One of the most impressive parts of the offense thus far has been red zone efficiency. Through two games, the offense has scored a touchdown on all 12 red zone possessions. Pete Roussel of 247 pointed out that this is not a trend unique to Pitt just this season. Paul Chryst offenses have been remarkably efficient in the red zone.
Per Roussel:
Paul Chryst has established a proven track record as one of the best play-callers in football when his offense moves into the red zone.
When Chryst was the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, here is how the Badgers red zone touchdown percentages over a three-year stretch.
2011 – 85% (1st nationally)
2010 – 79% (2nd nationally)
2009 – 72% (7th nationally)
It’s evident that Paul Chryst is a great play caller in the red zone; this isn’t a two game phenomenon. What makes this better has been the play of Chad Voytik once the 20 yard line is reached. Of those twelve opportunities, Voytik has attempted seven passes. The result? 6/7 for 55 yards and 4 TDs. The only incompletion was followed up by a 15 yard TD pass to Boyd, his first against Boston College. While the strategy is obvious, run the ball behind the mammoths on the offensive line or throw it to Tyler Boyd, execution is still vital.
Of Boyd’s three red zone touchdowns, each one required Voytik to make the right read or a great throw. Against Delaware and on the first BC touchdown, Boyd was well covered, but the ball was put exactly where the star could make a play. In the red zone, the window is much smaller; a QB has to find smaller gaps than he does elsewhere on the field to squeeze the throw into. Voytik has already displayed the necessary poise and confidence to trust his arms and eyes to hit that narrow window.
The other two passes requried Voytik to find a secondary target. On Boyd’s second touchdown against BC, Voytik was looking right to the RB on a flare route. It was covered and it forced him to come back inside to Boyd. On the Orndoff touchdown pass against Delaware, he was clearly not the primary target. Voytik scanned the field and found him in the back of the end zone.
A QB who is confident in the red zone is the difference between a field goal and a touchdown. Certainly the running game is helping; eight rushing touchdowns isn’t a fluke. That doesn’t mean Chryst can run the ball every play inside the 20. The defense needs to respect the pass and Voytik is forcing that so far.
If Pitt is going to succeed on offense, the running game is the engine that will push them forward. Chad Voytik won’t often be asked to win games with his arm. But, once the offense enters the red zone, defenses need to account for the arms, legs, and mind of Chad Voytik.
I spent the entire weekend explaining to people who don’t care how good PITT is.
That said, Voytik executed the fake perfectly for the TD pass to be able to happen. He’s playing well so far and if he keeps progressing like he did from game 1 to game 2 then by the time we get to Virginia then even a harder game with VT he should be pretty well settled in and the staff will have a firm idea of what he can do against FBS competition.
I’m hoping, same as last week, that the staff let’s him air it out deep a few times against FIU. That is important for his confidence sake just like shorter passes are.
So, you recruit huge guys for your O line. You add solid (and, hopefully, sometimes spectacular) running backs. That core gets you to the Red Zone fairly consistently.
And, you work with your QB to perform best in the Red Zone. Don’t need to be a hero for the full length of the field. Just be the best you can be when the running backs and offensive linemen get you within striking distance.
Paul Chryst has been around football all his life. He seems to have picked up a few ideas along the way.
H2P
So what did the eye doc say?
H2P
This is what Tom Fornelli said in his weekly column:
“1. Get To Know Pitt RB James Conner: You probably didn’t watch Pitt’s 30-20 win over Boston College on Friday night, and I can’t blame you…But do yourself a favor next week, check in on Pitt’s game so you can check out Conner. The kid has all the potential to be a monster. He rushed for 214 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles, and the week before he had 153 yards and four touchdowns even though he only played one half.
While some running backs rely on their speed and vision to get yards, what stands out about Conner is that he not only has speed and vision, but he’s huge. And he likes contact. Conner is listed at 6-foot-2 and 250 pounds, and as a freshman last year there were actually some Pitt fans who felt the team should move him to defensive end. I’m pretty sure Boston College defensive backs wish Pitt had, as they were bouncing off Conner all night.”
So we have a QB:
1. Who’s smart
2. Who can pass
3. Who’s got guts, and
4. Who can run
For those of you non-believers, take a deep breath and start believin’
He is so good he’s in need of a nickname.
My first shot: “Boychik” Voytik
How did Conner do? I mean how many SACKS did he have?
Going back to early last season I’ve also been REALLY BIG on T.J. Clemmings.
I was pretty much alone calling him Pitt’s MOST CONSISTENT O-Lineman a year ago.
Apparently, the secret is out for the Future NFL Draft Pick.
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette…
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Clemmings, a redshirt senior, was named the league’s offensive lineman of the week as he led an offensive line that paved the way for 303 rushing yards and did not allow a sack against Boston College.
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I’ve been a CRITIC of Voytik as a PASSER going back to his High School Days. Always saw him as a GOOD ATHLETE who can run, but in my opinion never a TRULY ELITE Quarterback.
Remain solidly behind Voytik as Pitt’s Starter… heck the Kid is 3 and O since coming in for the second half of the Bowl Game and making Pitt Fans forget all about Tom Savage.
Still, there are concerns.
The BIGGEST is Chad having a REAL PROBLEM when it comes to ACCURACY and LACK of ARM STRENGTH with the LONG BALL.
These are two things that are hard if not impossible to improve upon.
Will cause problems once PITT plays a Team capable of stopping the run… i.e. keeping “PANTHER BEAST MODE” under 150 yards!
Which is what you want in a starting QB.
Yes he’s going to have some incompletions and some picks. What QB doesn’t.
Yardage is great between the 20’s but if you can’t score TD’s in the redzone, that yardage doesn’t amount to much. Besides frustration for the team and as we all know….the fans.
Oy Vey !!
That in itself is worth celebrating.
And a convincing loss at that.
14-19 against FBS schools is nothing to try and glorify.
Looking at this highlight of his long run against William and Mary… STILL SAY McKenzie is a far better LINEBACKER than Running Back.
If you didn’t know better, you’d say that’s Ray Lewis from his High School Days when he use to play RUNNING BACK.
🙂
2 run homer by Marte
Seems to be respected by his teammates as well.
Conner was joined in the ACC honors circle this week by right tackle T.J. Clemmings and kicker Chris Blewitt.
What did the eye doc say?
H2P
He also said he had never heard of this happening to anyone else, then called the other eye Doc in and she hadn’t heard of it either. Visionworks is replacing both sets at no cost and will ‘ensure’ there are no coatings at all on them. I have a killer headache right now from driving with them on. Thanks for all the advice guys –
As to Voytik and our Red Zone success. I’ll remind fans to think back to Bill Stull’s time as our QB over the ’08 – ’09 seasons when we shifted from Cavanaugh as the ’08 OC to Cignetti as the ’09 OC.
The reason why I mention this is I did in-depth research back then to see why Stull’s TD passes jumped from 9 in ’08 to 21 in ’09. What had transpired in ’08 was that Cav had LeSean McCoy in his second (and last) year as our featured RB and gave him the ball on around 70% of the plays in the opponent’s red zone, and other RBs got some carries there also. Cav was very conservative and trusted what he knew about McCoy way more than he did about Stull in that situation. That worked out OK back then so no one complained.
Then, DW had Cav ‘move on’ and hired Frank Cignetti before the ’09 season. Cignetti understood that McCoy was gone but he had a returning starting QB in Bill Stull – Cignetti also had no idea what Dion Lewis was capable as a true FR that season. So he started early on calling for Stull to throw the ball on over 50% of the plays in the red zone and viola! the TD passes started coming more regularly. Stull went from three red zone TD passes under Cav to 12 the next season under Cignetti.
Why I mention all this is that we are lucky, as is Voytik, that we have an OC and HC who aren’t afraid to put their first time starting QB in the position to throw TD passes in the red zone, even though James Conner is a career 6.0 ypc RB who is a good bet to get the ball in the endzone himself. (note that McCoy was only a 4.8 career ypc guy yet Cav ran him almost all the time deep in opponent’s territory.)
This is what a good coaching staff does when they have confidence in their players to execute the gameplans given to them. Cav didn’t have that trust in Bill Stull and relied on the run game only. I believe you hurt a QB’s progress and growth when you do that in his first year starting. So good for our coaching staff!
There – a PITT history lesson for your enjoyment.
That’s how it works. Pete Carroll was in Seattle while USC paid the price. Hell, to an extent kids at SMU today are still paying for the violations of “The Pony Express” years, as that program has never recovered from the “death penalty” years ago.
What went on up there was an ATROCITY! Sickening beyond imagination. Sure I hate Penn State, but even taking a step back and being unbiased, no way those sanctions should have been lifted…
Then there are the politicians who aren’t satisfied with just the lifitng of sanctions, and that the consent decree that PSU signed should have been voided among other things
While they may not enable any more child predators, there is no doubt that they again will place the almighty dollar over any ethical consequence — the FB revenue is just too large
One reason Ohio State will suffer this year is because their wide outs are sissies who try to cradle the ball instead of catching it with their hands.
Boyd and Garner (to a lesser extent) are physical enough to get separation: in the event that space does not permit much separation such as the redzone, going after the football with your hands and having the combination of muscle, skill and bad ass is golden.
That’s how I see it at least.
This team is deeper than just Conner and Boyd. Chryst will spread the ball around this week. Save Conner’s legs for Iowa.
The red zone production is tremendous. Conner, Boyd and Voytik can really score the ball, add Orndorf and James and youreally have some weapons.
It is hard to not be giddy, but we are Pitt, always waiting for bad tidings. Enjoying the moment for now.
He showed some flashes of brilliance… but the past qbs also had a few good games as well.
Hopefully he can be consistent. Some games will come down to him.
Reed – enjoyed the history lesson. I remember how much abuse Stull took from alleged fans during the 2008 season. I was very happy that he had a good senior season.
