The P-G Pitt football beat reporter had his online chat yesterday and his Q&A today. The Q&A was on the short side because of tonight’s game, and not much new there.
I think the online chat has gotten to the point where people are trying to bait him over playing Bill Stull. Interesting comments on T.J. Porter and his maturity. I have to agree with this part from the chat.
Vic_Damone_Jr.: What is the biggest difference in the defense this year?
Paul Zeise: I think it is clear that the defensive line is playing at a much higher level than they have been. A lot of that has to do with having better players, but I also think moving Greg Gattuso to defensive line coaching was a brilliant move because he has clearly helped upgrade that position. If you look at it Pitt doesn’t have a bunch of studs on the defensive line but they are effective now, they get off blocks and as a result they make everyone elses job easier.
I made note of the Gattuso move making a difference earlier this week. I think it helped in that Gattuso is a good coach and teacher, and also it got the attention of the rest of the defensive coaches. They survived the change in head coaches without any turnover. This probably served as a none-to-subtle notice that things had better improve or else.
This part of the chat made me smile.
Vic_Damone_Jr.: Why do you constantly defend Paul Rhoads? He has not done a good job the last four years.
Paul Zeise: I don’t constantly defend anyone. I just don’t think it is fair to throw the guy under the bus given some of the issues personnel wise he’s had to deal with. I think he has shown when he has good players, not great ones, but good ones at a majority of the positions, he can do a good job. It is hard to coach defense when your defensive line is being pancaked more than the batter at the Waffle House. Do I agree with everything he’s done or everything about his scheme? No. But I could say the same about just about every coach, so I really just don’t think it is fair to destroy him like so many people would like.
[Emphasis added.]
Heh-heh-heh.
One thing about the Q&A I thought was interesting (and had nothing to do with Pitt; it’s nice to talk about this during a huge Pitt lead) was Zeise’s response to the question about Cincinnati joining the Big East. Zeise wrote, “Temple plays in a first class stadium is in a first class city and is in a big market that the Big East so craves. Cincinnati plays in an antiquated stadium, in a second-class city in a market that nobody cares about. To call Cincinnati the Temple west is an insult to Temple. Temple was competitive for a while until the Big East pulled the rug out from under it and I really believe Temple will rise in the MAC.”
Temple has had a terrible football team for years and I would much rather have Cincy basketball in the Big East, especially since Temple wasn’t going to leave the A-10. Sure, Philly is a better market than Cincy, but what has Temple done for Big East football in Philly?
I just attributed that to a little partisan love by Zeise to his alma mater.
Yes, he is ignoring reality, including the even worse fan support then Cinci and a lack of commitment from the Temple Administration to football.
It also ignores the fact that Villanova would have fought very hard against letting Temple all the way into the Big East. Another issue that contributed to Temple being booted from the conference.
Don’t really know how to express how I feel about this team so far, except that I’m just damn proud. It really has the makings of a well rounded team, and one that could easily end up with a very good record. I’m especially impressed with the O line – and with the downfield blocking by the WRs and special team players. This team does not quit at first contact – they keep pushing and finishing plays.
The announcers were not as bad as I’d thought they would be – with the exception of Gilmore’s babbling about how much better Louisville and WVU were than PITT. They might just be better, but he didn’t articulate any reasons for his statements at all. Joe Thomas got some great singling out thought, as did Palko.
Great to see some second stringers get quality time – Bynham caught a pass, Brooks and Collier looked strong and the second string O line was pretty good as well.
What a complete and great game to be able to watch, and at halftime I started thinking just how good we’ll be on the O Line with Pinkston and Jacobson added to it next year. Pretty scary.
How do you feel about our chances with Rutgers?
I think if we can contain Rutgers rushing plays, we have a good shot. We won’t be able to stop them, but we should be able to limit Rice and Leonard to short enough gains that we can hold them to FGs – hopefully. I’m actually more worried about how they use their FB rather than Rice, their HB. Leonard is great and a stone competitor (much like I think Hynoski will be for us later on), and he has the ability to get out of the backfield and catch short passes – and turn them into good yardage. Basically I agree with Steve above, If we can play a decent defense against the run, we should win, and this game will also test Chas’s theory that Rhodes needs to bring up the DBs for run support.
I don’t believe we’ll have too many problems on offense – its really starting to click now, especially with our O line opening holes. The ESPN replays of the O line blocking was awesome last night- you really don’t get a feel of how well they are doing by listening on the radio. And, this might be the game where we really need to be able to sustain drives in the second half. That said, Cavanaugh just might unleash Palko and the long passing game just to get some quick points and get the fans riled up.
We will need to keep winning the turnover battle also – and, and this really amazes me this year, keep Palko from being sacked. If I’m not mistaken he’s been sacked 4 times in 7 games – who would have believed that two months ago?
Rutgers has a very good coach, and he won’t let their players fold if PITT gets out to a quick lead – no matter how big that lead is.
Some observations:
– Does anyone else think Palko has a very slow drop back after getting the snap. No criticism, but it just seemed that his first two steps are very slow.
– I didn’t notice Otah at all last night, was he playing and how did he do?
– To me, Stull looked sharp (take away that TD pass which I thought was actually poorly thrown, almost straight up in the air, and Pestano got lucky that the DB misplayed him – good grab and footwork though). Stull has quicker feet than I thought, and can maybe be the type of QB that gets good yardage with his legs, and his short passes were very crisp & accurate.
– Somethings going on with Porter, after his end-around he got up shaking his head, and I had the feeling he wasn’t happy with his role. Maybe the Bloggers are right and he’ll opt out after this year, but I really hope not as I think he could be a real player for us.
But, did anyone else notice that superb block by Porter on the opening kickoff? Hope his teammates let him know that that kind of effort is a valuable contribution to the win.
Thomas is going to be great, heck he looked great last night. It takes some talent to seal off the right side and come off of that block and take out a LB. He is the type of lineman Pitt needs. Simo was ok but he and others recently were too heavy and not athletic enough. Can you say “Bring it on Lumpy?”
The O line is starting to come together. It is starting to look like the whoever is running with the first team is going to be running through nice holes.
Tyler did not look slow dropping back but rather comfortable. He really looks in the “zone” back there.
Stull looked good and if he get in more and looks the same as he did last night, I won’t be too worried about QB next year. Also Bill please put on about 25 lbs in the off-season.
