Well, let’s get right into it. It isn’t as if we haven’t been discussing the game in every way, shape and form since we missed that extra point. As you know the POV takes a look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly and tries to find three bullet points for each one. Then you all will chip in with your thoughts.
To recap Pitt lost to rival Penn State 51-6 and our head coach Pat Narduzzi was shocked, shocked! that it played out that way. It was our worst loss since Majors II in 1996 when we lost 60-6 against ND in South Bend. It was also our worst home loss since 1971 when we lost 56-7 against ND at Pitt Stadium under Carl DePasqua. Carl effing DePasqua !!!
Great company we are now in wouldn’t you say? In his last five game Narduzzi is 2-3 beating an overrated Miami team and a lowest FCS team you can find. In turn he’s lost to a 2-8 NC team, VT and was completely embarrassed by PSU 51-6 at home…on national TV in prime time. It almost couldn’t get any worse.
THE GOOD
♣ After looking at things from every angle I have found one-half of one good thing that happened Saturday night and the was Qadree Ollison’s rushing effort in the first 30 minutes of play. If I am reading things correctly during that time period he carried the ball 18 times for 127 yards on the strength of a 63 yard burst from our own 4 yard line to help set up a (missed) field goal attempt.
Of course, as we saw the whole team do in the 2nd half of the match, Ollison then went backwards when he rushed three times for -8 yards after halftime. But for me, and you may disagree, that was the only “good” thing to come out of our play that game.
THE BAD
♣ Where to start? OK – with the coaching and staff’s work from Pat Narduzzi on down to the dearly departed Ox Enright. Seriously, everyone even remotely involved with the football program needs to take some blame for the fiasco we watched out there at Heinz. Believe me, I just bet Narduzzi was wishing Ox was still here so he could somehow blame him for everything that happened – because folks, that is what this head coach does.
Don’t be fooled by this quote from Narduzzi: “But ultimately everything lays right on my chest. I’ll take it all. We obviously didn’t have them ready to go in any capacity, offensively, defensively or special teams.” Because directly afterward he starts blaming everyone and his brother, the weather and the refs for what happened. Like this:
“But we just didn’t make plays. We didn’t block them good enough. Again, give them credit; they’re a good football team, but we just didn’t execute like we need to.” In other words we told our players what to do but they just didn’t do it!!
or this…
“Even the first half, that guy (Pickett) was scrambling and making plays, but we still weren’t throwing the ball, he was making it all with his feet. But wasn’t able to get the ball down the field. We’re throwing T-swings and check-down routes instead of getting the ball to our receivers.” Right, no mention of the porous OL he put out there who forced Pickett to do all those things, you know – ‘throwing T-Swings and checkdown routes‘- when he should have been standing in the (non-existent) pocket and going downfield. He really should have you know!
Maybe that’s harsh on Narduzzi but with his Sensitive Compartmented Information Top-Secret crap attitude and not releasing any info about the camps or the two scrimmages at all I think Pitt fans have had enough. Combine that with his unjustified arrogance and it’s an act worn thin.
♣ The failure of the Offensive Line. Yes, the word is failure because when they are so truly bad at the one thing we desperately need with a decent QB, which is pass protection, it heavily impacts their other job of run blocking. I wanted to say complete failure but they avoided that by actually opening up some holes for the RBs to run through – though that didn’t last past halftime.
There was maybe two or three instances on Saturday of Pickett actually being able to stand in the pocket, follow his receivers and complete a pass down field. Maybe two. The OL was beaten down and pushed backwards on almost every passing play. I’m surprised Penn State only had four Sacks on the night – they would have had eight or 10 had any QB other than Pickett with his quick legs been in there – our OL was, and is, really that bad.
PSU figured it out rather quickly and made great adjustments at the half. Their staff realized that Pitt can’t make passing plays work so Pitt won’t try – and all they have to do is stuff the LOS and cut down their rushing game. And that is exactly what they did and what every other team on our schedule is going to do.
♣ Our so-called Defensive Backfield. They are horrible and the stats PSU ended up with; 15 of 31 for 179 yards and 3 TDs are very misleading – Penn State’s Trace McSorley had at least six perfect on-the-hands passes dropped by his receivers. I went back and re-watched those drops. What I figured is they missed out on over 100 yards of gain, four or five first downs and at least another TD. But their receivers were open all night. All…night…long.
This is a repeat of what Albany did to us last week and I don’t see it getting any better. Our personnel back there are not talented and are poorly coached by Friend Of Pat’s & Up from the MAC ranks Archie Collins. In other words they suck just like they have every single year Pat Narduzzi has been the head coach. It will get worse before it gets better – you can bet on that.
THE UGLY
♣ The self-imposed “Unsportsmanlike Conduct” 15 yard penalty after a sideline warning for him not to go onto the field of play (o dispute referee’s procedures) committed by Pat Narduzzi when the score was 7-6. That was the beginning of the end for us Saturday night. When he lost control there it was infectious and things started really rolling downhill.
Up to that point the team had committed two penalties…after this big one the lid shot off and we ended up with 14 on the night. From that point on we had a missed FG, turnover on downs, fumble and the end of the half. When your leader shows no discipline and that actually hurts the effort out on the field that bleeds out to the already-nervous kids on the sidelines. Were you at all surprised how the kids played out there after watching Narduzzi have his total meltdown on the sidelines during the first quarter and first half? I sure wasn’t and was half expecting it.
This penalty is the only one written by the NCAA where the Referee gives the transgressor fair warning that he’s about to get the penalty. That was done so the head coach had time to reconsider his poor leadership actions and correct them on the spot. Narduzzi just doesn’t get stuff like that. Don’t believe what Narduzzi said afterward – he got the fair warning as was shown on TV.
Here is a salient point; last season were were #3 in the nation as the least penalized team with only 3.8 per game – 3rd in the nation. We did a great job there. So far this year were are 121st with 10.0 per game. Why? There is a reason for that and it’s called panic.
In the last six quarters of play we have scored a total of 6 points. One point per quarter. I wonder how far back in Pitt football history do we have to go to see that happen? And two of those quarters were against a low FCS team in Albany for heaven’s’ sake.
This is from an offense that fans were led to believe was going to be one of the best we had in ages – if you believed the staff. But when the HC didn’t release the two camp scrimmage stats like he did (and every Pitt HC did) every other year the warning bells rang loud and clear – there was something wrong with an offense that couldn’t score against an average , or worse, defense. Panic set in when we had to actually play the games… and rightly so I guess. If they weren’t in the panic mode before the better be now.
♣ The bullcrap and misdirections coming out of the Southside during fall camp, before the Albany game but especially this last week before the PSU game. It’s getting to the point I can’t even watch Narduzzi’s interviews during the camps or in-between games. Everything he’s been saying is either a flat-out lie or a misdirection.
An example: Back in the spring I was told by someone at Pitt that this year’s version of the OL was ‘maybe the worse we have ever seen in modern history at Pitt” . I asked about it again during the last week of fall camp and was told “its still bad – Pickett may get killed back there”. There was no progression or higher level of play by the OL from April to September…none. But if you read what Narduzzi, Borbely and Watson were saying at the end of August the OL was the ‘most improved’ unit in camp. Well, Hell then – it might have been given the crap state of the whole team so far.
But this is the crap they have been shovelling the fans who have been paying hard earned money to support the team and program. He treats them with disdain at every turn they acts like a ten year old who closes his door so no one can see the real stuff he’s doing. And yes Pitt fans he sure as hell does have an obligation to we fans – if he believes he doesn’t then he should be out on his ass tomorrow.
♣ Our Special Teams play. I’m not going to list the individual player’s errors or the horrid coaching decisions that led to them. We all saw what happened and won’t forget what we saw for a long time. But I’ll say this. We went from one of the best punters in the nation in Ryan Winslow to a Aussie who had never played a single snap of American football and almost single-handedly lost the game for us.
That’s not an exaggeration either because his botched hold on the initial (and only) point-after gave PSU an short seven point bar to meet for the win. And he’s out there holding when we have a grand total of seven QBs on the roster right now who have played American football and have actually caught and held our type of footballs before.
Maybe we’ll see walk-on Ethan Van Buskirk out there against GT.
That’s all I can bring myself to write – you guys chip in with your opinions in the comments.
pittpov.com 
Good – Running Game
Bad – Passing Game
Ugly – Special Teams
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Good: the weather
Bad: the score
Ugly: the coaching
SAD
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Ugly – Special Teams & Coaching. I agree with GC, the ugliest part of the night was clearly special teams. I mean, we didn’t even get the coin toss right, but it went way downhill from there. I’ve always thought special teams was an overrated aspect of a team, and to some extent I still do, but that was clearly this biggest bungle of the night by Pitt and Coach Narduzzi. The aussie punter and place-kick holder alone killed Pitt’s momentum in the first half; Pitt was the better team in the first half and should’ve had the lead. And this facet of our game left us pinned in the whole second half, I don’t recall ever seeing anything like that. With regard to Narduzzi, he had to know penn st. was going to try to stop the run in the second half and put pressure on Pitt since we weren’t willing to throw downfield, and we simply made no discernible adjustments. I know our OL is bad in protection, but there are things you can do (see Matt Canada).
Bad – Pass protection. I didn’t think our DB’s were great, but considering the opponent and the fact that we had atrocious field position all night long, I don’t agree this group was bad at all even considering a few drops (a few of them would’ve been tough catches, others should’ve been caught). I’m not going to steep the word bad on Pickett, but I hope he learns from the game, because there were multiple opportunities to hit receivers that he ignored because he chose to run.
Good – Of course Ollison.
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Huh – I’ve always thought Special Teams were way UNDERRATED by coaching staffs and fans. Because every single play the special teams are out there it means points to be had or stopped or big yardage swings. Not so regular plays on offense or defense.
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I agree with everything you wrote Reed except criticizing his apology and the way he took the blame. To take his statement any other way is just being bitter and twisting his words.
The only comment you would be happy with is, “I am stepping down as head coach.”
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I would prefer I am going to Allegheny jail because it’s apparent I’ve been stealing money off pitt for two years.
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That was good!
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Well, I feel if you truly take blame you do so…then stop.
Explain about the actual game and player problems the next day…
But that’s actual leadership.
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UGLIEST: OFFENSIVE LINE. Just like last year vs OK State and GA Tech. When you continually go 3 and out and keep your defense on the field ,, and especially against explosive offensive teams …. you are going to get lit up.
If the punter handles the snap before halftime, chances are PSU would have ended up with either 7 or maybe 10 points max in the first half. That is because Pitt actually had an edge in yardage and TOP in 1st half.
Pitt punted 5 times and had a safety to end a drive (?) in the 2nd half. I don’t know many 3 and outs there were, but I don’t care what defense you put on field, you are going to get burnt without help from the offense.
wwb
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I don’t agree. He takes blame then blames everyone else in a subtle way. He is a fraud. If Im GT I throw all over his vaunted Dbacks.
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His ego is so large it’s a wonder he can even walk thru a doorway.
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Reed – I’m curious, what do you want the coach to say?? Seriously – if he comes out and says we suck, our OL is the worst ever, etc. then what does that say to the players they are trying to prepare for the season? It’s a bit easier to understand whenever you can take the game film and show them and say you suck because of x, y, z mistakes. But why proclaim that to all of the fans and football world before the season? You want fans in the seats and to buy season tickets….but if the HC comes out in spring and fall and says we suck and will be awful then who is going to be excited to go watch them play? That’s how you build the excitement and get people to buy tickets. It’s clear if everything were open as you and a lot of the media would like – that probably no one would have bought tickets and gone to the games.
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^^but wait there are 4* d-backs on the team. you can’t lose with 4*’s on your team?
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You certainly cannot lose when your HC is a defensive whiz.
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I also don’t think you can play the IF game with the drops of the PSU receivers and pile on how much worse it could have been. If you want to do that, then you have to play the same game with IF he hadn’t bumbled the extra point snap and FG snap and punt, etc. and we would have been winning at half time for sure – which makes it a totally different game in the second half. Not saying we would have won by any means, but the score sure would have been different. It was a good ballgame in the first half.
What bothers me the most about the game is that we totally quit after the punt return. TOTALLY QUIT.
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sometimes it is not a physical quit …. it is an emotional quit. After outplaying PSU in the first half with nothing to show for it, I believe the emotion was just sapped from the team early in the 3rd quarter as it realized it wasn’t going to win. This is not a conscious thing … it just happens
wwb
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If we want to say Narduzzi didn’t take blame than there is no hope that anything that man says or does will be acceptable to you. When he says the blame is on me I take that as he takes the blame for everything including the execution and not an indictment on his players. He clearly states that game starts with him.
The Good: PITT outplayed psu in the first half, Fran and JoeL’s tailgate, JoeL being named the PITT fan of the week
The Bad: psu crushed PITT in the second half, the team quitting, Franlin throwing the ball late in the game
The Ugly: The weather, the penalty, the not kicking the field goal, the special teams and coaching.
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I’m still stunned by the magnitude of incompetence by Pitt and their utterly inept coaching staff! Never have I been so glad to have the stomach flu and not attend. Of all the horrible qualities Narduzzi has, his sideline behavior offers the biggest picture into his ineptness.
ACT LIKE A DAMN HEAD COACH ON THE SIDELINES!
Bitching at players and running up and down the sidelines growling at everyone shows your team and your fans that you are a bad JV HS Coach, not a D1 NCAA Coach. You cannot make good in game decisions when you are so worked up at officials, players etc. plus you look like an idiot!
To start with…..don’t tell everyone in the world you captains disobeyed your orders to kick! Your fuming over that was picked up immediately on TV. A good coach doesn’t say a word publicly…but quietly calls the captains over to discuss.
Part of the team quitting in the second half was on you coach. Your players look over and see you wound up and crazed with little support for them and just go…screw it! I’m not getting hurt for this!
You may not have the acumen to be a head coach but at least fricken act like it!
Rarely have I been so embarrassed to be a Pitt fan and Alum.
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Amen
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Well put! Real good points Dan 72. His behavior was not head coach-like and was detrimental to the players. Shameful.
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PITTMAN4EVER’S TAKE:
THE GOOD:
I turned off the tv volume and synced in with the Pitt radio team of Bill Hillgrove and Pat Bostick. WOW! Pat Bostick, former Pitt 5* QB was pointing out EVERYTHING Reed has been TRYING to tell us about the problems with this team; mainly the OL, DBs, and poor coaching! Pat Bostick was right on the money and so is our POV owner/writer. Thank you REED for your straight shooting objective reporting on our Panthers even when we don’t want to hear it! Often the truth hurts and this horrific display of poor football on national tv, with all of our stars (Marino, Dorsett, Dikta, etc) watching us get humiliated 6-51 by the team we love to hate was disgusting!
THE BAD/UGLY:
I’m sorry guys but to our Povites who continually SLAM Reed as “so negative” that they can’t handle it or read it any longer (and you know who you are and WE know who you all are), have you ever considered that YOUR negativity of Reed equals or exceeds Reed’s comments on Pat Narduzzi???
Fact is Reed is simply pointing out the Duzz’s short comings, which every college blog writer in the country does with their team’s HC. Head Coaches are the top of the pyramid and handling criticism is part of their job description. It seems obvious to me that this years version of our Panthers is sadly not going to be a good one. So please stop shooting our POV messenger and face the fact that our team has a lot of problems.
Respectfully,
Jim
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There should be only two categories Good and Ugly.
Good:
Ollison had a great first half running the ball I also liked the two good plays from Shockey.
Ugly:
1) the offensive line. In the first half Penn state thought Pickett would be throwing so only rushed front 4 dropped the rest so we gashed them with run, but the line could not adjust to 8 I’m the box in 2nd half they couldn’t get a pass off.
2)
Pat Narduzzi all of his antics before the game and snarky comments came back to bite him in the butt. Franklin is a jerk too but a certain level is allowed when your winning. Throwing the ball up 35 points or so was a low blow.
3)
The special teams was downright special. Worst performance by a unit since the GT fumble game a couple years ago. Didn’t they look at the weather thru the week and practice with a wet ball.
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How can you credit Ollison but not the line for opening the holes? I agree that they can’t pass block, but give them some credit.
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I believe I did.
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I agree with wbb, when the adrenaline wears off it is easy for the other team to put down the hammer. Especially when they are physically superior. We have seen it many times before. I don’t think they quit, nothing they tried worked. They were physically manhandled on the lines. It is like a boxing match when the bigger stronger guys wear down the opponent, physically and mentally. If you have been there you know how frustrating it can be. It also accounts for many of the penalties. You end up holding or grabbing a face mask, jumping offside to get an edge. Do you think our receivers weren’t trying to get open?
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Another Ugly thing Watson’s play calling. Aston gashed Psu two years ago. He was thrown 2 twice might have carried once. Tell me when ur inside the five that you wouldn’t do a couple full back dives with Aston. He is also our best blocker and he was subbed out on most all of the third downs.
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Many of the receivers were open Pickett did not have time to get the ball off.
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GOOD – The Game is OVER
BAD – Game Planning, Coaching, Execution
UGLY – Head Coach Pat Narduzzi (aka HCPN, Nard Dog, Defensive Guru)
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Say what you want about the weather but it did not bother the other teams qb at all. I think McSorley must have practiced with a wet ball last week because it did not affect him. Weather did not bother there kicking game either. Their punter should be the specialist of the week in the Big10
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The weather did cause their receivers to drop quite a few. Also McSorly had time to throw, makes a big difference, that and three years of experience.
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After watching the Spring Game up close and in person, I predicted the coming “Narduzzi Trainwreck.”
Just didn’t think it would happen so soon.
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Franklin has been having good to great recruiting classes every year, while Narduzzi has struggled to get a couple of four stars. He also has a Heisman trophy QB and a great line, and receivers that get open.
Our QB was starting second game ever behind a makeshift line. Sorry but game day coaching is pretty much irrelevant under those circumstances.
By the way, one reason Ollison ran so well was that PSU was playing freshmen linebackers. They will get better as the season goes on. When PSU figured out that we could not and would not pass, they shut the run down.
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To the people crying about Franklin running up the score: Stop bitching
If you don’t want to get beat like a dog play better!
If your coach runs his mouth you have to back it up OR you will get beat like a dog.
Blame Narduzzi not Franklin
Dominate the state YEP
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No thanks Kman, I’ll keep calling out Franklin for throwing a late TD and challenging a meaningless play. If psu would have ran the ball in I would no problem. It was bush league and par for the course for psu.
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It was a backup qb. Be mad at the Panthers and Dbacks and Narduzzi and his no name DC.
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Bush league is getting beat by 40 at home
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Amen. If you don’t want the scoreboard to light up, then how about stopping somebody for once? How about having the pride to compete for four quarters against a rival?
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You took the time to find a Pitt blog and post a pro-PSU statement? Jesus get a life
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Did anyone see the interview with Wannstadt last week? He said that based on what he saw/knew that Pitt had the better OL and DL of the two teams coming in to this week. Seriously, he said that in the PSN interview.
Pickett also said he practices with a wet ball each week.
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I tuned out DW 8 years ago.
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The scary thing is Narduzzi has not set up this program for the future for whoever takes it over. Reed is right – the reliance on grad transfers has hurt the program’s development.
OL – will be just as bad or worse next year – they lose 4 out of 5 OL starters. Fullback, top WR and top RB are all gone.
On Defense – we lose 2 starting DL, 3 starting linebackers and Briggs. I really don’t see talent coming in.
I would rather just start over because I don’t see what Narduzzi is building.
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Narduzzi is building his own dog house. Heather should place him in it.
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I disagree with Naduzzi not building for the future.. I have never seen defensive depth like this in a long while. There is also young talent in RBs (4-star frosh and soph) and WRs … not to mention QB with Pickett and Patti (plus the SC commit.)
His major downfall continues to be OL … and it is killing this team vs good competition
wwb
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Well we haven’t seen Patti play and Pickett hasn’t thrown for 250 yards yet in a game.
We have no idea if Houdini is the real deal or just played in a subpar city league of DC.
If the Depth is so good, why are Zeise & Briggs playing ? Not to mention some others on D, like Hendrix.
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As I posted we didn’t even get 200 yds from the QB position against a very weak D2 team, Albany.
The Rhode Island QB(a D2 QB) threw for 319 yards and 4 TD’s against Albany in their slaughter of them.
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My good man Altoona Zach posted : “Say what you want about the weather but it did not bother the other teams qb at all. I think McSorley must have practiced with a wet ball last week because it did not affect him.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Zach, McSorely went 14-30 and 145 yards. He’s a Heisman trophy candidate and Pickett was starting his second game. Normally when a Heisman candidate’s team scores 51 pts it doesn’t hurt his chances but this game did hurt him.
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His WR’s dropped 8 passes for another 150 yards. He played great Ike.
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The TD PSU scored was thrown by a backup qb off the bench. I have no problem with that.
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I’m not mad but I have a problem with it. It’s bush league. Like I said, if psu runs for 3 more TD’s I wouldn’t have a problem with it. << Other than PITT not stopping them. It’s not about the final score.
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I think if Narduzzi wasn’t a jerk he would of run honestly. I’m glad someone humbled him.
On to this week.
GT is decent.
Duke is strong
VT is Really Strong
Im worried he lost this team.
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Duke lost its QB and best CB for thee season. GT’s defense didn’t look good this past week … USF scored 49. If Pitt can’t score on them, or at least move the ball, it’s going to be a very long year. wwb
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wwb – I would love to know this great defensive depth that he is building for the future.
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look at the depth chart … it is loaded with underclassmen on the 1st 2 teams. And again …. in this day and age, if you don’t get any help from your offense …. any really good offensive teams are going to burn you.
This is the era of the offense …. just look at the scores of the last 4 national title games. wwb
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The good:
We have our health.
The bad:
We waste it watching this team (kinda makes me nauseous).
The Ugly:
It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
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Sorry we didn’t see you Saturday Jay. Erie and I talked about you during the tailgate (it was all very nice).
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Any idea why Paris Ford didn’t play? For once I agree with UPitt and I think the 4-8 may even be high. Not kicking the field goal totally changed the momentum as well as the small chance to win.
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Ford was on the injury list the week before, but who knows?
Certainly a quandary with a guy with high expectations, nowhere to be found except on twitter.
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I think the most discouraging thing about the game was not that we can’t pass block, but that our defense is far inferior to what we had hoped for. Isn’t this the year we were supposed to see the vaunted NardDog defense? It is year four, his recruiting has been heavily weighted to the defensive side of the ball.
Did anyone see an attacking defense?
Face it, we didn’t stop the run, pass or QB scramble. Any pressure on the QB?
It is a big cause for concern for next week, and the rest of the year.
And we may be playing in another tropical storm.
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The Good: Pitt should be motivated to get the foul taste out of their mouths this week. If they are not motivated and mad this week, then we aren’t going to win more than 2 or 3 games. The running game in the first half was decent.
The Bad: Watson’s game plan, lack of adjustment and, at times, his play calling. Pitt’s OL.
The Ugly: Special teams, particularly the punt team. Losing by more than 40… The future… I can’t see us being a ton better next year. Several players and units will be better next year (Picket, the DL etc.) but several units will be thin and with no improvement including the OL. So we will get spanked by PSU again next year.
I have no problem with the final score or Franklin. This is more on the Pitt coaching staff.
Reed and others were correct about the OL. I was wrong. You won’t win many games with a poor OL.
I’m still hopeful for improvement as the season goes on, but the last 39 years of mediocrity is a trend…
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The Good: A loss is a loss. I would not feel one bit better if we had lost on a last second FG.
The Bad: Botching the coin toss.
The Ugly: The special teams play.
On the secondary play, at least for last season, I don’t think it’s accurate to say the players “suck”. Two of those guys from last year are on NFL rosters this year. That puts them amongst the most talented secondary players in all of college football last year. What that does mean for me is that our defensive scheme sucks!
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I’m thinking about having a yard sale later this week for all my Pitt wearable clothing. I certainly can’t wear it anytime soon for fear of being laughed off the block.—I didn’t take very long when the game started to see that our offensive line was being pushed back on almost every pass play called. Pickett was clearly crowded by the PSU defensive line on almost every play. Also I don’t believe Pickett was able to deal with the wet ball very well as so many of even his swing sideline passes literally bounced in front of the receiver. So I guess I concluded very early that Pitt had little chance in this game when I realized the OL would never give this offense much chance to actually get any passing game going. The only chance would be for Pickett to role out of the pocket to get away from the never relenting rush. What’s unbelievable to me is that Watson continued to call the same plays with Pickett in the pocket that had about a 5% chance of succeeding.—As for the defense our Safeties for the most part were missing in action. My fear is that they will be missing in action for the balance of the year unless Narduzzi can pull a few habits out of the hat with Ford and maybe a freshman playing the position.—-But I’m going to go on the limb here and say take Pitt and the 4 points against GT this weekend. We have a chance against a mostly no passing team to actually steal a win.
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One way to IMMEDIATELY improve the Defense is to show Damar Hamlin the bench. Way too AVERAGE to make up for his lack of physicality.
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You mean Hamlin Island? These kids are more concerned about naming themselves than performing.
Pitt +4 is a good bet if it is dry. If it is wet GT runs all over us.
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the good: I turned off the TV during through the 3rd. quarter. Couldn’t stand watching the game any longer.
the bad: getting my hopes up based on Pitt seemingly outplaying PSU in the first half.
the ugly: seeing Franklin “Dominate the state.”
Hobie
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One way to IMMEDIATELY improve the Offense is to hire a NEW Offensive Coordinator. Given the unlikelihood of that happening, coming up with some new plays facilitating a QUICK Passing Game might be a good idea worth trying.
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Heather is gonna hire EMU’s HC Chris Creighton.
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Or her MO of hiring an OC from an ACC School.
Give Clemson’s OC or OU’s OC a boatload of cash. You need offensive whiz.
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Pitt would have to dismantle their archaic pro style offense then….
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The good: only one game left with Pedo; The bad: Total embarrassment on national TV; The Ugly: The entire Pitt FB program.
Reed, I was at that horrible ND loss in 1996, and I stayed and listened to Majors post game comments. They sounded a lot like Narduzzi after the Pedo loss (“well, we just didn’t get it done, today”…) Shortly thereafter, Majors was fired. Pitt just can’t seem to reconcile its long ago history of being a football power with its lack of commitment to athletics (except maybe basketball by accident). However, when joining the ACC, apparently for its basketball, Pitt failed to realize that football was becoming more important in the conference, and they now must compete in FB as well. Whether they like it or not, sports has become part of the brand at Pitt, and being a perennial cellar dweller in football in the ACC will not help their national image as a top university.
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Horrible all around.
I disagree about losing a close game. That would hurt, but it would show that the team wasn’t horrible or botched up so many things etc
What a mess. Also, how does it get better?
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But one thing I do like. Like what I’ve seen of Patrick Jones II.
Ya, a couple of STUPID penalties. But at least a Guy who showed a little NASTY to him and some ability to beat a block from the inside.
One positive going forward.
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Who is he? I never heard of him or saw his name called.
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I’ll repeat myself regarding Narduzzi’s interview:
Well, I feel if you truly take blame you do so very clearly…then shut up, excuse yourself and promise an interview the next day.
Then explain about the actual game and player problems in that next interview…
To do what he did, which was to apologize then not less than a few minutes later start pointing out how players dropped the balls or didn’t execute the way they were supposed to, just waters down his apologies and his taking the blame. It’s that simple.
If he have any guts at all and any leadership skills he would have said ‘look folks this is all on me. I got to go apologize to the team so I’m going to do that right now and I will give you an interview tomorrow where we can discuss the game itself.’
But that’s actual leadership.
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Then folks would have complained that he didn’t give the press time and he should have manned up and answered questions.
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Too bad. His responsibility is to the players who he is supposed to be leading and a role model for. That is Job One.
Everything else comes after.
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UPitt… Funny how all of a sudden you sound so MAINSTREAM.
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I agree the pass blocking was not good, but there were multiple times Pickett had room to step up in the pocket, but chose to take off running instead….and there were receivers open.
He got gun shy after the interception.
Upitt, you are getting way ahead of yourself. LOL.
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Never know with this chick.
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Pov’ers,
Good to see you all posting here early on in the season! I hope all of you have been well. I took a long break from posting here in order to release all of those harbored negative vibes I get in what is called a Pitt FB/BB season.
So now that the season has started anew (and btw I was one of the early ones in fall of 2017 to post the 2018 season schedule and identify 5-7, you see what I mean – negative).
So to return to my old self (thanks so much Pitt FB for bringing out the worst in me) here it goes…
It’s a done deal. Reed was asked by a poster to “show real proof” about PN, you don’t need me as your advocate but in response to this remark all you have shown real proof…4 years of the following:
a) Terrible recruiting
b) Terrible X’s & O’s (no adjustments especially on the defensive side)
c) Inability to be an excellent gameday coach (not X’s & O’s scheming, but playcalling, time management, on field discipline)
d) Finding good assistants (talent management)
e) selling the program (using the media and building good local relationships both needed for recruiting)
It’s done. He is not up to the job. However, with all of that said the question that probably needs to be asked…
“What can be done about it?”
Giving him this and next season to prove it seems foolish. 5 full seasons and then firing him means 5 awful recruiting seasons and then a 6th lost season as you have to bring in a new coach, a new staff – and everyone knows all to well through the Wanny-Haywood- Graham-Chryst fiasco will occur.
So 6 years of leaving the cupboard empty with little to no talent, then the new coach will need to prove himself in 3-4 seasons. So what we are saying is giving PN this year and next means potentially another lost decade before we have any potential sign of hope. (Think about it…Wanny has been gone since 2010 it’s almost been a decade of mediocre but mostly bad football).
So do we just say our nightly prayers that after 4 seasons…PN will wake up and become a whole new person in the off season?
I know a lot of you want to let the season play out…but honestly if the team goes as I predict 5-7 what do you say then?
I think 5-7 should mean his exit…and AD Lyke should let him know that today.
And Reed, if PN shows that he is not up to the task (acts of desperation), then we will see what needs to be seen (and a lot of us already know), this guy isn’t up to it.
Just because I see this does not mean I don’t love my alma mater…truth be told me posting this means I still care enough to spend time responding.
Please understand, I sat through the Majors II debacle against Ohio State. I was also one of those guys tearing down the goal post in 1987 when we beat PSU, man that thing was heavy carrying across the field (I hope there is statute of limitations) Seeing what happened on Saturday breaks my heart.
I want to be posting about Pitt’s chances of winning the ACC, but until there is some major cultural/paradigm shift in leadership/BOT this is unlikely to happen.
I am blessed to be old enough to experience the glory years of Pitt football.
Best to all of my fellow POV’ers
Boy, maybe I shouldn’t go on self-exile.
Dave Dellett
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From the joy of that Pitt Int to seal the game in 87 to Saturday night. What a chasm.
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Reed,
I realize you know this… but Narduzzi is who he is. Ain’t going to change. All EMOTION… little in the way of mental TACT.
But what really gets me is how some Posters here were relentless in criticizing Chryst for falling short on the intelligence scale.
You get what you deserve.
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Well, Chryst thought before he spoke and opened up the program for the media and fans to enjoy.
Narduzzi is a fan favorite because he is as close to a Yinzer as we can get…and I use Yinzer in a good way.
But he turns his back on the fans at every opportunity to do so.
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Thanks Dave… Good Post.
I agree. If he wins less than 7 games he has to go.
Honest to God. Then we need to hire a proven stud of a HC.
Call me crazy…. I hire Tressel with the addage he brings the BEST OC in the USA who will be new HC in 3-4 years.
Tressel immediately brings legitimacy.
They should of hired Huepel before UCF did.
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Hines Ward should of got into coaching.
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What???
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Good: Ollison running hard and making a game of it in 1st quarter. Students were loud and pumped. Tailgating under cover in the red lot.
Bad: Special teams. North Allegheny could have trotted out better special teams. I can almost excuse the punter for bad holds, but his punting was terrible, especially when compared to the PSU punter. Fair catching a kick off and taking over at the 4 yard line? I can truly say the special teams were a big reason for the loss.
Bad part 2: lack of discipline. Inexcusable for botching the coin toss, and Narduzzi costing the team 15 yards. 14 penalties? I don’t think the officiating was great at all but we managed to catch a break or two also. The late hit called against Pickett I thought was kind of close and could go either way and we got it. So I don’t think the refs were out to get us…..just poor discipline.
Bad part 3: dealing with the Pirates. If they were in a pennant chase and nice weather, it would have been a total nightmare. Fortunately their crowd resembles some of ours and it wasn’t too much of a factor.
Ugly: The weather. Put a damper on the big night. Band couldn’t march at halftime or parade into the stadium. Tailgates not under covered were ruined. Offense was rendered useless for Pitt, although it rained on PSU’s side of the field and didn’t slow them down too much.
Ugly part 2: Franklin. It is possible that I hate him more than Paterno now. He rubbed it in which is his prerogative, and given what a horses ass Narduzzi is I don’t blame him to a certain extent.
Ugly part 3: Team quitting in second half and laying an egg on probably the only time we will be on a prime time ABC Saturday night game in the near future.
Ugly Part 4: PLEASE DO NOT TROT THE LEGENDS OUT ANYMORE. NEVER AGAIN. WE HAVE LOST EVERY TIME DITKA SHOWS UP. QUIT LIVING IN THE PAST!!!!
Ugly part 5: The 4th down play call. You call time out and run that crap play? KICK THE FRIGGIN FG AND GET THE LEAD!
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Notice that in three full years and up until now I have never once advocated for Pat narduzzi to be fired. Not ever once. So let’s drop the pretense that I want him out.
I don’t I and think he deserves to have his full four years and then if they want to give him another one then I think it would be a mistake but they’re certainly willing to do so then they should do it.
But if he doesn’t keep winning then why keep him… if his recruiting is terrible and if he alienates the media and the fans why keep him?
If he’s not moving forward then… Drum roll…why keep him?
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Not sure how your post re: hiring a cheap up an comer to save $$$ and then using that saved $ to pay for worthwhile assistants isn’t the same thing. Just asking…
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He’s in year 4 and were trending backward. He lost this team last year with his qb bs. He got asked to find a new place for his show by cupka, forced ox to resign, blew up on Reeves, signed a class with no top end talent in year 4. Shockey does look like a good addition though.
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Let’s just hope he’s as good at pissing Heather off as he is at pissing everyone else off.
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The excessive penalties and special teams gaffes are not quite a trend yet. Although the penalties and special teams play are concerning, someone who claims what we saw on Saturday was an aberration can still legitimately be considered objective as tempting as it would be to dismiss such a view.
What I am most confused about is the offensive line. What do you do here? I do not think the line is as bad as people think, but it is definitely not good. (I legitimately think the line will improve as the season progresses.) Of course, what we see on film and the reports expressed even in this article may negate my perspective. Do you go young immediately upon another loss? Do you honor seniors who have come through the program and technically may be the current best at providing protection for the QB?
I guess the GT result may dictate what is best. Let’s say PITT beats GT and finally wins over NC. While PITT could still be bad enough that it equals what Vegas predicts for the season, PITT is undefeated in ACC play going into the game against UCF. The following game is against Syracuse. PITT can win that even if it lost against UCF and reach the upitt predicted 4 wins then lose out the rest of the season. However, even if Saturday confirms your view that PITT could end the season on a six game losing streak or more, play in the first half of the season that leads to 3-0 in the ACC, even if UCF blows out PITT by 45 or more, has to be taken as preparation for attempting to win the ACC coastal.
My guess is the line essentially stays as is as coaches and fans alike know that gelling as a unit is important. However, I imagine fans (and perhaps coaches alike) may be quite frustrated to not see younger lineman supplant the starters.
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Narduzzi would have to pretty much go win-less the rest of the year to be fired. You all need to go buy some alka-seltzer, some aspirins and wash it all down with a bottle of Jack and get happy.
BTW, PITT will get to play UNC and Duke with badly depleted line-ups. So if he loses he will get bashed and maybe he should be and if PITT wins both he will get the pfft, no biggie.
Lookie here guys, I take the blame for my poor comments. Put the blame on me. Did you all get the subliminal message there? It’s my wife, grand-kids and neighbors fault is what I’m really saying…. ike
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The Good : Pitt gave up less than 400 Total Yards
The Bad : We still lost by 45 points (at home)
The Ugly: We had 55 yards passing (when have we had that low of a total, even with Mini Max or The Nooch) I can not remember the last time we had 55 yards passing.
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What is Narduzzi’s buyout? Isn’t even an option after this year. I’m saying we should just cut our losses and have Lyke get her pick of who should lead the program.
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Lyke rewarded Nardo with an extension, so it’s substantial. By extending him, Nardo is her pick
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Ike could have got wheeled out there and threw for more than 55 yards.
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I have been a long time Pitt football fan. This has come close to pushing me over the edge. Similar to basketball the last two years. What it has done, is pushed future Pitt fans away.
The Good: My three sons, each told me separately they don’t want to go watch next weekend.
The Bad: My three sons, each told me separately they don’t want to go watch next weekend.
The Ugly: Pitt lost possibly three future fans. We felt like Kansas fans for football.
For once win a game when it matters. There are good wins (WVU, Clemson, PSU, ND, Miami) over the years, but they really did not matter in the end (season results). Lost bowl games, finish unranked, losing records. Positive vibes are hard to come by for Pitt or are short lived.
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Kansas won their first road game in like 55 attempts this past weekend. AFTER getting beat by Nichols State last week.
So Kansas & Pitt are 1-1
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2016 PSU lost to PItt and actually Pitt was much better except for that daunted Narduzzi pass defense.Tthey went to Michigan and the Hair brains crushed them. As I recall, they went on to have a nice year and won the Big Ten. Now Pitt under Narduzzi I have no expectations of that kind of growth. But if he can really change his rigid BS and actually coach to the players strengths and quit using failed data to determine who plays. Ford should never be on the bench behind Briggs. Heather has to let him know in no uncertain tersm that was bad and a bad reflection on the program, Pitt and future selling points.
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I thought most teams used QBs as holders to give you the “trickery” option. He put the Aussie in a bad spot and should have pulled him from holder duties and just focus on catching the snap and punting. The OL is putrid so keep a TE or 2 to block along with Alston. Make that you base offense formation and take it from there. Forget all this other 3-4 WR sets because they can’t be executed with this OL. I know the game has A TON of bad plays but I lost my mind we they came out of the timeout with the same formation on 4th down. That’s some bad playcalling right there.
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Hi Reed,
I wondered if you could expound on something you said regarding ranking in penalties…
Here is a salient point; last season were were #3 in the nation as the least penalized team with only 3.8 per game – 3rd in the nation. We did a great job there. So far this year were are 121st with 10.0 per game. Why? There is a reason for that and it’s called panic.
When you make this statement how do you see this?
Panic – in the sense that the head coach was just in the heat of battle making bad decisions
Panic – in the sense that he knows its year 4 and he need to start showing results from his “plan”
Panic – in the sense that he has been told this is a make/break year
Panic – just in the sense he is too much emotion and not enough pensive reflection (e.g. too much Sonny Corleone and not enough Michael Corleone 🙂 )
Some of all of the above, Something else?
I ask more to see your perspective on this…
as always great stuff.
Dave Dellett
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“This is a repeat of what Albany did to us last week and I don’t see it getting any better. Our personnel back there are not talented and are poorly coached by Friend Of Pat’s & Up from the MAC ranks Archie Collins. In other words they suck just like they have every single year Pat Narduzzi has been the head coach. It will get worse before it gets better – you can bet on that. ”
You know I just don’t understand why our secondary isn’t any better. While the passing yards and Total yards given up, don’t look bad on paper. As you noted Reed, Psux had another 100+ yards in passing in dropped, easily catchable passes. So then we would have been up over our, oh so typical 500 + Total Yards given up.
What is even more mysterious about the secondary is we have a 4 star in Hamlin back there, you have a 4 star in Paris Ford, somewhere in the mix, or should be. Dane Jackson is a very good athlete. But as you say, Psux had open WR’s running loose everywhere.
And then you throw in the fact that 2 guys off of last years secondary were Drafted by the NFL (Maddox & Whitehead), so there was obviously talent there the last couple years as well. But no results when it comes to Team Pass Defense.
So that is a clear indication, something is clearly amiss. Scheme, coaching ?…..but it’s something.
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Herm Edwards is 2 and 0 at ASU. The defense went from being worse than Pitt to being one of the best so far in the nation. No change in players. No new studs starting. That tells me it’s coaching.
At some point, the kids just tune you out and stop playing for you.
Just like the coin toss. Those guys know what defer means but they knew better than coach. Coach has lost the players trust.
He’s obviously doing things that we don’t hear about that results in loss of focus, undisciplined play, public tweeting dissension.
Yinzers make good drinking buddies but poor coaches.
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This is why I gave the DBs a “Downgrade” in those preseason articles…there just aren’t capable replacement for Marrow & Whitehead who were the best we had on a Pass Defense that ended the year 105th in the nation giving up 254 ypg and 2 TDs per game.
So…how would we possibly be better?
Well, against a Little Sister of the FCS Poor and in a mud bowl game we are giving up 221 ypg and still 2 TDs per game.
But if you rewatch how very open the PSU receivers were on those dropped passes of theirs you’ll feel the same way I do…it will get worse.
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Reed _ I try to post something but it says —Your comment is awaiting moderation.—. I didn’t write anything offensive in it.
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I approved it after editing…you swore twice in it.
Last time Ill do that.
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Understood. My apologies.
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Why do football coaches generally fail at Pitt or produce mediocre results?
Until you know the answer, a new coach is set up to fail.
Chryst left Pitt and was successful right away.
What new coach will want to walk into this mess?
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This was the worst home Pitt loss in 50 years. Nothing more needs to be said.
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Chryst has an AD that is all in on him and schedules the badgers for him to win. He has been in the easiest side of the big 10 and has very easy ooc. It ain’t the recruiting. They have averaged very similar in stars to Pitts over the last 6 years. A little better last year and this if I recall.
That is one reason a coach is set up to fail. Gotta scoot again, but saw this one.
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He gets the best 3* OL in the country because they are told they will play at Wisky from the time they are 10 years old throwing bales of hay around.
Local people WANT to play for their State School up they and they do.
https://uwbadgers.com/roster.aspx?path=football
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I read where we are to use a third string holder for kicks from here on. It seems that what could go wrong did go wrong Saturday and that is for all who took part in this debacle game including the administration.
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^^ Does it have links in it Pittastic?
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No links.
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Not sure why then, thought I would try and help. Did you possibly say something positive about Narduzzi, that could have done it?
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That was funny. lol
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Again he swore twice
And you can say whatever you want to about our HC who hasn’t won a bowl game in 3 years, had the least amount of wins in a decade, didn’t even make a bowl game, has had literally the worse defense Pitt has had in the modern era in 2016 and just had the worse loss in 22 years and the worse home loss since 1971…1971.
But he won one more game a season than Paul Chryt did so he’s your hero.
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The PITT first team holder got himself hurt while in a fight off campus. The punter was the back-up and he had a rough time in some bad weather. Maybe that’s on the coaches but I’m not sure. I’m sure KC was not fumbling the snaps leading up to the game in practice.
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I did find it interesting that on the probable two-deep, McAlone was listed as the backup and not Christodolou. Narduzzi said that they knew Scarton was injured since Tuesday. So, I guess that gave Christodolou enough time to practice at the spot.
Unlike P. Ford, McAlone is listed as participating in the PSU game. Is McAlone this apparent third string holder or someone else?
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The good: I am planning to come to the Syracuse game and am waiting to buy tickets. I think I will wait some more, until after the Georgia Tech game.
The bad: most everything except Ollison’s running in the first half.
The ugly: The coaching and preparation. The team’s lack of effort after the first half.
I continue to advocate for Narduzzi’s firing if we lose the next two games. It sends a message to the fans and the team that the status quo is not acceptable. If we actually beat North Carolina, then I can wait for the inevitable firing occurring at season’s end.
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If we lose to the Tarholes again (and they will probably be winless), Nardo is gonna be under some Dave’s Insanity Sauce…..type of heat. (or should be !)
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There is no way we lose to them this year. They are REALLY REALLY bad.
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They were really bad last year. With only 3 wins. Old Dominion, Western Carolina (2 D2 Schools )
and wait for it……..Pitt.
And they beat us with their 3rd string QB or something.
Probably should have said 3 D2 teams.
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If a team has any passing attack at all, they have a good chance of winning
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I didn’t like the Watson hire from day one and he’s done nothing to convince me otherwise. Although I loved the Chaney hire so what do I know…I am losing faith in Duzz quickly. We didn’t last long into the 3rd, my old man is 70 and was cold and wet and said “I’ll buy, let’s go watch the rest of this sh*! show at the casino”
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Good—All first half d and running game
Bad—receivers can not get seperation
Ugly—everything else 1) Special Teams 2) pass blocking 3) play calling 4) giving up mid 3rd quarter and yes 5) Duzz
I posted that I felt shame on Saturday and into Sunday, I support Duzz fully but Saturday was embarrassing for him and most importantly for the players he leads. Franklin is a first rate assclown but he was composed and led on Saturday. Duzz fell into the trap and will pay severely in recruiting and fan support for s long time.
This week will say a lot about Pat Narduzzi the man and how fit he is to lead young men. I hope he is up for the task.
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Good: The Hall of Fame event on Friday night (actually GREAT).
Bad: Offensive play calling! With a sub-par pass-blocking OL and packed-in defense: How about QB rollouts with the option to run, QB draw, Screen Passes, Quick Slants to TE, Shovel passes (threw 1, worked OK)??? Yes, these are standard counter moves, but they can work.
Ugly: HC loses composure (again) and (sadly) players quit on the staff, fans and each other in the second half.
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7 QB’s and we’re using a punter, that probably doesn’t have the greatest hand/eye coordination as the holder.
You gottsa be kidding me. Aussies as a rule don’t play sports where catching a ball is required. It’s more of an foot sport country like much of the rest of the world is. Foot sport countries don’t require hand/eye coordination. Unless your the goalie and that is not a pointy shaped ball.
Add in the fact he’s playing for the first time, this season, has no experience as a holder, as I’m sure some of the 7 QB’s on the roster do……and it was just a hairbrained choice.
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I said this many times during the game thread, details matter. Attention to detail is not a strong point of this staff. It starts with the head coach.
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We don’t even have 1 Asst Coach fully devoted to Special Teams.
And it looked like it. We have 2 botched XP’s in 2 games. And a missed chip shot FG and a botched
snap/catch on a punt.
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Not to mention the easy Punt Return for a TD.
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I guess you haven’t seen Australian footballers or rugby
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Rugby balls are substantially larger and the passes are substantially not very long. Even in Aussie Football, they prefer to kick it ahead to advance it.
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The good – Pitt is 1-1, just as upitt predicted in his photo from last week. More later, gotta scoot!
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Duke would of been a bad L until they lost 2 players now Narduzzi gets a gimme. He will end up with 6 wins and the he deserves another year crowd will say wait till next year.
How does Lyke want to be good at all sports except football.
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You gotta go back to 2011, to when Pitt had less than 55 yards passing.
Another home game, I’m sure many would have liked to forget.
It was the back end of the 2 game series with Utah. @ Pitt
Tiny & Trey combined to go 9 completions in 30 attempts for 50 yards and 2 intercepts
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After Saturday, I don’t see one sure win the rest of the way. No matter how bad or depleted the other teams may be. This Pitt team is an absolute mess, every facet of it: the HC, the coaching staff, and the players.
We could get three more wins and end up 4-7, but that might be, at this point, wishful thinking.
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Wow hard to believe that was already 7 years ago.
Max Gruder led Pitt in tackles that game. ha
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Pitt is now tied with Florida State.
In academic ranking per US News. This report comes out every year and gets the most exposure.
Pitt is below average in both sports (Directors Cup) and academics in the ACC. And like football, the trend line is down.
Florida state was outside the top 100 and is now ranked with Pitt at 70. Avg ranking for ACC schools is 54.
If Pitt continues slipping, Hoopies from WVCC may begin referring to Pitt as PCC.
Gallagher has some work to do.
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First and foremost, this was not a conference game.
We all wanted a win.
Pickett needs to recover from throwing a pick. He lost confidence from lack of game experience and the resulting 3 and outs crushed Pitt’s defense.
Nardo had the team too jacked up to start the game and they couldn’t maintain the intensity.
The oline blocked pretty good straight ahead against a base defense, too bad they can’t block for a screen pass yet, that would have been helpful in the second half.
On to the next game, preseason is over, it’s the conference games that matter.
HTP
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Injuries are part of the prediction article, you ain’t backing off your 3 or 4 wins are you Mark?
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I never said 3
I said 4
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Good: I actually enjoyed the 1st half. It was a game. in spite of the blown opportunites and mistakes that could have made it 14-7 PITT at the half.
Bad..Plenty but the worst observation is our receivers not being able to get open (seen in real time at the game with my eyes tending to follow the ball) Seems like we have the only team in D1 ball who just can’t get open especially over the middle of the field. This isn’t the 1st year either.That cost us the Carolina game when NP was behind center. All I can add is Aaron Matthews WHO ??? maybe he should have been a Nit- they might have taught him to get open.
Ugly..I have never seen so much vomit and puke in my life when leaving the game..for a moment, I thought I was at a “morning sickness” convention for 2-3 month old pregnant girls or a Jimmy Buffett show…Learn how to hold your liquor ladies and gentlemen !!!
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Pitt’s play might have been the main reason BigB. I was at home and I wanted to throw up 🙂
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That like may have been a reaction to the game
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David, in reply to your post above;
I think its panic from PN’s realizing just how untalented his team is ever since the beginning of Spring Drills. Pitt fans are so enamored with Narduzzi they badly overestimated his recruiting in the 2015, 2016 and 2017 classes.
In reality we are starting a vast majority of Chryst and transfer players in year 4 of his tenure. That is ridiculous.
Against PSU 15 out of 22 starters were not recruited by Narduzzi. 8 of those were on offense where his only recruited players were Sear, Pickett and Morrissey.
7 of 11 on defense including all starting LBs, the DE, the NT, and 2 DBs.
It really sunk in for him how poor he has been at getting real talent onboard.
That’s what I think.
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Just read your post, have not read the comments yet so apologies…but for the first time in a while I just cannot wait to respond because Reed, I completely disagree with you in many ways!
Importantly, I do not disagree with you that basically, Pitt stinks. But I disagree on your analysis of what is going on.
Pat Nards penalty should not be attributed to the rails going off in any way. It was dumb, no doubt. But in the first half. It has nothing to do with the outcome. Score would have been the same.
The argument you built on Nards blaming the everyone but himself. I agree I think he does too much. But your quotes are the quoted of every coach in the country and not at all damning. Nor are how he talked about the OL a problem. Coaches speak to their kids sometimes through the media. Coaches are aware that happens whether they want it to or not. He is saying what he needs to say as a coach, even if it is a lie that they improved so much.
I say respectfully (and I mean that I have a TON of respect for you) you feel the need to unleash and I get that. Its emotional, less your normal analytic self. Last week you said we always need 24 hours to let the dust settle but then you posted yesterday. I understand and appreciate the passion.
I also think it is unfortunate you could not find any other good. Our front 7 played a great game in the first half. A few linebackers should have been called out by you as the “good.” They were good. For a half. Pickett’s esacpability could be a good too. Though he is shooting himself in the foot IMO. Stand in the pocket and deliver more.
This game is like 37 – 10 with our normal placekicker. Unfortunately, that still sucks. This game is probably 43-21 on dry land. Pickett sucked in the rain more than Pen State would have been better on dry land. And that score still sucks.
Anyway…sorry I will read the comments now! And my disagreements are all window dressing..in the end we have serious problems.
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Sorry I wanted to add:
The Ugly? Lack of halftime coaching obviously.
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DD – The problem is the game is 60 mins.
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The Good: I will only get to see us humiliated by the pedos one more time in my lifetime.
The Bad: Pitt will never be any good under the current coaching staff.
The Ugly: Narduzzi is signed through 2024.
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Best comments so far I have seen: 1. We should never have know the messed up the coin toss (Dan 72 I think), and how the team seemed to quit (which is always the coach’s fault (JJ and others).
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I was planning to go to the UCF game, not anymore. I don’t think Pitt has a chance since I believe UCF is better than the Pedos this year.
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You hit it around the 15th paragraph….Friends of Pat (FOP) – which of course goes perfectly with SOP.
He hires complete re-treads (i.e average to below average) coaches who are his friends. A bunch of old timers who Pat knows. Nobody is looking at Pitt to pilfer any of this staff – Nobody. Pitt is basically a lifestyle workplace for these guys – everybody gets a paycheck while no one has any expectations. Watson should have been fired after the Virginia Tech debacle last year. If he is responsible for that call coming out of the T.O. in the 2nd…he should have been fired on the spot. You better believe Saban would have done it.
I don’t even want to start rolling on the O-Line recruiting over the past years.
As I sat there and froze my wet ass off from the 500 level all I could think of was how slow and small Pitt looked compared to PSU. Four years of Narduzzi recruiting (vs the loud mouth from State College) was apparent from even 100 yards away.
Crap Recruiting + FOP = Losing 51-6 (on National TV)
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Are you forgetting about Chaney and Canada as far as assistants getting hired away?
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Chaney was gone anyway…he had major problems with PN.
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On Narduzzi’s recruiting: He has recruited eleven 4 Star kids since he’s been at Pitt.
4-Star Recruits: AJ Davis (Florida), Charles Reeves (Ohio), Paris Ford (Pennsylvania), Kaezon Pugh (Pennsylvania), Ruben Flowers (Ohio), Jordan Whitehead (Pennsylvania), Darrin Hall (Ohio), Damar Hamlin (Pennsylvania), George Hill (Ohio) and Amir Watts (Illinois) Mychale Salahuddin (2018 – Washington, DC)
*Eight of the eleven 4-Star recruits came from Pennsylvania and Ohio. After Saturday those days are over IMO…
Reeves & Pugh were busts and/or run out of town. We lost Hill due to medical issues. Whitehead turned out to be quite good but left after three years because I’m guessing Pitt had zero chance to win any kind of championship. The two running backs on the list are rotated like backups.
The jury is still out on Watts & Ford who Narduzzi doesn’t think is good enough to play on this team yet, and of course Salahuddin who I know nothing about.
Question: Can this staff actually coach up any of these kids to be great players? If not Pitt’s recruiting will drop even further than it’s current MAC state I’m afraid.
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Chryst recuited Whitehead and Hall.
Narduzzi the other 9.
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I think they came on when Narduzzi was the HC though. My point being, can these 4* kids be coached up by this staff?
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The poison towards narduzzi is approaching Stallings levels. Heather better get on top of this fast.
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More good: Weaver; More bad: Zeise (one tackle??); More ugly: We can finally now confirm that Hendrix is a total bust.
And this comment from today’s Trib:
“Coach Pat Narduzzi said Monday the key to fixing Pitt’s dormant passing game is to give quarterback Kenny Pickett more support and ease some of the pressure on his shoulders. “It starts with the protection and making sure Kenny feels confident in the pocket,” Narduzzi said at his weekly news conference. “Kenny’s pressing a little bit. He’s got to relax and just do his job.”
This is from the guy who was running his mouth last week that Kenny had not played the perfect game with Albany. That he can do better. This man is an idiot if he thinks that he is not adding pressure to Pickett’s problems behind center.
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I think he feels Pickett can take criticism better than the OL can.
But we also wrote earlier that Pickett would run rather than wait to pass. PN’s correct that he has to do that…learn to take pressure and maybe even sacks sometimes to be a better pocket passer because he’s not accurate on the run.
The key is to give him pockets to pass from.
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Guys, sometimes it isn’t a football issue if a player gets in or not.
It could well be he missed too many classes or failed a class, etc.
If so we’ll never hear about it due to student privacy laws.
But it isn’t that uncommon at all especially if he’s not injured.
They are students first you know and as such some have a hard time adjusting to college.
That may well have been the case with Pickett earlier in last season also.
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PittofD is correct above when he said that Watson needs to move to a quick passing attack. This will help the OL as they won’t have hold the block for more than a couple of seconds, will calm Pickett, should get some first downs to keep our D fresher, and should also help the running game. Quick hits to the TE, slants to the WR, screens to the RBs, over the middle to Aston, etc.
This week, Pitt’s O needs to keep GT off of the field to give us a chance.
GT’s offense will wear down a defense so our D has got to earn a bunch of three and outs. Pitt didn’t do that last year and GT’s true freshman QB from a year ago ran all over us.
Pitt had better have a chip on their collective shoulders this week. GT is beatable
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The one thing I noticed last Spring when I had a chance to watch Pickett in a full practice was his problems with the deep ball.
He’s had that since he’s started three games so far also…but maybe the approach above in getting him a bunch of shorter completions will open that long ball up. More confidence.
But right now he’s more of a runner than a passer at QB…and we have RBs who can run. We need a good passing game.
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Pat Narduzzi Press Conference
Georgia Tech Week
PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
HTML TRANSCRIPT LINK
https://pittsburghpanthers.com/news/2018/9/10/football-pat-narduzzi-press-conference-georgia-tech-week.aspx
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, one of my old coaches texted me that I’ve got a lot of respect for, and he said, the sun will come up the next day, and it did. It didn’t come out and shine very bright, I can tell you that, but it did get lighter out.
But we moved on last night from the Penn State game, I guess, so I’ll move on with it today with you guys because our focus is all on the first ACC game of the year in Georgia Tech. We can’t have a hangover from what last week was, and we’ve got to do a great job as a staff just to let that go and move on to the next week, which becomes the most important game of the year, really. It’s going to be how we respond after the adversity we had Saturday. But when you look at that game as a whole, as I look at the tape and we watch it as a staff, all three phases of it, when you watch the first half, I mean, you take out the last 59 seconds and one punt, we’re right where we need to be in the first half, and it’s a tale of two games — as I told our kids, two halves I should say, or you can call it two games. The first half was a game and the second half was a whole different ballgame. And our kids just didn’t respond to adversity, our coaches didn’t respond.
Like I said Saturday night, or Sunday morning, whatever time it was, when we talked, it comes down to the coaches and it starts right with me. So we didn’t finish it.
Some things — some interesting just notes that I think are important to understand in the whole thing is it’s hard to get in the flow of the game when field position is such a critical thing. We talk about it being critical to winning, and in the second — first half it’s pretty much even, 30 yards, we’re starting at the 30, they’re starting at the 30, everything is even, all of a sudden the score is pretty even, although we got some miscues, holding snaps and all those things, holding a field goal or extra point. We’ve got issues, even our snaps were high, so we can talk about the kick, we can talk about the holder. We can talk about the snapper, too, and there was nothing wrong with him. But besides all that, field position became so critical in the second half. As you saw, that’s us by ourselves.
Their starting field position in the second half was the 46-yard line. That was their average for the whole entire second half. So they got the ball basically at the 50-yard line, while our average field position was at the 18-yard line. It’s hard to recover from that, and it’s a mental thing, and we’ve got to — just like I told the offense, I don’t care where we are; if we can be at the 1 every snap, we have to ignore where we are and we’ve got to move. We’ve got to get the ball — it doesn’t matter.
You can’t — it’s the same thing we talked defensively, sudden change wise we’ve got to be better on sudden changes. Sudden change wherever it is, we coach that up all the time. A sudden change, hey, they got the ball across the 50. They got a short field; how are we going to respond. Any time there’s a sudden change, our guys are screaming sudden change on defense and we huddle up and we get together and we’ve got to band together and stop them. That’s things that we did not do well, and we were put in a lot of circumstances then.
The fourth quarter they had the ball at the average 50-yard line. So I think field position obviously was critical. Our penalties were lopsided 4 to 14, and just some critical ones. There’s two 3rd down penalties. We touched on every one of them with our kids last night, two 3rd down and 10, and we’ve got them behind the sticks defensively. All of a sudden we got a big play, we got a sack, we got a play made, but it’s a grabbing of a facemask or whatever it maybe be or targeting or late hit, whatever you want it call it on a football. It’s not like we’re not there, we’re making plays, but we don’t finish it the right way, and you’ve got to finish the game, you’ve got to finish the play, and you’ve got to do it within the confines — those were two good calls, and we didn’t do it right. You can’t have critical penalties, critical errors on 3rd down.
And then the last thing on a positive note is you go, what happened. Again, it starts and ends with me. We rushed for 200 whatever 25, 30 yards in the game. We rushed for 214 in the first half, guys. But to me it’s like — you watch the tape, they didn’t do anything different. Did they play harder on defense over there? Maybe, I don’t know. I can’t gauge their tempo. But I know structurally when you watch the tape, you don’t see much of a difference. Maybe they brought a little bit more field blitz, but we prepared for that, so it’s not like it was something new that we hadn’t seen. But how do you rush for 214 in the first half and not do it in the second half, and it’s because you’re backed up against the field feeling like, oh, gosh, instead of being, it doesn’t matter, and we’ve got to have that type of attitude coming in.
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Does he even make coherent sentences?
Babble Babble Babble
Takes blame then blames everything else.
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Well. On to GT!
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Ive tried to write several posts about the game and this weeks GT game, and erased them all. I just don’t have the energy to put any thoughts about this team down in a coherent manner. I do like reading, however. Thanks
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An embarrassing game. No doubt. Penn State was about 30-6 better than Pitt, however. Not 51-6, better. The fact that it got to that point was just a freaking calamity of errors. The only emotion I could drum up in that cold hard rain with that turd-show on the field was laughter. Thank God for comedy. It’s nights like that where it comes in handy.
Duzz, Watson and Powell better have had a 4:30 AM meeting in Lykke’s office this morning and Lykke better have made things very clear that Pitt has to be competitive the rest of the season with no margin of error.
Having said that, I really don’t think the offensive line played poorly … The first 3 quarters anyways … I rolled out after the PSU TD in the corner of the end zone in the 4th … then had to cross the bridge and walk to the middle of downtown to get an Uber driver to pick us up. Talk about rubbing it in. Anyway, I digress …
Penn State’s offensive line was clearly better as was was their D-line. The D-line was absolutely able to get some pressure but it wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t expect from a top 10 team to get and Pickett did a good job getting out of trouble. There were no blind side crushes or deer in the head light moments caused by the O-line. Just normal pressure that Pickett was able to navigate for the most part.
The game plan was bizarre and uninspired. Pickett breaking the pocket was as much his choice as the Lions getting pressure. That’s the style of QB we have … and it’s a good thing. The problem is that Pitt’s offense is not designed for those type of improvisations. That’s squarely on Watson. Instead of running complicated route trees the WR’s should be turning to the QB after the first cut and then moving with Pickett giving him a target when the play breaks down … because, with a QB like Pickett, the play will break down quicker and more often than with a drop back QB. Pickett, as much if not more than the offensive line, will not allow plays to develop. I’m okay with this. This is how the game is played now. Tempo. Quick reads. Get the ball out. None of this 3 and 5 and good lord 7 step drop BS.
The game has clearly passed Watson by. That’s just not how you win in this era and Pitt does not have the O-line to do what he wants. That’s not a slight on the O-line either, it’s just not playing to your strengths. This isn’t a line to take on 9 in the box. It’s just not. And when passing (to repeat myself because I hate the pro-style offense) this drop back, read the defense, west coast crap is for the birds.
There’s a reason no one runs it in college anymore … because it freaking sucks. Even stalwarts like Alabama have moved on. USC is one of the few holdouts but even they run a no-huddle west coast with tempo. Pitt has zero tempo and even less creativity.
Go to the spread, RPO 50% of the time and when you pass … make it one read. Have someone flash cards to the team so the QB doesn’t have spit out a bunch of mumbo jumbo like Eminem speed rapping.
This game really pissed me off. There was barely any pre-snap motion by anyone other than the WR’s. In the first half, Pitt was able to move the ball when the box wasn’t stacked. Maybe, you design plays so Penn State won’t, you know, stack the box later in the game and completely shut the arcane offense down.
I was watching KC play yesterday on Red Zone and it made me sad seeing a Canada-esque offense being used. If you insist on using a pro-style at least make it easy on the eyes.
… and Duzz hired the bum so he’s not off the hook. Powell may end up, ultimately, being the scape goat for this one … and for very good reason … For all of the lack of imagination on offense, Pitt was still fairly competitive. I’ve never seen a Special Teams unit fall apart like Pitt’s did … and I witnessed ND return 3 kicks on us in 1996. That was one side of special teams, however. This was the entire unit, Saturday night. Dropped snaps, bad punts, poor kicks, poor returns, poor return coverage … I’m sure I didn’t even hit everything.
Games like this make everyone look bad but the Special Teams really was the catalyst.
The defense played fine. If Pitt was going to beat Penn State they were going to have to score close to 30 points. Penn State is a good team and was always going to score points. No matter how well Pitt’s defense played. The repeatedly short field and momentum changing misplays by the ST unit just deflated the entire team and made them look worse than they were.
I was cold as hell Saturday night and could have used the seat warmer Duzz was given at the end of that fiasco … because, make no mistake, that seat got a whole lot warmer.
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Pickett will be better once he gets on a dry field with a dry ball… and has some NEW pass plays to work with involving short drops.
But saying that would mean being just a LITTLE critical of coaching instead of a Player’s performance.
Not Narduzzi’s style.
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UPitt… missed your question earlier about Jones II. He’s the No. 91 who got called for the facemask.
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Kudos to the following POVers that picked with their head and not their heart and correctly predicted a Penn State victory and their predicted margin of victory:
Reed 12
UPittbaseball 13
Rockymtnhigh 11
Pittpride26 10
Big B 3 in OT
Dallas Mike 4
UlteriorMotifs 7
Special K 7
Bj 10
Pitttothetop 14
MajorMajors 7
Pitt PT 8
Santa Cruzer 15
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I will never ever pick Pen State to beat Pitt. Just can;t get myself to do it.
I am starting to seriously worry about Pickett’s arm strength. And I am no QN coach but it feels like he has a long windup as well? He seems to almost need to throw and full strength just to make the outlet passes sometimes.
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I think Pickett threw one long pass that was intercepted because it was under thrown.
I know many teams throw long regardless just to get an interference call. We never do that and that is a coaching mistake. It is as good as a punt and we know how well we punt.
I know we will see opponents do this and they more than likely get the ref call. Why are we not doing this?
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This announcing team on MNF is gross.
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Love Doris Burke!
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I just threw up
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Doris Burke is great.
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An embarrassing game. No doubt. Penn State was about 30-6 better than Pitt, however. Not 51-6, better. The fact that it got to that point was just a freaking calamity of errors. The only emotion I could drum up in that cold hard rain with that turd-show on the field was laughter. Thank God for comedy. It’s nights like that where it comes in handy.
Duzz, Watson and Powell better have had a 4:30 AM meeting in Lykke’s office this morning and Lykke better have made things very clear that Pitt has to be competitive the rest of the season with no margin of error.
Having said that, I really don’t think the offensive line played poorly … The first 3 quarters anyways … I rolled out after the PSU TD in the corner of the end zone in the 4th … then had to cross the bridge and walk to the middle of downtown to get an Uber driver to pick us up. Talk about rubbing it in. Anyway, I digress …
Penn State’s offensive line was clearly better as was was their D-line. The D-line was absolutely able to get some pressure but it wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t expect from a top 10 team to get and Pickett did a good job getting out of trouble. There were no blind side crushes or deer in the head light moments caused by the O-line. Just normal pressure that Pickett was able to navigate for the most part.
The game plan was bizarre and uninspired. Pickett breaking the pocket was as much his choice as the Lions getting pressure. That’s the style of QB we have … and it’s a good thing. The problem is that Pitt’s offense is not designed for those type of improvisations. That’s squarely on Watson. Instead of running complicated route trees the WR’s should be turning to the QB after the first cut and then moving with Pickett giving him a target when the play breaks down … because, with a QB like Pickett, the play will break down quicker and more often than with a drop back QB. Pickett, as much if not more than the offensive line, will not allow plays to develop. I’m okay with this. This is how the game is played now. Tempo. Quick reads. Get the ball out. None of this 3 and 5 and good lord 7 step drop BS.
The game has clearly passed Watson by. That’s just not how you win in this era and Pitt does not have the O-line to do what he wants. That’s not a slight on the O-line either, it’s just not playing to your strengths. This isn’t a line to take on 9 in the box. It’s just not. And when passing (to repeat myself because I hate the pro-style offense) this drop back, read the defense, west coast crap is for the birds.
There’s a reason no one runs it in college anymore … because it freaking sucks. Even stalwarts like Alabama have moved on. USC is one of the few holdouts but even they run a no-huddle west coast with tempo. Pitt has zero tempo and even less creativity.
Go to the spread, RPO 50% of the time and when you pass … make it one read. Have someone flash cards to the team so the QB doesn’t have spit out a bunch of mumbo jumbo like Eminem speed rapping.
This game really pissed me off. There was barely any pre-snap motion by anyone other than the WR’s. In the first half, Pitt was able to move the ball when the box wasn’t stacked. Maybe, you design plays so Penn State won’t, you know, stack the box later in the game and completely shut the arcane offense down.
I was watching KC play yesterday on Red Zone and it made me sad seeing a Canada-esque offense being used. If you insist on using a pro-style at least make it easy on the eyes.
… and Duzz hired the bum so he’s not off the hook. Powell may end up, ultimately, being the scape goat for this one … and for very good reason … For all of the lack of imagination on offense, Pitt was still fairly competitive. I’ve never seen a Special Teams unit fall apart like Pitt’s did … and I witnessed ND return 3 kicks on us in 1996. That was one side of special teams, however. This was the entire unit, Saturday night. Dropped snaps, bad punts, poor kicks, poor returns, poor return coverage … I’m sure I didn’t even hit everything.
Games like this make everyone look bad but the Special Teams really was the catalyst.
The defense played fine. If Pitt was going to beat Penn State they were going to have to score close to 30 points. Penn State is a good team and was always going to score points. No matter how well Pitt’s defense played. The repeatedly short field and momentum changing misplays by the ST unit just deflated the entire team and made them look worse than they were.
I was cold as SH&%T Saturday night and could have used the seat warmer Duzz was given at the end of that fiasco … because, make no mistake, that seat got a whole lot warmer.
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Tossing — great post. Heard no less than 3 national sports writers say Pitt runs a high school offense!
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Man, that’s being generous. Most high schools are more creative, now. Haha.
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Been screaming for The Spread, as you know….forever. When you don’t have a bunch of 4 stars (not to mention even 5 stars), the Great Equalizer is THE SPREAD.
Even moreso, with a sucky O-Line that can not hold pass blocks.
GET WITH THE PROGRAM WATSON, drop back passing with a crap O-line is monumentally stupid.
123…..ball out. And they pays these dolts 100’s of thousands of dollars to be Blockheads.
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Yup. I’ve always been in agreeance. It’s why I was hopeful Fraud Graham would work out. A 21st Century offense.
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Yep. Amazing Pitt keeps finding these dinosaur coaches. College ball is all about offense and Narduzzi replaces Canada with a stiff. Narduzzi’s defense is ridiculous also leaving corners on an island, but unless you’re fielding high-end athletes like Bama and Ohio State your defense is going to give up yards and points in college football. Heck, Ohio State struggled with PSU’s offense the previous two seasons.
So why are people saying Heather is going to raise the money to buy out Narduzzi after next season, but money wasn’t raised to keep Canada? Pitt and its fans are so happy the school isn’t paying those type of salaries yet fans are OK with the school paying a huge buyout. Doesn’t make sense because good business would have been paying Canada for being productive and doing his job.
Can’t believe this Saturday we’re going to have to watch Zeise and Idowu making tackles six or seven yards past the line of scrimmage when Brightwell is better than both of them. Heck, Pine keeps bouncing around and he should be playing at OLB also. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
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Nice post. I think you’re spot on with regard to the evaluation of Watson.
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GT ran for more than 400 yards against USF this past Saturday. GT has rushed for more than 400 yards in six of the last 13 games so this is not abnormal.
Taquon Marshall, the GT QB, ran for 113 of the 400 yards and threw for another 180. Oh and Marshall (QB) didn’t play the entire game for some reason (maybe he’s banged up?).
The good news? GT lost a close game, even with all those yards.
GT’s defense is not very good. GT’s offense can score and chew up clock. It will be essential for Pitt to make the most of our offensive possessions and it will be critical for our D to force GT to punt 5 times or so.
I expect GT to go for it on most 4th downs if it’s 4th and 2 or less.
From a talent perspective (talent across the board), Pitt is on par with GT. So, without a talent gap, this game will come down to 1) coaching/game planning 2) grit/desire, and 3) player discipline.
I don’t think that I can pick Pitt to win this one. I hold out hope that we will play better against a less athletically gifted team. GT tells you what they are going to do. You just have to be able to stop them, and I don’t think we can…
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Didn’t Marshall along with 3-4 other players get injured last week. I have no idea on their status for this week. Also I think one of their defensive starters had a targeting call in the second half last week, so he will miss the first half this week.
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Yes – Marshall got banged up and the reserve QB was also a solid runner.
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Marshall came back into the game at the end
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As I posted earlier, GT gave up two(2) 98 yard Kickoff Returns for Td’s. Without USF having those, this game would have been a rout early.
Psux schedules weakling Kent State after an emotional game (well it was supposed to have been), Pitt schedules the Triple Option.
There-in lies another difference between the 2 programs. Psux is smart…..Pitt isn’t.
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Yes, GT is one of those teams you’d like to schedule coming of a bye week so that you have two weeks to practice defending the Triple Option. No such planning.
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I understand Bates coached at Navy way back when, jus saying…
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Boris shut your mouth. You are an idiot. Make it flag football Doris.
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Doris
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Rocky.. historically don’t we suck after a bye week ?
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True.
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How is Peterman not cut? Honestly. What does he have 3 games no wins and 14 INT’s
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It started with that one on ESPN NCAAF, Pam something.
You’re telling me now, they have women broadcasting NFL games. haha
Glad I don’t watch it anymore.
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TT, Duzz’s seat is sub-zero cold…He is in the first year of a seven year deal…No chance Pitt buys out six years, nor should they.
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Thank you Heather
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7 years is 6 1/2 to many
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Idiot move by Heather. No one wanted Narduzzi. Why would they ever extend him??
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Heather owes her job to him. Narduzzi was on the AD selection committee.
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Along with 67other people
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It’s an extension and we don’t know the buyout. He’s not untouchable. Look what happened with Stallings. I only said warm … not hot. He has a ways to go to get fired but games like this can be the first domino to fall.
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OK… Here’s the HUGE Red Flag.
After 2 Games… Pickett YPA 5.4… Opponents 7.3.
Translation… unless something DRAMATIC happens, get ready to start losing a LOT of Football Games!
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I now view Narduzzi as a composite of prior Pitt HCs.
Graham – quick to pass blame onto others. Insincere.
Fazio – surly with fans and alumni when things were going south, which was often.
Hackett – couldn’t recruit.
Chryst now looks great by comparison.
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Graham left bc of Pederson. I don’t blame him. He was lied to
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Yup. Agreed. He was still a used car salesman tho.
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Gottfried – a fondness for pizza
Majors II – huge defeats
Walt – a better assistant than head coach
Wanny – Yinzer like
Haywood – pressers that make no sense and actually scare people
Chryst – SOP
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Graham was boastful like narduzzi. And held grudges.
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Amazing thing… that hindsight.
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Donald getting owned in Oakland
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Lol. I’m watching the game. How, exactly? He wasn’t part of the pile on the TD.
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Because he was driven into the turf and a non factor
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Just listen to this crap. This is bullschitt!
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You watching the pedo game again Ike?
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The good: I watched on TV so I didn’t get wet.
The bad: Virtually everything that happened from the coin toss until the final gun.
The Ugly: The horrible recruiting we’ve had over the past few years which necessitates playing some of these bozos.
The Ugly (Second nomination): Narduzzi’s pig headed personnel decision to keep playing Dennis Briggs. He is simply terrible.
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Narduzzi seems to be the very worst combination of Pitt’s last 9 coaches. Are there any redeeming characteristics?
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Wow, I personally found ?Foge to be anything but. Gracious to me and wife, even in hardest times. Guess everyone’s experience is different.
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I, along with some others, talked to Foge after a local Golden Panther event. He was arrogant and condescending toward us. What a jerk.
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Like I said, everyone may have a different encounter. As nice a guy as I ever met. Oh well.
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I used to see Foge while I was running at Pitt Stadium and the Field House, and he couldn’t have been nicer. Of course I wasn’t running pass routes for him either…. Saturday was the most disappointed I have been with the team in a long time. Couldn’t stand to watch the game and left at the beginning of the 4th quarter. Had a bad “Pitt football got their butts kicked” hangover on Sunday. (Or maybe it was from Richman’s moonshine shots at the tailgate. At least they were enjoyable while going down. Can’t say the same for the performance on the field.) As much as I hate losing to PSU, I could have accepted a close loss. This was downright embarrassing.
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Play Town at least he was a 5* recruit at QB. His major problem was he played at the top schools, not Pitt, Alambama, USC, and Arkansas and lacked the patience to wait his turn behind Heisman and pro QB’s. No one like that at Pitt.
Tell him he’s the man and Pitt might, like Savage lucked into a potential NFL QB. After the elite 2015 QB high school camp were he was listed #2 out of 11 best QB’s of incoming freshman class that in itself is an accomplishment no other QB that Pitt has dreamed of.
Second it’s time for Narduzzi to go. Hire a young, energtic and hungry coach with head coaching experience and a resume of beating top 10 teams despite coaching at a top level school yet. Neil Brown, Troy, has aspirations at 33 to coach in the SEC and he will. Pitt could give him 5 years to prove himself at a higher level. He will be gone after this year. Check out his resume.
These are the two major moves, as well as spending money on top assistant coaches who among all the elite teams make the engine run.
Majors assistants, Jackie Sherrill, Jimmy Johnson.
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To name a few, Pat Jones was on that staff who would become Okie State’s Coach, and the O-line coach was very good, Joe Moore(later he was OC). Wanny was the WR coach. Foge coached the LB’s. Bob Davie and Kirk Ferentz were grad asst’s on the ’80 team.
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He didn’t play anywhere. Believe me you do not want Town in there.
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Reed, we have spoken privately once through email, and a few times in different posts here on Pitt POV. I want to say I respect your honest analysis even if at times I don’t necessarily agree. Your arguments are well thought out and don’t come exclusively from a mindset of ” Same Old Pitt” Fan mentality. This is why I decided to respond this evening.
I was a big fan of the Narduzzi hiring. I thought his personality and pedigree was exactly what we needed after a very dull Paul Chryst. I remember the first National Letter of Intent that Narduzzi hosted. The group I was with left very excited for Pitt football. The excitement level was higher than it was when Wanny was originally hired. Well with us anyway. My group (4 solid Pitt Fans) that go back to some dark times at Pitt Stadium. I still wake up in cold sweats with Paul Hackett and Johny Majors II era nightmares. I tell this, because this group, my Pitt Close Family if you will, never lost hope. Rain, shine, win, losses, or bizarre Freddy Krueger press conferences never kept us away. We all sat through the beat down Ohio St gave us at Pitt Stadium. Where the whole stadium it felt had red on and we were the only few Pitt fans in the place and still came back for more. I write all this cuz after sitting in the rain Saturday night till the very end was the first time myself and this group left the stadium not feeling like this was ever going to change. We didn’t bitch, we didn’t say fire Narduzzi, and we didn’t even make PSU jokes. It was as if the rain and the dumpster fire game we just watched washed the passion right out of us. Pitt self destructed in the 2nd half. At times it came across as if everyone (players, position coaches) just quit.
Everything I wrote above brings me back to Reed’s many points in this post and over the last few years. Narduzzi has glaring weaknesses as a head coach. The problem with a big talker and a guy that comes in with swagger to a program desperate to return to meaningful football is you tend to follow that person and get blind to their short comings. I was one of those fans. It’s why Saturday hurt more than losing to Cincinnati at home and giving up are out right Big East Championship.
Now I’m not going to make emotional angry statements about I’m never buying season tickets again, or I’m done with Pitt till Narduzzi is fired. What I am going to say is I will not fall into rose colored glasses, or the other extreme of SOP all time fan. I will instead take the “Reed Way” when it comes to viewing/discussing Pitt.
I will always love the University of Pittsburgh.
Pitt is more than just athletics
When something isn’t right I will call them out and use facts to back it up.
H2P
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Thank you. I really do try to think out what I write and as I have said…I won’t write anything unless I honestly believe it.
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If you’re referring to the 72-0 nothing game, that was at Ohio Fake. And yes you would have been in a sea of zombie scarlett (red)
Another scheduling snafu where whatever idiot that was AD (probably Oval-tine Jaynes) had no business scheduling a annual Top 10 team against a totally destroyed Pitt football program.
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Almost like they brought Johnny back to undo what he accomplished in the 1970’s. And he unwittingly played along. That had to be very hard for him. And Pitt and it’s Board of Nitwits should have had to stand on the sidelines with Johnny and feel firsthand what they wrought.
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I knew Foge, and his was a A-1 guy. He was super successful everywhere he coached in the NFL after leaving Pitt.
Foge bled Blue & Gold. Deserved better.
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This board gets trolled a lot. As do most all Pitt boards. For not being that good, they sure do worry Pitt might revive.
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This blog hardly ever gets trolled. I can remember one or two times in three years. You are thinking of the message boards.
But if it does I won’t trash the post if it says something honestly.
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72-0 was indeed played in Ohio. Pitt passed for less than 50 yards that day.
Johnny Majors quote post game in part: “They tried to keep from scoring more than 70 but we wouldn’t let them”
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Yep 72 nothing was played at the horseshoe. I watched on the TV. I never forget because My brother and I dropped a new air conditioner out the bedroom window at halftime as we were trying to remove for the season.
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Pitt Flunky.. enjoyed reading your thoughts… I too was thrilled with the Duzz hire.. lots of energy, seemed like one of us but he is not getting the job done with recruiting, That is troubling.
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Was it just me or was Bookser very underwhelming. I wonder if going back to Guard would better suit him. We had one returning starter and we move him to a different position.
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We build up Bookser because he was the best OL we had returning. The truth is he’s an Honorable Mention All-Acc last year…not even 3rd team.
We just have a very low talent level on the OL.
And a 5th year SR LT that didn’t know enough not to commit holding in the opponent’s end zone…
Tough times ahead I think.
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Narduzzi personally landed nine 4* recruits and of those four are on the roster now.
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Pitt-North Carolina Kickoff Time Announced
PITTSBURGH—Pitt’s September 22 game at North Carolina will kick off at 12:20 p.m., and be shown on television in the Pittsburgh market on WTAE-TV, Channel 4. A complete listing of all ACC Network television market clearances will be provided at a later date.
The Panthers’ remaining 2018 schedule with announced television coverage and kickoff times:
Sept. 15: Georgia Tech* (RSN/AT&T SportsNet), 12:30 p.m.
Sept. 22: at North Carolina* (ACC Network/WTAE), 12:20 p.m.
Sept. 29: at UCF, TBA
Oct. 6: Syracuse* (Homecoming), TBA
Oct. 13: at Notre Dame (NBC/WPXI), 2:30 p.m.
Oct. 27: Duke*, TBA
Nov. 2 (Fri.): at Virginia* (ESPN2), 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 10: Virginia Tech*, TBA
Nov. 17: at Wake Forest*, TBA
Nov. 24: at Miami*, TBA
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Joey Porter Jr committed to psuX moments ago.
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Does PSU get many d-backs into the NFL?
At least PN exposes them and no matter how good they are, gives them all they can handle at this level.
Can’t handle the pressure?
They may look horrible at Pitt but they do eventually get paid.
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Visits Pitt 3 days ago, then turns around and verbals to the Nits. Not surprising. Narduzzi gets no love from local coaches.
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Way to Go Narduzzi. Dad shares same building and he is running.
Fire this guy
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Maybe he wants to get away from his dad. If I were him, I would. Would you want Joey, Sr. helicoptering over you while in college?
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Fire Duzz now I’m so sick and tired of his all smoke no fire. I’m pissed about the punter slash kicker from South Fayette who committed to Temple. Ouch!!!!
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Just another depressing news item on a depressing day. It really is becoming apparent there is a major disconnect between this staff and the local high school players. It is getting worse. The dwindling talent there is in the WPIAL is still going to major schools, just not even interested in Pitt. If you can’t get the local talent you are in trouble. How long do you think that booster that lets the Duzz use his private jet is going to continue that given his results?
If the Duzz was treading water and holding his own in recruiting I’d say OK, but it’s a downward trend. When you turn off local kids your only hope is to get out of staters that don’t really know how low you’ve sunk. PSU always won the recruiting wars, but never, in my memory, by such a huge margin. It’s around as close as Saturday’s score. Sad.
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This is so true.
Look at all those FL kids we had commit in the class of 2019…mediocre offers and none from the big four schools in FL.
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When those who know you best abandon you your in major trouble. Does anyone, Immean anyone, think the Duzz can change his spots? That, my friends, is never going to happen.
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At the Albany tailgate I told Majormajors a story about PN’s recuitment of a Maryland 4* player who ended up going elsewhere and I could tell John didn’t believe it.
I won’t repeat it on here but John, every word was true and that’s why he’s having such a hard time getting star recruits.
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What I keep thinking about is six points over the last six quarters of play by our offense…including being shut out in a full half by freakin’ Albany!
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You referring to the Albany, that Rhode Island scored 49 points on in 3 quarters. Ok, yea I thought so.
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Good. Nothing
Bad. Nothing
Ugly. Everything.
I am ready to fire Duzz now. I have seen enough.
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Ya, my buddy in Virginia who was an AD at a major school was appalled at what he and Hartley pulled. Really,really disappointing.
I liked the hire, but also stated at the time Imhad seen some interviews with the Duzz from the MSU days that were causes for concern. The snarky, condescending, arrogant attitude. Sometimes those creepy warning signs are real. Oh well. Pitt held hostage for around 450 more days.
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Amazes me that it has taken this long for people to see Narduzzi for what he is and what he is not.
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I have been cautious since after year 2 when we had a 10 win team if we could have just fielded a defense.
Then I keep hearing horror story after horror story from credible close to the program folks and local coaches that truly amazes me. Sad part is it is all true.
The results on the field are showing. Recruiting sucks and its getting worse.
His people skills suck. Pretty bad when you get booted from the joint that should be happy to host your radio show. But when your a cranky elitist smuck its not a surprise.
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Prediction… IF Pitt were to beat Georgia Tech, the same KOOL-AID Drinkers now FINALLY seeing the light will be scrambling to get right back on the Narduzzi Train.
And back to taking shots at anyone NOT on board.
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No way this team beats tech. We will be out hustled and outclassed like we are against them 4 out of 5 times we play them.
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Even if we lose to GT but beat a Bad Heavy Suspended NC Team they will be back in droves. That is enabling a bad coach to stay.
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Joey Porter Jr. committing to PSU just has to kick it where it hurts again after the Lamont Wade tweet yesterday. I think if Pitt doesn’t get to a bowl game or if they do and Duzz doesn’t change his tude to appease the locals he’s gone. I was a big Duzz fan over the years. His comments and tude have turned me away over the past 12 months and I haven’t been as active. Sorry I missed you at the tailgate. We saw the flag but had to catch the T to the hotel to grab my dad and then when we came back it was gone.
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AltoonaJosh – are some of the stories of Duzz just sour grapes when a kid doesn’t pick Pitt and then he burns bridges at that school.
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No unfortunately they are not.
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@Anonymous
Underneath where you hit comment please enter your name and email address. Its real easy and if you hit save and use the same device ti will be there the next time your comment.
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No that’s not it at all.
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Clearly, the team just quit in the second half of the Pedo game. I have asked myself why, because I don’t believe that the Pitt players are quitters. For most teams, this much senior leadership should help even in a big loss. But the penalties and special teams play were so bad that even the older kids slogging it out in the mud and rain to keep an opponent close just lost faith. How many times can a team fumble snaps, screw up punts and FGs, and take critical penalties without wearing any team down? I recall that Kessman bragged he was hitting 58 yard FGs in practice, yet he failed to drive even one kick off through the end zone. And the punt run back for a TD was a low kick hit directly at the return man instead of away from him. Who can cover that in the mud? Pitt has 2 secondary coaches, but no coach committed exclusively to the special teams. Do ya think that’s a problem?
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https://pittnews.com/article/134881/sports/former-tpn-editor-criticizes-state-of-pitt-football/
My thoughts are you should be above average in everything you do. Thats overall academics and athletics.
In the ACC, Pitt is in the bottom 20% for both academic rankings (US News) and athletics (Directors Cup).
Granted its all relative since Pitt would be in the top 20% in academics in the SEC and probably in the top 20% in athletics in a conference like the MAC.
But right now, Pitt is dwelling closer to the basement than the penthouse in both classroom and sports relative to other members of the ACC club.
Maybe the ACC isnt such a good fit after all. The $27M dollar check Pitt gets each year is nice but we’re little brother in this conference.
Both Gallagher and Lyke need to change that or Pitt should probably consider a conference thats a better fit and one where it can rank near the top. Be a big fish in a smaller pond.
Interesting thesis.
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Shocked to hear that Pitt is so low in the academic ranking in the conference. I read how great Pitt is as a university and that it will never want football to become bigger than the Mission Statement.
That shows me Pitt should start focusing more on athletics.
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Pitt is tied with Florida State. Only Va Tech, NC State and Louisville (they are more like an SEC school) are ranked lower in academics per USNews.
I expect to get beaten by Florida State on the field but not in the classroom. They have really improved their academic ranking over the past 20 years. While Pitt’s ranking has actually gotten worse.
Pitt needs to make a commitment to sports. If it can’t be at least middle of the pack in this conference, it really should start looking for another one that’s a better fit.
It’s no fun losing most of the time and getting embarrassed on the field.
Tex
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Pitt thinks it’s Harvard. It was in the Big East. But in the ACC, schools like Duke, Wake and Virginia are far superior academically.
And then you have schools like NC, Notre Dame, BC, Ga Tech and Miami that are very good.
Pitt isn’t competing against Seton Hall, UConn, Providence and St Johns anymore.
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Joey Porter is a 3*, thought you guys didn’t want 3* players?
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You are being snarky Ike.
We are going to have to have 3* kids on the roster so why not get ones with good pedigrees?
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Pedigree matters. PSU understands name recognition and they also don’t target players that they don’t think won’t work out.
They will have a couple of 4 or 5 stars ahead of him. If those players don’t work out they will give Porter a shot. If Porter came to Pitt they would say he wasn’t ready and we would get a transfer from Bowling Green to play ahead of him. The transfer will know the playbook but wouldn’t be able to make a tackle for loss to save his life.
I love Pitt. I want to see it get better soon. However, the above paragraph is the reality when you take the rose colored glasses off.
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^^^ Don’t discount Chass’ article above. There was talk after the 2010 season about just this idea.
I wouldn’t want it to happen but if we had a big scandal like NC or MSU has had then I feel that move could possibly be made and we’d become a BB school with a small FB program.
It would take a lot though.
BTW Murry Chass is a famous sportswriter and not some hack just throwing crap out there.
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I have a random thought to share for our AD.
Require that Narduzzi hire two ex-head coaches as consultants. One on each side of the ball. If you look at Nick Saban, he does that. Look closer at Bill Belliechick and he does the same thing. I think bellichek actually hired todd graham a month or so ago. That would help our inexperienced coordinators and head coach.
To make it work, the head coach would need to be comfortable in their own skin.
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Huff,
I think that is a great idea.
However, Paying 3.5 million we should be able to find 1 HC who can do it all. Wanny was making 750,000 a year. Who were we getting the greater ROI on?
I would take Greg Gattuso as head coach. No Lie. He would probably be happy to come back for 2 million. Take the 1.5 million and split among one competent OC and one competent DC.
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They could even be proven high school coaches because Narduzzi is not even coaching at that level. Pitt has NO chance vs Tech….None!
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Yes Reed, I was being snarky, good word and description of my comment.
I get all the frustration stemming from last weeks disappointing loss. I’m disappointed as well. Just look back at the comments and read the pile jumping over-reaction on this blog is really disconcerting to me. Way too many personal attacks for me.
Now I’m reading if PITT beats GT blah blah blah… UNC has a depleted team blah blah blah. All the angst directed towards this team on a Blog that is supposed to be a PITT football team venue is over the top. Again, I get some of the truthful and honest dialogue and even stomping of feet over this loss but the repetitiveness of comments is not my style. OK, we get it.
Now notice what happens here, people are going to say I’m in love with Narduzzi and I am overly optimistic. Just watch… When I didn’t write a word about the guy… Mr Bob Dobolina
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Whether you are a poor coach or a great coach is irrelevant if you can not recruit. Long term, the real question is Can anyone recruit enough elite players to Pitt to be competitive? Especially now that the WPIAL does not produce nearly enough talent to be a base for a decent team. So Pitt has no recruiting base geography. The little it does have it now shares with PSU, WVU, ND and any elite school that wants an individual player.
This means that any coach at Pitt has to recruit regionally if not nationally. Pitt is in a very small cohort of schools that have no recruiting base.
Most obviously hoped that Narduzzi’s swagger, bravado and Pat Signal would be up to the challenge. i expressed my concerns early and was soundly rebuked, I didn’t fight too hard because I hoped I was wrong.
But it is pretty obvious, even though the last game was only one game, that Pitt doesn’t have the players to compete at a high level. What that level is remains to be seen, but it is not looking good.
I am certainly not surprised or shocked like many seem to be. Unless we have a Stallings like year, I think Narduzzi returns for one more.
I have also advocated for a weaker OOC, which is a necessity for any type of future success. I don’t want to hear anymore about how the fans deserve better games, when it is causing us to be a joke. What coach will come here knowing he has no chance vs the schedule?
Start by cancelling the Penn State game next year, they won’t play us anymore so why prolong the agony. Forget Tennessee, tell them sorry, we made a mistake.
Heather needs to develop a long range plan for football, if we plan to compete.
The next coach must be someone that is a proven recruiter on the national level and that guy won’t come cheap or without guarantee of administrative support for a great staff and total buy in. Or we continue as a bottom feeder which may have been the plan all along.
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Ike – This happens when the coach is not liked as a leader or man. If Narduzzi wasn’t such an ass people wouldn’t be in this frenzy. But when you lose and are cocky ahole with no ounce of humbleness this happens.
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Wow, we’re advocating the moronic Pitt News article, and now someone is suggesting we hire Gattuso. I remember when Pittsburgh Sports Now came out strong in support of Stallings at the end of his tenure, resulting in me taking anything I read on that site with a grain of salt thereafter. Likewise, recent comments of this blog did some serious damage to its credibility. Unless this is tongue-n-cheek commentary that I took as sincere? I hope.
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Koolaid for 1618. Everything is great. Our coach recruits great and is a great person.
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That’s not what I said, I did not even imply that. Don’t add to the moronic comments please, you’re smarter than that.
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What comments have taken away the credibility of the blog? Gattuso is probably a better HC than Narduzzi but his looks haven’t helped him. He held Pitt scoreless in 2nd half. If his QB was good they go in the half down 3.
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2 issues pointed out above, not going to repeat them.
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I take Gattuso over Narduzzi in a heartbeat. He is a better coach.
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Do you like being in a conference where you are ranked in the bottom 20 percent in Both Academics and Athletics?
I disagree that Pitt should drop down a level.
But if Pitt remains in the ACC, get used to being below average relative to your peers.
I personally would rather be a big fish in a smaller pond. Winning is more fun. Leading is better than following. Big brother better than little brother.
The reality is Pitt is not a good fit in the ACC. But I guess every conference needs schools that live in the basement.
If Pitt doesn’t like the basement, then do something about it. I just don’t see the commitment. Hell, Pitt is no better than Florida State in the classroom now.
Tex
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Sadly I have made the decision to not attend the game this weekend. I’m going to listen on the radio and finish a roof job with my brother. I’m still die-hard Pitt fan but I don’t see how this gets better.
And to the people who claim he has time to repair the image he created I say non sense. The damage is done Narduzzi is a failed businessman who needs to find a new city. You cannot treat people like crap talk a big game and not deliver. When you reach a certain level of success you can be snarky and take pot shots at opponents and people will allow it. Franklin is a goof too but everything he did to Narduzzi he deserved. The difference between the two men is one knows what he is doing and one does not.
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A Zach. Make sure you don’t fall off the roof while listening to the game. ☺
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I mean do we have a realistic list of potential head coaches. I want someone who is a proven head coach and is young and a good recruiter. I am sure there is a decent head coach at the MAC level that would love to be head football coach at Pitt.
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Jason Candle of Toledo. 23-7. The Rockets have had a high scoring offense under him and most importantly…..he fits the most important Pitt criteria.
He Loses Bowl Games !
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4 Star on 247 but I’m guessing a 3 on rivals until they turn him into a 4 star.
North Allegheny four-star corner Joey Porter Jr., announced on Tuesday morning that he will be a Nittany Lion, as he picked the program over LSU, Miami, Nebraska, and Pitt.
More importantly is the schools who offered.
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Not everyone hates him though. I’m not really sure about his head coaching but when I watched his presser I didn’t see anything as much as I tried to read between the lines of him pointing fingers at anyone but himself or being cocky. and btw Mark and with all respect, when a poster like you doesn’t like something or anything to do with PITT, you have lost credibility with me because you practically have never like anything or anyone with your comments.
To me, you are the boy who cried wolf. Now tell me again for the hundredth time how much money Narduzzi makes and how he should be a coach at Gannon. 🙂
Heather is not on vacation at Disney World…………….
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Ike – I lose credibility from being right 75% of the time all things Pitt?
You can dislike my message but not my track record.
Still love you man but you know deep down I called this. 4-8 (That against teams with suspensions and losing starting QB and CB.)
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I agree, same thing over and over. Keep up the negative comments constantly. What a jerk
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This is coming from someone who won’t put his name to a comment? OK…
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BTW, talking about moving up a star. Brandon George from out east in Pa has been moved up to a 3* I believe he is going to be a good one.
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I thought we didn’t want 3* kids… 🙂
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Gattuso has head coach experience they would never hire him. That is not Pitts mo. As far as this blogs credibility I do not think that should ever come into question. Reed has won me over time and time again. He does through research and backs it up with fact. The article in the Pitt News is said but true. If you don’t want to play with the Big boys get off the porch. I don’t agree with the article but it is credible.
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Let’s make a serious commitment to improving or else Pitt needs to find another conference.
What is the plan doctor Gallagher to place Pitt at least in the upper half of this conference?
Only 3 schools are worse academically. Only 2 schools are worse athletically.
I don’t like living in the basement.
Tex
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Not to be snarky as well, ike, but writers on this blog are not a bunch of cheerleaders. I try to take a “reasonable” approach to current circumstances, which right now happen to include the results of this pitiful Pedo game. I just mentioned that I truly feel the players did not quit, but there is no disputing the results of this game and the lack of team discipline (including coaching staff).
Pedo put the hammer down on national TV, and set the football program’s “rebuilding” image back years. There is also no disputing that the recruiting has been pitiful as well, as Jerry Dipaola discussed recently in the Trib. Discussions about developing average players, or coaching them up, is just wishful thinking.
I don’t think you are in love with Narduzzi, but critical discussion of the program is not the equivalent of being a traitor to the cause. There is really no other forum to convey the thoughts of many dedicated Pitt fans back the the Pitt administration, who I understand reads this blog.
And the bloggers who don’t agree with your positive approach are not making personal attacks if they simply disagree. We all love ya, man.
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I think the reason Pitt scheduled OKST, UCF and now Tennessee is that they are too cheap to pay the cupcakes.
They will gladly take the losses to save the money.
Meanwhile we end up with the toughest schedule in the country, when we add ND, FL ST, Clemson or Louisville.
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lol, sounds like a conspiracy theory to me
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It’s not the critical discussions VOR is the same people saying the exact same thing. When I say personal attacks, I don’t mean against myself. I can’t say it enough that frustration is acceptable in the current PITT waters. imo, people are seeing some things that are just not there due to their feelings towards Narduzzi. I’m just trying to be fair. Somehow, i think Pat and Jerry are learning how to get along much better. See, I’m reading between the lines.
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George moved to a 3 star guess what folks he will decommit by the end of his season. Would not shock me at all. Just like Givens from PSU. Remember he was committed to Pitt for a year and a half had a great senior year a week before signing day Franklin realizes hey I can stick it to Duzz and he signed with Psu. Only way he comes to Pitt is if Psu never offers.
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Lyke hires assistants…If so go get Brent Venables!
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And I was terribly disappointed by Saturday night’s game. How could one not be?!
I also fully get and appreciate the vitriol directed at Narduzzi. I sure hope he and the administration do as well.
Having said that, if we figure out how to beat the Ramblin’ Wreck and get out of our own way to finally beat the Tarholes. I’m going to be a happy guy and will take them one game at a time from there as we watch the kids we have grow and develop. We’d be 3-1 and 2-0 in the ACC.
That won’t be good enough for some of you and that is certainly your right. But please forgive me if I’m not with you. The season is in diapers and we will learn a lot about this team in the weeks to come.
As for Mr. Porter, Jr., that is one local recruit I am glad that Pitt did not land. And yes, I fully understand that its not good to lose the local kids. But I really did not want him on the Pitt squad. Not because he’s not a good player. There is just too much peripheral baggage that comes with having Joey Porter, Sr. as the father of a Pitt football player. There is a track record there folks.
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Dang, I wish there was an edit function on this site. Sorry for the lousy sentence structure and bad grammar in general.
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Ask North Catholic about the Porters, and the Tomlinson as well.
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Ike,
I respect your optimism but you have to understand Narduzzi is wearing thin on his own players especially the star ones that choose to come to Pitt for the opportunity to play right away. See Paris Ford or Salahuddin or Reeves or Pugh.
You also must understand this fan base is so anxious for a winner after 40 years of mediocrity. The three best coaches we have had in that span were all fired ie Godfried,Harris,Wannstedt.
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Zach, Show me one ounce of real proof that the players are not all in with Narduzzi. Not saying there is nothing there but just saying it does not make it true. and I’m not all that optimistic, still in the waiting cycle.
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The 2nd half of the game Saturday.
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Jack, that’s proof the PITT football team doesn’t like Narduzzi. You see what I mean when people want to say anything that comes to their minds because they don’t like Narduzzi? That wasn’t a very bright statement and just plain shows me how little people know about PITT football. ike
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Here’s and ounce for you Mcvittie left, Dinnucci left, Pugh left, Ford is unhappy, Salahuddin is unhappy, Flowers left, assistant coaches who know what there doing left ex Chaney, Canada. How bout Reeves he left. Guess what folks all these guys left because Narduzzi never gave them a fair shot to beat out these stiffs who transferred after being retreded from another school.
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Dinucci – had a fair shot and failed. He would have been better off had he gone to Penn, IMO.
Chaney and Canada – are you serious, Zach? Both left for SEC jobs.
As for McVittie – everything I heard suggested he got a fair shot in camps and he simply didn’t win the competition. Whats your information?
Of course, Ford and Salahuddin might be unhappy they aren’t playing. Hopefully Salahuddin realizes that Ollison is a good RB and its better for him to take a redshirt this season. As for Ford, inquiring minds want to know. We do know he is third string right now. Do you have details?
“…all these guys left because Narduzzi…” is total nonsense.
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May or may not be nonsense, but stating opinion as fact is wrong. Would be great if posters stick to what they KNOW a bit more that pure speculation.
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Exactly!
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Exactly who?
This reply option not pulling down the original is another WordPress shortcoming in addition to me not being able to edit my writing. 🙂
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I have advocated bringing in Russ Grimm to review the coaching, game plans ect and give the staff some perspective of what is what. Narduzzi is simply not comfortable in changing his views. He needs to have a honest review of where he is failing and why. He will listen and learn from Grimm. Just my two cents. A hands on coach of this caliber may save the program. Plus it does place some needed self correction on the staff as well. NO loss in Porter jr. Hopefully a side deal to take his dad with him. Pitt needs some outside the box thinking and action here..
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Grimm never impressed me. His O-lines that were solid in the pros were loaded with high draft picks.
He’s the last guy I want around the program. He should retire in Phoenix and swim in his pool that has a beer tap to pour from without having to get out.
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What more proof do you need than the mass exodus of players in the last couple years and the constant revolving door of coaches.
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I have an idea see if Russ Grimm wants to coach the team.
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You want more proof Ike. They are not winning. Last year was a dumpster fire. The qb situation was mismanaged from the get go the defensive guru proved he couldn’t get a compitant defense for the third year in a row the recruiting is going backwards. I’m living in reality Ike.
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The structure of college athletics is not conducive to success. AD’s are generally paper pushers types than athletic experienced managers who really know ins and outs of on field or on court issues. For me a director of football and basketball working directly with both programs and giving the AD real time info is a way I would go. EX head coaches are hired all the time for consultant and input.
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Zach, you have many of those players leaving because they are upset with Narduzzi, Trust me, you really don’t know the truth there. It was not because they were upset with Narduzzi.
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I’m just so tired of this 40 year cycle Pitt is in. I’m at the point go all in with being competitive. If he goes 8-2 rest of the year plus a bowl win maybe I’ll come back from the dark side. I’m still going to root for this team and I still want them to win every game. I want to beat GT and NC this year, but Saturdays performance left a sour sour taste in my mouth.
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What’s to say the Cycle (and it’s only 35 years btw) wouldn’t continue, even with a new HC ?
We had Graham, who was won everywhere he’s been but Pitt.
Pitt is not committed to having a Top 25 football team. When they invest $200 million, like they did in basketball, then they’ll be committed.
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Graham did have a winning record at ASU, but he was 46-32 overall, 31-23 in conference and 2-3 in bowl games over 6 seasons. He accomplished this while playing in what is generally regarded as far and away the worst P5 conference. He was 6-7, 5-7 and 7-6 over his last three seasons resulting in his termination.
It would probably hurt very much to state it, but Potato Paulie is a much better argument.
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2018 – 1976
isnt that 42 years?
the Israelites only wandered for 40 years
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Yea but we were more than ok with Jackie into the early 80’s going 33-3. And Foge’s first 2 seasons were Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl which brings us to 1984.
2018-1984 = 34 years.
Pitt’s program collapsed in 1984…..pretty Orwellian.
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At this time 300 comments says it all– almost. The gang that could not shoot straight aint just a western comedy anymore. It is PITT FOOTBALL!
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MY OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE DUZZ:
POSITIVE OBSERVATIONS:
– Duzz does a good job with having his kids involved in community projects/service and runs a clean program.
– Duzz loves being Pitt’s HC and the city of Pittsburgh.
– Duzz has great enthusiasm and emotion for the program.
DISTURBING OBSERVATIONS/QUESTIONS::
-Why does Duzz close down all practices and keep everything hidden from the public?
– Why does Duzz only hire “yes men” for his assistants who are not best for his program?
– Why is Duzz so paranoid, defensive, and snarky when he is questioned or challenged in any way?
OBVIOUS ANSWER: This is an insecure individual who has to be in total control and not threatened in any way. When he is threatened he lashes out and makes the situation worse.
CONCLUSION: Who Duzz is, is truly hurting the football program.
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Good post, thoughts. This is likely an explanation for the sub-par recruiting as well. Jamie was at the other end of the spectrum in terms of demeanor and was a poor recruiter for entirely different reasons, I would assume. I think a good question would be: can the recruiting situation be remedied with PN as head football coach? If you are the administrator and determine the answer is no, then replacement plans should be formulated behind the scenes.
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Ladies & Gents sorry for any confusion. I was actually referring to the September 23, 1995 home game against Ohio State. Where we lost 54-14. I know it wasn’t as bad as the 72-0 beating the following year, but the amount of Ohio St fans in the stadium day was insane. Penn St didn’t have that many fans attend their last 3 meetings against Pitt at home. The comments pity and derogatory comments from the Ohio St fans that day were hard to take. Plus Pitt was clearly over matched talent wise, and If memory serves me right the stadium was completely red. Plus the national media actually made comments that the felt like an Ohio St home game.
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No problem Flunky….the National Media will take any opportunity to take Pot Shots at Pitt. Been going on for a long time.
Did you notice near the end of the psux game, they even took the opportunity to bring up 48-14 and even had Video prepared.
That folks is the National Media. Always waiting to stick our face in the mud…and twist it.
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Even having a Pedder as the Color analyst on the game was insulting to say the least. How many Color Analyst does this crap network have ?
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Dinucci left PITT mad
Flowers just left for lack of playing time
Salahuddin seems to be a bit unhappy?
Ford, we have no clue if he is unhappy, speculation without proof
Chaney left and went to a national contender
Canada bolted to make millions
Reeves? Heard a few stories about this one
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Pugh and T Mac. A story best left untold.
This is part of the problem I talk about. If we don’t know the full and whole truth, then we shouldn’t act like we do. Reed and some others are more in the know and get the scoop. Pushing a small snowball down the mountain gets bigger but eventually at the bottom lies a puddle of water and no snowball.
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Wow, we lost Joey Porter Jr, who played at North Allegheny. And I thought that was one of the few WPA HS’s we still had a pipeline too. Since we’re still starting Zeise at LB(who should be on the bench) and the other LB (idowu) from NA.
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So soon after the Psux blowout, had to be the factor in Porter’s decision.
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He had stated earlier that he liked to play in a place with large crowds with a big game atmosphere. After that I never thought we had a shot at him.
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ike, I love your analogies! But I digress. You seem to suggest that criticism of the Pitt program comes from the fact that posters are all Narduzzi haters. I disagree. (I think many of the bloggers would secretly take Franklin if he could win here). For example, you have in the past suggested that Reed is a Narduzzi hater even though he has repeatedly said no, because he is critical of the current direction of the program, but Reed merely points out some stubborn facts, based on research, such as the recruiting sucks. It would not be at all surprising to find that most posters would kiss PN’s butt if he brought in a 10 win season. Given the results of his tenure to date, however, I think few are really expecting it at this point.
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Well, I don’t like Narduzzi all that much for a variety of reason but I can say that about loads of people.
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If Pitt became a D2 school they would lose recruits to Duquesne and Robert Morris. Somehow that seems worse than losing recruits to PSU
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After taking some time to decompress, I am now ready to offer my thoughts on Saturday’s game. Regardless of outcome, we all knew going into the game that Penn State has a superior program. There are many reasons for that, which I won’t get into here.
But tell me, honestly. Did we really get outplayed in the first half? One could argue that we should have been leading at halftime. Yes, I remain concerned about the offensive line and the secondary specifically. But the second half was primarily the result of bad field position which later snowballed into a total meltdown.
Yes it was embarrassing (remember, I live in NEPA, the land of the Nitters), and there are lots of things that need to be addressed. But you haven’t been paying attention to college football an Pitt in particular if you think we have no shot against GT this week.
Now I don’t love our chances, because Narduzzi can’t seem to figure out how to stop that offense (See Military Bowl), but if we can run for 200 plus yards in the first half vs the Nitters, why can’t we do the same this week? I say Kenny will be better. I think the defense can build on what it did at the end of last year.
I have more concerns now about the state of our program than I have in a while. It’s hard not to. But I still think you have to give a guy, any guy, 4-6 years. Barring a couple of 2-9 seasons, or some other disciplinary reason.
And please stop comparing Narduzzi to Paul Chryst. They are in two entirely different environments. Kudos to Paul’s success at Wisky. But he was never going to be successful here due to a combination of reasons. Some having to do with him, and some having to do with administration.
Everyone please keep Big B and Jeannie in your thoughts as the hurricane bears down on them.
Hail to Pitt!!!
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Well VOR, all I’m saying is that Narduzzi is here this year and I plan on giving him the same chance that PITT has. Love when people say he’s been at PITT four years. If they can’t count to four then I really don’t know what to think about their comments.
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Everyone breathe. And as Aaron Rodgers would say. R-E-L-A-X.
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Ike – I think you’re TOO disappointed in that loss because you put too much emotionally into Pitt football and excuse me if I’m playing junior psychologist but I know how you love Pitt. All preseason and even in these first two weeks (up to Saturday at 8:00 pm) you were too over the top positive about this team, the coaching staff and everything associated with Pitt football.
Not to rub it in but when you wrote the OL was going to be ‘great‘ because Watson said “It was the best he’s ever seen” I figured you were all wrapped up in it and had a hard time seeing this crap for what it was (is). Coaches lie – especially the ones that live behind a wall of complete secrecy.
Is Pitt going to lose every game – of course not! Unlike some others I’m sticking with my pick of 5 wins on the season.
Is Narduzzi going to be fired? No, not for his W/L record but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if it was for something else.
But try taking a step back and look at Pitt football without the emotions involved, really clear the mind and do it, and I think you’ll see what some others have seen for some time. All is not well on the Southside.
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Just got back. I can tell you Greg Gattuso makes Narduzzi seem like a friendly guy. He is THE biggest ahole you will ever meet. Absolutely hated by most who know him. Parents of players, players, just about anyone who had a lot of contact. It takes a lot to get me this nuts about a guy. I’m sure someone will have a different take, but trust me, you do not want him within 100 miles of your program.
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If we’re going to hire a fat slob, my vote is for the Manwhale Mangino 🙂
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MissingWlat – I think most people realize we were the better team in the first half, but psu made adjustments at halftime, and we came out trying to do the same thing with no obvious contingent plan. Granted, we were backed up the entire 2nd half due to our punter and penalties, but if I’m Georgia Tech, I’d do what psu did in the second half and stack the box until Pitt proves they can pass protect long enough to throw downfield. If we can’t do this, we won’t be able to run on anybody consistently imo.
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Staying away in droves ala what happened at The Pete, won’t have nearly the impact at Ketchup Bottle.
Why ? Well Pitt has a Major Investment in The Pete. They have no investment at all at Ketchup Bottle.
Which is why (thank god) they acted so quickly in removing Otis after just 2 seasons of his 5 or 6 year contract and ate the buyout. When many were saying well, give him another year, yada yada yada.
That guy was pure poison to the program and to Pitt’s image. Too bad his kid is with the Pirates !
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when Pitt doesnt have Nitters to buy season tickets, the football program will beakeven at best.
But, You need the program to make money to help support the Olympic sports.
You need to generate profit so you can invest in higher paid coaches, larger recruiting budgets, more effective marketing.
Along with having the funds to start new programs like lacrosse or make facility improvements (Victory Heights) without having to resort to debt or a massive fundraising campaign.
Yes – Pitt wont see it nearly as quickly as they did on the basketball side. For now, its more of an opportunity cost.
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I want to be optimistic here. Here is goes and I sure hope I am right:
5th year seniors have seen enough triple option to play well against it this week.
We come out slinging, Picket makes a huge rebound and gets some pocket time against the GT front 7.
Sooner or later, the tables have to turn. I mean, every now and then Syracuse beat Jamie Dixon!!! We are overdue to beat a triple option team.
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Whatever Image we have these days. Oh and please burn those all blue akron look-a-like rags we were wearing on Saturday Night.
Blue is most people’s favorite color, but that variation of it, looked drab, old and just not attractive at all.
Burn em !
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royal blue is Pitts color
the unis worn are too dark of a shade…almost like navy blue
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In all honesty, there were many disappointing things that happened on Saturday, but by far was the fact Watson had no answers to PSUs adjustments. Even worse than running off tackle on the 4th and 3. I didn’t need National guys to say it was a high school offense, my brother in law said it early in the game. Let’s get this straight. I sincerely hope we put up a big number against Tech, I think we will have to to win, but given the lack of imagination and the play calling can anyone say that they will with any confidence?
I think every team is entitled to one stinker. This is the pivotal game. Let’s see how it plays out. You should know a lot more after this game.
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What’s the old adage Joe…..the biggest improvement of a team is between week 2 and week 3.
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I have to say this game was far worse than being a stinker. Franklin did a great job in destroying any chance Pitt had in competing with him for any players sought by both teams. Our only chance in getting any PSU offers that Pitt wants is if PSU fills its quota for any given season and we get whats left over. The chance at getting a Whitehead or Paris Ford of the future if PSU wants them are slim to none. That’s how bad this game hurt Pitt in western Pa for the foreseeable future IMO.
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Lol emel. Funny!
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Hey Altoona Zach…I was in Southside and noticed his show was no longer there. Is it because he is a jag off ? That is one of the few bars outside of Oakland that truly support Pitt. I’m really starting to want this guy gone. I’ve lost faith, maybe I’m still wet and mad from Saturday, but since MajorsII I have never been so down on this “program” if you can even call it that.
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Pap76,
I heard the owner asked that they not come back. But then again ask Ike as he knows everything and nothing negative every happens.
I do know the new show is held in Market Square at The Yard. I.e. that is right downtown.
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https://pittnews.com/article/134985/opinions/letters/op-ed-87-alumnus-former-tpn-editor-sets-the-record-straight/
Here is a counter argument. But I also dont agree.
The first op ed said Pitt should basically demote themselves. I say we should either Sh!t or get off the pot. Make a serious commitment and investment to improve our ranking within the ACC or find another conference that is a better fit where Pitt can succeed both on the field and in the classroom.
This counter says dont trust your lying eyes pretty much. Regardless of the spin, this football debacle against Pitt’s primary rival was very bad for Pitt. It will impact recruiting. It will impact Pitt’s brand. It will hurt student applications. It will hurt potential donations. It will hurt attendance.
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Quit disguising your swearing in your comments. You do it all the time. That’s just disrespecting my wishes as the blog owner.
If you want to do that go to the message boards.
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town may not have started in a game but he was practiced at usc, alabama, and arkansas, all teams that he he was on roster for at least a year, and that their 3 string would destroy Pitt’s first team. So he has more experience than any QB on our team playing against top caliber college talent.
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This last go round when Town was trying to find a school, not one SINGLE p5 school wanted him EXCEPT Narduzzi.
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You are completely wrong about Town. read my article series about him. I spoke directly with sportswriters from his HS days, USC, Arkansas and Ventura CC. He’s not a good QB by any means.
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He didn’t play and you can forget any possibility that Narduzzi and Watson would replace Pickett any time soon. You must have not seen the two deep roster for the first two weeks of the season when Town OR Patti was the backup QB. Does that not tell you about how much Narduzzi and Watson think of Town when he was on equal footing for the back up position with a true freshman for the first two games?
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There are quite a few POVer’s potentially in harms way of the storms on their way. Including Jim down in Houston. Praying for he best for you all..
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New article up – bound to generate some serious discussion. Ike – don’t read it!!
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Reed you little troll. 🙂
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