Too tired, too limited in time, too pissed and too frustrated to do much right now.
Here are the links for the day.
A couple stories in notebooks on honoring Dorsett, Martin and Starbauch from the Trib. and P-G.
Zeise at the P-G’s story (boy, you think his chat today will be fun or what?).
The Panthers’ defense began the second half reeling again but the Midshipmen made their first mistake of the game on the opening drive of the second half and it turned out to be a crucial one. Navy appeared to have converted a first down on a 2nd-and-6 run but was penalized for holding, pushing the ball back ten yards and putting the Midshipmen in 2nd-and-15.
That was a big break for Pitt because, the triple-option offense is not designed to convert long down-and-distances and sure enough, the Panthers held and forced the Midshipmen to punt for the first time.
Pitt then took its first lead of the game –and its first lead since the second game of the season in a win over Grambling –when McCoy capped a seven-play, 54-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run.
Since Grambling? I really didn’t need to know that.
Kevin Gorman at the Trib. Reads like a straight recap of the scoring which isn’t too shocking considering when this game ended and the story needed to be filed.
The good in the game was QB Pat Bostick and the offense getting a boost of confidence. The great, LeSean McCoy.
On a night when Tony Dorsett was an honorary captain for the Pitt football team, the Panthers’ latest fantastic freshman tailback, LeSean McCoy, stirred memories of the former Heisman Trophy winner.
McCoy ran for 32 times for 165 yards and three scores, but it wasn’t enough as Navy pulled out a stunning 48-45 double-overtime win Wednesday night at Heinz Field.
McCoy has nine rushing touchdowns this season, which is three shy of Dorsett’s freshman mark set in 1973.
The disaster, of course, the defense.
Pitt had 10 days to prepare for Navy, 10 days to decipher an offense that’s so darned unpredictable that it runs the ball 84 percent of the time, 10 days to ponder the implications of two Navy slotbacks whose combined weight does not equal that of starting Pitt tackle Jeff Otah.
Swear to God.
So it took only two hours after the opening kickoff last night for the Panthers’ “defense” to accomplish what could definitely be called a stop of the Midshipmen, aided though it was by an offensive holding penalty. For the record, it was Joe Clermond, the senior defensive end, who sacked Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, the Hurryin’ Hawaiian, on a third-and-10 from the Navy 27 on the first series of the second half.
10 days was the theme of the column.
Had it ended there, it would merely have been a disgraceful performance by Pitt’s defenders and, more pointedly, its defensive coaching staff. As it was, Navy put up another 17 points in a 48-45 double-overtime victory that was, from Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt’s tortured perspective, well, indefensible.
“I was very confident,” Wannstedt said of Paul Rhoads’ defensive game plan. “We spent more than 10 actually, although it probably didn’t look like it. We spent time in the summer, talking to different people about [Navy’s] offense.”
The Middies’ crisp execution of the allegedly antiquated triple option makes for a nice nostalgic theme for press box antiquarians who might believe the game has long since become hopelessly over-coached, but this isn’t necessarily what the Panthers bargained for on a night soaked with nostalgia.
At least one columnist made mention of the DC being responsible for the defenses’ game plan. Collier’s column puts the blame on the defense as he notes so much attention will go to the OT playcalling on offense. The defense’s performance was indefensible.
It has to be pointed out, for example, that when Wannstedt and his staff have more than a week to prepare for an opponent, Pitt’s record is 2-8. In the same situation, by damning contrast, Navy coach Paul Johnson is 17-7 given the same advantage.
“We went for it on fourth down a lot more than I was comfortable with out there,” Wannstedt said, effectively illustrating the desperation Pitt brought to the field last night. “That was not normal football.”
No, not at all.
Normally, football teams with the size, speed and recruiting advantages Pitt holds over the Naval Academy cannot be outfoxed by an offense that hasn’t been operating at the elite levels of the sport in 20 years. They can sometimes be fooled by a play or an inspired series, but not for 45 minute and 32 seconds, which was Navy’s time of possession last night. The Panthers spent so much time chasing Kaheaku-Enhada, trying to pull down Navy’s bullish fullbacks, trying to spot its whippet slotbacks, that when slot back Reggi Campbell swept out of the backfield on a pass pattern toward the left flank of Pitt’s defense, veteran safety Mike Phillips just let go.
“Guy just ran right by him,” Wannstedt said. “He thought he was gonna block him.”
Starkey, by contrast did mention the defense sucking. Funny thing, however, no mention of the DC by name or direct blame.
The Midshipmen spent the rest of the first half torturing Pitt with its triple-option. Pitt’s defensive linemen wore shin guards in practice to prepare for Navy’s cut-blocking. Maybe they should have worn chest protectors, because Navy’s fullbacks spent the better part of the evening stomping over them for big gains.
Didn’t that fullback dive play show up on film study?
Navy quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (spell check just exploded) also had more yards passing in the first half (96) than he’d had totaled in three of his first five games.
Not that any of this was particularly surprising. The Panthers haven’t stopped an option attack of any kind in years.
I eagerly await the next defense of Paul Rhoads needing more time.
Baltimore Sun sportswriter blogs a bit about the game (and thanks for the link).
In the first OT, Pitt hammered out a touchdown and Navy answered with a single strike 25-yard pass from QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada to Reggie Campbell. In the second OT, the Middies went on offense first and settled for a 29-yard field goal by Joey Bullen. Then, Pitt comes storming back. The Panthers had second-and-goal from the 3-yard line. Second down: running play for one yard. Third down: incomplete pass (illegal motion penalty declined). And with the game on the line, Wannstedt goes for the win on fourth down and the Panthers go incomplete on a jump ball in the right side of the end zone. In western Pennsylvania, they want to back up the truck and load up the whole coaching staff.
Yep. Pretty much.
Attendance was officially listed at a bit over 30,000. Looked like less on TV.
