Well, what can we say that hadn’t already been said about this last game? The POV Podcast article made my thoughts pretty clearly known – but I do want to emphasis one thing. I do not think Pat Narduzzi has lost the kids, lost the season nor should he be fired as I have read elsewhere from upset fans.
I have always known that Pitt fans knee-jerk week to week if a game is a win or a loss, but even I’m surprised at the level of disappointment and even hatred directed at him by Pitt fans on the internet.
Granted most Pitt fans don’t feel this way but a whole lot do and while I am as level-headed when it comes to Pitt football as I can be, at least as I try to be, it is a bit shocking that to me that after only four games some fans are throwing in the towel on the season.
Not me. Now is the interesting part IMO. This is going to be Narduzzi’s defining season as far as I’m concerned. I don’t really buy into the “It takes time for his own recruits …” stuff when discussing new HCs because some new HCs do well after a year or two and some don’t.
Right now he’s playing, and winning, with Paul Chryst’s recruits and the bulk are from a #35 and #45 ranked recruiting classes Chryst had… which is about as good as it gets for Pitt football. So we’ll see just how good a coach he is this season.
Now here I have to be honest because I think, as far as actual football coaching and Xs & Os go he is not very good. We see that with poor HC decisions made during games on a regular basis.
Case in point was last week’s loss when he took a penalty and gave NC an extra play when they were marching down the field and in his using all our 2nd half Time Outs too soon and not having them when needed to stop the clock on Marshall’s last drive – thus depriving ourselves of an extra minute or so after we received the NC kickoff to try to regain the lead with at least a FG..
But he was pretty poor in this area last season also and still; 1) he won 8 games and 2) almost won the Coastal division. So he can still make a run at a good season – although I think we can almost forget about a division championship at this point, chances slin to none I think…. this is not a championship team in any sense of the word.
OK then – since we lost this last week we star off with the three negatives then follow-up with the three positives.
NEGATIVES:
֍ Passing Defense of course. Gee, I wonder if anyone can come up with something else – if so I’d like to hear it. Here what we have done with our pass defense – which any right thinking Pitt fan knows was the cause of our loss against NC. you don’t give up 435 yards and 5 TDs and not point a finger directly there.
Matter of fact here is just how much the other teams have benefited from playing against our defense.
| Team | Rank / Pass Eff Before Pitt Game | Rank . Pass Eff after Pitt Game | Rank / Pass Yards before Pitt Game | Rank / Pass Yards after Pitt Game |
| PSU | 76th – 129.54 | 58th – 141.43 | 73rd – 209 ypg | 39th – 270 ypg |
| OSU | 56th – 142.97 | 37th – 152.72 | 40th – 270 ypg | 9th – 360 ypg |
| UNC | 17th – 165.99 | 9th – 175.16 | 24th – 294 ypg | 13th – 334 ypg |
| Marshall | 32nd – 153.25 | 39th – 272.7 | (12 TDs vs 4 INTs |
Hell – I wouldn’t be surprised if teams not on our schedule are trying to bribe our ACC opponents to swap places with them just to pump up their passing numbers.
֍ Nate Peterman’s play – again. His trend downward has to stop if we are to win any games against decent opposition – and I don’t see any cupcakes left on the schedule, Marshall included. 
Here is what he did Saturday and on the face of it the numbers don’t seem too bad – what you can’t see are the blown 3rd down passes which would have used up the clock and taken us, possibly, into FG range. From the P-G:
Quarterback Nate Peterman and the offense converted 10 of 13 on third down through three quarters, but went 0 for 4 in the fourth quarter. They flamed out on their final two possessions, holding the ball for less than two minutes each time while failing to gain a first down.
“We’ve got to be better. Offensively our goal was to have the ball in our hands at the end of the game and bring it into Coach Narduzzi in the locker room,” Peterman said. “That’s obviously something we didn’t do
֍ Pat Narduzzi and his coordinators game day coaching. Not sure what to say about this but it appears that he didn’t go to Head Coaching Clinics over the off-season. Nor did he hire a consultant to tutor him on what actually needs to be done by the HC during a game. The two main things a HC is responsible for are calling timeouts (F-) and deciding whether or not to go for 4th downs and FGs (C+)
He just never seems to have a handle on the big picture then stumbles and bumbles his way through post-game press conferences. As much energy and excitement he may bring to Pitt I don’t think he brought a strong ability to make the quick and tough in-game choices.
POSITIVES:
֍ Our Offensive Line play. Our running game was effective again this game to the tune of 55 carries for 281 yards, 5.1 ypc and 4 TDs. Anther good day at the office for those guys. And they gave Peterman time to pass the ball – he just couldn’t do it accurately.
֍ Our Defensive Line play. Not only did we hold NC to a minuscule amount to net yards on the ground – 18 yards on 22 carries foe a sub yard .8 ypc., but we did so while harassing the NC QB – especially in the 4th Quarter. Just as our lack of a Pitt passing game isn’t on the Pitt OL – the success of the NC passing game can’t be laid on the shoulders of the Pitt DL.
֍ Quadree Henderson’s ability across-the-board. This is getting to be a weekly occurrence and thank God for it because we have needed practically every yard Henderson has given us.
He led our rushers with 109 yards on nine carries for a 9.6 ypc which is exceptional. He gave us a long 46 yard kick off return that gave us that last glimmer of hope that we could pull the win out of a hat when he took the lateral from Ibrahim – who actually received the KO then sprinted until time ran out and he was tackled.
Henderson is the main producer for us given the rather low number of touches he had with the ball from the LOS:
Will have the regular articles up during the week – update on the Game Thread is that we almost made 1,000 comments. Thanks guys for all the great and thought-provoking discussions we have on here.
pittpov.com 
We were 4.5 point underdogs last week at Ok St and 7 pt dogs at UNC, and we lost both by a total of 8 points.
Yes, we did lose both .. and that’s the main point, but any talk of anything rash happening at this point is pure knee-jerk and irresponsible. He is in his 2nd year as HC and there is still a lot of young players out on the field with more in reserve. My expectations are that both the HC and the players will improve over the next year or so.
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Reed, as far as the game-day coaching, I have mixed emotions. Saturday was another example when adjustments were apparently made at halftime defensively. UNC scored 16 points in the 2nd quarter but only 1 TD in the 3rd. Last year, GA Tech scored 281st half points but were pretty well stonewalled in 2nd half. Last week, OSU was much less potent in 2nd half.
What the staff (and especially HCPN) needs to learn is to not to roll up into the fetal position in the 4th quarter.
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For UPITT:
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/11195543-74/athletic-director-barnes
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As bad as the defense has been, they have been good enough to keep us in it to the very end.
I blame the fourth quarter offense for not seizing the day and scoring the winning TDs, or at least making enough first downs to run out the clock.
The defense is not good enough to make the final stop, if the opponents offense makes no mistake.
I thought and still think our offense is good enough to finish games.
The coaches seem to disagree, and keep handcuffing them with their poor play calling.
I do agree that Henderson is a difference maker, although he has disappeared in the fourth quarter as well.
They need to trust Peterman to make the big play with his arm to finish games.
Grow some balls to throw some balls.
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The definition of insanity is to keep trying the same thing and expect different results.
Expecting our defense to get a winning stop is insane.
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The ‘rolling up in a fetal position’ actually started with 3:12 left in the first half. We got the ball back and had NO sense of urgency to get down the field to try and score. In hindsight, a field goal would have made all the difference in this game.
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Here’s my take Reed and I feel as if you should maybe take a look into the mirror. Sounded to me a lot like you really don’t like the head coach in your podcast. Wait a second don’t be upset, despite the fact that you told us a couple of times that you do like him, your commentary told me something different. It even had you swearing on a Sunday. 🙂 (which I don’t mind at all) His responses were a little underwhelming for sure and he is a bit snippy. Which brings me to my point.
I agree with you hold heartily that Pat has a lot of learning to do considering all the nuisances that go into being a head football coach in college. imo he kind of reminds of the first couple of years of Dave. In fact they remind me of each other in many ways. Looking back at my expectations and what has transpired so far this season I can’t say I’m all the unhappy. Certainly the way the games unfolded can get anyone upset, it’s the fact that HCPN had the team in the position to be undefeated right now and that’s basically all I was looking for going into this season. If Narduzzi wants to blame something or someone about all the unrest around PITT, he should also look into the mirror for having his team ready to play against quality competition this season…….he’s only guilty of fielding a quality D-1 college football team
H2P………………ike.
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Which Marshall WR has a career day this Saturday? It would be the 3rd week in a row. Hopefully Matt House is actually watching game film this week and spending less time on locking everyone out.
Please Pitt coaches, no turtling this game.
With Doc flirting with the Pitt job last time, he will be motivated this weekend.
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Changing the subject, wonder if the ND defense recruits still are dreaming of a “big time program.” Probably are. Cant think of much else to say about Saturday that hasn’t been said.
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we were supposed to lose those 2 games! at least we kept it close. As was said we lost by a total of 8 points! I think with a little more on the job training PN can be a really good coach, lets not give up yet.
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I defended PN last week but this week their is no defense(pun intended). The 4th quarter conservative play-calling has to stop…my immediate reaction was that Pitt lost because the coaches did not put them in a position to win on offense in the 4th quarter and defense throughout the game. When it has been proven time and time again your small slow corners simply cannot cover fast tall receivers you are doing a disservice by continuing to put them out there on an island (safety help anyone???). I’m sorry but until proven otherwise when it gets to the 4th and the game is close I just expect them do enough to lose, Saturday was no different. I was right with my prediction of a tough loss and a complete fan meltdown. Hopefully my second prediction of no losses in October will also come true or it could get ugly.
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I for one think the season is lost. I’m not sure we will be bowl eligible come season end. There is no correction that Narduzzi/Conkin can make for our pass defense that would make any difference or they would have made it already. Our best chance there is to face an incompetent opposition QB with equally incompetent receivers. I’m not sure how many of those we have on our schedule. There is no need to run against Pitt, just pass us to death and we will likely collapse.
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Great points Reed. You are spot on. Any team that scores 42, 38, and 36 points should win!
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Well I’m as heartbroken as y’all. Listened to the call on the radio, which doesn’t always present all the facts given the announcers are our Pitt homers (Which I like). But what I noticed in q4… Besides Petermens complete and total ineptitude and lack-of-clutchness, is that Canada seems to think he can trick the opposing defenses in Q4 and it never works. The man needs a lesson in strategy. We have one of the best o lines in the country that averages 6-5, 330 lbs (or something like that). Q4 is not the time to trick them. Q4 is the time to line up man for man and pound them into submission.
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ROC2, the team that scores the most points wins, doesn’t matter how many.
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Reed – I was hoping Corvalis would be dumb enough to hire him and Brissel’s Top Sales Rep with him.
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http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/scoreboard/
Lots of points being scored.
Fraud scored 31 fourth qtr points to beat cal 51-41
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Lol:
@gc: “ROC2, the team that scores the most points wins, doesn’t matter how many.”
Yeah…I it’s really frustrating, but the fact is so many games are gonna be Barn-Burners, that’s what it is! It’s not like Pitt’s scoring 38 and 36 the last 2 weeks, but still getting beat by 2 touchdowns — the other teams are giving up that many points to Pitt too!!
Who scores the most at the end??? Period! Even Nick Saban at Alabama gives up well-over 30 many times a season, and his offense has to step-up huge to win the game. Did anyone watch Clemson vs. Alabama for the National Championship last year?? Deshaun Watson had like 350 yards passing and over 100 yards rushing against them —- there is never, ever, any, “We scored enough points to win“, Or “We held them to low-enough points we shoulda won” —- You either WIN, or you LOSE the game overall (of course there are positives and negatives to analyze as well).
That’s like penn state fans harping about how, If we score 39 points vs. Pitt, we definitely shoulda won!!! — That reasoning makes NO sense!! You score 50, your opponent scores 51, doesn’t matter, they win, you lose!! 🙂 lol
How this week, “If we just scored 3 more points — one more field goal — Pitt Woulda Won for Sure!!”
Against North Carolina this week, we didn’t even need all that! In our last 4 drives, if Nate Peterman and co., coulda, woulda, SHOULDA, just completed ONE BIG PASS and just gotten just ONE SINGLE FIRST DOWN on one of those four drives, Pitt Wins!!
😦 😦 😦 😦
#HailToPittNoMatterWhat 🙂 haha
After Louisville I really thought Nate Peterman was gonna be ‘The Man’ from then on……sigh lol
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#QBRegression 😦 😦
#BigMacTime lol
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VA, Tenn,Marshall, TXAM, MTSU, all scored 21 fourth qtr points. Marshall the only loser getting crushed by Louisville.
Duke beat ND 10-7 in the fourth qtr, they also won the game.
Winning teams score in the fourth quarter, most of the time.
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DK, while I agree Peterman isn’t the greatest, his offensive coordinator is really making him look bad.
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Obviously it’s easy to see the glass as half-empty after a loss (or 2 in a row), but I am really getting disappointed in this staff’s (not just HCPN) coaching and recruiting prowess. There were many glaring examples of poor strategizing, but one that stood out to me was at the end of the first half. NC was out of timeouts with about 19 seconds left. Somehow our DB’s STILL allowed receivers to get past them and into the end zone. In that case, all you have to do is stand at the goal line, keep them in front of you and tackle them. They would not have had enough time to get a FG off. Press coverage is not called for in that situation. Just one of many poor strategies.
As others have noted, our LB’s are far from stellar, particularly in pass coverage. Why then do we continue to play 3 LB’s, especially in obvious passing situations? Sigh . . . .
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But regardless of whether Nate Peterman is actually a competent, game-managing QB or not (my vote: NAY! lol), he’s a total lame-duck, no future player.…if this were the NFL, it would be time to play the young guy, ASAP!
I Know that level of success is Pitt’s future ….. but Pitt isn’t making the Playoff this year, so Blow-It-Up, for the Seniors! Make it exciting!!
Maybe Tino Sunseri 2.0 (except the kinder, super-religious version lol) is Pitt’s “Safest Option”, but he’s inspiring and exciting no-one — his teammates OR any fans!
Matt Canada you don’t have Jacoby Brissett (his QB at NC State the last 2 years, 3rd round pick of the Patriots) here at Pitt — you’re gonna have to dig-deep with your QB talent to Salvage this season!!
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The good:
Run offense – give Canada credit where credit is due (not passing), the option offense he is running is creating huge numbers. He is making Henderson a star. We finally have a real college offense to watch.
James Connor – he put a hurt’n on a few UNC players and IMO looked stronger and faster in this game.
Young players – Henderson, Moss, Brightwell, Tipton (coaches need to get more young defensive guys on the field)
The bad:
The pass offense – give Canada shit where shit is due. Part of the problem is the inexperienced WRs, but coach needs to throw down field more and do it on 1st and 2nd down.
DBs – daaah
LB substituion – sorry Caprara, Galambos. Brightwell and Wirginis should be playing more and more snaps.
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Narduzzi is learning on the job. Flat out. All that ‘head coach of the defense’ BS is just that.
He’s making critical decisions and managing the clock in high pressure situations – and there’s clearly room for improvement.
Self evaluation is a big part of being a leader. Whether he’s doing it publicly or privately, I don’t really care as long as he’s learning from his mistakes.
Dantonio had 3 years of HC experience before he took over at MSU, and was in his 4th year there before he won big.
I wouldn’t run Narduzzi out of town just yet. It’s a long season. And the record is probably what most people would have predicted after 4 games.
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Hearing the GT game will be a 12:30 kick-off. 😦
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— I saw a designated short yardage QB work for Texas earlier this year
— yesterday, I saw Terrell Pryor pay off in short yardage situations for the Browns
Maybe we should run Henderson, Stocker, Conner or Tipton (who I believe played QB in high school) in the Wildcat in the 4th quarter since we’re not going to pass it anyway
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Also – Dantonio was 40-34, and 24-22 in conference as a HC before he won big.
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I am not sure if our 4th quarter drought is because of the “conservative play calling” or if the defense has had so many looks at our offense by the 4th quarter, know we have not even attempted a valid passing game and learn on the job how to shut the door that was productive the 1st half…the opponent grows a big set of balls and bam…that’s the door slamming in our offense’s face…
Our whole offense is conservative with no signs of making in-game adjustments..but that ( adjustments during the game) has been a problem under several coaching regimes…Kinda like watching Foreman flail away at Ali in the Thrilla in Manilla..George had no other game plan and he wore himself out doing the SOS..kinda like our offense looks in the 4th quarter…..SOP
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DK, funny that you mentioned Louisville. All that time learning the pass offense from Chaney down the tubes. Peterman’s great passing half won that game, our best ACC victory ever. The passing also clicked for a half vs Duke. Both showed that Peterman is not a stiff and why he beat out Voytik.
Too bad we couldn’t build on that and develop a decent passing attack. The TD pass to Weah was pretty good. With guys crowding the box, there should be a lot of opportunities.
I said before, I think the fourth qtr offensive woes are fixable, I don’t feel that way about the pass defense.
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We have no passing game so I say we run a conservative offense…the whole game which catches up to us in the 4th period,
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Wwb, I like the idea of the wildcat, even more with Whitehead running it. Keep it, hand off to Conner, or reverse fields to Henderson. Maybe a shovel pass. The option with Henderson running behind Whitehead could get spectacular results.
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Not being a smartass but what has Danatonio won big at?
Last I looked not close to a NCAA.
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Haven’t heard anyone comment on the 30 yard loss on bad snap. Possibly cost us 4 points.
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You can argued HCPN’s coaching decisions all day long but never, and I mean NEVER, should you see a reciever standing so open that no Pitt defenders are even in the picture! 6x it’s happened last 2 games! Can we please fix that first!!
Game time for GA Tech 12:30pm.
You can bitch at Peterman all you want but the coaches did not put him in a passing position to win in the 4th quarter. For 3 quarters we rolled him out right/ left and he completed 7 passes of that set. Then suddenly and for no reason we drop him straight back 4 steps in the face of a huge rush (expecting run) we ask him to throw a 4 yard out to each side with a very narrow window??? Why??? Idiots we are!
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WOW, starting to get hard again to be a completely sold out PITT fan………sigh :<(
3 NEGATIVES:
Having a new head coach who was a DEFENSIVE CORDINATOR forever. WHY????
Because from his view in the 4th quarter with a lead you go ultra conservative on O and let the D win the game. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (stomach starting to hurt……..)
OC Canada for starting the game with soooo much creative call playing and ending the game with NOTH’n, ZIP, NADA in terms of creativity or passion to win. Canada’s as guilty as Duzz.
DC Conklin. If I did my job that POORLY I would gather up my wife and leave town in the middle of the night disguised as a Catholic priest and nun.
3 POSITIVES:
The kids played hard from the beginning whistle to the end.
BLEWITT didn’t BLOW IT and looks again like his good old self!!!
With a little bit of 4th quarter offensive “balls” (as in gonads) we would be 4-0 and ranked!
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Funny I haven’t heard Henderson’s inexcusable fumble mentioned. Seems like the offense was doing s good job of running down the clock right there??
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Loulou, that was a big mistake, just like Henderson’s late first half fumble. But both teams make mistakes during the course of a game, The Henderson mistake was more of a game changer.
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…..sorry, my #s 1,2,3 didn’t make it on the page for some reason
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Pittman… Love the priest and nun disguise analogy!!! Have Pitt’s worst losses in this order ( please imagine 1 2 3 etc as the site kerns off numbers
Pitt 6 – Penn St 7 -1975
Cinncy
N Carolina 37 Pitt iful 36
Houston.
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As a Monday Morning Quarterback, I am not hanging my head because we lost to UNC. They are a good team and played well. They were favored by 7. Switzer is one of the slipperiest fellows I have ever seen and am really glad we won’t face him again.
What is very disappointing is that we were up by were up by 10 points going into the fourth quarter, had their D on the ropes the whole game and couldn’t finish them off in four tries.
I have not given up by any means on Narduzzi, although his image is getting tarnished on the recruiting trail and by the nature of these losses. But at least he has us losing competitively, unlike the Navy game, so that is some consolation.
Winning football games, especially at Pitt is never easy, and this was a very difficult 3 game stretch.
Hopefully we can get on track with Marshall, but it is another tough match-up because they can pass.
I had predicted that 7 wins was the over/under, but hoped our offense would win a few games and cover for our D. It appears that the coaches haven’t figured this out yet.
All is not lost yet, but what might have been is.
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Dan72, to me the worst still is 42-14. I will never get over it.
One of our best teams ever went down in a plane wreck.
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Plus it cost us a National Championship.
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Or the FLST game where Bowden outcoached Sherrill and cost us another National Championship.
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Why have we not seen some new faces at corner back? Whoever is next on the charts can no do any worse than the incumbents. The lack of tackling, coverage and accountability is totally missing.
It seems the strategy includes interfering on long passes, the penalty is less yardage than the catch.
This is very difficult to watch.
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Webb is a run-stopping safety. He plays over Mitchell because of this. You see the results.
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Herman takes LSU. Unless Texas fires Charlie first.
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The strengths of Mitchell are sure tackling and great angles. He is basically Ollison on defense, sitting.
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John R my buddy. I had to pause and reread. I truly am not sure what you are alluding to here. ? ( not being a smart ass)
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Herman wants USC job first, time will tell if Swann axes Helton after one year.
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Webb is the FS. His main responsibility is in pass coverage. Watch him. He’s actually pretty good at the LOS in run support. You know… the main responsibility of the SS. Watch the first UNC TD pass. He was totally lost in coverage. He is the player who Wannduzzi mentioned in his press conference today who couldn’t tackle the receiver on the boundary. You know why? He tried grabbing the receiver by the shoulder pads and whiffed… badly. Receiver ran 4-5 yards downfield for the 1st down.
I can tell the guy is a warrior. Not doubting his toughness. He cracked Hood on one play and he came back with his left arm dangling like he had mildly separated his shoulder. He played on.
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The knee jerk reactions on here are both comical and pathetic. Some of you need to get laid! Seriously
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LSU will take another run at Jimbo.
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Get Jordan Whitehead ready to play corner this week opposite Avonte Maddox (Great on-job training for Whitehead, and Yes, NFL GM’s will go goo-goo even more for him if Whitehead can lock-down at corner in ACC play) — get the two 5th year guys out there at Safety: Move Terrish Webb down to Jordan Whitehead’s current role: Run Support, close-to-the-line of scrimmage, Strong-Safety. Get 5th year player Reggie Mitchell back deep playing “Center Field”, to break up all these wide-open deep balls (like when Avonte Maddox keeps giving Webb this crazy+puzzled look, which is most accurately translated to: “WHERE YOU AT BRO??!” haha). Get R.S. Freshman, (Manny S’s younger-brother) 6 foot Jay Stocker out there to play deep, Free Safety on pass plays to at least make Quarterbacks think when they want to throw these dang-bombs.
Jordan Whitehead at Corner, shutting down his side of the field / or a specific receiver he shadows (probably the other team’s best/star guy) will totally change the complexion of Pitt’s pass D. A lot of star Defensive Backs (especially on less talented teams, like Pitt at the current-juncture) have to play both Safety and Cornerback because their team desperately needs them at a certain spot.
No one doubts for a second that Jordan Whitehead can succeed at corner. And if Pat Narduzzi wants to “Do Right” by him, again, All the Scouts, and NFL General Managers know very-well who Jordan Whitehead is already, and all he has to do is be decent at Corner and it will only help his “Draft Stock” with all those NFL guys 😉
—- Chop, Chop @Pat Narduzzi!!!! This in the defensive backfield, and additionally new offensive packages: Wildcat Options with Quadree Henderson, Jordan Whitehead, and James Conner in the Shotgun (etc. lol 🙂 ) — as well as shedding the Shrink-Wrap off of “Tommy Football” (knicknames for him still a work in progress lol) MacVittie!!!
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OK John that’s what I thought. PITT doesn’t need him all that much in run support. Obviously their weakness is in pass coverage. I don’t think Mitchell is as fast as Webb who is not a flat out speed burner himself but he’s fast. I didn’t understand the questions about Ollisons playing time until it hit closer to home with me. Why in the heck isn’t Reggie playing more. Clairton?
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2 B1G championships, a CFP playoff birth, 36 wins and top 6 finishes the last 3 years, and 11+ wins in 5 of the last 6 years.
He’s not winning like Saben – but I’d sign up for Narduzzi turning Pitt into a top 10 program, chaising championships.
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Not Rocket – Pretty Funny. Knee Jerk is a Defensive Guru who is 99% talk and Rah Rah and no substance setting D1 records for giving up yards in the air in addition to terrible play calling.
Give LSU credit. They fire what we would worship. They want to win. Pumpkin Head Barnes is happy with Naduzzi tweeting and doing the rain dance at the end of the 3rd quarter. VT getting Better. Duke obviously getting better. We are a drop pass and a stupid throw by PSU QB away from 1-3 and the 1 was from beating a D2 Hoops College.
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Reed Kohberger
September 26, 2016 at 7:42 am
Emel – that was well know among Coasties…
Which part of Highland Park – I grew up on top of Negley Hill.
Way out next to the park Reed, off of Bunkerhill
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Pitt is set up to stop a team like Pitt. A team with a good running game, no receivers and a very sub-par QB. Any team with a good QB and one good receiver will beat us every time.
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^^^ @Upittbaseball — Remember, before Nick Saban came, LSU was one of the weakest teams, getting smashed-around in the SEC. Only around 15 years ago (The Rise of Saban, lol) did LSU start to become what other fans now consider LSU.
Les Miles was Dave Wannstedt on Figurative Steroids. Obviously Les Miles went to Michigan, so not a “Hometown-Son” — But Les Miles was a horrible game day coach who made the worst decisions on offensive philosophy (a Joe Paterno circa 1985 offensive philosophy, no joke!) and offense coordinators to run the show. But Goodness Gracious, could Les Miles recruit: Top 5 ranked overall recruiting classes every single year. Yeah, Pitt fans would be good with that. But really bad “Game Time” Coach essentially.
If Les Miles became Pitt’s head coach, Les Miles would be bringing in Top 5 classes (giving Urban Meyer + whoever penn state’s new coach is going to be — FITS). But the offense would be I-Formation, 65% run no matter what, and really bad clock decisions. But top 5 recruiting classes coming into Oakland year-in, year-out (no legal trouble too, Les Miles ran an exceptionally clean program).
I’m All-In on Pat Narduzzi though — that sounded like a “Pitch” for Les Miles lol, but just being objective.
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The sky is not falling. The next five games will be won by our team and perhaps more. You guys are funny! Interesting comment, but funny. Do I think that at the end of the season, the Pitt coaches and players will look back at the last two weeks and realize they coulda/shoulda won those games. Yes. Don’t panic. The wins are coming. The timing of our contests start turning in our favor beginning this week. The games we are playing come against teams that have played a brutal schedule leading to our game. Advantage Pitt.
Positives: 1. Blewitt – Go back to week one and everyone on here was uber critical of Blewitt. I said he would be fine and in fact supported his efforts to try and pin the opposition back on his kickoffs instead of blasting it into the endzone. 50 yard attempts at Heinz is never a good idea….even for the pro’s. He is solid and everyone that called for his ouster and attacked him personally should apologize for that crap. No room for personal attacks. 2. Q. Henderson – Speed kills. We need more of it and we are getting it. Great job again for our smallest/biggest weapon. 3.- Record – Our record is right where everyone predicted it would be. I am hoping that the record leads our coaches to burn redshirts more completely and not just for 20 plays in the year. I appreciate what Ryan Lewis did in the Dairy College. It is best if Dane Jackson and a host of freshman start seeing the field in the secondary. The strategy of course is to land Wade. By not playing the true freshman, the impression for Wade is that the job is wide open for him. By playing freshman it gives the impression that jobs are locked up for years, especially if they have some success. Understand the psychology of recruiting.
Negatives: 1. Coaching – This is not a negative at Coach Narduzzi. After Wanny was on board and it became clear that he struggled with gameday coaching, I penned a note to our AD and suggested that Pitt entertain hiring a former head coach that was only responsible for game time management decisions and that the coach would have a two way headset between him and Wanny to go over strategy/timeouts, 4th downs, etc.,during a game. The consultant coach would act like don zimmer in baseball when the Yankees were so strong. Old successful, experienced coaches that no longer are viewed as HC threats are great for these positions. Look at Saban at Alabama. He has at least 5 prior head coaches on his staff or consulting now so he can draw on their combined experiences. He recently hired Sarkishian as an offensive consultant two weeks ago. Pitt needs to be progressive in this space. 2. Complacency – Look at Louisville, Alabama, Ohio St. When these teams get a lead, they step on your throat and don’t think twice. It’s an attitude. We need to gain an attitude and go for the jugular offensively and defensively. Complacency leads to losses. 3. Schedule – Peterson left us with a crap schedule. We are past the most difficult part of the schedule. We will run off 5 wins in a row.
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People on this blog are very good at talking out of both sides of their mouth. If I hear one more time about how PSU was one dropped pass away from beating us blah blah blah. Oh you mean in the same vein that Pitt is like three or four plays from being 4-0. It is maddening that people wax poetic how we can’t take anything away from a close loss and then conversely trash our close win like it actually did not count.
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If we’re not going to throw the ball downfield and we’re running these option fakes, jet sweeps, reverses and other forms of misdirection. Why not put Manny in for a few series against Marshall and see how that plays. Adding another almost RB to the backfield, gives you another offensive threat on the field.
And this team needs more offensive threats on the field. Especially in the truly OFFENSIVE 4th quarter.
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Bingo Jack. We beat one team last year with a decent QB, that being Louisville. And even that kid was replaced in the 2nd half and now rides the bench. Almost blew that huge lead as well.
This is becoming a trend with the Nard Dogs, and that is a horrible trend to continue.
Reeks of SOP. (sorry doc)
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Here is the QB situation DN and others are spot on, NP is a bum … here is the definition of a bum QB. They occasionally are scintillating for a stretch or game but the rest of the time they choke, choke, choke Think Todd Blackledge he had 3 outstanding quarters in his whole career. He scored 48 points in 3 quarters once against some team. Think Tiny every year he went unconscious against CF then disappeared for the rest of the season. NP decimates Louisville for a couple of quarters and then plays like my mother for every game afterwards. Conner needs to give him a heimlich before each fourth quarter 3rd down play! NEXT MAN UP.
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Rest of the way in the ACC, we will be in a lot of close games. Many will be decided in the 4th quarter.
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And now the secondary … even my seeing eye dog knows it’s a dumpster fire. I once, out of frustration, had to draw a baseball batting order out of a hat to get a team going. Hell, moving JW to corner and stirring the pot on the others sounds like a great idea .. because IT CAN NOT GET WORSE.
DN you got my vote on the secondary, now somebody hand deliver the plan to PN!
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“It seems the strategy includes interfering on long passes, the penalty is less yardage than the catch.
This is very difficult to watch.”
You know the DB’s are really bad, when they interfere AND THE other teams still makes the catch for a TD.
They can’t even ‘interfere’ properly, lol
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Chop, Chop @Pat Narduzzi!!!!
lmao
I like your idea’s on re-tooling the Defensive Secondary….DK.
It can not get any worse, so trying some new players or moving them into different positions is certainly worth a try.
Chop Chop Nard Dog !!!
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The VA Tech game suddenly looks much more imposing now. They crushed BC 49-0 last week and this week crushed a pretty decent East Carolina team 54-17.
They are obviously no longer the Beamer ball team that Pitt almost ‘owned’ from about 2000 on.
Justin Fuente looks to be the real deal as an HC.
Pitt could have had him, cause he walked from Memphis after signing a renewed deal with them
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^^^^^^ “People on this blog are very good at talking out of both sides of their mouth. If I hear one more time about how PSU was one dropped pass away from beating us blah blah blah. Oh you mean in the same vein that Pitt is like three or four plays from being 4-0. It is maddening that people wax poetic how we can’t take anything away from a close loss and then conversely trash our close win like it actually did not count.”
OOOOO—-Phoooooeeeey!!! 🙂 hahaha
—-> CLOSE ONLY COUNTS IN HORSESHOES AND HANDGRENADES!!!! 😉
C’mon now — Clemson fans are all so happy because, “We Almost won a National Championship?”
The NCAA didn’t award Pitt 0.25 of a win to Okie State’s and North Carolina’s 0.75 of a win, because of how “Close” the games were! lol No-way, Jose.
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Passing Offense per game is at 253 and they are avg’g 40 ppg. I see a career game for their QB. OY
http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/259
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Pitt has a branch campus in Palooka-ville….i think DK 🙂
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@ Huff; Question: When was the last time a Pitt football team finished strong after the 6th game? Maybe 2009?
And we’re 2-2 now with a tough schedule ahead and a HC incapable of learning anything along with the worst secondary in D-1 football…..I for one don’t see a bowl game in our future.
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Yea Jack, I think they discontinued that Birmingham Legion Field Rusted Out Stadium Bowl, the BBVA Rusted out Stadium Bowl.
So we don’t have that to look forward to ! ha
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Another good Arnie piece:
http://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/17640876/the-force-drove-arnold-palmer
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SORRY @Reed : last video:
#NotFirst=SameOldPitt !!! lol
#Pitt$wagger
P.S. — For Real: penn state is awful. 😦 So about 😦 why Pitt fans aren’t happy about beating a horrible, weak team, where their QB who looks JV now — threw for 330 and 3 TD’s or whatever against us……
They got MAULED by Jim Harbaugh and Michigan, like a small doe that wondered into a closed-pen with a Starving Lion with a Bad Attitude. That win now is kinda sad that Pitt didn’t $mash them at home. Urgh.
Straight Up :Pitt is going to in all likelihood going to be facing penn state next year with Les Miles / Steve Sarkesian(sobered up?? probably won’t matter lol) or Lane Kiffin / or quite possibly (Gosh-please, NOOO!!!) Tom Herman as their head coach next season. Penn State just writes a $5+million/year check and see who bites!
Lol @Reed, can we do call-ins on your podcast?? We need Voices to all our screen-names!! 🙂 haha
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LOL Emel….another blessing in disguise. That and not having to watch us crap the bed in another bowl game. The players will miss going to the local Home Depot for a guided tour and that fun bowling game at the local hot spot.
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Middling around at 6-6 for all those years and getting those half-assed Bowl Games, that don’t even exist after a few years and never existed 15-20 years ago was actually detrimental to the program imo.
Pitt only did something drastic in terms of the football program after the three 1 win seasons of Dave Hart and then the final 1-10 year of Carl DePasqua.
Better to be at rock bottom where it screams for a Massive Change……… a Major Change….than to go thru life middling thru it.
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You Guys Are All-Correct lol, and I finally embrace IT….but only as a Curse to Be Beaten.
Same Old Pitt B$ — for me, it’s emphasis on the B$ (it’s an Acronym, some may guess, lol).
Oklahoma State and North Carolina —- and Heck Yes, needed a miracle lapse from Trace McSorley to beat horrible psu, at home?!!! —- SAME OLD PITT B$ hahaha 😉 .
That’s the goal: Stomping-Away the “Same Old Pitt B$” that for some reason still infests the minds of many of these Pitt Players (!!!!). Yeah, they’re playing “Hard”, but it’s like these guys expect themselves to lose!!
It’s something in these Pitt Players’ heads, this Loser Mentality that bubbles-up as the game goes on and the real “Crunch Time” arises.
Only guys like Jordan Whitehead, and other young guys are gonna break that mold.
***** Where are the Seniors THIS YEAR???? How do Adam Bisnowatty and Dorian Johnson — getting hyped as first round picks — how do they just let run plays get stuffed when Everything is on the line???
Nathan Peterman —- why just waste a play and throw a horrible pass from the pocket, when you have 4 seconds the throw??? Go get the first down! *RUN if you have to, you’re a 5th year senior you don’t get another year to play!!!!.
My take: The youngin’s are gonna have to do it, because the “Older Guys” all seem to almost “give up” when the going gets really tough — they’ve all learned to Accept Losing. Peterman, Bisnowatty, Dorian Johnson, all the 5th year D-backs, Matt Galambos —- the ONLY guy I see who doesn’t just “give-in” out there is Ejuan Price 🙂 — he’s a real stud, and GREAT for him 🙂 .
The RS Seniors and Seniors barring Ejaun Price just Aren’t Leaders — doesn’t mean they won’t be skilled Pro’s and represent Pitt well — but right now, Pitt Needs some serious FIELD GENERALS — and it’s gonna have to be the younger guys. 😦 I expected so much more outta the Seniors in terms of Leadership, but they ain’t got-it. Nathan Peterman is glassy-eyed out there. For a QB, that’s like when a fighter loses their edge altogether: They’re done man, FINITO.
—– Shoot, What if Ben DiNucci gets snaps against Marshall??? I totally-forgot about him altogether!!
#StartBenDiNucci !!!! 🙂 🙂 hahaha
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PN on his QB: “Nathan played darn good. It’s hard to be near perfect. We have to do a little better job throwing it, but not much better.
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LOL….only Fraud Graham has a worse secondary than us.
Pitt is next-to-last (127th) in the nation in pass defense, allowing an average of 361 yards. Only Arizona State (404) is worse.
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/11187687-74/pitt-carolina-north
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I can’t really argue with the general consensus here today but I just can’t wrap my head around the negativity. More power to you guys. I’ll stick with my team and consider the fact that PITT could be 4-0 as well as 0-4 but they are 2-2. I’m not into moral victories just reality. PITT has played two good yet flawed games. To me, that’s an improvement from days gone by.
This is a PITT football blog or message board and expression is what it is all about.
H2P………..ike
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Lol I promised no-more embedded videos @Reed,$
@ike :
——> Definitely Not NEGATIVITY haha — But instead #WhyNotBeBetter 🙂 🙂 …… #WhyNotPERFECT ???
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^^^ Apply all that stuff to Football here ( 🙂 hahaha) —– The Russians are Alabama!!!
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EMel. Really good point …taking a pass Int penalty instead of giving up a “home run”. Problem is .. You have to be close to a reciever to interfere with him. On 6 occasions there was no Pitt player within 15 yds of the open reciever. That is unforgivable in HS Football … For Pitt to let that happen over and over is maddening!!
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Dark Knight you obviously did not understand my point. I don’t care about moral victories and I know close doesn’t count. What I am saying just as you can’t “credit” a close loss how can you at the same time discredit a close win. A win is a win and a loss is a loss but somehow many on here are quick are quick to criticize both. Classic negative yinzer attitude.
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If you want to post a video without embedding it, just remove the https:// or http:// in front of the www in the url.
The link will still be clickable, but not embed.
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Knee jerkoffs beware, Narduzzi will get r done.
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Here’s HCPN’s presser from this PM
There’s a guy in it who makes multiple attempts at getting HCPN to address the conservative O in the second half. He finally gets him to address it.
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Everyone sees the problems clearly. Even Narduzzie today spoke of shaking up the D backfield. Find the right combo there and keep the O on the field and scoring in the 4th q and we are 4/0.I see a harder road to hoe than in the pre season with all the new coaches and offenses in our division.We damn well better deal with the hurry up and spread because G.Tech is about the only team that will not be using that offense and we just barely beat them last year.If only we had the additional D talent we recruited for this year playing instead of injured—————. Coaches have to do better in game management. We have given our opponents’ the ball last in each of the last 3 games with one score the difference in the game. You can not do that against any of the teams we play. H2P
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“What I am saying just as you can’t “credit” a close loss how can you at the same time discredit a close win. A win is a win and a loss is a loss but somehow many on here are quick are quick to criticize both. Classic negative yinzer attitude.”
😂😂😂😂 whoa??!! When did anyone here ever say, “How do you give up that jagoff last second Touchdown pass to lose the game? FIRE TOMLIN!!!” 😂😂
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We are 1 point favorites against Marshall. 1 point. We supposedly hired a stud DC. Marhsall As in WV. We spend 5 times the money as them. Truly new lows.
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Dark Knight do you talk as fast as you write?
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What puzzles me is that Oh Canada is an experienced OC, yet once the opponent adjusts to the jet sweeps, he had nothing to counter with except handing off to JC up the middle. You would think that an experienced OC would be able to anticipate the opponent’s adjustments and have a package of plays ready to take advantage of those adjustments. We don’t seem to have anything like that.
Is a puzzlement…
Go PItt.
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@Jack- The schedule of our opponents prior to our game is highly favorable. As an example, on Saturday, we play Marshall, who just got clobbered by Louisville. Their confidence should be crushed. Look at the teams future schedules and we seem to have an advantage. Forget history bro.
@Upitt – Marshall is a place for borderline athlete students and problem transfers. Doc Holliday recruits florida exceptionally well. We should win this game so long as we pressure their rather immobile qb. If he gets time, we will struggle.
So at 6-2, are you all climbing back on the train or still complaining? I golfed and spent some time with a NCState big booster in Vegas over the weekend. They were hoping for Canada as a HC and to get rid of their current HC. Very positive stuff about Canada. Candidly, we have scored more points than most figured. We need to go for the jugular like Louisville, Alabama, OSU. Kick em when they’re up, kick em when they’re down!
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Feein’ better about HCPN’s demeanor after that presser. I was definitely questioning his mental approach, probably good that he cut that post-game one short.
I was hearing and thought seeing a little Randy Edsall in PN and didn’t like it at all.
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Major Major,
You’re right – it is very puzzling! My guess is that Duzz insists we stay vanilla late in games so we don’t turn it over and let our D win the game. I’d like ask Duzz: ” How’s that working for you coach???
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We are 14 pt favorites fro Bovada LV (whatever that is). No other oddsmaker has us listed. (The -1 you saw on the 5dimes and composites are default values.)
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@upitt
Pitt is a 14 point favorite, check the Vegas boards.
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My three negatives are related –
All three 3 and outs by our O to end the 3rd qtr and throughout the 4th.
NP for his lack of execution on those 3 series.
O’Canada for his unimaginative play calling during those 3 series.
HCPN for not insisting our O step on the tar heel’s throats.
Honorable Mention – DC Conklin and his band of DB’s
Positives –
Juan Price, Soto and Saleem Brightwell – all with stellar play on D.
Q. Henderson and James Connor – both with tremendous efforts
Blewitt for splitting the uprights when his number was called, every time.
Honorable Mention – Jordan Whitehead for his explosive play on offense and defense.
Pitt better hope we get the Blundering Herd’s 2nd string QB who lost to ville and not the #1 QB who threw for 743 yards in their 1st two games – double OY
Rumor that Hamlin may play this weekend. Welcome back – should be worth the price of admission.
HTP!
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Upitt – I’m not a betting man, but I’m sure a lot on this site rushed to put their money on Pitt if the line was -1.
If -14 is the line, Vegas may know who the herd’s QB is going to be…
If I’m HCPN, I’m pushing full throttle, all out, bruising FB to get this team back on track. He needs to fire up his players and the fanbase on Saturday night.
Take no prisoners…
Hammer the herd!
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Ike – I don’t dislike Narduzzi – I’m just not that excited about the guy and honestly haven’t been for some time. He’s sitting at 2-4 in the last six games and hasn’t beaten a really decent opponent yet. Penn State was an emotional win but gets us no closer to an ACC championship. When he starts beating the tougher ACC teams maybe I’ll perk up a bit.
Pitt fans saying ‘we were supposed to lose those two games’, as if that makes it OK to get beaten by non-Top 25 teams and then think that takes the heat off Narduzzi for the losses is the definition of SOP on the fan’s part.. a phrase BTW that I haven’t used to describe this year’s team at all – even though other other fans are saying that.
I think Pat Narduzzi may be in over his head and that sometimes happens with the older lifetime coordinators who late in their career get jumped to HC. Ever since he was hired Pitt fans have assumed he’d be ‘the one’ because of his energy and… hate to say it… his use of Twitter. As if that makes any difference what so ever as to results on the field.
I believe the kids like him, he seems to be able to get them up to play this season (as opposed to sometimes last year) and it is unfortunate that his coaching hasn’t supported the players’ efforts. Last year we came out flat and seemed to rise up a bit after halftime, but sadly that wasn’t enough and we lost games.
This season we are coming out of the gate like gangbusters (save the Villanova game) and the coaching staff has coached so poorly that it effects the players and their results as the game goes on and in the last two weeks that has allowed the opponents to score in the 2nd half and win the games.
I questioned his choices of staff coaches when hired also – Conklin has done nothing for us since his hire and that is even with Narduzzi’s help. Canada – even with a great running game and points scored isn’t all that impressive.
He’s taken a kid at QB who played pretty well last season at QB and mishandled him and the passing game completely so that it is totally ineffective. Peterman passed for 2,287 yards (61.5%) with 20 TD to 8 INTs last year and played beautifully in two ACC wins against Louisville (our best ACC win to date) and Duke – his play won those conference games for us.
Then Peterman starts off the season throwing three TD passes in the opener and since then the passing game has been poorly used. Peterman needed to be part of the offense from the beginning and instead was used 11 times total in the 1st game – sending a message that it was going to be the poor stepchild to the run game instead of a full partner. Players need 100% support to play to the best of their ability – Chaney at least knew that and the passing game was integral in 8 wins last season.
Even with eight wins I still am waiting to see if Narduzzi is going to be able to turn the corner and beat good opponents and ACC teams when it matters. When he does that then I’ll be more excited about him – right now, to me, he’s another in a long line of Pitt HCs.
It’s still early yet and he could go on to have great seasons and I hope that happens. But right now he’s an average D1 HC.
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The line was never -1. It was just misunderstood.
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Reed, you talk about NP’s two good games last year but forget how he finished. His performance the last couple of games left much to be desired.
That doesn’t mean that I think he is terrible QB, by no means. I am a bit disappointed by his arm, but he remains a good decision maker. Also, he is put in a bad position in the 4th quarter because the pass plays called were on obvious passing downs.
He’s good but he was never the savior as he seemed to be deemed by many posters during the last season IMO.
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If Narduzzi wins eight games again it would have been another incredible coaching job. The lack of talent left behind by Chryst, who I should just call Christ due to the way some think he did such a great job, is staggering. The recruiting done by that clown was the worst since the end of the Hackett and the Majors era.
The good news is I think some more of Chryst’s recruits can be purged and Narduzzi will have 23 scholarships to give. Pat needs a JuCo D-tackle for starters.
Narduzzi needs to break the rules and call Malik Zaire now and convince him to come to Pitt as a grad transfer in 2017.
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Jacob Stallings 2-2 last night, and leading the Pirates in hitting this yr at .364. 4 for 11. Might have found a home in Pittsburgh.
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I believe we will see a more diverse offense this week vs the herd. More throws on 1st and 2nd downs to keep the opposing D guessing. Plus we should then see more short yardage 3rd downs so we can the play to our strength.
Even though our run totals are impressive this season in the first 3 qtrs of our games, I think the Oline is a big disappointment. These guys are NOT creating holes as we thought they would. Is that on O’Canada?
NP is another disappointment. Many thought if he got hurt, the season would be lost. I’m not feeling that way right now – in fact, if he has 3 consecutive series of no TD’s, I’m suggesting we change QB’s (just to change). Prefer MacVitte, but I’ll take Manny or DiNucci.
I’m looking for a win against the Blundering Herd with new faces in the defensive backfield.
HTP!
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Peterman is what he is as a quarterback, and it’s clear Boyd really bailed him out last season.
I agree on the O-line. Carolina’s D was on the field a long time Saturday and the line couldn’t take charge and lead the way to a win? So much for our NFL left side of the line. Play calling is questionable also so it’s definitely a team effort contributing to these late game meltdowns on offense.
One game at a time, so let’s beat Marshall!
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wbb – you are correct. I never though Peterman was going to be a star QB – he played about what I thought he would last season overall – except that I didn’t see the late season swoon coming, especially after the two good games he had against UL and Duke and that was some bad play.
And I did think that he’d play better this year than last – I even bet he’d get 28 TDs on the season. So I’m wondering what happened to make this season so different for him.
During fall camp last season Voytik, quite honestly, never handled the pressure of competition well and it showed in his play in camp which was poor and over those first two games. So that was somewhat understandable if we know anything about human nature.
But by all accounts Peterman was thought to have had a decent season in 2015 and again by all reports, had a very good fall camp – so what has made these last two games different?
As I said above I think it is the approach Canada has had with the offense. Even after the very good game against Villanova Peterman had – not a lot of yardage but remember he was 11/15 with 3 TDs and 9 out of those 11 completions were for 1st downs or TDs… that is excellent QB play and he did exactly what Canada called on him to do with his play calling.
Also if we remember his receivers dropped 5 easy catches in the first two games – one to Weah that would have been an easy TD and would have put away the PSU game for good. But he had 5 TD passes in two games which again was productive and came in two wins.
But in the last two games Peterman has failed on the occasions we really needed him to succeed in – I’ll be writing about that in my article this morning that I’ll post later. I just wonder why. And there is no other way to say it but he choked when needed three series in a row last week.
Maybe he has the yips and plays out of it and maybe he can’t and it would be time for a change.
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Reed – regarding NP and the yips, we saw that with kicker Blewitt to begin this season. Blewitt seems to have played out of the yips, let’s hope NP does that this weekend. Seniors should be able to play through it.
If not, I’m with you, time for a change. And let’s not wait for that change – set a standard that MUST be met by NP and follow that plan. My standard would be, the first time NP directs three straight series without a TD, we make the change.
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I agree that Chryst’s recruiting has left us with some (arguably many) holes on defense that still haven’t been filled. I disagree that he left the cupboard completely bare. He recruited a pretty good o-line and the line has to be part of the explanation for our success on the ground, so we should thank him for that (although I think the o-line might be a bit overrated).
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from Jenn Menendez PG twitter today: DB Damar Hamlin looked like a full practice participant this a.m. during media window. Narduzzi said yesterday he is “progressing nicely.”
This would be the perfect game to break him in, and maybe one or two others
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Reed, except for the 4th quarter of the last 3 games, I have no issue with how the offense is run. The team’s best assets are OL followed by RBs. — use them! And as we have seen, their utilization has nearly made up for all the team’s other shortcomings by using up the clock and scoring.
I believe we have only made 1 or 2 1st downs in the 4th quarter of the last 3 games. This is our downfall of course. Our offense needs to continually produce to ensure victory but it’s hard to criticize when we scored 42. 35 and 36 in these games.
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make that 42, 38 and 36
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There needs to be a huge amount of focus on both sides of the ball when the 4th qtr begins this Saturday, regardless of the score. The O needs to get into the habit of closing out the game as we have shown in the first 3 qtrs of the P5 games this season.
Welcome back Mr. Hamlin – in case you haven’t notice, we missed you, big time. Now go out and make a name for yourself and entertain us loyal Pitt fans. Be the “shutdown” CB we know you can be. No pressure…the cast before you has set the bar very low.
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Reed while Chryst’s recruiting might have been in the 35-45 range his defense recruits were probably in the 80’s if not lower. Pitt is starting guys with little to no offers… Webb, Maddox, Lewis and a walk-on LB. These guys would not start on any other team in the ACC.
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Mike Vuk reporting not only is Hamlin a full participant in practice he thinks Coleman will play Saturday.
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I believe Maddox was more highly thought of then some remember. His height has always been against him.
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Fraud Chryst defensive recruiting sucked. Period.
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2 thoughts
1) Hamlin and Coleman will bring much needed speed to DB. But it’s hard to play natural frosh in critical situations especially when they even hadn’t gone thru spring practice.
2) Narduzzi’s style not only depends on one-on-one coverage, it also is necessary for the CN to be physical with the WR right off the LOS. This is probably where Maddox struggles
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CB not CN
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Not saying Lumpy was a good recruiter by any means but go back and look. AM was one of his top recruits that year. He was a star coming of Detroit I think.
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Maddox offers were Purdue, Ball State, Central & Eastern Michigan, Cincy, Toledo not exactly murders row.
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Whoops murderers.
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Narduzzi didn’t recruit Maddox while at MSU. That says a lot.
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