Back from my trip, and I see no point to recap the Pitt-Temple game. Nor the articles that followed. From what I read it was another bad game for Pitt, punctuated by flashes of brilliance by the end to allow Pitt to escape with a win.
So, to move on to the BC game this weekend, on ESPN2 at noon (ugh!).
As the defense has begun to collapse again, changes are afoot (they gave up how many yards to Temple?). Defensive Coordinator, Paul Rhoads may not start safeties Tez Morris and Ty Gilliard this weekend because of their poor play.
I know this may come as a shock to Pitt fans, but, get this, they weren’t tackling. They were playing out of position and missing tackles. Wow. Hard to imagine guys coached by Paul Rhoads the last couple of years doing that. This came directly from Paul Rhoads, when he actually was at the Harris press conference. Kind of odd, but it tells you about the pressure Harris is now feeling and also how much of a hit Rhoads’ star has been taking. This might come back to haunt him if the D doesn’t change soon:
Rhoads said his defense needs to find more passion. It’s yielded an average of 29.6 points and 425.3 yards to its past three opponents. “We have to analyze and say, why?” Rhoads said. “We think we came up with some answers with the staff and our kids are looking forward to moving on with those answers.” The answers? “Some are schematic and some are with our personality. We have to play with some juice and some emotion.”
Oh, hell, let’s haunt him now. Let’s see, we had the defense “contaminated” last year — glad they excised that problem — with not enough passion. In addition, this year, Rhoads is teaching more tackling this year unlike last year, and it is showing. Has it been mentioned that Rhoads coaches the secondary as well? Then there is that vow to stop the run this year. Not working out so well.
A story on WR coach Pete Carmichael. Is it me, or was there a couple little shots taken at Harris in this?
The Boston Globe does a nice enough story on Tyler Palko.
Don’t worry, though, Harris feels this could be a special Pitt team — someday.
He said it is still too early to tell how good the Panthers are because their upside is so great.
He said the most encouraging thing about his team is that the players don’t quit when things go bad.
“All season long we’ve showed our grit and our fight and our positive attitude towards being behind,” Harris said. “I really admire how hard they have fought back in a couple of games that looked rather bleak for us. I’m real proud of that fight and that competitiveness.”
Except when the defense doesn’t “play with some juice and some emotion.” Like the last 3 games.
My quick summary at mid-season: QB looks good, no O-line, RB weak, WR incomplete, Punting solid, Kicking solid, D-line no pressure or penetration, secondary incomplete.
As for the game on Saturday. Offensive Lineman, and allegedly the best player on the line, Rob Pettiti is still questionable for the game. So is Fullback Tim Murphy.
I hope Joe Flacco is staying ready,
Harris said the Panthers’ biggest challenge against the Eagles this week is finding a way to contain All-Big East defensive tackle Mathias Kiwanuka, who leads the conference with nine tackles for loss and is second with four sacks.
Sorry if I don’t seem more optimistic about the game.
Oh, and the Rutgers game the following weekend is also a Noon start.
