There’s one glaring thing the offense is missing. I’m going to highlight some offensive stats and I want to see if you can find the one area this offense is missing as well. The thing that UNC had and Pitt didn’t on Thursday and the one problem that is holding them back from being good enough to have beaten UNC and Iowa. Let’s start the stats!
These stats are based on the 128 teams listed as FBS on cfbstats.com, the higher the ranking the better.
| Total offense | 364.8 YPG | 91st |
| Yards Per Play | 5.52 | 77th |
| Red Zone Scoring % | 83.33% | 69th |
| Red Zone TD % | 60% | 71st |
| 3rd down conversions | 42.24% | 45th |
| Turnovers | 9 | 21st |
| 10+ yard plays | 91 | 114th |
| 20+ yard plays | 34 | 85th |
Here’s what immediately jumps out to me: Yards per play and plays of 10+ and 20+ yards. This offense has to be incredibly efficient to score because yards aren’t coming in chunks. Throw in that 45% of opponent kickoffs are touchbacks (91st) and only two punt returns of 20+ yards and you see an offense that has long fields due to special teams and doesn’t get big plays. What this offense is missing is the ability to gain yards in large chunks. Sure, it’s great to have a nine minute drive to end the game, but to consistently need eight or ten plays to get into the end zone is not feasible.
Against the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE and UNC, Pitt had nine scoring drives, four touchdowns and five field goals. Of those nine, six required nine or more plays to score. Two of the other three were off of a turnover (touchdown vs. Cuse) and blocked punt (FG vs. UNC), so the field was short. That means without the aid of a short field, the offense has scored ONCE in fewer than nine plays in the past two games, a late field goal in the first half against Cuse.
That is how an offense makes it too difficult on itself to score: slow, efficient drives without big plays. The problem with this is it opens a team up to too many field goals because by the time the offense arrives in the red zone, they’ve converted two or three third downs and eventually a little thing goes wrong. That little thing happens and the offense settles for three.
There’s no doubt the offense has been too conservative. The question is why? Do the coaches not trust the players to attack downfield or is the game plan to be conservative and trust the defense? Up until the UNC game, this approach worked, so it’s hard to fault the coaches completely. The defense has been good enough all year to win every game if the offense held up their part of the bargain. Thirty points would’ve won every game vs. an FBS opponent this season. Chaney needs to open up the playbook and challenge defenses downfield. That will require trusting players not named Tyler Boyd more. Dontez Ford has earned that. Orndoff and Holtz certainly have as well. That’s three players worth trusting to get big plays.
If the offensive game plan is the same against Notre Dame, it’ll take another herculean effort from the defense to win on Saturday. Notre Dame is only giving up 22 points per game. They’re scoring 36; that’s the same as UNC. There are matchup differences and everything, but one thing matters: Notre Dame can and will score. Can Pitt’s offense keep up?
We’ll find out.
If coach Chaney keeps playing Boyd the way he had been thus far, he is cheating the other receivers who want more opportunities to contribute to Pitt’s offense.
Note Dame has better athletes as a whole, but that doesn’t make the outcome a given. Pitt has to believe they can beat the Irish even though it is a meaningless game in the ACC standings.
If Pitt plays sound football and doesn’t give Notre Dame second chances like the Steelers did against the Bengals yesterday, they can beat ND but I would not be surprised if the outcome is not a W.
H2P!
For this defense to work Pitt has to get to the QB. The corners are left in man to man with no over the top help so if the QB has any time at all the corners are F’d. If Pitt gets their mojo back on the DL it will be a very competitive game.
Chaney has struggled but he wasn’t left with much on offense. I don’t care what any of you say. The o-line is very overrated and depth is thin. They aren’t going deep b/c the o-line can’t protect long enough. I’ve said before I hate the pro-style west coast offense because it’s so complicated and takes a long time to install. Each pro-style offense is so different you can’t just plug and play because it’s an entire new playbook and philosophy.
They generally take 3 years to really start clicking. One year implementing, year 2 finding your identity and then, finally, third year full steam ahead. Once you get to year three they are great but how often do we have OC’s longer than 3 years?
We went simple on defense. I wish we went simple on offense. Read option isn’t a trendy offense, it’s the evolution of the game.
Pitt fans wanted pro-style though so you have to live through the growing pains. Every time we switch coordinators and implement a new west coast scheme the entire process starts all over. Firing Chaney would be very bad for the program if this is the style of offense they truly want.
PN and Chaney didn’t know each other beforehand. They still have to find some chemistry too … it all takes time.
Chryst recruited very conservatively. PN and Chaney want to play aggressively but they are hamstrung by recruiting for slower paced styles on both side of the ball.
You can say this staff should adapt to what they have but this staff’s eye is on the future. They have to get their systems implemented now to do what they want down the road. Playing to this team’s strengths hurts PN’s future team’s development.
Make no mistake, they’re trying to win now but they will not sacrifice the future for a team that is not ready to take the next step and not truly PN’s team yet.
Having said all that, every game on this schedule is winnable. Let’s close this thing out.
10-2.
Does anyone else sit at Heinz and watch/ listen to the Pitt band make their entrance , close their eyes and pretend we’re
back in Pitt Stadium? I do… Almost every time! An occasional tear forms. I miss Oakland and our beloved campus, especially in the Fall with leaves turning…. Coeds walking … The smell of Big O hot dogs in the air.
Notre Dane games are especially meaningful. It was my first Pitt Game ever when I was 8, and my mom was a die hard Irish fan.
Oh well, some visages to stem the vitriol.
Think I’ll smoke this stuff every morning!
Not in your stats, but I would guess the YAC is way down too.
Of course the QB designed runs.
Last year we knew what worked and did it too perfection. This year we have no go to plays. There seems to be no rhythm to our O, many fits and starts.
Last year we called for more creativity, this year we have a little too much.
Our offense moved the ball really well against UNC. But, as Justin stated, eventually you get a 3rd and 3 or 4 where one little think goes wrong and the drive stalls.
I thought our pass protection was actually pretty good against UNC, especially from the 2nd quarter on. Peterman had time to throw and when we went downfield, good things happened.
I’m not a fan of the sideways pass but I get why it is necessary at times (although I can’t understand for the life of me why we run a sideways pass to the short side of the field). However, another factor to consider is that Boyd (who is the target a large majority of the time on the sideways pass) hasn’t broken one yet and really hasn’t made many people miss in space. It could be blocking, it could be on Boyd, it could be that opposing D know it’s coming. I don’t know. But we get bottled up quickly on the sideways pass.
I like our Chances if this was a night game but not for a 12pm start. Fans will not be ramped up and getting in late.
It appears that our desire of being more concerned with Time of Possession than Total Points is the main culprit.
I realize we want to play SMART, but it may be time that we start playing to WIN!!!
– NC pressured with the linemen, and no one got open.
– NC blitzed, and Peterman had to scramble, thus not able to see or throw to someone who was open.
It was a great defensive scheme that shows the weaknesses of the receivers to get open. Quick hitters over the middle might solve that, consistent running might solve it. And I’m fine with occasionally passing or pitching to the side, but NC was too fast to make that work, and the short side of the field was not a good option.
Meanwhile, Pitt/Duke is on the ESPN 6-day option:
link to theacc.com
ESPN has declared a six-day option for the games of Nov. 14 and will hold the following four games with game times and networks announced after the games of Nov. 7.
Clemson at Syracuse, Six-Day Option
Pitt at Duke, Six-Day Option
NC State at Florida State, Six-Day Option
Miami at North Carolina, Six-Day Option
Pitt’s very small CBs can’t handle real D1 WRs and will be a big problem vs ND.
If the offense doesn’t score more than 30 I don’t see a win this week
Also disappointing that James and to a lesser extent because he is on the bench, Hall can’t seem to break off a big play. Doesn’t seem to be a Shady, Deon or Ray in this group.
Great observation. If there is a Shady, Dion, or a Ray they have been incognito!!!!
I don’t think Cheney’s offense is overly conservative by design, it’s just doing what it can given what it has to work with. The WRs are not getting open, the O-line is suspect, and even Boyd has to make circus catches with two guys hanging on him most of the time. No one was really able to step up offensively in the UNC game.
I don’t ever see Cheyney ever slinging the ball all over the yard, but I think I’ve already seen more first down pass attempts and three receiver sets this season than in any full season under Chryst or Wannstedt. Frankly, the guy looks to me like the least conservative play caller we’ve had here since Walt Harris.
So while I’m not saying I agree with the way Cheyney has called every game, I don’t think it’s fair at this point to call for his head about being too conservative. It looks to me like he is doing the best he can with the tools he has. Like someone above said, it’s going to take some time for the new staff to get it’s own pieces into place.
I think people’s expectations of the current team may be too high because it has had some success so far this year, but it’s basically the same guys as last year and some freshmen. We need to take whatever we can get this year and next, and be patient enough the give the new staff a chance to recruit and put their program together. I think we’ve certainly seen enough improvement this year in a lot of ways with essentially the same team (or less) to feel good about this staff and what it will be able to put on the field in a couple of years.
Sorry for my digression…H2P!! Also Pitt pulls it off this weekend!
Conner out (Ollison has filled in admirably, but he’s no James Conner and he just isn’t going to rip off big chunks of yardage against quality D’s), Ibrahim out, the o-line lost Clemmings (4th round draft pick), Rotheram (all-ACC) and Jaryd Jones-Smith. You could argue they were their three best offensive linemen!! Plus as many people have mentioned, Boyd just doesn’t look right or like the Tyler Boyd of last year.
Who’s the other big play threat?? Ford, who came into the season with what, 3 career receptions?? Agreed they could use the TE’s more, but that phase of the offense is already light years ahead of what Voytik produced throwing the ball last year.
This is speculation (which admittedly isn’t backed up by HCPN getting on Chaney on the sidelines occasionally), but as much of a defensive mastermind as HCPN is, he has to know in his heart of hearts that this D just doesn’t have a ton of talent right now. What he and Conklin have been able to get out of this D (essentially the same players as last year) from coaching and scheme has been remarkable. The D has thrived on sacks and turnovers, however, they still get gouged by big plays. You saw what happened in the first half against UNC with no QB pressure or turnovers.
The best way to protect a not very good defense, is for the offense to keep them off the field and NOT turn the ball over. Go on long, grinding drives, chew up time of possession and get points on the board. Or at least flip field position. And most of all protect the ball. Don’t expose the D and give the opponent short fields. You can’t have that with an undermanned D. UNC scored in a flash after the Ford fumble Thursday night. I applaud HCPN for delegating that which he doesn’t know as well, but in the end he’s still in charge and it’s still his neck on the line. I have to think he’s on board with the offensive style and doesn’t want to see a lot of 3 and outs and high risk to further expose his D.
We will get better players and therefore the coaches will look even better.
Our beloved University’s reputation has increased alot with the out of sight cost vs. value of higher education.
Out of state PITT is about $35M per yr. Boston College about $70M; Penn State about $45M ?
Some serious value issues and we live in an affluent area.
THROW
THE
BALL
BEYOND
THE
CHAINS !!!!
OMG….I can’t take anymore 🙁
I emailed AD Barnes. I think some others touched on this before in earlier posts.
Anyone see the Temple field. At the Linc??
If someone didn’t know better, and watched the game, they would have thought it was Temple’s stadium.
Absolutely beautiful. Some people could care less, I get that.
I’m just saying, no matter in business, life, sports etc. etc. little things matter. They all add up to the perception and in most cases the reality.
Ask a marketing guy.
I also told him, Steelers ended up paying for about 34% of the stadium. The 7 county W.Pa. county taxpayers paid for the rest.
Univ. of Pgh, UPMC et al biggest employer in about a 4 state region.
Told him time to start throwing our weight around a little bit.
If it cost $5,000 a game, six times a year, to remove and repaint, so be it, it would be well worth it with everything else we spend on.
You want to strive to be the best, win a championship?? It’s what they’re saying.
Not requesting a new stadium, but if you want to be a big boy, a player in the city, make Heinz your home, the you get it done.
Some might say, “what’s the big deal”?
Ok, I say back to them….”ya, right, what’s the big deal”, just do it.
Chaney doesn’t want interceptions. He does want to win the games like the rest of us.
As for the game.
Negative-Notre Dame just from the eye test has suprerior talent. Especially at wide-out, not sure what our guys are gonna do. I can picture ND receivers runnning 20 yard routes and being wide open with our guys chasing after them.
Positive-We’ve beaten Notre Dame 3 out of the last 6, pretty sure each time ND had superior talent then also.
That’s why they play the games, right?
I guess the NFL has limits on what can be placed on the 50. Never really looked at it.
Dear AD,
Replace Sweet Caroline and the I want to die beat with this song to get the crowd moving and actually be hip. Not a washed up outplayed Sweet Caroline.
Best –
Upitt
Never can tell. Video was directed by Greg BARNES.
Every 5-6 year old in the stands will know that one. Haha
Feeling’s gettin’ stronger
Music’s gettin’ longer too
Music is flashin’ me
I want to, I want to, I want to take the score higher
I want to take it higher
Baby, baby, baby light my fire
I wanna take it higher
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka boom
Feeling’s nitty-gritty
Sound is in the city too
Music’s still flashin’ me
Don’t ya, don’t ya, don’t don’t don’t ya want to take it higher
Baby baby baby light my fire
I wanna take it higher
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Higher
Higher
Higher
Feeling that should make you move
Sounds that should help you groove
Music still flashin’ me
Take your places
I want to take it higher
I want to take it higher
Baby baby baby light my fire
I wanna take it higher
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Higher
Higher
Higher
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-laka-laka, boom laka-laka-laka
Higher
Higher
Higher
Something we haven’t done in a while, run up a high score. Sorry about the long song paste but I did burn out some brain cells in the 70’s and just can’t get to computer savvy.
0-4 against NC.
Agree with you on what needs to be done to make Heinz field appear like our stadium on game days.Upgrading the insignia on the 50 is vital, how about a new symbol with the Cathedral of Learning at mid field. Also as suggested by someone on earlier post removable signs that read Welcome to Pitt Stadium at Heinz Field .
Since Sweet Caroline is played between quarters does anybody watching on television actually see the response of the crowd or players? I wouldn’t know what happens on TV, I’m actually attending the game and actively participating/cheering, not filling the chip bowl.
Are you ready? Hey are you ready for this?
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat
Another one bites the dust
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Hey, I’m gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust
Oh, offensive thoughts on Pitt football?? OK.