Is anyone all that surprised Jim Chaney took off (or was helped on his way) this morning? I wasn’t. I had the following Facebook private message conversation with another Pitt football fan at 8:41 am on Friday morning:
Jeff, the real point was what I’ve heard about Narduzzi and Chaney. I just wouldn’t be surprised if Chaney was gone in a year or two. Narduzzi took a big gamble on letting Chaney run with Peterman and it just worked out toward the end of the year.
However, to fire an Ass’t Coach means buying out their contract and that is big $$$. But we saw publicly some tension between Narduzzi and Chaney on the sideline (and with Narduzzi’s rather snide “You’ll have to ask Chaney that” and I’ve been told it was worse in the locker room and clubhouse.
I didn’t write about it on the Blather because I don’t do that unless it this type of information is made public in another forum first. But there were signs of discontent with the coaches both on and off the field.
Last month the fine sports blog Cardiac Hill had a good take on what transpired between Narduzzi and Jim Chaney at the end of the 1st half against North Carolina:
…Even the coaches had serious issues. Major miscommunication cost the team approximately ten crucial seconds at the end of the first half when driving to potentially score some points. Pat Narduzzi appeared livid with offensive coordinator John Chaney as Nathan Peterman looked to the sidelines for a play call. Pitt was forced to use a timeout. That proved costly as the Panthers needed another timeout as they simply ran out of time and weren’t able to get the ball into the end zone or spike it for a field goal attempt.
News out of the Southside today is that there have been some discussions about players discussing transfers with the coaching staff. Not too surprising is that the first to surface is Chad Voytik’s discussion with Pat Narduzzi. Sam Werner has tweeted this on the subject:
Narduzzi says he has had “a little bit” of discussion with QB Chad Voytik about possible graduate transfer. #Pitt.
Werner then followed that tweet with this:
Narduzzi: “Chad knows we want him here, but we want what’s best for Chad, too. I know it’s not easy being a backup quarterback.”
This isn’t earthshaking news really. I think most Pitt fans figured that once this staff sat Voytik down onto the bench in favor of transfer-in QB Nate Peterman that Voytik would be looking around.
Personally I felt that Voytik would stay the course and either try to win the starting job back or be the solid #2 QB ready to go in place of Peterman if needed. In my opinion Voytik doesn’t have a solid shot at a starting job in a D1 school as he really isn’t that talented of a QB to just waltz in and grab that position from an imcumbent
My Fellow Pitt Fans – I’m going to try to post up one of these “look back” articles, with an embedded audio recording of a dramatic reading of some articles and other media bits, on a weekly basis. If you have ever heard of, or read, the really good coffee table book “The Pitt Football Vault” then you know that is is just full of every detail imaginable pertaining to our football history and traditions. It was written by the Post-Gazette’s Sam Sciullo Jr and covers from the 1890s through the 2007 season.
What I’ll try to do is start at the beginning of our program’s history and do one or two pieces on each decade, interspersed with other biographical pieces on some of our superstar players…. like Tino Sunseri. These take only a small bit of time and effort so I’ll try to be regular with them.
We’ll see how it goes. Forgive the small mistakes, I’m getting better as time goes by.
Here is an audio recording of Sport’s Illustrated article on the 42-14 win over FSU to get to 5-0 on the 1981 season. I like this piece because of the similarities between the defense then under Sherrill and Foge Fazio and our current defense under Narduzzi and Josh Conklin. We aren’t as successful statistically but the pressure concept is quite alike.
“Good to see you today. Another short week here. We’re getting used to this. We had a really crisp, mental practice this morning, trying to keep our guys fresh. We put to rest the Louisville game yesterday that probably looked better on tape than you saw in the second half at least. Our kids played hard, with great effort, and it seems like our kids continue to execute better week in and week out. So if we continue to get the great execution down going into Friday, it’ll be exciting stuff.”
Pitt’s frontcourt is in far better shape than last year. The additions of Nelson-Ododa and Maia are to replace Uchebo and Randall are obvious. Nelson-Ododa and Maia are better shot blockers. They are more aggressive on defense, more consistent rebounders and they are better on offense.
That isn’t to say they are all-ACC caliber players. They are simply better than what was. The one issue that is bedeviling to this point, though, is the emphasis on freedom of movement and more fouls being called.
Here is this last evening and this morning’s media recap for the day:
8-3 sounds damn good doesn’t it, especially after I predicted that we’d be 9-3 at the end of the regular season. I’m lying!! I predicted 6-6 with a chance at 7-5 “if the ball bounced our way a few times“. Glad to be wrong with that one and with this 45-34 win behind us we have an excellent chance to end the regular season at 9-3.
“Specifically, Barnes pointed to the hydrotherapy area, used by both teams, as being a part of the expansion. He also added that a common lobby space, as opposed to the current setup of two separate entrances, will make things more comfortable for the Pitt football players, who often eat their meals at the Steelers’ cafeteria.
“Just the little nuance of how our student-athletes won’t have to go outside to get into the cafeteria (Heaven forbid),” Barnes said. “They get to stay inside in the wintertime. Those are things we’ve been communicating and planning together here over the last couple of months plus.”
Later than I wanted, but time has been limited during daylight.
Pitt planned for a sleepwalk of a game after traveling back from Okinawa, and they delivered. The Pumas of St. Joe’s College (somehow, apparel and shoe company Puma does not sponsor them) were the big patsy on Tuesday. A subpar D-II team that came for a beating and delivered on their end.
The first half was extremely sloppy and you could see the lack of energy from Pitt. They missed a lot of shots from outside. Struggled at times with defense. Yet still led by 14 at the half.
One of the complaints about the Pitt passing game last year was throwing to Tyler Boyd to the seeming exclusion of all other receivers (especially the tight ends). Those complaints seem to have lessened this year as the tight ends have been much more involved and at least Dontez Ford sees a couple passes a game.
Funny thing, though…
Last year, Tyler Boyd accounted for 41.4% of all receptions (78 of 188). This year he is accounting for only 42.1% of all receptions (69 of 164). Wait. What?
* Pitt and Notre Dame renew ties for the 70th time when the Panthers host their historic rival for a noon ABC national telecast at Heinz Field. Pitt owns a 6-2 mark, its best start since 2009. The Irish are 7-1 and ranked as high as No. 8 this week.
* The Panthers are looking to bounce back from a 26-19 loss to ACC foe North Carolina. The defeat halted a four-game winning streak for Pitt. Notre Dame visits Pittsburgh having won its last three games following a two-point loss at undefeated Clemson (Oct. 3).
* Close games and dramatic finishes have been the rule for Pitt and Notre Dame in recent years. The past six meetings have been decided by an average of 4.5 points. Two of those contests have gone to overtime.
* Pitt is 5-2 in games decided by single digits this year. The Panthers were 1-5 in single-digit contests last season.
* All-America candidate Tyler Boyd needs just 49 receiving yards to become Pitt’s all-time leader in that category. Boyd enters the Notre Dame game with 3,013 career yards, second only to Antonio Bryant (3,061 from 1999-2001) at Pitt.
* Tyler Boyd is already Pitt’s career receptions leader with 226. Boyd is the ACC’s active career leader and ranks second nationally with 6.85 catches per game.
* Quarterback Nate Peterman is completing 67.4% of his passes this season, the second-best percentage in the ACC and 15th nationally. Peterman has thrown 151 consecutive passes without an interception dating back to the first half at Iowa (Sept. 19).
* This season marks the 40-year anniversary of Tony Dorsett’s legendary 303-yard rushing game against Notre Dame in 1975. Dorsett’s incredible effort sparked the Panthers to a 34-20 win over the Irish at Pitt Stadium.
In a sign from Heaven this vision appeared on the building facing Notre Dame’s football field immediately after Dorsett broke the 300 yard mark. “It’s like God deserted us just because Pitt beat the crap out of our team” a scared undergrad said, “But He’ll make it right after next year’s game here at Notre Dame, I know He will. There’s no way we lose two in a row to them!!” But apparently God took the Panthers getting five points in 1976…
SERIES NOTES
Pitt and Notre Dame meet for the 70th time in a series that dates back to 1909…the Irish lead the all-time series by a 47-21-1 count…Pitt and Notre Dame have split the past eight meetings with each team winning four times since 2004…close contests have been the norm for most of the past decade…nine of the past 10 games have been decided by single digits…in the last meeting, Pitt edged the Irish, 28-21, at Heinz Field in 2013…
Pitt’s 2013 win snapped a three-game series losing streak and gained a measure of revenge for its 2012 loss, a 29-26 heartbreaker in three overtimes at Notre Dame…the Panthers are 11-26-1 at home and 10-21 on the road against Notre Dame…Pitt’s longest winning streak in the series is three games, achieved three separate times (1932-34; 1958-60; 1983, ‘86-87)…Notre Dame’s longest winning streak against Pitt is 11 games, which occurred from 1964-74…
…that streak was snapped in 1975 when Pitt defeated the Irish, 34-20 (page 36 of the Post Gazette), behind 303 rushing yards from Tony Dorsett…the 303 yards remain a Notre Dame opponent record…in four games against the Irish (1973-76), Dorsett rushed for 754 yards, an NCAA record for a player against a four-year opponent…
(Here is the recap of the 1976 ND game the season after the 303 yard performance… this game sticks in my mind more than the 303 game actually… sweet as hell! All the Pitt fans in ND stadium were looking at Hornung up in the press box and screaming “Jump! Jump!”)
…the Pitt-Notre Dame series is long on history and color…on Nov. 13, 1999, the Panthers defeated Notre Dame, 37-27, in the final game ever played at Pitt Stadium…Pittsburgh product Kevan Barlow scored two TDs, including the game’s final score on a two-yard run to close down the 74-year-old structure…
…the 2008 game at Notre Dame was an instant classic...the Panthers clawed back from a 17-3 halftime deficit to defeat the Irish, 36-33, in four overtimes…the four-overtime affair marked the longest game in both Pitt and Notre Dame history…the ‘08 game also marked the Panthers’ second consecutive victory at Notre Dame Stadium…
…in its prior visit to South Bend (2004), Pitt beat the Irish, 41-38, behind five touchdown passes from Tyler Palko, an unprecedented achievement against Notre Dame. Here’s another piece on Palko for your Pitt football pleasure, and to keep you from going back to doing what your supposed to be doing to earn that salary your getting…
Finally, because this cracked me up when I watched it and because it is very well done, here is “Naptown Funk” (Naptown is Annapolis). Call me a hopelessly sentimental guy but when I see young men and women in the Military enjoying themselves I get a big smile on my face – especially considering what tough times they’ll be facing in a few years.
Plus, this might be the first time in the history of the U.S. that all five Armed Forces worked successfully with each other on something:
(This is one of a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
This is will a Friday morning edition of course and that’s good because I don’t want three days to think about that game before I can put it into the history books… and I don’t think you want to either.
We’ll get back to all that in a second… here is the obligatory highlights video:
Now lets get the hard part out of the way with Narduzzi’s post game press conference:
Here is the info dump on the game and the cumulative stats for the season:
OK, now is the hard part and it is a bit like looking into a ‘Way-Back’ mirror to the last week of camp where we talked about things that might bite us in the ass… sprinkled with some new problems that have shown themselves growing week-by-week.
One thing that I’ll keep first and foremost in my head for the next ten days is that a good, solid, football team came into Heinz Field and won the game. North Carolina is no stumble bum team that just happened to get luck breaks to win the game. That wasn’t the case, they came here and won the play on both sides of the ball and scored more than we did.
(This is one of a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
One thing I dislike is that I write these MMQB articles immediately after the game and then hold it off until Monday morning to post it for work-time reading. So – if it sounds like these MMQB articles parrot the media coverage after the game that doesn’t happen. I never read anything but stats and watch videos as I write these… unless I see something Monday morning I want to quote before posting.
