Okay, I’m a little hot. If you are offended by [expletive redacted] then don’t click below.
Still with me?
FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKWHATTHEFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKWASTHATSHITSHITSHITSHITSHOWWASTHATFUCKINGSYPHILLATICWHORESPAWNCAMEUPWITHTHATSHITWHOTHEFUCKNEEDSTOBEFIREDYESTERDAYFORTHATDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEINSULPHURICACIDFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK
That doesn’t even feel cathartic enough.
Where to fucking begin.
Pitt and Syracuse — despite not being real rivals — have played a slew of close games in recent years. Pitt has dominated this millennia because they have more talent and were slightly better coached.
I would still call Pitt’s overall talent level superior, but today the coaching was inferior. Not far inferior, because the Cuse had their own moments of What the Fuck????, but Pitt out WFT’d them today.
Cuse was favored. They have the type of offense that gives Pitt troubles, but they are still not that good.
Coming into the game I thought Pitt wasn’t as bad as their worst games had made them look. I still think that, but today the coaching failed this team as much as the boneheaded moments and bad tackling at big moments did.
Forget f0r the moment the bad toss sweep calls and the shovel passes. Try and pretend the O-line hasn’t abruptly gone to shit. And, yes, I get recency bias, but the final two plays of the game were criminally incompetent. I mean, incomprehensibly stupid. The kind of moments that made anything that pissed off fans about Walt Harris (swinging gate, quick kicks) look like harmless quirks.
Two plays that could very well be the things that Pitt fans never forgive Narduzzi (or will only blame OC Shawn Watson) for doing. I’m probably exaggerating, but there is a loud minority of Pitt fans that believe any screwups are evidence of incompetence and that the only option is nuclear.
Do the two previous paragraphs seem irreconcilable? They aren’t. One is frustration of the moment that I am fully aware, but know will fade enough to put in some perspective. The other is for those that can only go one direction and never go back.
With that said, it’s going to be a while before I trust or forgive Pitt’s coaching staff for those two final plays.
Time on this hasn’t been fixed yet, but let me. Pitt got a first down to the 23 with 29 seconds left. Rather then immediately spike the ball leaving 25-27 seconds left, Pitt opts to try and run a play. It makes no sense, and seconds tick off as Pitt — with this O-line — tries to get set. Somehow, DiNucci can’t even throw the ball away before the pressure gets to him. And in only one quarter, manages to have his helmet knocked off for the second time.
That really raises some other questions, but because of Pitt’s depth chart and no timeouts left there is no real time for that. DiNucci had to come out for a play for safety reasons. At this point, Pitt is down 3 with under 15 seconds left.
Reality is there for the everyone. Pitt is going to lose barring something crazy. And Pitt has no QB to throw it. You use Quadree Henderson or Jordan Whitehead in some wildcat formation and see what happens. Which probably would be the best case scenario at this point.
You certainly don’t burn the redshirt on the Number 3 quarterback, Kenny Pickett, at this point. A true freshman, the coaching staff has a lot of hope to see next year and beyond. That’s exactly what they did to the shock and confusion of Pitt fans.
As you know, the game ended after a short completion but with no timeouts and no time left. Ultimately meaningless.
Bad enough to lose. Bad enough that it means Pitt is going to have to pull some amazing shit out of their ass to somehow get to 6-6 — which no one really believes. They wasted a year of a QB that the program and coaches want to tell us is the future. When it seems they have no idea how to plan and approach anything beyond the game in front of them.
Now what do you do with Pickett? Play him the rest of the way and hope that the experience behind this line doesn’t kill him, make him gun shy — but makes him tougher? You’ve wasted it like you have A.J. Davis’ and Tyler Sear’s with little purpose. There seems to be a carelessness with the management of the players beyond a brief moment of panic or slavish devotion to how the depth chart looked in practice.
Chas, obviously you have some control over the number of viewable comments… now set at 75.
If you remember, Riley left Ore St for Nebraska. Anderson left Wisconsin for Ore St and Chryst left Pitt for Wisconsin.
Pitt then filled it’s vacancy with Mich St DC Pat Narduzzi.
So far, Chryst has had the most success and it appears Anderson the least amount of success.
Nebraska and Pitt struggling in the middle.
Scott “the NOISE” Barnes (former Pitt now Oregon State AD) and Anderson have a history.
WHAT ABOUT DAVIS?
The loss of Moss did not impact freshman A.J. Davis, who had one carry for 2 yards — giving him seven for 16 this season. Narduzzi indicated Davis cut the wrong way on his only run.
“He’s supposed to break it outside. He cuts it back inside,” Narduzzi said. “He’s still a young guy that I want to get him more carries, and I told him before the game, ‘We want to get you more carries,’ and, then, I’m not subbing guys in.
“(Assistant coaches) have to go with who they feel understands what they’re doing. I want to see the guy go and see if he can be a difference maker for us. But I wish he’d get more reps. I really do.”
Note to HCPN – then demand it from RB coach Powell who has been quoted as saying “we don’t need another Conner.”
That is incredibly insane.
Look, these coaches have big egos, and the ones that are really good (and win) have the biggest egos. But that comment is disrespecting a fan favorite and one of Pitt’s all time best.
No need to ever say it out loud, even if you do think it…
When you have an offense struggling and a kid does the wrong thing, it’s hard to put him back out there. If the offense is clicking, you can live with the mistakes a little more. When the offense is struggling every mistake is magnified. It’s why they went back to Browne initially. Dinucci makes too many mistakes.
While I agree that I’d also like to see more of AJ, the reality is that the offense is a complete train wreck and if you’re going to get playing time you better make the most of your chances. AJ f’d up early and was relegated to the bench. He’ll get his chance.
This offense has no identity. Running the same offense has had the opposite effect it’s supposed to have. Watson is struggling calling plays, probably because he’s conservative by nature plus it’s an entirely new offense for him as well.
I think it should have better tempo and they should be passing out of it to open up the run game.
Instead they keep trying to establish the run, first, against 8 man fronts. It’s the 21st century. Let the pass open up the run.
He retired as HC in 05, and his asst Bielema immediately won 12 games. Bielema was 68-24 at Wisc but is 27-29 at Arkansas.
Alvarez hired Gary Andersen who was only 26-24 at Utah St. Anderson was 19-7 in 2 years and left for Ore State where was 7 – 23.
And of course, PC comes here after a 19-20 record at Pitt, and now is 26-6 at Wisc.
Guarantee PC doesn’t leave any time soon.
Pitt has had chances to get it right, but they seem to choose otherwise.
The vision never seems to be shared – which usually means there is no vision.
But that is history, the question now is will Narduzzi’s recruits and his coaching get better or is he another Foge Fazio, a lifetime coordinator?
Foge came in with a loaded cupboard and recruiting advantages, both things that Narduzzi did not have.
I think the real key is whether Narduzzi’s linemen turn out good or not? This is where the gap exists from last year to this year on both sides of the ball. Not that we would have been great this year with them but two fifth year senior O-linemen deciding to hang it up (pushed out?) and Taleni and Blair kicked out had to leave big holes which obviously have not been filled. Plus the Wirginis saga.
Also Narduzzi has been snakebit with the marquis players he did recruit, health issues, and Ford’s academic issues have been a major set back, added to Whitehead’s issues.
College Football has always been about recruiting, especially linemen. You need to recruit good ones every year to have a program.
When you are beat on the lines all the rest is a mute point. The next important component is the QB. You can’t win without a serviceable QB.
It is all about recruiting.
Chryst Haters Unite… you’re right. I relent.
It really is Chryst’s fault that Pitt has given up RECORD-SETTING Passing Yards consistently over the past 2+ years.
My bad.