Tag: Moss

Know the Enemy & Predictions: VT

VT is one of those teams we fans talk about when we say that Pitt has to start winning ‘big’ games.  But the fact is that all our remaining games are ‘big’ as long as we keep winning them – it is what will keep us in the hunt for the ACC Coastal championship.

So what are the things we need to know about and then see our team do to win this game? Here are my thoughts…

We need to knock the Hokie QB Jerod Evans out of the game. Seriously.

This kid has thrown for 19 TDs against only two INTs in seven games and this is his first season to boot. That scares me and it better scare both HC Pat Narduzzi and DC What’s-his-name.

That was the first thing that popped out of my mind.  Sorry it was negative but when a QB has this stat line:

evans

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How We’ve Played Ball So Far

We are going to be talking a lot about stats, numbers and trends in this article to try to get a handle on what this 2016 version of the Panther’s football team is all about.  That tells just some of the story – the other part is coaching and decision making and all the intangibles that go into wins and losses.

There are some positives and negative there also but one thing I’d like to point out from the onset is that I think HC Pat Narduzzi has done a good job of getting our kids ready to play, and to play a full 60 minutes.  That hadn’t been the case with some games last season but this year it is something I’m not too worried about.

So – I spent a good part of last evening perusing all the established Pitt football media outlets to try to get a flavor of how other writers and fans really felt about the loss to Oklahoma State last week.

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Things That Make POV Go Hmmm?

  1. What in hell was that the Pitt dance team wearing at the start of the halftime show?  Those robes looked eerily similar to an Jim Crow organization not know for its diversity.  They had to know that was going to raise some eyebrows.

When the Dance Team took the field the talking in the press box came to a screeching halt. I’m all for innovation but someone at Pitt needs to vet these things before they actually become public.

2. Why did we burn RB Chawntez Moss’ redshirt on Saturday? Here is the participation chart:

snip_20160913193950

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Practice #10 (& #11) in the Books

This morning the main Pitt beat writer for the Trib-Review wrote a piece on Pitt’s  QB situation titled “Pitt backup QB brings experience” which immediatly caught my eye because that is the exact topic we all were discussing on here in the comments section just a day ago.

DiPaola wrote the article and relays this about the OC’s take on Manny Stocker:

Then, there’s this from Canada: “I’m very excited about putting the ball in Nathan’s hands when the game is on the line.”

But that doesn’t mean Stocker is being ignored.  “Manny is getting better every day,” Canada said. “He’s playing like a senior needs to play.”  Canada said the difference in Stocker from their time together three years ago is his attention to detail and willingness to tackle difficult situations.

“Pressure is a privilege,” Canada said. “Sometimes, we don’t like it. If you want to be the guy, there’s pressure, and he’s learning to embrace that and understand that and work at that.

“He’s attacking the details of the game.”

OK then; I read that and all the other stuff Canada and Narduzzi have said about the QB2 position so far this month and don’t see Ben Dinucci getting anything but some off hand and cursory discussion at all.  Sorry to all the ‘local boy does well’ fans but I think we have to put that hope about Dinucci breaking into some real playing time as a ‘wait until next year’ scenario.

The Post-Gazette’s new Pitt football beat writer, ir7_ywjjJenn Menendez writes about the new throwback uniforms:

Narduzzi intimated there is a strong chance the throwback uniform could become a regular fixture after it debuts Oct. 8. He added that his senior leadership group, referred to as the “Eagles,” will be tasked with making that decision on a weekly basis.

“I think it’s going to be something that seniors, our Eagles will kind of decide what do we want to do,” Narduzzi said. “If they like the look? I’m open to anything. I just want to coach football.”

This is very interesting as usually the school administration and the contracted apparel companies get together to maximize the ‘visibility’ of the different uniform items to make the biggest profits.

BTW – Ms. Menendez was the Post-Gazette’s hockey writer before coming over to Pitt football.  Strange move all around and not to sound too critical but is this another example of the Panther’s football program not getting the respect it deserves from that paper?  I don’t really understand the Post-Gazette.

Continue reading “Practice #10 (& #11) in the Books” →