One-third of the season is in the books. Pitt sits at 2-2. I have no idea about this team. I have notions, thoughts, opinions and conjecture. But I don’t have any solid sense of this team. Is this a 7-5 team? Are they improving steadily and capable of going 9-3 or 10-2? Somewhere in the middle?
I’ve been reading everyone’s comments from the threads and both positive and negative there are good points made. The fact that four games in, and I don’t feel like I know anymore about this team than when they were 1-1 is really frustrating.
We know more about them than from the preseason as realism forced us to back away from darkhorse top-10 BCS Championship dreams. Aside from that it is a crapshoot. It doesn’t help that the Big East is so weak looking that going 7-0 would not be unthinkable — and still not be considered particularly impressive.
Back to the FIU game. If as Coach Wannstedt likes to say, you throw the ball to score points, and run the ball to win; then just look to that as to the reason Pitt only had a 13-10 lead at the half and only 16-10 in the 4th quarter before FIU was beaten, worn down and lost 44-17.
In the first half, Sunseri just was not good. Only 5-12 and 60 yards or so. He was missing receivers, and staring them down. He has no connection with Baldwin. It may have to do with the routes Baldwin runs and Sunseri feeling like he doesn’t have time to wait for the play, but there is a real problem with Sunseri even trying to get the ball to Baldwin.
Sunseri was throwing to a spot, and the FIU defender read it and planted himself right there. Sure enough, Sunseri through right at him. Shanahan, though, went after the ball and took it away from the defender and got a nice gain. It was a strong move by Shanahan. I didn’t agree with some of the booing I heard of Sunseri early in the game, but I can’t say I feel that much better about him after the game.
He was 10-12 in the second half and finished with 169 yards, and had some nice hook-ups with Devin Street and Mike Shanahan. Shanahan also bailed him out on what looked like a sure interception.
Sunseri did have more time to throw in this game. The reshuffled line seemed to make a difference. It wasn’t just FIU not being very good — after all New Hampshire was able to get some pressure.
Obviously in the running game, there was a little more space. Definitely the blocking for runs was better. It also helped that Ray Graham had a bust out day. Graham had 277 rushing yards, 19 receiving yards and three TDs. In the first half, he had 104 yards. He was Pitt’s offense, and had an epic day.
Despite that and, Dion Lewis missing the game because of an undisclosed shoulder injury — really effective Big East injury policy — Graham will not be the starter this weekend against ND. Coach Wannstedt has made that clear. Old school football. You don’t lose your job because of injury. Wannstedt conceded that Graham should get as many touches as Lewis, though. Figure that means 1/3 of offense will be running Lewis, 1/3 running Graham and1/3 Sunseri passing.
The defense was okay, but they had one very bad quarter where FIU missed chances. The second quarter was maddening for the way Pitt could not get off the field. Defensive penalties, mistakes and looking slow. FIU held the ball for nearly 11:30 in the quarter and converted 5-of-7 third downs. They scored only 10 points in the quarter, in part because they only had two possessions. Both drives took over 5 minutes.
Thankfully, the defense made more plays in the second half, except for that letdown to start the 4th quarter.
Next test is ND in South Bend. That means Brian Kelly and his passing attack against Pitt’s re-tooled linebackers and secondary.
Playing in South Bend is always tough. But I think the Panthers pull it out. ND’s defense isn’t amazing meaning running the ball should be doable.
Here’s to a half-full cup of arse-whoopin’.
HTscriptP
Is that really asking for too much?
If not, I think this game can get ugly quick because I have to give the nod to ND because Kelly is heads and shoulders above Wanny when it comes to coaching ability.
Thoughts?
BTW – do you remember who the QB was 2 years ago when we won at South Bend??
A loooong weekend to say the least. Have read most of the comments and I am here to say that if the same Pitt team I saw play Saturday shows up at ND, there is no way we win….none! Big, dumb, undisciplined Pitt team is typical of a Wanny coached team. They did play better in the second half but FIU also wore down. Pitt opens as a 5.5 underdog at ND and it is well deserved. I must say that in my 47 years of watching Pitt football, I have never seen more bizarre officiating than the Sun Belt crew that showed up Saturday…and then stayed over to join Ed Hoculei on Sunday at the Steeler game.
Still, a win is a win…and I think we will value each one this year…I predict there will be only 6 of them.
not a hard choice…
Please dont embarrass us again on national TV Dave! And if you do, make sure you blame your players and take no responsibility as per usual.
And Wanny against the genius that is Brian Kelly is 1-2 with two close losses. And in the one win Cinci was ranked while Pitt was unranked. Clearly Kelly owns Wanny in coaching.
“A very physical team up front, and their offensive line definitely won the line of scrimmage [Saturday].”
Read more: link to miamiherald.com
From what I have read online, the game was pretty close until Pitt pulled away in the fourth quarter. That’s not surprising to me given the way we have played this year and FIU’s tough games against Texas A&M, Maryland and The State University of New Jersey. I wanted to get all of your thoughts on the game.
How was the offensive and defensive playcalling? Did we play the basic 4-3 the majority of the game? How did DeCicco look at weakside LB?
How was the defensive line rotation? Did Clemmings play well?
Did Williams see the field at all or was Gary in the entire game?
Did Tino make any strides?
How did Gibbs do and what was the offensive line rotation like?
Thanks guys
Bad enough we have to watch a mediocre (at best) team, but then to make the tailgating no fun either isn’t going over well with me and a lot of other season ticket holders. I don’t know if it’s Pitt’s fault or the city’s fault but it needs to be fixed, and soon.
Your assessment seems right. Throughout the game the ESPN3 cameras showed lots of yellow that did not fill up. The only way to get Nordenberg and Pederson’s attention is through the wallet. They won’t listen to anything else.
How was the offensive and defensive playcalling? Did we play the basic 4-3 the majority of the game? How did DeCicco look at weakside LB?
—Offensive play calling, not so good. Let’s see Cignetti called a screen pass and a shovel pass in a two minute drill in the first half. He did call a better game in the second half. They really need to let Sunseri throw the ball around, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
—Defensive play calling, nothing really stood out to me
—DiCicco looked solid
Did Tino make any strides?
—Terrible first half, I think he was 2-9, but then rebounded in the second half. I wouldn’t say he made strides though, but at least he showed he could overcome a bad start.
How did Gibbs do and what was the offensive line rotation like?
—Offensive line looked better overall to me. But hard to tell considering the competition.
There were more than 20 thousand people at Heinz Field. It looked pretty slim at the start of the game, but a lot of people came in near the kickoff. I’d say 40 thousand minimum.
Also, I like the idea of having Graham and Lewis sharing the carries. Maybe Lewis’s injury slowed him down a few games…but a player doesn’t run for nearly 1,800 yards as an accident.
The offensive line looked better running the ball with Gibbs in there. Pitt is primed for another victory at ND. It’s time for Baldwin to shine. It’s one of his last chances on national TV before the draft.
If this offense fails, the boo birds will definitely call for Tino’s head come Rutgers.
The point was hyperbolic in that they have to misrepresent things like attendance to sell the program instead of getting a coach who knows what to do with a recruit once he gets one.
Let me know where they sell those rose colored glasses because I would take Mike Gottfried back in a New York minute over the mess we have now.
It seems just the opposite this year. Again the QB and O-line are question marks and have disappointed, but I like the defense considering allof the injuries.
The other big disappointment is the large amount of penalties, especially pre-snap. This was not a problem the last 2 years, and the only thing I can think of is the uncertainty that many of these players have when they line up
I read it every week in these columns. Please, no more apoligies for DW.
They’re an average team that underachieves. So far that the proscription. Pitt can beat the mediocre, hang with the good, and get crushed by the elite. Could they lose to a team like UNH? Sure, but they would have to play pretty bad. Could they beat Maimi? Sure, but they’d have to play phenomenally. I’m not off the Pitt wagon yet, I still think they should be favored in all their games (doesn’t say much about the BEast), and should be in the BCS hunt up until Dec 4th.
Lets face it, our team has hit a lot of bad luck since camp opened. I mean every team has roadblocks, but we have had many injuries, distractions and ill timed inconveniences. I’m not making excuses, but its hard to blame it all on DW & staff.
That said, I’m still not in panic mode. Many people are peeved because Pitt lost two “big games” but the actually meaningful games aren’t even here yet. Some downplay a Big East title, but sorry, thats our conference and even if they went 0-4 OOC, a BCS bid is all people remember.
Ah, the hell with it.
Reality check:
BOSTICK vs ND…
14/27 3 INTs, 1TD. I’ll remember that on Satuday night when Pitt beats ND with Tino.
Shady 32 carries for 169 yards.
Connor Lee 5/5 on FGs.
Pointing out facts and stats is not apologizing. People just want to believe what they want to believe. I post stats while other people post their feelings. I’ll take stats over feelings any day.
to much negativity surrounding pitt…whould you rather be 4-0 and player 4 no names?
“Urban Meyer was all the rage for a while…Has he lost his touch? Clearly Saban out coached him because Alabama drilled Florida, right?”
– Yes, Florida got blasted by Alabama, the number one team in the country. Meyer is 57-10 with 2 national championships and three 13 win seasons while playing in the toughest conference in football. He gets a pass for a bad loss here and there. What is DW’s record after 5 seasons? How many national titles do we have to brag about? How many conference titles? etc…At the end of the day Florida fans can accept a bad loss because they’ve had the big time success. Pitt has not.
“Mack Brown..fire that bum. First he gets drilled at home by an unranked opponent, then he loses to Oaklahoma! Clearly the game has passed him by.”
– Much like my comments about Urban Meyer, when you achieve a certain level of success you get a few free passes. DW has not eanred that. Lets not forget, Texas and Florida play in far more difficult conferences than the Big East. Perhaps if we were in a tougher conference, DW may get more slack.
“If only we could be good like Utah and only have to play about 3 or 4 games a year against teams that have a chance in hell of beating us! Same goes for Boise State and their great coach.”
– I think Pitts schedule is not much more difficult (if at all) than Boise or Utah. The difference is that when these teams get their chance on the big stage they deliver. Utah spanked Pitt in 2004 and embarrased Alabama in 2009. And by the way, Utah has won 9 straight bowl games…Pitt has only been to two in the last 6 years (in the weak ass Big East). As for Boise, they beat Oklahoma in the 07 Fiesta Bowl and beat TCU in the 2010 Fiesta. Boise is 6-4 in bowl games since 1999.
As for Brian Kelly, give him two years and you will see Notre Dame as a top ten team again. The guy is a winner and once he gets his own recruits in place you will see a change. And he will do it playing a much tougher schedule than DW will ever face.
So bottom line, DW has not eanred the right to be cut any slack. He has recruited top level talent and competes in one of the weakest conferences in college football. We have the right to expect more from this program at this point. I’ve defended DW many times on this board so Im not your typical Fire wanny guy. At some point though you have to be realistic and ask yourself if this is a guy who gets more or less out of the talent around him?
After a Pitt loss, I am incensed, irritated and frustrated. My feelings last for about a week. I am the same way when Pitt loses a basketball game; however, that lasts for about two days.
Would be great for Frank Cig getting Ray and Dion on the field same time. A little shotgun with them lined up on each side. Use for run or for blocking or jump them to the flat for short pass. Shotgun may help Tino see the field better. Would be nice to surprise the other team for once. But…I don’t see this happening.
You may argue that we ourselves were supposed to be a top 15 team, but a) that assumed a healthy All American defensive end would be playing and b) it didn’t foresee the distraction of having multiple idiots get in trouble with the law/kicked off the team.
As for the attendance, who cares? No one can really control who comes to games. Win a ton and maybe people will show. Lose and they won’t. That simple.
The season starts in earnest on October 16. Until we start to lose those games that we SHOULD win, let’s not start jumping ship.
AND ONE FINAL THING, IT’S OKLAHOMA (not Oaklahoma). I’m hoping those that used and repeated that AREN’T PITT GRADS !
I will trade 3 interceptions for a win any day of the week.