Tight. Much tighter than I wanted. Still, it was a win. Another on the road as Pitt is a surprising 6-1 and 4-1 on the road. Bowl eligible before Halloween.
Some of the favorite tweets I saw during the win over ARCHRIVAL ORANGE.
We pick things up late in the second quarter when there may have been some questions about Jim Chaney’s playcallling. One particular type of play he likes to call.
Swear to god, Chaney. If you come out of the timeout on 3d and 1 with a toss sweep…
— Chas Rich (@ChasRich27) October 24, 2015
Yes. He ran the toss sweep. And by god he kept on running it, which in theory I don’t object to with the right back. A healthy James Conner. Chris James or Darin Hall. But not Quadree Ollison, who is not going to be able to turn the corner fast enough to do anything. Call the right play for the right personnel.
And yet, the call continued. Late in the third quarter.
Someone with a football background explain to me Chaney's fascination with toss plays to the short side. Please.
— Mike (@85mf) October 24, 2015
It was frustrating at points with the offense seemingly stagnating repeatedly.
Come on Pitt, I want to continue saying nice things about this football team on the radio.
— Josh Miller (@Josh4Miller) October 24, 2015
Pitt’s situation in the 4th quarter did set up one scenario that hasn’t happened in a while.
Pitt has not won a game in which it trailed in the 4th quarter since the 2009 Meineke Car Care Bowl, a string of… https://t.co/wxAi96KYOI
— David Hale (@DavidHaleESPN) October 24, 2015
The answer is 32 games.
Hey I remember that game https://t.co/cHjdKEmhfT
— Jason Pinkston (@JasonPinkstonOL) October 24, 2015
So, Pitt gets the ball back with 9:17 left.
As Pitt looked stalled out, and forced to punt. Pitt pulled a fake punt that worked. Considering the frequency and success with which Syracuse has pulled the fake punt this year with their punter Riley Dixon, Orange fans were just as stunned.
THEY FUCKING DIXONED US!
— NunesMagician.com (@NunesMagician) October 24, 2015
Along with fans of former conference foes (USF).
Did Pitt fake a punt in a tie game with 5 minutes left? APPROVE
— Jamie (@mmmmsnouts) October 24, 2015
And former players thrilled.
What a call! Narduzzi for president!
— Chas Alecxih (@BigSpurts98) October 24, 2015
And with the kind of grinding football that can break the spirit of another team, Pitt continued down the field.
PITT IS BREAKING SYRACUSE'S WILL AT 4-6 YARDS A CLIP ON THE GROUND. IT'S BEAUTIFUL TO WATCH.
— THE KEY PLAY (@thekeyplay) October 24, 2015
BREAKING A TEAM'S WILL: A ONE DRIVE PLAY. ORCHESTRATED BY: PITT. FEATURING: SYRACUSE. pic.twitter.com/L6ZEFWXFuz
— THE KEY PLAY (@thekeyplay) October 24, 2015
And on that final drive, something was missing.
It only took Jim Chaney 50 Minutes to stop using the toss play
— Wlat Harris (@pantherrants) October 24, 2015
Pitt kicks the winning field goal as the clock goes to 0:00 — much like the last time Pitt won a game it was trailing in the 4th quarter.
My panthers got the win !H2P, now cheering on the Bulls !! ??
— Orlando Antigua (@USFCoachO) October 24, 2015
Again, this sets up a huge Thursday night, big prime-time game.
#Pitt fans. Excuse time is over. Thursday Night. 7:30pm. North Carolina. Get off your collective asses and be there! #H2P
— Mike Drakulich (@PghSportsNation) October 24, 2015
Not that there isn’t some bad news with all this winning.
Breaking: Pitt facilities crew called to Cathedral after #VictoryLights burn out, unaccustomed to so much use this early in season. #H2P
— Souf Oaklin fo' Life (@Souf_Oaklin) October 25, 2015
Pitt pays a few hundred thousand for early fall games. The B1G pays tens of millions for more conference wins. Two short trips and guaranteed wins for PSU, whoops they lost to Maryland last year.
On Thursday night the defense needs to get off to a better start than the last two games. Big plays are killers. We get down early to UNC, it won’t be easy to keep up.
I have no clue what Chaney is thinking with the toss to Ollison either. Especially to the short side of the field. I honestly can’t think of a reason to call that play. Someone with more knowledge and experience than me, please fill me in.
I can see the use of the play. On first down and, perhaps, to Chris James.
6-1 feels good!
Barry Alvarez could be part Mexican, who knows. Name fits.
Interesting factoid about Godfather Barry, he was heavily invested in the Nevin Shapiro Ponzi scheme at Miami.
Pitt had it’s most Total Yards of the Season against a D1 team @ 427 Total Yards. Boyd with 165 of them on 19 touches, excluding return ydg.
Cheers EE
Yea I’d love to see Boyd initially lined up in the backfield, cause you could really screw around the opponent defense.
You could motion him to either side of the field, you could throw him screen passes, or run deep routes out of the backfield, hoping to get a LB or slower Safety on him. He can throw himself out of the backfield, as we’ve seen.
With a kid with that type of athletic talent, it’s almost limitless what you could do with him.
And if he’s used this way, he would much more attention as a Heisman candidate in helping Pitt win by larger scores.
Shame they haven’t used his full potential.
Comment by Emel 10.23.15 @ 6:57 pm
But why not fake the toss and throw to Orndorff over the middle?
Or instead of a short route pass to T.Boyd, what not let him run a curl route, but hard on the curl & then streak the side line for a long pass over the defenders?
Emel – two trick plays in one game? Double the fun and total for the year – lol. There was almost a third when T.Boyd faked the double reverse on the kick off.
I see a smash mouth FB game in Pittsburgh this Thursday night. Focus on winning each quarter and bring the W to 412. Play hard, play fast, play focused and play to win.
HTP!
But nonetheless good to see him getting more touches and used as something other than a static WR on every play.
Funny thing though, after the successful fake punt, Pitt just ran inside the Tackles, and Cuse could not stop us. We avg’d about 5 yards per carry. 9 successive running plays with NO passes.
link to sportspolls.usatoday.com
But Amway…really !
Is it possible James “the beast” Conner makes an appearance on the field? This is a good D for his talents and strengths.
Another scouting report shows that UNC is very young on their punt team with a FR punter and FR long snapper. If we got a block vs Iowa, why not two against UNC?
Beat the Tar out of the Heels! And then beat them some more…
And PSU is no longer getting votes in any of the polls this week.
Seeing Dungy play I now understand the tight end picking them. Syracuse will not be a push over any more.
The answer to the ‘side-to-side’ passing game can be found within…
Will have MMQB up on Monday Morning (that seems logical!)
Reed
GA Tech was/ a better team than Pitt and so was Syracuse was for 3 quarters. Still, we won them both.
Thursday is real big time with all USA watching.
I think we have the best head coach in the country. Can’t wait to see what happens Thursday night!
We will be less likely to win a high scoring game. Our D is a little better than last year but we still need to keep their O off the field.
Smash them in the mouth and put a boot to their throats.
T.Boyd in the backfield is a nice set that OC Chaney is using. Like Emel said earlier, we need to see more formations like that with an assortment of plays. Keep their D guessing while you keep smashing them in the mouth over and over.
At some point, we may even see J.Whitehead in an offensive set. What better game than on prime time, national TV in front of the 412 Crew.
HTP!
A little scary how they shut down VA in the second half.
We need more passes to the tight ends and ford when Boyd is double teamed.
NC favored by up to 4 points, which means they are actually favored by 7, giving thee for home field. Slow and methodical. Wouldn’t mind a little cold weather and wind either.
Will need to keep the rush disciplined and keep their qb in a place we can hit him hard, and often. QB’s that can make extra time for themselves do really well with our db’s as currently situated. We win this game. I don’t know how yet, but we win this game!
Slow track with a cold front for our southern visitors. Neat!
I do not pretend to know it all, just that you know less than shit. You call out a lot of people, well everyone is just chuckling on you. You did notice that, right?? You only did that to bust chops, right?
NC is a whole different beast. They are as much an enigma as the cues. Always thought they had a ton of talent but only put it together at times. Let’s hope they have had their time already. Weather is supposed to be poor, hope this does not keep the crowd down. I am currently sick as a dog but will be there. Team has done their part, now fans need to do theirs!
H2P
Let’s try that again. Haha.
I was talking 9.5 since Thursday of last week.
I hope everyone that can, shows up Thursday night.
These kids deserve 50,000 + crazy fans to be there making a difference.
Get off the couch, turn off the TV and get to Heinz Field, call in sick on Friday if you have to. SUPPORT YOUR TEAM!
Bring your kids, bring your neighbors, bring your neighbors kids. Tickets are cheap, best sporting value in town.
A meaningful game in late October for Pitt, been a long time.
Comment by gc 10.25.15 @ 5:11 pm