On the argument that Pitt is more distracted, there is coming off a huge win against Penn State. Pitt players, coaches, fans, everyone acknowledges how big this was.
Yes, Narduzzi has his rule about having 24 hours to enjoy and then on to the next one.
But history has not yet shown that Pitt can do that.
But that’s where the euphoria ended, coach Pat Narduzzi said.
“They all got their butts ripped in every meeting they were in,” he said. “They were all smiling until about 4 o’clock.”
The effort and energy were impressive in the Penn State game, but Narduzzi admitted “there were plays left out there.”
“You watch the tape, and you’re pounding the table,” he said.
Recent Pitt football history is littered with tales of big victories and even one heroic losing effort in South Bend, Ind., immediately followed by deflating defeats:
• Pitt dragged No. 2 Notre Dame into double overtime before losing in 2012 and fell flat at Connecticut six days later, 24-17.
• Defeated Notre Dame in another stirring victory at Heinz Field in 2013 before giving up 34 points at North Carolina in a loss the following week.
• Upset Miami in the south Florida heat in 2014 to become bowl eligible before being embarrassed in a 35-34 loss to Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl after leading by 25 in the fourth quarter.
• Dominated Louisville under the current coaching staff last year to improve to 8-3 then allowed a total of 73 points in the next two games (both losses).
Narduzzi and his staff look good in the bright light of Saturday’s victory, but they still haven’t accomplished their best trick: Getting the players to concentrate on Oklahoma State, their opponent Saturday in Stillwater, Okla.
“They’re probably the best team we’ve played to this point of the season, for sure,” Narduzzi said, taking another shot, intentionally or not, at Penn State.
On the other hand, Oklahoma State suffered a brutal loss thanks to officials not following the rules. Their head coach, Mike Gundy seemed to be trying to put it behind them on Sunday.
But his Monday press conference showed that wasn’t really working for him.
In fact, he came out spitting fire in what has to be his most entertaining news conference since “I’m a man, I’m 40!”
“I feel like we should have our officials in (home) games, in Power-5 conference games,” Gundy said, referencing the MAC crew that was suspended for two games after the unfortunate call.
“That’s just my opinion and I can be wrong. There’s a lot of good officials out there but they’re all working to get to that level, right? Aren’t most umpires in Double-A trying to get to the majors?”
Later he jokingly went in on the conference officials who monitor the games from Big 12 headquarters, comparing them to cartoon characters.
“They’re watching every game, so, jokingly, you ever watch cartoons when they have a guy up in a fort and he’s like this (nods off at the podium as if sleepy).”
Guess it’s worth noting that this week, he will get ACC officials on the field. What could go wrong?
Eventually he touched on Pitt.
“Anybody want to talk about Pitt?” he asked. “Guys, they’re a really good team, now.”
The Panthers are 2-0 and coming off an emotional 42-39 win over rival Penn State. Pitt ran for 341 yards in the game, maintaining a personality of being a hard-nosed rushing offense.
It’s a style of offense the Cowboys don’t see in the Big 12, if anywhere very often.
“Very physical guys,” [Linebacker Chad] Whitener said. “James Conner is a very good back; one cut, downhill, run you over. They use their fullbacks. They had two preseason All-American linemen.
“They’re doing what they’re built to do. And they’re good at it. That’s why practice is so important for us this week, we don’t face an offense like this very often.”
The same can be said for Pitt facing OK St’s offense.
When on offense, the must eat clock and score TD’s.
When on defense, they must stop the run AND pressure the QB. Bend but don’t break could be the strategy.
Somewhere I read that Allen Edwards had a good game vs the pedos. Can someone expound on that? He will be greatly needed against the cowgirls.
HTP!
F’in HILARIOUS!!!
Pitt secondary is very weak. Whitehead strength is not in coverage and Maddox is undersized. Hamlin and Miller not making a splash as frosh really hurts. T Webb is not a ball hawk either.
If they dont control the time of possession and find a passing game it could be a long day in OK.
How could they not?
Being ANGRY makes it a lot easier to be focused then coming down from an EMOTIONAL HIGH.
If it were true… it would be REALLY Dumb considering how Pitt’s refusal to Pass nearly cost the Game.
But it simply isn’t true.
Funny that people actually bought into it. Like Hendrix and Zeise not REALLY being hurt.
Let’s just hope that Peterman really is up to the task Saturday of passing DOWNFIELD without turning the Ball over.
Pretty obvious that was a Coaching CONCERN last Saturday when a simple twenty to thirty yard completion here or there would have totally negated Penn State’s threat to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the waning minutes of the Game.
Pitt “struggles” against Villanova and all you hear all week is Pitt sucks. Struggle is used loosely as the game was never in doubt.
Then, after Pitt comes out and wins a great game against PSU, instead of hearing how the game will set the tone for the rest of the season, all you hear about is the OKST being a let down game because of the emotions of the PSU game.
Really … a Big 12 team with a national rep … on the road … and you think Pitt will overlook them? Or not be ready?
Meanwhile OKST loses to a MAC team and yet they still get the upper hand, by some Pitt fans. LOL.
How about … They lost to a MAC team because they’re not very good. Or with Baylor and TX coming up after Pitt they’re looking past us. Or the loss sets the tone for their season as they already know you have to go undefeated in the Big 12 to go to the playoffs.
I love how some fans give OKST the benefit of the doubt yet turn on Pitt instantly.
Look at OKST the last couple of years … 12-1, 8-5, 10-3, 7-6, 10-2 … see the pattern here?
Have some faith. HTP.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself! :>)
#H2P
We have a lot of, how would should I put this…..
not truly Pitt people.
I can be critical at times myself, but who could not be thrilled with the opening to this season and laying 42 points on the Pedo’s.
Run the ball until they stop the ball carrier for a short gain. Let the speedy cowgirl DB’s make all the tackles along with receiving a few punishing straight arms.
Kill the clock with long, punishing drives that leave “T-bones” on the field for “Pickens”.
One game at a time. 3-0 after we lasso the cowgirls…
HTP!
The repetitive complaints are what drive me nuts. The incessant harping on the same thing. Not ever seeing a positive.
You’re a Pitt man thru and thru. I pitty the fool who can’t just enjoy a great win for the program. See what I did there?
HCPN indicated they still have a lot of the play book to use. Hope to see running till the cowpokes pack it in to stop it, then turn NP loose. Love to see BOTH FBs run and catch! SO with more receptions. And remember, The Jester is no Joker – he knows the Weah to PayDirt!
How about a cowboy joke?
A visitor to a ranch says to a cowboy, “Wow, you sure have a lot of flies buzzing around your horses and cattle. Do you ever shoo them?
The cowboy says, “No, we just let them go barefoot.”
———-
Our coaching staff will open the play book a little bit more and fool the cowgirls on Saturday just enough to win another OOC game. That will set us up nicely for our run at an ACC championship.
A special season seems to be unfolding right in front of our very own eyes.
Put your shoos on and try not to step in it…
Well I think hanging 50 just has a better ring to it .. so 42 is nice but … can ya just give me the big 5-0 hung on the pedos, please?
But the last thing I want to see is a site full of Pitt Pollyannas …. “gag me with a spoon”
This week will tell us a whole lot more about where we stand as a team. On the road against an angry team and stadium and a totally different match up. A spread offense that has been our nemesis. Another week where most probably our offense needs to score a lot of points and control the clock.
Will we win the turnover battle in a hostile environment? A major key to last weeks victory.
Will we come out fired up or flat?
Not being negative, just being honest.
The team that gets the most turnovers and/or defensive stops will win this game.
We won a great victory by the closest of margins, enjoy it for what it is, maybe a sign of things to come, Maybe just one nice win against a middle of the road B1G team with as many flaws as we have.
“He that is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.”
Benjamin Franklin
The bad news is our defensive secondary gets tested by OSU this week.
The good news, where do I start? Let’s just leave it that this team is in the very best place it could be right now. Undefeated after vanquishing the evil empire that haunts the creepy valley to our east.
Narduzzi’s job is to get his team to focus, once again, on the most important game of the season, the next one.
My suggestions. Wear the all white uniforms to assist in the issues with heat exhaustion in the 4th. Q, win the coin toss, take the ball on offense first, score on their 1st possession with a prolonged drive, then pressure their QB all game long with blitz after blitz after blitz after blitz after blitz after blitz.
However maybe allowing PSU to get back in the game gives Narduzzi and Co a learning opportunity.
A humiliating blowout might have given us too much false confidence heading into the next game.
How’s that for a rationalization?
I do agree we will need to put pressure on the QB to win this one. Probably the biggest key to a victory. That and a completely dominant running game, sustained for 60 minutes.
OR
Option #2- Take an inspiring win in the last minute of a game against your arch rival, who BTW has shown little respect to either their rival or the rivalry, after a 16 hiatus after 58 minutes of action that produced more cumulative points scored than in any of the previous 96 meetings on a INT that will give nothing but self confidence to a DB that was only in there as a starter for his 2nd game that sealed the win keeping his team undefeated.
Let’s see, the Panthers could really use another crushing defeat where their entire fanbase can exclaim in unison SOP,SOP,SOP, while destroying any early momentum that otherwise could have been created for the team. Nope, I think will leave that option for the Cowboys. We’ll opt for #2 please.
Look it, this Panther squad is developing some self confidence, meanwhile OSU although being pissed for the injustice imposed on them by the officiating crew STILL allowed the Cips to embarrass them with their Hail Mary hook & ladder play that they pulled off. That kind of bad MOJO does NOT provide anything positive.
The Panthers need to show up just like they did last week, ready to punch these guys in the mouth right off the bat. If we’re successful in doing that Pitt will get into these Cowboy’s heads early and that spells only good things for the Panthers during the remainder of the game.
Hail to Pitt. Castrate the Cowboys!
Maybe OSU is indeed not as good as advertised but they do have a veteran QB, and if there is a week where they play their A game, this should be it after last week.
I will be more than thrilled if I’m wrong.
It’s why Narduzzi emphasizes swagger so much. He wants his team to be the most confident on the field. If you want focus and resolve, you’re not going to be enjoying the Narduzzi years very much. The Narduzzi years will be about raw emotions, confidence and controlling momentum with an aggressive defense … and offense. Because of the emotion he wants Pitt to play with, there will be boneheaded penalties and probably some games lost because of overconfidence. But I’ll take that any day over the emotionless Paul Chryst years.
Chryst also has one of the biggest upsets of the year so far. I love Narduzzi, but don’t see a reason to bash Chryst, other than his hire of House.
YEAR TEAM POSITION BOWL
2001 Boise State Graduate Assistant —
2002 Boise State Graduate Assistant Humanitarian
2003 California Linebackers Insight
2004 California Linebackers Holiday
2005 California Linebackers Las Vegas
2006 Boise State Defensive Coordinator Fiesta
2007 Boise State Defensive Coordinator Hawaii
2008 Boise State Defensive Coordinator Poinsettia
2009 Boise State Defensive Coordinator Fiesta
2010 Tennessee Defensive Coordinator Music City
2011 Tennessee Defensive Coordinator —
2012 Washington Defensive Coordinator Las Vegas
2013 Washington Defensive Coordinator Fight Hunger
2014 USC Defensive Coordinator Holiday
2015 USC Defensive Coordinator Holiday
Of course, having an AD who actually cares about winning may help
But, his defense has given up major points and/or yardage in several of the last handful of games, so some humble reworking of schemes/line-up might be called for.
Maddox is simply too small. Tall WRs will own him. Love his effort and hitting but . . .
Pitts LBs are also terribly bad in coverage. Caprara really struggles to cover TEs but is a monster on the blitz.
I think Conklin needs to dial up creative pressure or the coverage deficiencies will show.
However i love how our team has started out and believe they will beat OKSt as long as they can control the time of possession.
Also am i the only one who thinks our kickers were the weakest matchup when compared to PSU? Whats wrong with our punter and Blewitt needs to get some confidence.
The good guys once again need to control the clock, and even moreso this week than last. And Pitt cannot get too far behind; statement game for OSU.