Feels good. As much as Pitt has dominated VT in wins in this and the previous decade, Pitt last won in Lane Stadium back in 2002 — or half-a-dozen non-interim coaches ago.
Pitt won the game with defense and just enough offense. An energized and enthusiastic defense that had former players looking on with envy.
I wish I would have played in coach Narduzzi defense omg!!!! #H2P #goodwin
— Toddy thomas (@Toddythomas8) October 3, 2015
Ejuan Price had the kind of game that made him a highly sought recruit several years and injuries ago. Hopefully he can stay healthy this year. He deserves it after everything — and boy, does he help make that defense more dangerous up front.
“Today might have been the [most fun] game we’ve had so far,” defensive end Ejuan Price said. “This happens to be the most successful, so that goes hand in hand.”
Price had 3.5 tackles for a loss and two sacks, including one on third-and-9 in the fourth quarter as the Hokies tried to drive for a go-ahead touchdown.
As Pitt’s offense struggled to salt the game away in the fourth quarter, the Panthers got defensive stop after stop to snuff out any hope of a late Virginia Tech comeback.
“They were just after them,” quarterback Nate Peterman said. “We’ve got to be better in those [offensive] situations, obviously, but our defense is really a championship-level defense. It’s great to have them.”
The defensive players have been raving about the style of defense since the spring. They are still raving.
Cornerback Avonte Maddox, who had a diving pick in the second quarter, was feeling good about himself and his teammates when he was asked to describe a Narduzzi defense.
“Great,” he said, his eyes wide and his face lighting up.
“It’s a playmaking defense. If you do your keys, anybody can make the play. I like to play man (defense) and get in people’s faces. It’s not complicated.”
After allowing a close game to get away two weeks ago in Iowa, Pitt refused to let it happen again.
So different. So very different.
2014 #Pitt: 19 sacks in 13 games 2015 Pitt: 17 sacks in 4 games 2014 Pitt: 22% opp. rushes went for loss/no gain 2015 Pitt: 36.2% loss/ng
— David Hale (@DavidHaleESPN) October 3, 2015
Head Coach Pat Narduzzi spoke of finishing in the fourth quarter. At least for the defense.
“It’s just focusing on the fundamentals,” Narduzzi said. “It’s not that hard of a game if you just do the little things right. You can’t panic at the end of a game. It’s not like they tried to in the past; it’s that they just lost the focus of understanding. It’s not just, give effort; you have to be smart, you have to have that knowledge. We talk about it all the time. So they just put it together. I think that’s the key. We stressed it in the fourth quarter: hey, finish it and do the little things. And they did.
“There was a sack that Juan (Price) and (Matt) Galambos set up together and they both came so clean. We had some pressure sacks today where we were bringing some extra ‘backers, but this was a third-down, four-man pressure that was executed perfectly. You can’t bring pressure all the time, and that was one of those four-man sacks that you look at and go, we didn’t do that in the fourth quarter (at Iowa) because we rushed it. They were so anxious to get to the quarterback that they forgot about the ‘sell,’ and you have to sell.”
As for the offense, well… an optimist might call it the Milton Berle offense. There was a certain, how should I put this… incoherence. It just seemed that there has been a real struggle to for this offense to know what it is doing. Not simply from game-to-game, but series-to-series. Some of that has to do with a new head coach trying to come to grips with both sides of the ball.
A conversation Narduzzi said he had with offensive coordinator Jim Chaney illustrates the trust he has in his defense and the confidence it holds in itself.
“I told him they ain’t going to score again,” Narduzzi said. “Hold onto the football, be smart. Maybe we got a little more conservative, but we made it work.”
Maybe a little too Wannstedtian for my tastes.
I also look at that comment, and think that it explains so much why it is much harder for defensive coordinators to get their shot as a college football head coach over offensive coordinators. You may not like where the game is, but it is heavily tilted to the offensive side.
When a coordinator is coming into the head coaching spot for the first time, it is only natural to lean a little harder on the side where they came. We saw it over the previous three years with Paul Chryst. He just couldn’t stop leaning on the offensive side, even as the defense got worse and was costing them games.
It’s right and fair to praise and credit Narduzzi along with DC Josh Conklin for the turnaround on the defensive side. It’s also fair to criticize Narduzzi along with OC Jim Chaney for struggling and pulling back on the offense so much. Yes, the loss of James Conner is big, but the playcalling and approach in the fourth (and a good chunk of the third) quarter put that game into greater doubt than it should have.
This is the learning curve. The good ones do figure out the balance between things in time. The rest go back to coordinator and position coaching.
The first half yo-yo game with Peterman and Voytik at QB worked at first, but if you are not going to let Voytik throw at all. It becomes a short-term gimmick at best. VT remains a defense that somehow struggles to get a handle on mobile QBs. Even when they knew what was coming. Not sure how well that sort of thing would work against other teams — especially now that it is on tape.
It also made it that much harder for Peterman to get any sort of rhythm. And I can’t help but wonder if some of the first half pre-snap penalties on the offense had anything to do with the offensive line having to respond to the different cadence and styles of different QBs calling out.
But, it was a win, so it beat being on the other side of things.
Frank Beamer said little to his players late Saturday afternoon, even less to the media. And what he did say was terse. Little wonder.
Beamer’s Virginia Tech football team is bad, getting worse, and he knows it. He knows youth and injuries aren’t excuses for fundamental breakdowns on both sides of the ball. He knows Hokies faithful and his bosses will demand better and that failing to improve could have dire consequences.
Tech lost to Pittsburgh 17-13, and the margin did no justice to the Panthers’ superiority.
The Hokies gained 100 yards, their fewest since managing just 60 in Beamer’s debut game as head coach, a 22-10 home loss to Clemson in 1987. Tech yielded seven sacks, matching its aggregate from the season’s first four games, and rushed for 9 yards, the fourth-lowest of the Beamer Era.
Just cannot believe that 9 yard rushing total for the game is only 4th lowest in 28 years. They must have had some QBs manhandled something horrible at some time.
Beamer didn’t swear, pound the podium or raise his voice — he never does. But you could tell. The Hokies are 2-3, 0-1 in the ACC, after consecutive losses to ECU and Pitt and are proficient at absolutely nothing. They have a short week to prepare for Friday’s visit from North Carolina State and are in danger of their first 0-2 ACC start in 12 seasons of membership.
“We’re going to look closely at some personnel,” Beamer said. “We’re going to look carefully at how we’re doing some coaching.”
I suggested to Beamer that Ollison’s runs to open the third quarter were nothing more than routine off-tackle plays.
“That’s what it looked like to me, too,” he said. “It’s poor gap responsibility. Both sides of the ball. It’s lapses. It’s not consistent play. It’s not what we normally have around here. Like I said, we’re not staying where we are. We’ll look at it.”
Following up, I asked Beamer if it was fair to call him angry, for even in defeat he usually preaches the positive.
“No, I’m not very happy,” he said. “If you’re happy to see the team come out in two plays and score after halftime — no, I’m not happy.”
No the fans weren’t happy either.
Homecoming Saturday against Virginia and dead coach walking, Mike London. No excuse not to show up and see this Pitt team.
Look back on this blog a month ago at all the hand wringing about the upcoming YSU game. With a brand new coaching staff, we could have easily laid an egg against YSU JUST LIKE CHRYST DID 3 years ago. Pitt is 3-1 however you cut it, don’t discount that accomplishment by siting YSU as a “cupcake” game. I was there, we’re you? The Penquins played us tuff to the end and it was an exciting game. This cupcake we could have easily gagged on. I’m just glad that we avoided pulling a SOP, this board’s attitude is a lot better at 3-1 than at 2-2, tha’s all I know.
Humble the Hoos! Hail to Pitt!
HTP!
Will that make Heinz Field a mess? With no high school games, nor a Steeler game before the Pitt vs UVA, maybe the field will be ok.
Be sure to encourage all your fringe Pitt buddies to attend. Much to do on a Homecoming weekend in Pittsburgh. I know I will be talking to friends and family.
Is there a color we fans are to wear to the game? Mustard yellow?
HTP!
Florida and Houston are doing quite well with new coaches
Michigan with Jim Harbaugh is another great new HC – Colorado State @ 2-3 with Mike Bobo, not so good yet.
A very judgmental lot that never seem to give credit when it’s due, soon lose their credibility in being able see things from a rational perspective and should be chastised accordingly by those who see the obvious inequity of their tactics.
The Koolaid drinkers get lambasted enough for being epitomal optimists, but the guys out there who only show up when the Panthers fall flat on their faces, with their own style of piling on with their negative analysis are even worse, IMO.
That’s not debating the specifics of the team’s performance rationally, that’s just waiting for the opportunity for team/player bashing and that is only one step above blatant trolling from rival fans.
Narduzzi did go for it on 4th down this game. He learned from the last game.
Going for every fourth down would be insane and no coach is going to do that especially when your offense is struggling and D is playing well.
As for the punts…you can’t blame Narduzzi for the punter not doing his job. That’s like blaming a coach for a field kicker missing a chip shot. It is not that hard to kick a punt shorter than you usually do, they practice it every freaking day. I would bet Winslow successfully does it in practice on a regular basis. He simply choked in the game. It needs fixed.
One article said he signed a three year deal for 1.5 mil.
Good for him, always thought he was screwed by House keeping him off the field on third downs.
The other day, Wisc had a 1st and goal with about 4 minutes left and didn’t score; and in fact, Iowa broke thru the line and forced a fumble on a basic straight ahead handoff.
UPitt should vouch for me on this. When batting against an opponent. NEVER, not once ever, did I feel a pitcher was better than me when I walked in the batters box. I can say that confidently. The same attitude seems to be coming into play with our defense, particularly the trench coats!
We need to transfer that mentality to the offensive line next. Change the mindset and then change the result. Once that happens, the confidence comes in.
To Big B’s point, it does look like Artie and Officer have put on some poundage. Officer actually looked like he struggled to lift himself off the ground on a couple plays, but I still like him and think he has better feet than Artie.
Last year the team played on its heals, this year they make contact running forward. Much easier to make hard tackles with forward momentum.
They will get burned by better QB’s and receivers, but will still make big plays, hopefully when needed most. Last year QB’s could sit in the pocket all day and wait for their guy to get open. No more of that.
He certainly doesn’t have the speed that he had back in 2011, but even if he made the Jags practice squad, good for him.
And remember, even playing part time, he had more tackles than the MLB did payed full time.
However, in SOP fashion we had several shots at the end of the game to just finish it by scoring a touchdown and we couldn’t.
We still won but had we scored to seal the deal I would be sure PITT was the much better team than the opponent.
Since we couldn’t finish it leaves me wondering??
I have a feeling we crush UVA! I wish I was there as I very really miss a home game but my wife has a relative that is getting married.
Here is hoping for a blowout win by the Panthers on homecoming. Wish I could be there to see it.
Well, the Browns may have one-upped us yesterday. They jumped offside on a last second MISSED FG, and the re-kick was good and the game winner.
Add to that, we have a new QB, that has had little game experience.
So how much of the problem is Chaney’s play calling or new offense? Time will certainly tell, but I think with all of the issues and a 3-1 record, some may be prematurely tough on the guy.
There are two sides to every coin, did he want to play Peterson all the time, and underhandedly make it happen, or did he make the tough decision to go with a guy that has played better in practice and on the field and appears to have more upside? Is it poor play calling, or poor execution of the plays called?
The answers are probably somewhere in between.
Hopefully all of us want to see the offense gets better every week and is good enough to win at least 4 more games and hopefully 5-7.
Hopefully few are petty enough to want to see failure to prove their point of view, regarding the QB or coach.
More than anything we need our guys to stay healthy.
I don’t think the 07 defense will ever get its proper kudos because the team finished 5-7.
See y’all at Bobby Dodd in two weeks.
Hail to Pitt!
HTP
In the past two years we won a close, low scoring game and lost a close game where our O was shut out in the 1st half. 1-1
I have confidence in our D to give another sterling performance – we also know that UVA’s O is not real good either. BUT, their D is laced with veteran upperclassmen and they have played against some pretty good competition this year. Our O is still trying to find their way.
I predict another low scoring game with Pitt winning by 8.
HTP!
Hypothetical questions, would you rather have Chaney’s offense or House’s defense?
How would Chryst and Rudolph have handled the rash of injuries? One thing for sure is Peterman would not be here, so we still be run first.
Do you see or hear any signs of James Conner re-habbing ….from other players or contacts?
Also, they think WV is in for a long season, #24, yeah right.
Nice to see Ollison break free. Hopefully James and or Hall break a few off this weekend as well.
I also look for Boyd to have a big day as well.
I think they will want to give upcoming opponents a few new things to worry about. With the weather like it was last week, a close game from start to finish, and a suspected tough VT team, it wasn’t the time to unveil anything new. Now we’re are closing in on half a season. We should see a little of the O JC wants to run. Screens? More WRs involved? Trick play? How ’bout a tackle eligible to a former TE/WR named O’Neill?? (It could happen!!)
H2PN! Visualize 4-1
Seem to remember quite a few folks who insisted he was not that good, was too slow, etc. etc. In their defense of OutHouse’s defensive scheme.
While some of us were pointing out how insane it was that TT was OFF the field for 33% or more of Pitt’s snaps on defense. And in some games he ONLY saw the field on Special teams play because the DC didn’t think it was important to have his best defensive player on the Field at ALL times.
Because he insisted TT didn’t fit his particular defensive scheme. (bad scheme I might add)
Sort of points out, what a difference in coaching schemes and COACHES can make. And how COACHES can make wrong personnel decisions based on their faulty schemes. As Pitt’s defense, with basically the same personnel as last year, minus their best LB in Thomas, is much better than last year.
And this not playing the better personnel on your team, because they don’t fit your faulty schemes, applies not only to defensive coaches or DC’s…..but to offensive coaches or OC’s as well.
As what we saw last year on the defensive side of the ball….we’re seeing on the offensive side of the ball this year.
Not having your best personnel on the field, because they don’t fit your particular scheme.
That my friends is bad coaching.
Instead it was a nail biter one score game, where one fluke play could have determined the outcome.
Again extremely bad coaching by the OC.
Did anyone read or hear Frankinliar’s hissy fit? 5 star recruiter 1 star coach and person. 107K strong -give or take 20K.
Another example of changing something (Parrish as a lead blocker FB) that didn’t need changed.
Yea that was funny. I think Jackagain posted the links to it, up above…..yesterday.
We were supposed to stay focused on YSU in game one, right?
What has changed come game five? NOTHING!
Never underestimate or look past any opponent, especially if you are Pitt!!
The Caveliers could steal our lunch and sit around eating it while we watch if we let them. This 1-3 team is wounded and dangerous. Narduzzi hopefully will do the humane thing for them by stepping on their throats early and putting a bullet through the wounded animal’s head to end it’s misery. Make no mistake about it though, underestimate the danger and you could lose a leg or worse.
Prove to us last week was no fluke! Hail to Pitt!
Of course that includes our YSU cupcake game….