Sorry about the tardiness.

The GT-Pitt game, on a personal level was a lot of fun. Taking the time with my son to sit in the stands. Not fully tethered to twitter, on-line stats and the actual game sort of made it relaxing. Aside from those final seven minutes or so, when things got tight.

Getting to cheer. Scream. Everything. My son, at one point after I screamed about a questionable call looked at me and said, “I forgot how loud you can get during games.”

Just a great day and a good time with my kid. The flat tire at twighlight on the turnpike on the way home, however, I could have done without.

In the first half of the game, Pitt played about as solid on defense as hoped. You don’t shut down GT’s ground game, but you do limit it. You get some key stops and get them off the field. Pitt did that. They didn’t let GT completely wear them down.

The offense looked sharp as well. The ground game continues to be productive in the first half and there was a good amount of key passes to keep GT from keying completely on the run.

And then the second half arrived. It was a slow burn. The offense was on the field, but wasn’t making it as far. The GT defense was more stout against the run and the passing started to dry up.

This is where Shawn Watson can come in for a lot of criticism. The dying of the offense. Teams make adjustments. Obviously there is stacking the box. But the other is defending the pass.

The Pitt offense is making it ridiculously easy for teams to defend the pass. For whatever reason, the offense does not throw over the middle. This, despite the clear success that Rafael Arujo-Lopes had last year doing so. That, despite having receivers like Tre Tipton and Aaron Mathews who are reliable receivers who aren’t deep threats. The tight ends, to this point, only exist as blockers.

Everything is thrown to the sidelines. It’s safer as far as minimizing the risk of interceptions, but it also makes it easier to defend when there is only  a section of the field to defend. To say nothing of forcing the throws to be longer for less gain.

The one pass that was near the middle of the field was the deep pass to Arujo-Lopes. And that still has me scratching my head. Maurice Ffrench, sure. Taysir Mack, absolutely. Shocky Jacques-Louis, isn’t that part of why he is here? Arujo-Lopes is reliable and sure-handed. But he isn’t a burner and he’s not the tallest guy to go up for a pass.

Is some of it on the players, as Coach Pat Narduzzi seems to want to put it? Absolutely.

Perhaps the most revealing part of his news conference was how he brought up the problem without being asked.

“Why? Is it a lack of focus? What is it?” he said.

If he’s casually mentioning it to reporters, there’s a good chance his conversation with his team on the subject was a bit more intense.

“Why are we not as detailed?” he said, noting five of Pitt’s seven penalties in the Georgia Tech game (three were declined) occurred in the second half.

…

What was most disappointing to Narduzzi was that all four of the accepted penalties occurred on third or fourth down. “The money downs,” he said.

Pitt’s third-down conversion rate falls from 43 percent (15 of 35) for the entire game to 25 percent (four of 16) in the second half.

“We have to be sharper on third down and look at what we’re doing there,” he said.

The dropoff in production after halftime was a major factor in the Penn State game when a 14-6 deficit turned into a 51-6 loss. Pitt was ahead of Albany, 33-7, and Georgia Tech, 21-0, at halftime, giving the team some cushion in the second half.

Narduzzi said offensive coordinator Shawn Watson is not calling plays differently in the second half. Rather, he said unforced errors are hurting the offense’s rhythm.

“We’re not making plays,” he said. “(We’re) doing the wrong things, dropping the ball, whatever it may be. We’re not executing.

“We better figure it out. We better get the second half woes of execution out of our system, or it’s going to be hard every week. Something is wrong.”

But, it isn’t only the players. If the playcalling remains that easy to defend after second-half adjustments, then some of the “sloppiness” from the players might just be part of the frustration that everyone knows what is coming.

I really can’t even complain about the defense giving up 19 points in the second half. Not when you realize that GT has only scored fewer then 19 points in a game three times in the past two years (Clemson, twice and Georgia).

The special teams as a whole rebounded nicely, along with a Paris Ford sighting.