HC.
this is someone pitt would usually hire after he get’s fired at Ames.
No thanks.
He must have been joking.
The following is a linked twitter conversation about not only centering the ball, but also the post-game explanation from PC about the play before the FG. Note there are at least 3 writers here who do this for a living including a guy who has a son on the Pitt roster. See their comments, in particular, about his comments … these are people who follow football for a living.
link to twitter.com
Now here is a tweet from a reknown national college FB writer with no Pitt connection whatsoever.
Pat Forde?Verified account
?@YahooForde Smother hooked a chip shot, and Blewitt is pretty good. Pitt for some reason set him up on hash instead of middle of field.
They all know that (1) how difficult it is in college to kick a short FG from the hash, and (2) there was no reason whatsoever to run Voytik to the right on that last play – even if he was supposed to go out of bounds. It makes no sense — the coach completely panicked.
No, I wasn’t joking but OBVIOUSLY it wasn’t something I was predicting would happen…just engaging in some creative thought, if we can tolerate that?
And no, didn’t know Gruden made so much money…not really interested in researching those things, but it sounds like ESPN is paying him about 3x more than he’s delivering to them in my accounting of it…slightly above average and sometimes tedious announcer in my book, but hey, I don’t have to pay him $4M.
