This will be a very quick article as I’m stretched thin here. But here goes…
Thursday night saw us lose a close heart breaker to a Coastal Division opponent Virginia Tech by the score of 39 to 36. It went down to the end of the game with Pitt still having a chance at to at least tie it up but we fell short.
There are some things that just absolutely jump out as far as positives and negative go. Since it was a loss we’ll start with the negatives:
NEGATIVES
* Our pass defense. This is getting to play like a broken record and almost every game we play we point to our horrid pass defense as on of the negative aspects of the game just played.
Thursday we allowed 406 yards through the air as their QB, Jerod Evans went 26/40 for 406 yards with two TDs and no INTs. That is a QB rating of 166+ and he chewed us apart.
* The attendance. When you sell 54K season tickets and 40K fans go through the turnstiles for an important ACC Coastal game that sends a huge message about where we are as a draw for the sports fan’s attention in this city.
I don’t care that it was Thursday night or that the Pens played or anything else – that was most probably the most important game we’ll play all year and the attendance was embarrassing.
* Pat Narduzzi’s sideline behavior. His outbursts and getting into the faces of the referees was counter productive. Here is what we did on defense after we got those so-called unfair flags (I don’t believe any ref is out to ‘get’ Pitt as some fans seem to do.)
- 3rd and 6 at PITT 36
(2:20 – 2nd) Evans, Jerod pass incomplete to Hodges, Bucky, PENALTY PITTSBURGH pass interference (Lewis, Ryan) 15 yards to the PITTSBURGH 21, NO PLAY, 1ST DOWN VATECH. (Narduzzi freaks out and screams at refs for about a minute)
- 1st and 10 at PITT 21
(2:11 – 2nd) Jerod Evans run for 10 yds to the Pitt 11 for a 1ST down
- 1st and 10 at PITT 11
(2:00 – 2nd) Jerod Evans pass complete to Chris Cunningham for 11 yds for a TD (Joey Slye KICK)
So – two plays and a TD after the outburst. (7 points and makes the score 16-7 VT)
Here is another:
- 3rd and 2 at VT 38
(4:04 – 3rd) Motley, Brenden pass incomplete to Ford, Isaiah, PENALTY PITTSBURGH pass interference (Jackson, Dane) 15 yards to the PITTSBURGH 47, NO PLAY, 1ST DOWN VATECH. (Narduzzi freaks out again)
- 1st and 10 at PITT 47
(3:52 – 3rd) Isaiah Ford run for 26 yds to the Pitt 21 for a 1ST down – that lead to a FG (3 points and makes the score 22-21 VT).
I get that fans like it when HC’s show emotion but what he was doing wasn’t firing up the kids or working the Refs. My brother in law is an umpire for NCAA baseball and travels to do the NCAA championship playoffs so I called him the morning after the game to discuss this. He told me that coaches yelling at referees/umpires always works against the coach… but pointing out mistakes in a civil way buys you goodwill.
Not only was it not in the team’s best interest it was hard to watch him make an ass of himself doing it. Frustration is human and accepted – prolong hissy fits are disconcerting.
POSITIVES:
*James Conner’s work at RB again. He ran for 141 yards on the day and scored another three TDs that gives him 10 on the year and 46 in his Pitt career. He also moved into second place on Pitt’s All-Time rushing list with 3,313 yards. (Here is the link for the table below)
Wow – he might even beat TD’s TD record if he keeps up the pace he has been playing the last two games…
OK guys I have to run to hospital. Not to worry but life intercedes sometimes – you all list your picks please…
pittpov.com 
Check out U Pitt website. Wall Street Journal finds Pitt is best public university in the Northeast.
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I agree with your Negatives except for Attendance. I thought the turnout for a Thursday night that threatened rain was pretty good. FOR CHRIST’S SAKE … this is Pitt. We are in an NFL city with a low alumni base compared to many others. When we were in Top 10 annually, we still averaged less tan 50K … and all those games were on Saturdays. Deal with it!!
C’mon Reed, the only positive is Conner. 1) we scored 35 or more for the 7 straight time and 2) were 3.5 pt underdogs and lost by 3.
Yes, it was another game we could have won …. but what the hell gives us the right to complain as much as we do. We are not the Pitt of the late 70s. Deal with t!!
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Reed and everyone else … compare our schedule of just 2 years ago (2014) versus the present one. Take a good honest look at both. Now, maybe all of you complainers will tone it down a bit
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The attendance was announced 40 k, there were no more than 30 k, it was a JOKE. Of course I am sure you were there wwb, oh you werent? Of course.
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I live in Cleveland and make it to at least 3 games a year … but nit Thursday nights
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and RKB, that was my point … I would have definitely come in for VT, … if it was a weekend game
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Western Michigan now has as many B1G wins this year as Mich St, Purdue, Illinois and Rutgers combined …. and of course, all are on PSU’s schedule … maybe if we had a schedule as freaking easy as WVU and PSU, we’d be ranked also!
You all did notice that Ok St beat 10th tanked WVU by 17 … didn’t you??
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WWB. Maybe if you didn’t spend so much time texting Pitt blogs during work, you could take a Thursday night off and join us at the game!
There was a max of 30,000 and 5000 of them were Hokie fans!
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Negs: 1.) Pass defense. Expect corner issues, but I thought we’d get better pressure.
2.) Crowd – esp students . Hillary gave a free concert in Oakland, so hopefully, the 35K that came to the game (and the rest of the Pitt Nation) will vote against her!
3.) Number of PI no calls by refs. We grabbed jerseys, and they pushed off on almost every VT contested pass. The refs cudda stopped both, if they’d had the balls to call PI from the beginning!
POS’ES (I checked, and this was not a word until I just invented it)
1.) OL, assisted by VT’s pledge to stop the jet sweep, consistently opened holes for JC.
2.) oh Canada’s brilliant play calling. I’m thinking he’s not halfway thru his play book. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with for dem canes.
3.) ONEIL and the now-famous TURTLE SWEEP! And that gorgeous stretch to get into the end zone!!! You could tell he’s been there before! I’m sure that was the first sweep on a tackle eligible in the history of CFB!!!
I agree with the every Pitt fan on the defensive frustrations this team gives us, BUT I enjoy the H€ll out of watching our O. If O Canada was in college, he’d be an All American!!
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Thoughts on Saturdays podcast after I finally got around to listen to Reed live from beautiful downtown Columbia:
On James Conner, looks to be back close if not all the way to his old self. I think PITT coaches get a little credit for not totally overworking him early season. If Conner had not got hurt last year and somehow gained 1600 yards he may have been going to the NFL before they found the cancer. Point is, he would never have broken Dorsett’s record either way.
On the psu win, I think this is a signature win and if they win out will look even much bigger. My gosh they beat the mighty mites osu.
Narduzzi has me a bit frustrated too. I fully expect a different scheme on defense at times next week at Miami.
Reed you are a big metrics fan and I am not. I hate stats period. Football season is only 12 or 13 games long and to realize the real truth in stats that is not a big enough sample, strictly imo. Also I like you mentioning Lumpy’s (Paul Chyrst) defensive stats in his first year. That’s right coming with Dave’s players who had year of defensive success the previous years. Never should have got rid of him. again imo
The run versus the pass stats. Keep in mind that all those games were very close and in all three losses the teams tried to run and failed. Plus all three are very good teams. VT’s passing stats are lowered due to the fact they played one game in a hurricane. They have a very good QB and passing attack (Stat’s known liars).
If PITT can beat Miami? Will that be a signature win or has the bar been set too high because of the great job HCPN has done this season and spoiled some of you… (there just a small dig) :)………………………..ike
H2P
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Ike – Miami has lost 4 straight. I expected them to be better than they are. We better bear them in Miami or not. Heat will be an issue so we better be in shape.
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The two positives I take way are the dramatic increase in the power and speed of Conner, also recognizing the benefit of part-time work in previous games and a longer time off as well as the sense that Pitt would have taken the lead again if they had the opportunity. In the previous losses it felt that the other team had that edge the entire game. I felt they just feel short of time.
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Interesting to watch the coach. I think he will out grow his impatience. He’s a good coach who will become a great coach. Give him some time to show his value.
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Savannah
Gold star for creatage.
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1)Conner has to be listed, but even though he had a very good game, and I will take some heat, Pitt would have been better served if JC split time in the backfield and got some snaps at DE. I think gc or wbb posted that we had 3 sacks and 2 QB hurries. So this BS that it wouldn’t have mattered, cause the VT QB was getting rid of the ball too quick, is just that…..BS. PITT NEEDS HELP ON DEFENSE !
2)Loved the Reverse with a 300 lb lineman (O’Neal) lugging the ball and the 300 lb dive for the goal line.
That was a classic.
3)The Bend and Break Defense, saved the game from being a rout early on. As they held for 3 FG’s instead of TD’s. Or we lose more like 51 to 29 or thereabouts.
4)The Sicilian Pizza we had during the game. Very good
1) The All Blue Uni’s and Blue helmets are blah. Pitt fails to capitalize on the Nationwide ESPN poll, where college football fans across the Entire Nation and indeed World, vote Pitt’s Blue & Yellows, by far the best looking alternate/throwback uniform. So what do we so, we put them back in mothballs. Smart we aren’t.
Also knowing that at least 20,000 yellow seats would be empty, wearing the yellow seat color pants would have perhaps made it not look as bad. Again Smart we aren’t.
2) Naturally the Pass Defense is a joke. Very tough watching this week after week and it’s the same nightmare over and over and over. Sorry but Defensive Guru’s can draw up a different battle plan depending on the battle. One size does not fit all.
3) Losing another BIg Game at Home is still an entrenched Pitt thing.
4) Chawntez Moss & Ollison, as well as newly found WR runner Muy Pequena Lopes didn’t touch the ball, at all. Did they even play, idk. So we had weapons we didn’t use.
5) Did I say the Pass Defense stunk. Was an utter joke. And this is with a kid who was All-ACC last year and ACC Rookie defensive players of the year. How bad would it be without him. 700 yards a game maybe.
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Reed, I am pretty much with you.
I really did appreciate the two minute drill/drive that got the last TD.
Really looked like the line came together. Ford made some contributions and Tipton caught another pass (think he has been under used)
Just frustrating when they stall out in their previous drives that could have put the game away.
Also thought a negative was that they wasted too many downs on jet sweeps. VT much too fast and athletic for those to work.
Also a negative were the early mistakes, a fumble, interception, and drive killing penalties. Those should not happen at home.
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Hey Dan 72, go back to Thursday night and report to all how many messages I posted here …. PLEASE do!
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And Orndoff is really really good.
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Reed
I disagree somewhat on your the refs are not out to get Pitt theory. I think there are two things in play with the ACC refs. The first thing is that by and large as college refs go they are a bit Keystone Copish .. they make more foolish mistakes up and down the league. The second thing is I believe there is still the “good ol boy” mentality among the refs (football and basketball) and when it is crunch time Pitt is the red headed step child.
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A Big Negative, perception wise, Nationwide. The Sea of Empty Yellow Seats.
Herman if you read this, Tarp the North Upper Deck Endzone Section off, with a Giant Royal Blue Tarp, with a Giant Yellow Pitt Script similar to my avatar. Maybe add this fan favorite feature of old Pitt Stadium to make Ketchup Bottle feel more like a Pitt venue.
What this does is turn a Negative of thousands of Empty seats into a Giant Pitt Billboard, a marketing tool.
Turns a negative into a positive.
Chop chop…hop to it !
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By that I mean add the Giant Panther Head looking down from the Upper Deck as he once did on Pitt Stadium. Always loved the Giant Panther looking down on the field. Cornhole destroyed that too ! A-hole.
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Positives:
PITT playing a competitive game again. No one thought PITT would have been every game so far into the year.
Canada’s offense is fun and scores points.
Conner and Peterman, wow, these guys play their hearts out and Peterman’s scrambles are under-rated.
Negatives:
Negative plays on first downs
Turnovers and penalties for sure.
Narduzzi’s antics and stubbornness. Watch for some changes this week
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Given a few days to settle down, I’d like to ask the POVers who watched the game on TV…if you can look at the refereeing objectively, did it seem that the refs had it in for Pitt, or was it fair? I can tell you that from my vantage point in Section 220 that it seem that many times when Pitt had a momentum changing event occur, a late flag would come out to negate it. I will admit that I have a hard time being objective though . It just seems that the is a template of who is “supposed” to win, and the refereeing is to help that along. I’ll use the Pitt win over WVU 13-9 as my example, although the refs fell a bit short in that one. Am I wrong?
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Pennsylvania Hall, where I had a majority of my classes at Pitt. I miss that place!
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Nope you’re right PittPT, Pitt invariably gets the short end of the refereeing stick.
We are a Noob to this conference and a Yankee team. Go figure.
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And actually I like the Nard Dog, not standing by, like a big oaf like Paulie did, when we’re getting screwed.
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I hope the loud and long booing of the fans in reference to the lousy calls was coming through on TV..!
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Scary thought: Unless we fix our all-time record bad secondary, like right now, we might not make a bowl game. Duke and ‘Cuse aren’t layups, bad as we are defending the pass, and we’re gonna need to beat at least one of them.
I honestly don’t know why teams even bother trying to run against us when every pass is a guaranteed first down, and every possession is guaranteed red zone.
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Very similar to the short shrift we invariably get from the media.
Look at this article, and this happens like 95% of the time. Pitt has the least number of words written about them.
http://www.espn.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/96055/acc-power-rankings-clemson-louisville-barely-hold-firm-at-top
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I think Narduzzi looks a little desperate on the sidelines.
His refusal to adapt his system to what he has soon will have him at ex coach.
If our CBs were truly this bad, where is the juco/ 5th year sr transfers?
surely, if Pitt needed 2 players to be competitive, why weren’t they added?
oh well, it is Pitt, what did I truly expect?
at least the games are entertaining.
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I watched the game from 2000 miles away and I didn’t think the refs homered us (in this game). The pass interference non flags both offensive and defensive reminded me of a hockey game or an NBA playoff game .. no harm no foul .. but it seemed consistently not called. It could have been, and should have been called more closely. I have no idea how that would have affected the outcome. But if you allow pushing and pulling both ways the 6′ 7″ guy wins the jump balls 95% of the time.
It was clear (to me) our corners were all over their receivers and their receivers were giving as much as they took.
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People say the like the fact that this Pitt team does not quit, it plays with passion.
That’s because the Head Coach coaches with passion. You can’t have it both ways.
He was exactly the same way at Michigan State. If you watched that 4th quarter of the Cotton Bowl when he came down on the sidelines, he was passionately involved with his players and that produced enough effort for them to stop Baylor a few times or produced a turnover.
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Positive: Burning Damar Hamlin’s RS. Start him the rest of the season at a CB position.
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Gotta get ready for Th(e)(ug) U. I give you the Pitt Band !
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Well when the lobs should be a 50/50 play but when the receivers make 95% of them, it doesnt matter what the refs call. Our DB’s couldnt play for IUP. If those calls went against Revis, then I’d say there were some shenanigans. Our secondary just SUCKS and our coach isnt doing a damn thing about it. Have the linebackers help stop the run. The safety’s need to help the DB’s.
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Added positives:
1) The OL also pass blocked very well. I saw very little pressures (2) and no sacks. Great job!
2) With the red shirts burned we may see a little better pass coverage now. 300-400 yds given up as opposed to 400-500.
3) Now we don’t have to worry about playing a good team in our bowl game and will only lose by less than 5 now. (just shoot me)
4) We are in no danger of losing Narduzzi now.
5) BB season is right around the corner.
Added negative:
1) BB season is right around the corner….
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LOL….remember when we all hated Out House for making the corners play way off the receivers? Just a distant memory now…
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Can’t the other teams be made to recruit smaller receivers???
Herman — look into that!
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(Snicker) Narduzzi got fined 5K for violating ACC Sportsmanship policy.
Pitt’s opening as a 6 point dog to the U Thugs. Could be easy $ taking Pitt…..(if I bet of course)
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Statistically both OutHouse’s Defense and the current one, don’t look horrendously bad in Total Defense.
Current dfense is ranked #70.
In 2013, OutHouse Defense ranked #34 (passing Yards allowed Pitt was #44(218 ypg), Rushing Defense Pitt was #43 (149 ypg)
Current defense allows 415 yards a game albeit a much tougher(?) schedule than 2013.
OutHouse Defense allowed 368 yards a game.
The non-con in 2013 consisted of Old Dominion, New Mexico, Navy & Notre Dame (old dominion gave us a better game then Villanova)
As opposed to : Villanova, Marshall, Pedo State & Okla. State.
The crossover game in 2013 was Florida State, this year Clemscum.
So maybe pretty close to a wash actually.
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Although granted VA Tech and UVA have much better offenses this year than their 2013 teams.
Navy and New Mexico ran the Triple Option so that helped out the Pass Defense numbers in 2013.
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Ford gave up on a pass, as did Orndoff – tho to b fair, Orndoff was bumped off his route.
Ford brings little to the table. I thought Mathews played well in his absence, and given his burned redshirt, he should play the bulk of the snaps.
Can’t blame fans for not going out on a Thursday night to watch the Hokies play pitch and catch.
As for the db’s, isn’t there anyone on the team who can cover a receiver?
Finally, saw the big Hawaiian in there. Does that mean Watts. Let his redshirt for nothing?
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JackAgain posted
“Pitt’s opening as a 6 point dog to the U Thugs. Could be easy $ taking Pitt…..(if I bet of course)”.
I’m told PITT should be ashamed if they don’t win this game?? Experts have spoken.
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NEGATIVES:
a) Duzz. His unwillingness to change his insane scheme of having 5’7″ D backs guard 6’7″ wide receivers 1 on 1 is FRUSTRATING!!!!! This last game left a terrible taste in my mouth!!!!!
b) Duzz. Making a fool out of himself on the sideline blaming the officials when he’s the culprit putting DB Smurfs on giants with no Safety help.
c) Duzz. For his defiant resistance to not adjust his D.
NOTE: The sad thing is I like Duzz and the enthusiasm he brings and think he will be a very good HC – if he drops his over the top stubbornness.
POSITIVES:
a) James was a Beast!!’
b) Peterman and the O was very good.
c) This team plays hard and does not give up. I credit Duzz for this.
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Dokish just said that we opened as a 6.5 dog and now it’s 3.5.
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Positives:
A. Conner aggressive running
B. Tipton’s pass to NP
C. Orndoff’s big receptions
Honorable mentioned – O’Neill’s turtle sweep
Negatives:
A. Two 3 and out series in the 4th qtr
B. NP’s poor ball handling – INT and 2 fumbles
C. Conner NOT playing a single down at DE
Honorable mentioned – QH’s fumble
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I am confused as why so many are frustrated. For the past few years, you all clamored for a more difficult schedule and that the schedule would fix attendance. The schedule is difficult. The attendance is lacking because it was the Dairy College purchasers that pushed us to a record.
Positives: Narduzzi.s energy and passion. You know what you are getting from him. Keep it up. DB’s were in good position but couldn’t finish. Many of the penalties could have gone either way. In those scenarios, the ref has to eat the whistle. Hand fighting is perfectly acceptable in todays game. I just listened to tony gonzalez who said that referee’s could call a penalty on every play. Refs need to understand the game is not about them. DL – the pass rush was not the problem. On most passes, it was a three step drop and a toss up to the WR. Jarrett and Sot are turning into draft picks. Our other guys are young. We will be fine.
Negatives: Crowd and Heinz Field. This place is not the place for college football. Sorry. Build a 50k seat stadium. Adds to the pride. Adds to a better chance to intimidate a referee crew. That actually works. Refs are more apt to make a call against a home team when they aren’t worried about a full house uprising versus making a close call against a home team and hearing a couple hundred boos from section 727. Safety – Our safeties seem to struggle in pass support. A lot of the passes were toss ups and lobs. Tampa two solves a lot of those toss ups. Not playing the true freshman that burned redshirts. It does us no good to have to play true sophomores that have only played 25 plays as true freshman. Play them now.
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I always thought Heinz was a disadvantage to the home team. Visitors get pumped playing in a pro stadium. Our players get quickly tired of seeing the yellow seats and very little that says Pitt.
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It’s an old sad song but rings true every time I hear it. Heinz Field is just NOT PITT home stadium. I don’t care if they build a new PITT stadium miles away just make it their home……..with tailgating, which will be obsolete in a few years. .
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FOh, for all you who have complained in the past, the only piped in music was that damned Sweet Caroline. No loud music, just the Pitt band. Did anybody notice??
I agree being at the game may be the worst place to see PI. Just looked bad, but I could not honestly tell from my seats.
If the Duzzer got 5k I wonder what Jimbo got. If not triple then just another example of screwing the boys from the War of Northern Aggression!
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I just don’t get all the complaining.
Empty seats? That’s what happens when you move off campus into an NFL stadium with competing professional sports.
Negatives? How about Whitehead whiffing on a tackling that could have stopped a drive? How about Alex Officer continuously making silly errors?
Negatives? How about Bisnowaty holding at the most in opportune times?
Negatives? How about QH continuing to run (returns, jet sweeps…) with the ball loose outside his body?
Positives.
How about JC not accepting mediocrity on the field?
How about Narduzzi showing some emotion on the field and taking the heat off of his poor corners?
How about a Pitt team scoring over 35 a game?!
Can go on and on…
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Pitt it is… 35 point a game is in the negative category when we need 40!!
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Thug U is no longer thug U. It is rich white Jewish kids. Haha. Richt and Golden recruit pretty good character kids. I only know this since I’m there every other week. Miami is also an expensive school.
I agree we need a small intimate 45k stadium.
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Big B – LOL
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Good article explaining our pass defense(less) on Pittsburgh Sports Now
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Pittit IS … 40 pts/game and we are 8-0… blame it on the Bossanova
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Miami has always been rich Jewish kids (mostly from the NYC and the Northeast). Where u been Upitt. lol
What do you think Neil Shapiro was. 🙂
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They don’t play football. duh
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Whoops meant Nevin Shapiro. I grew up with a lot of Shapiro’s, wonder if they’re related.
Nevin was from Brooklyn.
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Nevins serving 20 in the State Penn. Thats a jail in Forida and not State College.
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Did we ever play a thursday night game at Pitt Stadium? If so what was the attendance? It would be interesting to compare the total yearly attendance at both sites based on the won lost record of the FB team. Maybe this was done but I missed it.
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Frank we did in the 80s
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When the Steelers got old and began missing playoffs, the Pirates were done winning divisions, and the Penguins stunk, Pitt was the main event in the early 80’s. Yet it couldnt sell out Pitt stadium consistently. 50k fans is what Pitt will be for the max. Why play in a 70k stadium? The majority of the time it is half filled. We will be the last P5 team to play in an off campus stadium. Any university President or AD knows these off campus pro stadiums are a negative. Cornhole made that decision. We are still living with the repercussions and will be for another 15 years. The basketball team should be playing at PPG. Not the football team at Heinz.
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Jimbo got a 20K fine. Didn’t see what he did though….
Conklin on the recruiting trail for cornerbacks…”Hey kids…ya wanna set records for futility that will stand the test of time and be made a complete fool of for 4 years on national television?”
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Men getting angry is not Politically Correct. Men getting angry on TV is even worse.
You are supposed to be a robot today. Only women and minorities are allowed to get angry. Even encouraged. Such is life in 21st century America. 🙂
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~ upitt……I’m guessing you were being sarcastic, bro.
Thought you were coming to Charlotte – Riot Central . ha
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Jack, what Jimbo said and did made the Duzz seem like a mellow version of former HCPC. Again, this shit goes on all the time, we just don’t always see it.
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Every game, OSU has about 25k STUDENTS attend the game. It is attended and the students have a great time. The university wins because the kids have fun and they create a bond back to the university when the kids leave. There is a reason us old farts spend time on blogs. It’s because we attended with an on campus stadium and developed a bond with the university. At other universities, they use sports to create a bond in order to get the donations later….simple strategic plan for fundraising.
Welp, we get back on a win streak this weak. There will be a small crowd in Miami after the last three or four games from the herricanes. Their confidence should be low. They will start playing their young players. Programs similarly situated.
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—I thought Duzz was totally justified in going nuts over the pass interference call in the 3rd Q. We had stopped the drive – and on the replay there wasn’t any pass interference. The ref called something that he didn’t see, he only assumed it – that would make anyone angry and frustrated.
—I’m not getting the accolades for Nate P. I thought he played a below average game. Some poor throws, some poor decisions and some poor ball security. Why is it that opposing QBs put the ball in spots where only their WRs can catch it, but we hardly ever seem to do that? OK, the TD pass to Jester was an excellent throw, but we’re not seeing enough of them…
—Henderson has to carry the ball tighter – that’s two huge fumbles that may have cost us two games.
—Oh Canada is excellent and maddening at the same time. We run a third down sweep with Ford? Really?
I still think Oh Canada is too conservative – but I admit that it’s tough to argue with 36 points per game.
—On the other hand, late in the game we marched right down the field throwing passes down the middle of the field – we hit nice passes to Orndoff and Henderson down the field – but that down the field passing game just completely disappears for portions of the game and on 3rd and long situations.
— I thought we were a better team than VT, but we allowed their QB and WRs to beat us using jump balls. They did have an awesome kicker, too.
Go Pitt.
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I worked a Thursday night game for ESPN at Pitt Stadium. They gave us jobs somehow. Unless I’m crazy it was 1997/1998 ish. I think Miami or VT. I remember because I stayed last when all my buddies left and the ESPN guy dropped me off since I stayed late. Mike Terrico did the game.
Emel – haha. Yes mostly.
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Just looked. 1997 and beat Miami on Thursday.
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We do play zone coverage.
http://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2016/10/30/pitt-football-film-study/
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I don’t understand the negativity to wards Peterman here; thought he played a pretty good game.. Maybe that’s the problem with playing in an NFL city … the QB is held up to NFL standards.
Interesting tweet:
Chris Dokish @ChrisDokish 9 hours ago
Pitt is No. 125 in pass defense. Three teams are worse, including No. 12 Oklahoma, and Arizona State who is last
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All in Panther,
Thanks for the article! However, the article goes into detail and states “Now, just because they’re in a zone defense doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of one on one coverage.” All the article is saying is that, for instance, we have 2 cornerbacks on the field. One plays one side of the field (zone) and one plays the other side (zone). Which ever wide receiver goes to the side our cornerback is at the corner plays him 1 on 1. In a non “zone” scheme our corner “A” will always cover the opponents WR “A” wherever he lines up and corner “B” will cover their corner “B”. The point is with either system when the play starts corners will be 1 on 1 with receivers. And Duzz refuses to give the corners extra help from the safety’s. Hence, the corners inability to cover 1on 1, which leads to the coach being embarrassed, which leads to the yelling and screaming. Rinse and Repeat.
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wbb – the reason I only listed one positive is that I had to get out the door to my son’s hospital which I wrote at the end of that article.
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1997 beat Miami and torn down the goal post. They were cemented in the ground and sounded like a bomb going off when it snapped. The thing grazed my head and glanced off my shoulder. I had a nice bruise on my shoulder the next day. Folks tried to take it out the “hole” but they cops blocked the way. Crowd then started taking it up the stands where the frats would sit. They got a few rows up and realized it was too darn heavy. I don’t remember the attendance but probably was 40-45k there. Sorry folks I’m not burning two vacation days to watch teenage boys in tight pants. I’d rather use those two days on my family.
Folks want Duzz to change the defense. Given our players what do we change to that doesn’t give up 12 yards on ground every play? I’m asking because I don’t have an answer.
HCPN looked like a clown on the sidelines. It’s fine to have emotion but he really needs to calm down. At some point the refs will just throw his butt out of the game.
The consensus at the beginning of the season was that with our tougher schedule 8 wins was a best case scenario with 6-7 wins more likely. Guess what we are headed towards? I won’t be happy with anything less than 8 wins but I’m rarely happy.
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I agree with those saying that, schematically for pass coverage, there isn’t a ton we can do for our base defense. Perhaps in obvious 3rd and long passing situations, we could try more creative coverages rather than creative blitzes (which aren’t creative enough to work all that well against the good opponents), but you can’t do that as a base. But I wouldn’t mind seeing them try to mix up the CB’s technique and play off the line. I feel like a lot of what we see is the opposing offense “taking what the defense gives them” — well give them the 6-8 yard hitch instead of the 15-20 yard back shoulder fade. I get that the shorter throw is higher percentage, but I wouldn’t mind seeing them give it a try and see what happens.
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Positives 1) Narduzzi’s passion. WADR Reed your comments were not convincing; comparing a baseball umpire to a ref is apples and oranges. I rarely complain about refs but we are newbies to the conference as Emel says and also don’t think us being Yankees doesn’t play a role in this. They are still fighting the Civil War down there. This is the second game costing refereeing – as BigB pointed out 6 men in backfield was the first vs NC. The offside in neutral zone by a cornerback was described to me by a former college FB player (hypocrisy by me) as ticky tacky and rarely called – this stopped a change of possession on Wirginis interception, very late flag – a hosing. The plays you mentioned all resulted in scores after flags so your point is? Bad calls on what were drive changers. It appeared as someone posted that we were clutching (true) but the VT WR were indeed pushing off all night – we got calls against they did not. Heck I would have gone Sean Rodriques on a water cooler. You cannot show he made bad calls as a result for fighting for his team though I suppose Potato Paulie style was better for you? Do you lift your pinkie when at high tea? :). Jimbo Fisher, who won a NC got fined 20 K vs 5 K for PN – so PN is 4 times better coach as he is calmer? Of course getting enough talent to make the refs irrelevant is the best way of dealing with the pro-Southren bias.
2) JC continued his return, still needs to get speed back but great effort.
3) We hung in there despite our porous defense. O’Canada love your play calling over that of Tubs but early on it was obvious they weren’t biting on jet sweeps.
Negatives 1) ATTENDANCE -I turn 62 today and I went, not in bed till 1 and up at 530 to go to court – look it up. Oh heck here you go http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/11383096-74/smedley-reid-guilty
Miami and Notre Dame were two Thursday nights and both sell outs. Not sure about any others.
2) Nate Peterman – not sure what you NP fans were watching but at the stadium his passes were overthrown, underthrown and wide open receivers who weren’t primary WR were not seen over and over. His ball handling on the early and later fumbles were inexcusable – he was carrying the ball in one hand. In Reed’s theory of investigation I asked 10 year old neighbor boy Brandon who was tossing a football in the yard and he was not impressed. 🙂 I have not been hard on NP but this was his worst game of the year IMO
3) Defense, nuff said but amazed they stopped VT for field goals
4) OL (honorable mention) – Bis continues pre-snap penalties, nobody better than Officer? .
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Out of curiosity, I looked up the last few Thursday games at Pitt Stadium. As mentioned above, there was the Thursday night upset in ’97 against Miami – according to Wiki, attendance was 40K. There was another one in ’99 – lost to Syracuse – attendance listed as 45K. There was also one in ’96 against BC with only 26K but that was during the 72-0 season so….
But this was all as Pitt was coming out of the dark days of Pitt football. If Narduzzi can get Pitt winning consistently again and competing for ACC championships, I don’t think regularly getting 60K at Heinz is unrealistic. Fans like teams that win. If they start winning consistently, fans will come.
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the highest attendance for a Heinz Field weeknight game (not counting the Thanksgiving night games vs WVU) was 51k for Miami in 2010. In 2011, a Thursday night game vs #14 USF got less attendance than homes games vs Buffalo and Maine that year; in fact, the Buffalo game attracted 8,000 more.
This year, Villanova drew 10,000 more and Marshall drew 5,000 more than VT did.
The good news is that attendance has been up overall this year …. beginning 2011 thru 2014, the attendance has been down except for 2013 when both FSU and ND played at Heinz.
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The jet sweeps while they have worked all season were not working Thursday night and it killed me seeing we wouldn’t drop it. I’m glad we burned the red shirt on Hamlin but it should have been done 2 weeks ago.
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Hey Ted, did I see you two on Root sports during a Pirate game? The picture looks familiar.
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That was a few years ago but it’s possible! I live in Ft. Worth now and get to deal with the ever positive comments from Upittbaseball every game day. 🙂
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Ted – kiss my as. No more cold beers for you.
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