A common theme among PITT fans when discussing the football program, at least over the last two years, has been our defense and how poorly it has played. There really can be no denying that opinion, especially with the taste of last season’s bowl game and Houston’s Sherman to PITT’s Georgia rampage. This is so very obvious it wouldn’t even be worthy of any long discussion save for one fact.
PITT hired one of the best defensive minds in college ball when they pried Pat Narduzzi from his Michigan State Defensive Coordinator position. His defenses were in the Top 25 in many major categories whereas we had one, our pass defense which is mind-blowing considering the last two quarters of our season last year:
| TEAM | Total | Rush | Pass | Pass Eff. | Scoring | 3rd Down | 1st Down | INTs | TDs | Sacks |
| MSU | 8th | 1st | 60th | 21st | 22nd 21.5 ppg | 8th | 8th | 10th | 29th | 8th |
| PITT | 33rd | 55th | 24th | 43rd | 55th 26.3 ppg | 40th | 37th | 82nd | None | 102nd |
Yea us!! We beat them in passing defense!! But that was it. The table above and the graphic and convincing numerical rank superiority that MSU had over PITT is the reason we fans are chomping at the bit to see Narduzzi and Conklin’s defense out on the field of play.
So to answer the question of the title I believe yes, it was as bad as we believed it to be in our guts. Of course they played well in some games and made some nice plays here and there but overall we were what we looked like – bad.
Looking at the differences above begs the Big Question: Will our defense get better on the shoulders of the defensive coaching staff and the HC himself alone? Remember that we’ll have, in essence, the same players on the roster this season as last save one or two talented true FR like DB Jordan Whitehead, so this staff basically has to wring the talent needed for bettering the defense by their teaching, coaching and game planning alone. They have to do all that with the same players who put up such a poor defense as last year; possible or not possible, that is the question. Whether tis nobler to suffer ….
We love to point to MSU’s stout defenses in recent years and slobber over our beers wanting that same thing to happen here as soon as possible. But let’s don’t forget that by that point Narduzzi had about five years of every defensive player being the kids he wanted to recruit. He does not have that luxury at PITT in 2015.
The fact that Narduzzi and Conklin have been saying 80-90% of our defense is going to be stopping the run just doesn’t make a whole bunch of sense when at the same time they were giving up 603 yards passing in the bowl game. I hope they tailor the D a bit to fit personnel rather than trying to fit personnel into a concrete system.
Fall camp will be fun to watch as always but even more due to all the new things going on – especially on the defense side.
OTHER NOTES:
The P-G’s Red Shirt Diaries, Sam Werner’s PITT football blog, returned after a ten day hiatus. In this morning’s edition Werner captured some items of interest that we hadn’t seen from other writers in attendance at Saturday’s scrimmage. We have had some comments on here asking about the role FB Jaymar Parrish will fill under the new OC’s direction. Here is what Cheney said in response to that question.
“Chaney was also asked about the role of a fullback in his offense, which will operate out of a shotgun or pistol more than a traditional pro-style offense. But that doesn’t mean there’s not a role for a fullback. “To use a fullback, you better have an excellent one,” Chaney said. “Have a good fullback, you better question if you’re going to use him or not. You need an excellent one.”
Which begs the question of whether this new staff was serious when they said they weren’t going to watch any film of PITT’s games? Parrish was one of the best blocking FBs in the nation last season and a big part of the nationally ranked running game. Parrish doesn’t generate much offense, only 25 yards receiving and none rushing. Earlier we were told that this season’s offense was going to be 60% – 75% either in the Shotgun or in the Pistol (a few steps closer to the Center). In essence we won’t see as much of the QB being under the center “pro style” offensive formations.
That will cut out some of Parrish’s role but let’s hope we see him anytime we are within ten yards of the goal line.
Werner also expounds on the movement in the LB corps and refers way back to when Caprara jumped Thomas for a few days.
– At linebacker, Mike Caprara was working with the first team at the “Money” (weak side) position, ahead of Bam Bradley. You may remember that two years ago, Caprara moved ahead of Todd Thomas during training camp, prompting Thomas to briefly quit the team before coming back and having a productive season. We’ll see how Bradley reacts to the demotion, but it could be a motivating factor for him as we move forward with spring practices.
The staff must like Conner’s blocking skills this camp because they have had to get better for Cheney to entertain Conner being a three down back. I’m a bit wary of this because quite honestly we are not going to be throwing many 3rd down passes to the RBs out of the backfield when we have Boyd and two good TE for short yardage plays. We’ll be using the RB mostly as a blocking back in that situation and have Ibrahim, who did well at that, and James who is a strong RB to take that role.
“Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said that he anticipates James Conner being a bigger part of the passing game this year. Last season, Conner mostly came off the field in passing situations, and Isaac Bennett or Rachid Ibrahim went on as a third-down back. That won’t necessarily be the case this year.
“I think James Conner has the ability to do whatever James Conner wants to do,” Chaney said. “He’s got tremendous ball skills. He can catch the ball and obviously you know what he can do when he has it in his hands.”
After the last scrimmage Chad Voytik was interviewed and said “We have James Conner running the ball and we have Tyler Boyd catching it. That is our offense right there”
That makes me cringe a bit because I, and others, believe we wasted some aspects of our offensive player’s skills last year, mainly the TEs. We didn’t throw the ball out of the backfield much at all and Bennett was a great back for that as is Ibrahim and we didn’t use the H-Back position (Parrish and Orndoff) hardly at all. I’m hoping this staff understands the talent level they have inherited with or ‘skilled’ guys and tailor the offense to take advantage of that. This especially in light of the fact that the best passing skill set Voytik has is the short and intermediate passes which he can execute quickly and while rolling out.
It would be nice to see him air it out more than last year, he didn’t, or wasn’t allowed to, throw deep balls hardly at all, but our core passing game should be stuffed with getting the ball to the talented receivers, whoever they may be, and letting them run as far as they can with it.
The Trib has a very nice off-field piece on Patrick Amara’s charitable works and the backstory that drive his positive outlook of others.
Next practice Tuesday, March 31st.
Delaware, BC, FIU, Iowa, Akron, UVa, VT
With the possible exception BC whose QB you may remember, missed a handul of wide open receivers, Pitt did not play a potent offense until week 8 … and then all hell broke loose.
GT, Duke, UNC, and Houston all moved the ball seemingly at will. I thought the D did a good job in the season finale.
What also has to be taken in account is that a team that ran the ball 610 times will consume the clock and keep the defense on the field .. which also contributed to the defense’s numbers last years.
In that regard wbb, why couldn’t our “season finale” had been the Miami game, our final regular season game? I’m pretty sure that you’re never going to forget our actual season ending, so that “finale” I wish we had never accepted in the first place, in retrospect.
Never forget Houston. This defense will be better. How much so depends more on coaching than it will on personnel, with one exception. We need a play maker at DE. Last year I hitched my wagon to Luke McClean, he got injured and fizzled, my major fail in the prediction department of an emerging defensive star.
This season, I’m wondering what our new JC recruit Allen Edwards is going to bring to the table? I can’t get a feel for his skill set yet by following his recruiting info. This will be a story line come fall camp that will be important to follow. Hopefully he can make a major impact at DE right off the bat. We need the help!
The thing that has been missing most with the D is the big play at the end of games, the interception, forced fumble etc. that puts the game away. Also pressure on the QB which creates havoc and mistakes.
I was disappointed to hear that Soto is running with the 1s. Seems to me he got too big last season and had no quickness. Maybe we’d be too undersized with Blair and Price at DE… Like you with Luke Maclean, I’ve been hoping that Shane Roy would emerge – but the silence is deafening…
Lack of plays from our DEs remains the biggest problem on our defense.
Go Pitt.
Which was 2/3’ds into the season. Had to be one of the weakest… if not weakest schedules Pitt ever played. Which is one of the reasons I consider Pototo Paulie’s time at Pitt, somewhat of a failure.
And then we had a pitiful Syracuse offense with their 10th string qb playing and we got the Miami QB on an off performance, since he did lead the ACC in passingm but completed less than 50% of his passes against us. So basically you had 3 games, GT, Duke & UNC where you had a competent QB performance and GT didn’t have to pass but 12 times since they ran for nearly 500 yards.
Another case of statistics not nearly telling the whole or real story.
OSU did get a third top 10 running back to commit this weekend. Seems crazy that these kids get lost in the atmosphere and don’t study the charts. Also, Lamont Wade was in cbus too, while Hamlin was at ND.
Will Rasheed be number 4?
Franklin offered a few scholarships late last year after he was afforded more by the NCAA you may recall. Even then, he did not offer DE Givens (who is from Altoona in heart of PSU country) until he was certain that a few other targets were going elsewhere .. and Givens immediatly accepted — just 2 days before LOI day.
If we pilloried PC for allowing other visits, BTW I agree with this policy, then let’s hold Narduzzi’s feet to the fire for doing the same thing.
But the reason I don’t really care is that I agree with PC’s (and now apparently Narduzzi’s) thoughts that we want recruits who have explored all their options and come back to pick and stick with PITT. That way there are a lot less transfers after PITT has put time, $$$ and effort in getting those recruits who are now FR and SOs well trained in the HC’s way of doing business to stay at PITT because they truly want to be here. PITT isn’t a strong enough program yet to tell the Top Shelf recruits not to look elsewhere.
So Chick, yes that is our status at this point. Beggars can’t be choosers. BTW this happened sometimes under Dave Wannstedt also, TE Mike Cruz comes to mind right away – and that was after calling PITT a bush league school that played in from of small crowds. Not that he’s far off, we just shouldn’t be taking any recruit after he publicly speaks out about negative issues at PITT.
I used stats only because if we start talking about details in every issue we won’t have anything to write and discuss during the 14 weeks from the Spring Game until Fall Camp starts. I find the subject of our defense under House and then Narduzzi kind of fascination. It truly is the “chicken or the egg’ situation between player talent and coaching.
Also, the depth chart at LB is probably the most fluid of any unit on the team. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking just because they are left over from last year Narduzzi and Haley will keep that as a two-deep. We may see some big personnel changes there.
PITTman – I”m not sure what is meant when you say Narduzzi moved a RB to try out at DE. All I’ve heard is Briggs moving to CB and Poteat moving to LB. The only RBs we have big enough is Conner and Ollison – and Narduzzi would be foolish to move either one. Ollison may jut be our next ‘star’ RB as soon as next season.
Dave Durham was a FB/De in high school and moved to FB at OSU, then transferred here and moved to DE.
@wbb – “OSU does give acrap about Pitt, and certainly doesn’t need to protect its turf.” This seems confusing. I think they do need to protect their turf. They just say they don’t. They did that with Hamilton last year. Remember, OU or BGSU had him, than we had him, than Kentucky had him and then OSU swooped in at the last second because they had numbers. They clamped down against the Kentucky Stoops clan invading Ohio. Ky does well in ohio, particularly Cincy and Dayton areas.
Durham was not a loss for OSU.
What it boils down to (as unscientific/unempirical as it sounds) is this…no one on this blog (or in the their right mind) thought that the defense could/would come through in a close game last year when it mattered most. Period.
Will Narduzzi be able to improve this unit in 2015? I think so but I have no idea how much. Obviously these are not his recruits. The schedule appears to be more difficult. Where will the pressure come from on the outside? How will fist-time starters do at LB (presuming Bradley and Grigsby)?
It will be fun to watch. Spring ball isn’t going to answer a lot of questions but it provides us with our football fix and let’s us know who is on the coaches radar so-to-speak.
3/26/2015 – 2015 C Caleb Swanigan (6-9, 280, 5*) | Overall Rank: 10 | Position Rank: 4 has trimmed his list, and removed Pittsburgh from consideration. – Per Link
3/26/2015 – 2015 C Michael Edwards (6-9, 225, 2*) has received an offer from Pittsburgh. – Per Link
So why wouldn’t a Pitt commit want to keep on the recruiting trail?? Wouldn’t you?
We were never in the legitimate running with Swanigan.
I really like our next 2 classes (assuming everyone sticks) as well as who we are in the final list for. Thorne, Lovett, Moore, & Edwards to go along with a 4* forward, a 5* star guard and a 4* guard.
We just to need to score 2 of the above to make the best 2 back to back classes we’ve had in a long time.
We really seem to be going hard after a quick point guard and an athletic center. Whether we land them or not is the big question.
Will Narduzzi be able to improve this unit in 2015?’
@Comment by JAM05Pitt 03.30.15 @ 1:07 pm
I’d say at least 75% of the battle is putting the kids in the best position to play fast, and make a play.
When they’re out of position (due to over complicated schematics), or in the a bad position (poor play calling)… It doesn’t matter what kind of talent they have, they’re not going to be successful.
How many times in all of those 4th quarters where they couldn’t stop anyone, was the secondary sitting back in cover 2 while the receivers ran down the seams, and TEs came across on drag routes.
If you listen to Pat Bostic talk about this for any length of time, you realize how poor the defense was schematically, and that the play calling did nothing to make up for it.
At the very least, Narduzzi and Conklin will have these guys in the right spot, ready to play fast, and be aggressive… That alone, should improve the defensive performance.
H2P
Just compare their recruits to ours over the past several years. The only recruits to my knowledge that they lost to us were Pgh area ones (Shell, Boyd and Whitehead) and am not aware of any Ohio recruits they wanted that we got.
Their main competitors recuiting wise are Alabama, Oklahoma, Mich, ND, FL St, and sometimes even the Pac 12 teams. They have gone to Florida for blue chippers (we get leftovers), they have a handful of 4-stars from Texas (their 2nd team QB who playe most of the year was one of them) and they have plucked a few from Eastern PA right under PSU’s noses.
Seriously, dhuff, they finish annually in the Top 10 recruting ratings (we haven’t finished in Top 25 for years!) … why in the world would they care about us?
You can’t have a good defense without DEs who make some plays and our DEs didn’t.
Go Pitt.
I hope so but have my doubts.
If we had any lead in the 4th quarter the defense went right into prevent type scheme. Sometimes the safeties were so far back they were out of the picture on the TV.
OSU had someone decommit and go to Florida somewhere (or somewhere in SEC) which opened a slot, thus, they offered Hamilton.
Very true, pressure is very much part of it, and one of many factors that contribute to a soft, leaky defense.
I’m just saying, there were times, I’m thinking specifically during the Houston debacle, where they weren’t even given a chance because they were so far out of position.
That won’t happen with Narduzzi and Conk.
And to be fair… you can create pressure from scheme just as easy as you can from talent.
H2P
H2P
Narduzzi actually mentioned recently that the D can’t play fast if they don’t know what they’re doing (something along those lines). I couldn’t agree more with that point.
Did OSU care about Pitt in the 80’s? Absolutely. Pitt went off the tracks back then and never got back on. A net result is that for years OSU hasn’t had to worry about Pitt because OSU got 4 and 5 stars and Pitt settled for 3 stars and an occasional 4 star. With a new coaching staff, Urb will want to keep the boot on the neck. Just sayin. Head coaches are a paranoid group and any assertion that they might lose a couple targets to an up and comer coach, and there is immediate cause for concern.
Nard also has a prepared speech on why not to go to OSU. He needed it when recruiting for MSU. He now uses it from a little closer logistically. Urb is going to get pinched a little bit in the next year, not this year. Urb is going to lose some to Michigan too. So the pressure mounts. The worst thing that can happen for OSU and for PSU is that Pitt begins to win 8, 9 or 10 a year, every year.
The Nard train is coming. It only takes a big recruiting year or 4 or 5 top recruits to stick their noses up at osu and psu, declare themselves Pitt men who want to create their own path….and look out!
Mike Edwards – supposedly a late bloomer who is getting lots of attention from D1 schools. Pitt, Kansas, Michigan, Illinois were all visiting at the same time.
@wbb:
Exactly my thoughts as well that’s why I said whether we get them is the big question.
I believe I recall that Smoke Williamson was Lovett’s AAU coach for a while so that may help. but I am not sure if Lovett qualifies academically or not. One of the 2 guars and one of the bigs (I don’t think we get Diello.
One drawback of shooting for top recruits and top transfers is a very high level of competition and much lower success rate.
I defer to you with respect to what happens on the ground in Texas, but Ohio, not so much. Sorry, old friend.
Finally to the people that try to make us feel like our season was a failure. Go cheer for ASU!
—————————————–
Sean feeling the heat …. maybe he would consider coming here
Notre Dame had their “A+” game vs Kentucky and couldn’t get it done. Like the Old Tiger their “C” game was still good enough to win.
The Final Four coaches have all been there multiple times some with multiple teams. Another reason it it so difficult to get there, a very exclusive club.
I’m sensing that Gallegher and this current Pitt administration are ready to get serious about Pitt football again. I’m seeing this protracted AD search as a positive for this commitment. The people involved are looking for the right leader to guide this athletic dept. and there is no rush to get the position filled with the first qualified applicant apparently. It’s essential to get this hire correct to keep this change of commitment intact.
I’m feeling very positive about this new coaching staff, but as I’ve said previously, these guys have to produce wins on the field before I start mainlining the Koolaid this time around.
But I’m telling you, if Pitt starts winning football games, guys like Urban as well as the rest of the nation will take notice soon enough. Pitt has name recognition and a long history of players put into the NFL and a storied past. All Pitt needs to do is to start playing quality football and winning 8-9 games a season consistently and this program could get much better real quick.
Just win! If Narduzzi can bring home a season record like 9-4 THIS YEAR, lookout! Then we’ll have some tangible results to help build the momentum that has been created with this recent change of attitude in the administration and hiring of this new staff. Winning this season is essential! If that occurs watch how the 2016 recruiting class improves, it could happen in just a couple seasons but you have to WIN now.
Well said. I am sure when Dantonio took over Michigan State no one at OSU and the other Big 10 schools were too worried. Look at that program now. I am sure when teasm look at their schedules and see Michigan State they know it has to be a maximum effort day to win.
I like how this staff is giving every guy a shot based on performance in practice. Not sure how the last staff handled so called back ups.
Hell, I forgot about Javonte Pitts and he runs with the ones for a few days and Narduzzi says he is a big hitter. They may find some really good situational players. In fact, that will be a must for the D to be good this year.
I am not confident the D can be good this year with the talent they have with returning starters but Narduzzi is leaving no stone left unturned.
This injury gives him a chance to crack the lineup and he will need to do so in the spring, before two highly touted freshman come in. My sense is that if he doesn’t get appreciable playing time this year, he will transfer. He was on the wrong side of the numbers last week. I hope things work out for him.
The better read for me was the comment section from Alabama followers. They didn’t seem that positive for him or am I reading that wrong. One even said he may have been a defensive offer to keep him away from opponents. That makes little sense because it was between Pitt and Alabama.
How many other good to great players are on the bench at the top ten schools? Their choice obviously, but if you don’t get to play what is the point? You don’t go to Alabama for the educational opportunities.
Sometimes fans forget that these are just 19 and 20 year olds and mature at a different level. Plus, it was probably a bit tougher for Foster, moving from WPa to AL
I mean once they realize they are going to college for free? Is it to be on the best team? To win a national championship? To get immediate playing time? Or are they already thinking NFL?
If you’re an elite athlete… The fastest way to the NFL is immediate playing time at a Power 5 school, where you can get your game on tape, and start producing… They will find you outside of the power 5, but if you’re not playing, they won’t.
I can’t understand, for the life of me, why any of these guys would be comfortable with the idea of sitting on the bench for 2-3 years while you wait your turn… Meanwhile, the staff continues to bring in elite recruits right behind you… There’s no guarantee of playing time at any point. Let alone immediately.
Do they not look at the depth chart?
Did he not talk to Boyd about coming to Pitt together, starting from day 1, and going to the NFL together?
It just seems so obvious to me for the local guys. Any position too, not just skill guys. Look at the elite OL that have committed recently. DJ was on the field as true frosh. Grimm will see the field this year as a RSF, and Bookser will likely start.
If you can’t get on the field, or you’re only going to get to play, maybe 1 or 2 of your 5 years in college… what’s the point? Why bust your ass with no promise of ever seeing the field?
It’s water under the bridge at this point. I just don’t get it.
Boyd made the correct decision for himself. Each kid is different. Good luck to both.
Boyd had crazy good offers to play in more successful programs than ours and I think he would have taken advantage of that. With Foster as competition when both were trus FR Boyd might not have been starting in ’13 when we still had Devin Street at WR.
You really think either Boyd or Foster would have been kept off the field? They might not have over taken street. But you can bet they both would have been playing, Foster split out and Boyd in the slot.
@Comment by Upittbaseball 03.31.15 @ 12:40 pm
.. he gets on the field… which he hasn’t yet. It’s ridiculous to just claim that he will start after putting up monster production against the likes of Western Carolina, Southern Miss, and FAU.
In looking at Boyd’s situation by comparison, He’s way ahead of him in development because nothing beats on field game experience, nothing. Boyd’s future looks bright right now,Foster’s is still total speculation.
No speculation on this however, if Foster would have committed to Pitt, he would have gotten a whole lot more home cooked meals from Mom and the trips home would have been a hell of a lot easier. Plus his homies and family could have helped fill up another twenty of those empty yellow seats at Heinz over the last two seasons expending nothing more than a a few gallons of gas for the round trip.
I just hope things work out for him in the end, a great talent in HS, so far unrealized in college.
We can talk criteria when the season gets a little closer.
This is March in the middle of sprng drills .. again, I would not take any comments on strategy, or personnel changes to heart right now. Yes, they are fun to read and ponder, but too many times, I have seen the product on the field in the spring game to vary widely to what I saw in September.