12:30 pm on the syndicated ACC Network.
Which ever team loses will have a fan base barely holding on to a shred of hope for a very minor bowl. Well, I’m sure UNC could turn to basketball as they usually do. Albeit with the academic/athletic scandal seemingly creeping closer and closer towards impacting their sacred cow ram.
In a way this game is a simple and cliched one. For Pitt to win this, they have to disrupt UNC’s offense. They cannot let them get into a rhythm on offense. The tempo of the UNC offense depends on them moving the ball. They don’t simply come out and try to run all the plays at a speed pace. They increase the tempo and pace as they get success and confidence. That is why their heavy volume of penalties this year has been such a problem. Self-inflicted disruptions and slowed pace.
The problem for Pitt is how do they actually disrupt UNC’s offense?
Sitting in Pitt’s South Side practice facility Tuesday, defensive coordinator Matt House racked his brain trying to think…
Okay, that was completely out of context and unfair. But it was just way too easy when you use that as the opening sentence in a gameday story.
Last year, Pitt was able to contain the UNC offense for the most part with Aaron Donald up front. The problem was those damn special teams.
UNC on defense was humiliated by Miami’s Duke Johnson on the ground. There’s no secret that Pitt will be hammering away with James Conner, and that UNC will be keying on him. This is one of the times when Pitt and Coach Paul Chryst can’t try to be too tricky on offense. They need to use clock and keep UNC’s offense (and with that, Pitt’s defense) off the field as much as possible. Keep the ball on the ground and use the short pass judiciously.
I didn’t comment once yesterday because I was sick to my stomach. I still am.
SOP
I have been saying for years now we need to stockpile D-Ends and Linebackers, they have some but not any 4 and 5 star guys.
A basic rule of management is you don’t hire your friends cause they are harder to fire. Of course you never hire a guy without a track record. This is all on Chryst and of all his weaknesses appears to be the most egregious.
He may have dug a hole to deep to climb out of.
Recruiting has been abysmal since the hire.
LOL
Don’t tell me about funky uniforms attract
recruits.
Winning football and a chance to go to
the pros attracts recruits.
Along with, of course, excellent recruiters.
Those gimmick uniforms are for suckers.
Miami was an embarrassment to the tradition of college football last night with those things.
One exception.
Oregon. They had enough money from what’s his name from Microsoft or whatever,
to transform their whole program.
They still look like hell, but they do win.
Wasn’t the uniforms though. It was money hiring coaches, recruiters, etc. etc. and they tacked on the uniform change.
Other people doing the uniform thing,
looks desperately desperate.
Have always thought the marketing dept has missed out on making a panther paw print a big thing for Pitt.
Put it on billboards all across the state. Penn State has never used it much either.
Use it and own it.
Also, allthough not the mustard yellow I’d like, the Pitt script on that gold looks excellent, and actually looks a little like the gold from the first years of the script.
Excellent!!!
Bah, hah, hah
Not even the Pizza Pizza bowl this year.
tell them to start wearing the gold pants on
the road.
Hell, if we’re gonna be a 4-8 program, let’s at
least go all the way and get the total
Pitt look!!!
LOL
First, fire Pederson and hire a AD is a dynamic program changer.
Second, fire House and hire an experienced SC with a proven recruiting talent.
Third, hire a recruiting coordinator that can light a fire under this mediocre program.
Fourth, demand that HCPC seasons every meal he eats with massive amounts of Tabasco sauce, since this is the only way I every see him developing that”fire in his belly” mentality that this team so dearly requires from it’s HC TO WIN FRICKIN FOOTBALL GAMES!
Miami is already bowl eligible. Neat…
The Wisconsin comparison is great. The defense wore down and made mistake after mistake in run support. For some reason, they respected the pass. I got to watch that game and it was oft repeated that Pellini was in his DB’s faces for incorrect angles and support, especially on the run that we saw on espn.
At upitt – We agree. Excuses. I work in a no excuse environment and it is refreshing. I wouldn’t say that Kentucky is ripping it up yet, nor is Tennessee. Kentucky just committed $100M to their stadium to support the new coach. Unless our Administration commits to the success of athletics, expect continued mediocrity.
Still got the boot.
And that’s WITH AN SEC SCHEDULE.
Paulie is 2 games UNDER .500 against a liteweight schedule.
And should get the boot !
Like before the New Year !!!
Give us an early Christmas(Chanukah) present Chancellor.
And one that hasn’t registered a SINGLE POINT in those standings for several years to boot.
Not even mentioning making Pitt a national laughing stock over the Heywood/Graham/Chryst fiasco.
Next drive, Pitt starts at our own 25 and moves 35 yards to the UNC 40 and HCPC chooses to punt on forth and short yardage
Comment by Erie Express 11.16.14 @ 7:59 am
Don’t think this clown staff has any idea whatsoever of what MO(mentum) in a game actually is.
You got a beast in the backfield, leading the nation in rushing, breaking a lot of Dorsett’s 40 year old records, AND YOUR PUNTING ON THE OPPONENTS 35-40 YARD LINE ON 4TH AND SHORT.
This is beyond LUDICROUS !!!
If Upittbaseball is accurate with his prediction that Doc Holliday gets the FL job, then Marshall DC Chuck Heater may be a 3rd candidate available if he doesn’t follow Doc to FL.
All three would be a significant upgrade to our Outhouse.
HCPC needs to be proactive.
I’ve hired friends and neighbors in the past and some of them weren’t a good fit for our business. I politely and professionally showed them the door. It can be done – I’ve done it for the very same reasons HCPC needs to fire House – his job and future with his current employer (Pitt) depends on that very action.
SOP – Show Outhouse (the) Pinkslip
SOAPPAPTD – Show Outhouse And Potato Paul and Pedersen The Door!!!
We will know that Pitt bigwigs are just satisfied BEING in the ACC (sort of like Wake Forest) and are ok with just being competitive in some seasons. While collecting that $20/mil/per.
Again much like Wake Forest.
Who also btw recruits solid citizen type 2-3 star players.
Hey if that’s what they have planned. Fine, we’ll be watching the next few months to see which direction this ship is sailing.
And then decide whether or not, we want to board passage on it.
I wish I was making the decisions as the HC or AD – I’d make him an offer and oust House immediately.
SOP – Support Oslavsky (for) Pitt (DC)
Pitt- maybe next year will be the year
The difference between school like Florida and schools like Pitt is:
Those schools WANT to win..Pitt hopes they can win
Two things could MARGINALIZE those strides. House continues as Defensive Coordinator. Chryst continues to play Voytik instead of Bertke.
Take away those two things and I like our chances.
Weatern Psych would love a chance to spend 24 hours studying your brain. Haha.
You are a glass is half full. I’m a week dont even have a fuxking glass.
Experience goes a LONG WAY even if your name isn’t Conner or Boyd.
POD – sometimes the truth is funny because the reality and the depths to which the program has fallen under this leadership, is not funny. It is embarrassing. At least I haven’t been flagged for piling on. I put forth potential solutions instead of mock everyone that doesn’t spew out the same gibberish with the masses.
I don’t necessarily agree with everything I type. Some times, I just try to look at things differently. The legal profession trains you to take the opposite stance of what you might agree with, and figure it out from a different perspective.
I would suggest that someone ask the HC about Conner being out at critical times because he is gassed. It is really obvious when you watch the games again. He pulls himself and when he does, he doesn’t take one play or two plays off to regain his composure. He takes a minimum of three off. What about conditioning?
Players are asked to give maximum effort for 5 seconds (average play time) and then rest for 20-30 seconds (unless operating in a hurry up offense which we don’t). So at 60 offensive plays at 6 seconds per play, we get 360 seconds or 6 minutes of maximum effort during a game.
My point about offensive being PARTLY to blame was just that. The biggest issue is on defense of course, but our predictability is killing us. Can anyone believe that miami kicker missed a straight on field goal of 35 yards? That would have been daggerville. Let’s keep hoping FSU wins out so we get an ACC representative in the first playoff. It is going to be embarrassing for one or two conferences that aren’t represented in the inaugural format.