How Good are We?

Pitt has now completed a third of the season and we are starting to get a feel for the team. As usual there are two ways to look at things.

On one hand you can look at the defense and say “Well dang, this is the best defense we’ve had since 2009, and probably the best coached defense we’ve had since the ’70’s. I think this team is going to be pretty good.” You could also say “The offense has been up and down but they’ve shown growth each week and they’ve got some upside. The arrow is pointing up for Pitt.” Continue reading “How Good are We?” →

Are Pat and Staff Developing Players?

Here is a well-researched article by Brian Ferrari, aka “notrocketscience”, and it should give some good food for thought as we head into spring ball in the next couple of weeks.

We have much discussion about Pitt recruiting on the POV. This year’s class is considered too low in rank by almost everyone. Some believe all of Narduzzi’s classes were ranked too low. I am not one of those people. I feel all of the classes, with the exception of this year, were on par for what Pitt can accomplish with their football budget. I also feel Pitt football can reach a level of success we all expect with those classes. For me, that is eight to nine wins per year with occasional ten win seasons. Top 25 rankings should happen.

Let’s forget where Pitt’s classes have been ranked by Rivals. After all, it has zero impact on how the players are ultimately developed by the coaches. An eighteen year old kid changes a lot in four to five years. Instead, let’s look at the players on the current roster that contributed last year and are poised to contribute more this coming year. How good are they? Has Pitt developed them? Do we see potential NFL draft picks?

Continue reading “Are Pat and Staff Developing Players?” →

Lethal Offense 3?

Well fans, we now have our Wide Receivers Coach officially in the fold, and by most accounts Chris Beatty is a good one. He’s got a solid coaching resume and also boasts some very good recruiting credentials, which is exactly what this program needs.

Now we have three long months (until the spring game) to fantasize about what our offense will be.

Rumor has it that Whipple likes to throw the ball. Much has been made of that, but what should we expect really? I went back to the well and asked Daily Hampton Gazette Umass Beat Writer Josh Walfish some in-depth questions about what we will probably see in 2019. Josh was extremely gracious and gave me some great answers, so THANK YOU Josh. Also I’d be remis not to credit Pittsburgh Sports Now’s Alan Saunders for the idea. Saunders originally interviewed Walfish for one of the very first pieces published on Whipple, which I found to be excellent.

I’ve pasted the Josh Walfish interview below for your reading pleasure. The “MM Notes” were added after the fact. Enjoy…

Continue reading “Lethal Offense 3?” →

No More Excuses

Enough is enough. Let’s have no more excuses for this horrid Pitt football team…not from HC Pat Narduzzi, not from DC Josh Conklin, not from OC Shawn Watson, not from AD Heather Lyke, and please… not from us POVers or any other Pitt fans.

What we watched last night was the result of inept and running-scared coaching from the position coaches on up to the head coach himself. For all his bluster and posturing Pat Narduzzi coaches in fear. He is so risk-adverse that he purposely makes our offense one-sided and so maddeningly inconsistent that it can’t be relied on to get points when needed.

When your approach to an offensive game plan – that he himself approves every week mind you – is to do anything humanly possible to avoid interceptions you get what we have seen since Max Brown went down with an injury. That is Pitt starting, and sticking with come hell or high water, an untalented less-than-average QB in Ben DiNucci. We’ll discuss him in detail later.

What we watched unfold last night came as no shock to me. In this week’s Roundtable I said that a loss to North Carolina wouldn’t shock or surprise me and it doesn’t. Why? Because even with every excuse made by others about this 2017 team I have completely understood just how poor at playing football this team is.

How many times have we read on here “But look at our Strength of Schedule” or “We have played superb quarterbacks…WRs… RBs… . or “We have injuries...’, whatever. It doesn’t matter and is all excuse making. NC had 16 starters out and just gave us our 6th loss.

Allow me to take an editor’s prerogative of swearing on here and call total bullshit on each and every one of those excuses said then, now and in the future.

Let’s try to be as honest as possible in looking at what the Pitt team has been this season shall we? The unvarnished truth is that we have a bumbling coaching staff who have done an average at best job both in training and in recruiting so that now we are fielding players out there who just aren’t all that talented. Certainly not talented enough to win more games than we lose and not talented enough for consistently good play.

And youth is no excuse either. Unless you watch only Pitt football and pay zero attention to the 127 other FBS teams you’ll see that a lot of schools have numerous young players also and many of those teams do just fine. Yes we are young, but not six and counting losses young.

C’mon – we just watched a rsSO QB in his first ever start rip our pass defense apart by completing 70% of his passes (12 for 30) for 235 yards and 2 TDs. Guys – the only other passing action this kid has seen in his career was as a back-up against The Citadel and James Madison last season and last night he owned our DBs. The total passing stats for NC were 22/31 for 270 and 3 TDs and they got screwed on a deep no-call pass interference also.

Continue reading “No More Excuses” →

Category: Offense