(This is a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
I have to start off by saying that because of external family issues; a death of a good friend, my having to set up his Memorial Service , having the wake at our home and then having house guests all weekend I didn’t watch the game and I didn’t record it either.
I took a look at the box scores and watched a few video highlights and that’s it – you guys can do the MMQB’ing this week…
POSITIVES
1. Chad Voytik. That is his second consecutive game that he’s shown improvement in his actual passing production. From watching a couple videos of his passes it looks like his passing skills are getting better also. 16 of 24 for 236 yards (66.8%) with a ypa of 9.8, which is excellent! And two TDs is a good day at the office for any QB. Good for him. He lead the team to 31 regular game points.
On our second TD drive we had to go 32 yards and he did that with only two plays, a 16 yard pass and a 13 yard run.
2. James Conner again. Anytime someone carries the ball 38 times and still has a 6.9 yards per carry average something special is going on. That adds up to 263 yards and his three TDs were most of our points. He scores from in close and from a distance and that makes it harder to defend him. That first TD drive we had was 82 yards and Conner had 53 of them.
3. Tyler Boyd. I’ve been skeptical of Voytik’s deep ball and still don’t feel that it is a big part of his passing game. His 48 yarder to Boyd was underthrown but when you have a receiver with Boyd’s hands and ability to have awesome situational awareness as to where the defenders are then, hey!, sling it up there as far as you can. He had 7 receptions for 140 yards. Even without that 48 yarder boyd was 6 for 92 which is 15.3 yards per catch which is a cut above. All told he had 20.0 YPC which is off the charts. No TDs but his reception set up an early score.
A 62 yard punt return is nice also.
3.a No fumbles and no INTs makes for a game that is played by talent alone.
NEGATIVES
1. Our defense I guess. I know everyone is pulling their hair out and since you all watched the game I guess it was pretty poor, but again, holding a 6-1 ACC opponent to 31 regular points isn’t a bad showing. It isn’t a great defensive effort but not too bad IMO. Basically it was a shoot out when you look at the score. Note: I really dislike the fact that Overtime points scored are counted as game points – it really skews what transpires out on the field.
2. If our defense was a negative I’ll assume Matt House’s schemes were a negative also. I really don’t know since I didn’t watch so please weigh in with that.
3. Chris Blewitt. In reading comments after the game I was amazed at how many PITT fans were placing the blame on that last second missed 26 yard FG on Chryst. Sorry, but I think that is a croc and a skewed point of view because of fan’s frustration with our team overall.
Here is a quote from ESPN on that play:
“The Panthers (4-5, 2-3) had a chance to win in regulation, driving deep into Duke territory to set up Blewitt for a 26-yard field goal attempt with 2 seconds left. The Blue Devils called two timeouts to make Blewitt think about it, and the kicker hooked it badly to the left.
“I was just trying to break a rhythm and maybe set our own rhythm,” Cutcliffe said. “I was trying to give our players the best chance to win. It seemed like the right thing to do.”
Looked like it too after Blewitt missed a field goal from under 30 yards for just the second time in his career. Pitt coach Paul Chryst defended his kicker, who had hit 9 of 10 field goals coming in.
“I have a ton of faith in him,” Chryst said. “We’re going to need him again.”
Yes, it was a tougher kick than from the middle of the hash marks would have been but kickers make that kick 9 out of 10 times IMO. I’ve seen him make that same exact kick, from both hash marks, many times in practice. He plain shanked it left from the moment his foot touched the ball. I love Blewitt as a kicker but he let the pressure of the two timeouts and the score got to him and he didn’t do his job in that pressure situation. He didn’t lose the game for us but he had a chance to win it on one play and he failed.
Can’t blame Chryst for that unless you really want to have things to blame him for.
Ying & Yang
This is a special weekly section dedicated to the quarterback play of Chad Voytik so that we can look specifically at how he’s doing, whether he is progressing or not, and what his impact on the team and games are week to week at this point in the season.
See Positive #1 above. Voytik has two games in a row where he’s played well and that is good. It looks like his passes were timely and helped to keep us in the game so good for him.
I like the fact that on our 4th TD drive Voytik was 4/5 passing for 67 yards and a TD but the best part is on that drive he hit four (!) different receivers. He wasn’t locking into just Boyd this game.
Two TD passes to Holtz and getting the ball to Orndoff is what we need to see every game from our QB and it has been something that Voytik hasn’t felt real comfortable with in the past. That is a big step in the right direction.
Comment by wbb 11.06.14 @ 7:52 am
Nothing that surprising, we’ve seen this type of confusion way too often in the last 35 games.
I think you noted before, this coaching staff doesn’t pay much attention to details.
In a close game, that kind of stuff comes into play.
It would be interesting to look back at all the close games of the last 35 games and review all the coaching gaffes.
Especially if say Chad fumbled and he was playing with a glove on his left hand and had banged it up earlier in the game.
Connor has also been known to fumble around the goal line.
And throwing a pass in a shortened condensed field around the goal line could have resulted in an interception.
Your percentages of scoring a TD there are vastly lower than making a FG. Maybe he watched the Ole Miss gamelater and said…hey wait. Yea I wanted to go for the TD.
This guy gets more funnier(and the answers more lame) everyday.
He needs replaced before the next game, 11 days from now.
What this means is, no matter if he brought in a roster of 4-5 star recruits (which of course is never going to happen).
His in-game coaching ineptness and just plain, moronic thinking process, would cause many more unconscionable heartbreaking losses.
That’s why the sooner they act on a new AD and HC, the better.
I know that.
I was more reflecting on the fact, that I thought I was such a die hard, that I would never get to this point.
That’s all.
…Not taking my ball and going home, just
old and tired of it I guess.
Comment by Dan 11.06.14 @ 12:16 pm”
Dan,
You are one of the people they SHOULD care about.
With the kids it’s very hard, that is understood, or should be understood by all.
@Joe Lawrence, ya, you’d think. Just frustrating.
My Dad actually played for Pitt in the late 40’s after he came home from WW II.
So, although I ended up going to Pitt, it was my Dad’s indoctrination in the 1970’s.
I loved “Pitt” before I even knew it was
a school.
I know everyone has their own personal story too, and why we’re on here.
I don’t know, maybe we’ll just cut back to two or something.
Well, a touchdown there would have ensured at least overtime because I would have expected another kick return for a td with no time left on the clock….because that’s how we roll!
Foster has dropped behind a freshman which is bad news for him. Hopefully (if the rumors are true that he will try to transfer back without sitting out due to family medical issues), he brings the alabama work ethic to our team! It is exciting stuff! Again, allegedly.
There isn’t one doubt in my mind he should have made it. As for the rest, I think Chryst is a poor gameday coach and have pretty consistent with that in my writings.
I was stating where we are in regards to Pitt football, and we’re about on our last legs.
Besides, a threat, or some kind of “I’ll show them”????
Ha ha ha, c’mon brother, you think they feel any threats from anyone, look at the last 30 years of Pitt football.
They could care less about me and my tix.
I know that.
I was more reflecting on the fact, that I thought I was such a die hard, that I would never get to this point.
That’s all.
p.s. I don’t feel you were picking on me, maybe you’ve seen other people, maybe on the radio’s etc. etc.
but I’ve responded, because I am one of the people that has mentioned it.
Not taking my ball and going home, just
old and tired of it I guess.