This is why I ranted about Rhoads below, not just to be a jagoff but out of (going on 10 years) of frustration. Each game against a team that is non-conventional on offense in any way is like Groundhog Day. Maybe he is a great coach in many aspects (the players seem to love the guy) but he probably should coach in the NFL, because he can’t handle freak offenses that many colleges use. And at this point, I don’t think there is any hope that will change, because he certainly hasn’t been punished for this deficiency (Good lord, we considered giving him the HC job!). Every team we play should put in a basic option or spread formation for us even if they don’t normally play that way. Bet it would work the whole game. Even Anthony Morelli could probably put up a 100 on us.

Bad game today… It’s not that big of a deal. You can’t get too high or too low. It’s a long season. However, Rhoads most definitely should be fired. He is awful. The play-calling on offense was also horrible in the second half. The coaches need to be a little more creative.

Continuing from the previous post:
Everyone makes the point that we should be happy that we are 2-1. Look, I came in to the game expecting a loss….I can’t believe we were favorites. But if you told me at the beginning of the season (when my expectations were very low) that we would get beat by a mediocore (at best) MSU team by 21 or so, and the way they beat us is by running the same damn option that kills us every year, I would still be pissed off. Stop with the we should be happy BS (I don’t care how bad we did last year) because that was not a good team that just ran all over us. I will always be a Pitt fan…I sat through us getting slayed at the hands of Ohio State 72-0 back in ’96…if I can make it through that then you know I’m dedicated. If we were 1-2 right now and we put up a good effort against each team, I wouldn’t even complain…..but this game today showed me that no progress has been made on defense.

I know its one game, I know there is a whole season left….but it’s the same damn defense as last year….that is what depresses the hell out of me, not so much that we lost.

Oh, and I was right at halftime when I said that MSU wouldn’t go 3 and out again. I don’t think they did anyway, I stopped listening after it was over in the end of the 3rd.

Hopefully Wannstedt saw exactly what happened and tells Rhoads to work with the defense on the option, because it doesn’t seem like Rhoads is going to figure it out on his own. Or better yet, show Rhoads the door.

If Pitt simply could have figured out how to stop the option, they would of had a very good chance of winning that game. You can look at all the issues Pitt has, but all of them are pretty damn small compared to the way the defense reacts to the option.

I think it’s time to simply put this game behind us. If we harp on it, the rest of the year may turn out terribly for the team and us.

Let’s put it this way – Pitt will need seven wins to get to a bowl game this year. They have two down already. Looking at the remaining schedule, it appears like we’ll have to coax five wins out of eight games between now and the WVU and Louisville games.

The schedule between now and then, though, is favorable.

The Citadel, Toledo, at Syracuse, at C Florida, Rutgers, at S Florida, at UConn

Now, looking that over, I see at least three wins just waiting to be grabbed. The Citadel is a win. Syracuse (even on the road) will be a win. And one of the Florida games (hopefully both), will be a win.

If we can get those three wins, we’ll have to win two of the following games: Toledo at home, UConn on the road, or Rutgers at home. Which I think is definately possible. If we go 7-3 before the two juggernaut games, the pressure will be off for the year, in my opinion, because we’ll be back in a bowl, and will be loose for the two toughest games of our season.

Just trying to put it all in perspective, because otherwise, we’re all just crying over one Saturday’s worth of spilled, rotten milk.

Thats the problem though, we go to a bowl game and beat absolutely nobody the whole year. Realistically thats not very encouraging. Its time for Pitt to step up, especially at home. Big wins at home are few and far between. our offense is bland and predictable, our defense doesnt tackle and we dont run block.

Aaron, The reason everyone is so upset is not that we lost. Pitt fans can deal with losing. We were humiliated by a team I would call average at best and they did it on our home field. Remember it was 38 to 10, forget about those last 2 garbage td’s to make it look closer. Had we lost a close game or a last minute field goal, we could deal with that but there is no way an avg team like this should come in and score 38 un answered pts. Absolutely pathetic.

Aaron, this wasnt a loss this was an embarrassment, the qb ran for over a hundred yards and we never even got one good hit on him. Being dominated by an avg team is not easy to move on from.

the most embarassing point is the lack of any type of adjustment by the defense. rarely if ever do paul rhodes’ defenses ever try to dictate anything to the offense. consistently, our defense only lines up, remains stationary and trys to keep the play in front of them. why not try an overload blitz? why not shift the dline or linebackers pre-snap? anything to try to stop getting steamrolled by yet another option based run game? paul rhodes seems to be a likable man, but i think his tenure as our d coordinator has run it’s course.

I agree with all the comments on defending the option, mostly the defense was not patient and over ran the option and MSU QB cut inside for large gains. Some bright spots not mentioned, Porter looked excellent as a put returner and that will give opponents fits when Revis is back with him. Collins should get more carries, he appears very strong. Also, they did get the tight ends more into the mix. I loved the on-side kick, a score on that series would have made a huge difference for Pitt. Simply put MSU adapted, Pitt did not. You can’t turn off your offense and sit on a lead and expect it to turn it back on again when you are down! I am not too worried about Pitt, the talent is there, but the fans need to be spanked for leaving in the third quarter, long before the game was out of reach. It looked bad on TV and how did Pittsburgh fans become so negative, these kids could have used their help.

I agree with all the comments on defending the option, mostly the defense was not patient and over ran the option and MSU QB cut inside for large gains. Some bright spots not mentioned, Porter looked excellent as a put returner and that will give opponents fits when Revis is back with him. Collins should get more carries, he appears very strong. Also, they did get the tight ends more into the mix. I loved the on-side kick, a score on that series would have made a huge difference for Pitt. Simply put MSU adapted, Pitt did not. You can’t turn off your offense and sit on a lead and expect it to turn it back on again when you are down! I am not too worried about Pitt, the talent is there, but the fans need to be spanked for leaving in the third quarter, long before the game was out of reach. It looked bad on TV and how did Pittsburgh fans become so negative, these kids could have used their help.

As has been said before, sometimes its better to lose big then to lose a close game. That may or may not be the case in this game, but it certainly is a wake up call to the coaching staff. Now we’ll see if Wanny is the type of coach that can put things in perspective for his kids.

I listened to the game on the internet, and have to admit I knew it was a lost cause halfway thru the 2nd quarter. But, In reviewing the schedule for the rest of the year I see three pretty sure losses (Louisville, WVU and Rutgers). I had a bad feeling about MSU when I saw them on the schedule, specifically due to Stanton. I do not believe they are an average team though – I think MSU will end up with a winning record this year, and will surprise some teams in the Big Ten.

Maybe we steal a win from one of those three, maybe we lose a game we should win – who knows? What I do know is I’ll still follow the team and wish them well. This is what sports are all about, wondering how the team and games will play out. I know the reasons for the frustrations – and the post-game posts are pretty darn accurate.

As for the big picture – my gut tells me we’ll see a different level of play over the next few years, and if DW can keep this team’s head up we might even have a season that will be fun to live through (unlike yesterday afternoon).

Very very frustrated with this game….(and I didn’t even think we would win beforehand)

It’s pretty sad when MSU is calling option plays on 2nd and 19 and getting 18 yards, setting up an easy 3rd and 1.

Drew Stanton isn’t even particularly “fast”, he is just shifty and makes great decisions when it comes to pitching on the option, faking the pitch, or just keeping it and avoiding tackles.

Just wait until we play WVU again, who run a very similar offense to MSU, but have a much faster QB in White and heisman candidate running back in Slaton. I hope it doesn’t get as ugly as it did last year.

First off, Pat, you know that I’ve got a pregnant wife at home. Plus, I had three night meetings this week that kept me out of the house. So I could hardly say no when she asked me to stay here.

Second, Pat, maybe I just have a hard time rooting against the Big Ten.

(For everybody else out there, that ludicrious statement was just intended to make Pat foam at the mouth, and in no way reflects any type of affinity to Big Ten teams at large… especially Michigan State.)

Assignment defense is difficult to learn in the era of zones. That’s why the option is such an effective gadget play. Hell, it even works great on PlayStation. Even Ohio State struggled a little when Texas unveiled an option attack last Saturday. However, good defensive coordinators SHOULD teach assignment defense. ESPECIALLY when @#%*@#! West Virginia is in your conference (Ryan M is right: that’s EXACTLY what the Mountaineers are gonna throw at us in November).

So, once again, I agree with JC on Paul Rhoads. Actually, I think that JC and I have agreed on Rhoads for years now (ECH, welcome to the club). Rhoads, like his mentor Walt, doesn’t adjust. He doesn’t teach fundamentals like assignment defense and tackling (I don’t know who taught Pitt to tackle so well against Virgnia, but based on ten years of frustration, I can guarantee you that it WASN’T Paul Rhoads.).

So, once again, for at least the sixth year in a row now, I’m going to have drop a “FIRE PAUL RHOADS NOW!!!”

Someone mentioned that Rutgers should be a win. I’ve watched them play their last two games and disagree. Yes, their opponents haven’t been top of the line (ours? Virginia going down yesterday to W. Michigan!) they have great team speed and play with a confidence and enthusiasm lacking in Pittsburgh.

I can agree with all of the above comments, except for the comparisions of the MSU offense to WVU…it’s not close, MSU’s offense is far more balanced. That QB could throw the ball and bailed out many a drive with a nice throw. I’m not saying that WVU won’t wack us if we play the run the way we did yesterday, just that if we can get WVU into 2 or 3 rd and long, there is a much better chance of seeing a punt than there was with MSU. As for the defensive effort, this is now 3 straigt years of Pitt giving up 100+ yard games to multiple players from the same team, in the same game. I don’t know how a DC keeps his job with that record.

If this D plays like Saturday against WVU, the game may never end, because WVU will score every time they touch the ball. Did you see them on Thursday? They aren’t at all balanced, but the one thing they do great is the one thing we can’t stop. Problem is that Rhoads has to know it, but this AD/administration seems to love the guy so much that they don’t care, and the media somehow thinks he’s great because he leaps up and down alot, so why should he bust his butt to change? He’s making sweet coin for a team that loses every single big game because it can’t stop the f**king run. It’s a disgrace and every Pitt fan should flood Jeff Long’s phone line with complaints (or better yet stop cutting those PantherClub checks) if it’s not rectified in the off-season.