I still don’t know what to say. I was on the phone with Lee as he described the action to me in the OTs. I saw the replays of the 2-point conversion.
I’ve read the stories in the ‘Burgh dailies. Both said the same sort of thing. Pitt’s offense went way too conservative, way too soon. The defense couldn’t make a tackle. Everything else just filled in around it. They aren’t the fans. They don’t feel the same anger, so I accept that I’m not seeing things particularly unbiased at the moment. So the articles pissed me off because I see them as crap pieces that are being way too nice and nary a peep about how poorly the defense was designed.
Instead, to get a better idea, this from UConn’s Randy Edsall on how D.J. Hernandez went from 51 carries for 69 yards and 47-89 with 6 INT and 3 TDs; to a night with 17 runs for 130 yards plus 20-29, 164 yards and 4 TDs passing.
Edsall said one of the things that had helped Hernandez in this game was that the Panthers didn’t pressure a whole lot with five and six men. And when they did, the Huskies had pretty good protection.
“He had a sense he could stay in the pocket and not get flushed, particularly in the second half,” Edsall said. “He really knew where everything was and had a feeling where everything was. Where he could step up or get inside or outside.”
Yes, because the best thing a defense can do for a young, inexperienced QB is let him have time. Glad to help. Glad that the Pitt defense was unable to pressure or contain. It does wonders for confidence and stats.
Now, if you’re like me, you saw the 2-point conversion and Clint Session take a tremendous leap at Hernandez’s little toe. Rather then try and cut him off or stay upright and just make him throw or run out of bounds.
In Connecticut, and the “Legend of D.J. Hernandez,” the story will be told differently.
The vision of Clint Session swooping in on an unsuspecting D.J. Hernandez brought a moment of silence over the Rentschler Field fans who stuck it out until the end in Saturday’s Big East football marathon.
Hernandez literally grew up in front of the University of Connecticut football faithful, spearheading the “Rally at Rentschler.” Session reached out with his two huge hands and prepared to haul Hernandez to the turf. Then, in a flash, the Pittsburgh senior linebacker lunged toward the UConn quarterback and came up empty.
Or this.
The call was a “bounce” pass play designed with freshman Terence Jeffers as the primary receiver. But Pitt linebacker Clint Session, who made a career-high 15 tackles Saturday, blitzed quickly from Hernandez’s left. Session chased Hernandez from the pocket and took a swipe at the quarterback’s ankles, making contact near the 10-yard line.
Hernandez stumbled but regained his balance and raced to the goal line. By the time he hit the 5, the sophomore knew he was in and raised the ball in triumph.
Jeffers was also covered by Revis who didn’t bite and other stories indicated that’s part of why Hernandez started scrambling.
Crap.
The fact is, when DW was head coach he was fired twice, he failed, The Pitt honeymoon is over with DW. To give up that many yards to UConn, no excuses, they must go in another direction for a DC.
I do not care how you spell it, RHOADS must go. There is no way Iowa State is going to hire him, he might interview but no way, he sucks and his track record is there for all to see.
I just cannot watch or go to the WVU game because Slaton and White are going to run, and run, and run. After a 6-1 start, 6-6 is very disappointing.
I love Pitt football and have been following them for about 40 years, but I do not think they have a chance in hell to beat WVU and L’Ville.
P.S. Even if they went to a bowl game they would loose.
i haven’t stopped throwing up.
the 8-4 fiesta bowl team wasnt the greatest…but they were a hell of a lot better than this. i was not a walt fan, and after the comments by his agent, he HAD to go. i applauded the hiring of dw and thought the addition of cavanaugh was a good move. but what we need are college coaches with enthusiam, and passion, and the willingness to take a chance. dw brings the passion…but without success, it seems more like a line from a used car salesman than the optimisim of a coach ready to take this program forward.
the offense, while putting up 45 points, was dissapointing. they refuse to recognize the opportunity to step on a defenses neck when given the chance. that is pure NFL football philosophy, and it has cost us victories this year and last.
the defense….what is there to say? how many times do we have to see the defense unprepared to stop a one dimensional offense? Toledo, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Michigan State, USF, the list goes on and on…and it has been a constant theme throughout Paul Rhoads tenure as defensive coordinator. Rhoads should not make it to Thursday. If for no other reason than to show the fans, recruits and boosters that the effort and execution seen saturday night are unacceptable.
is wanny the answer? i dont know. at this point i am more than concerned to say the least. but i do know that paul rhoads must be fired. he may be a good man, but he is a terrible DC.
to say the honeymoon is over for Dave is an understatement.
Nuff said.
The money was great but the Hoops are just in another world down there. They will be crawling out from under the rocks from down-state WVa to come up to the big city.
I’m not even going to watch the game, I do not think we will win let alone be competitive. I take losses to WVU pretty hard.
A month ago I was very pleased with direction of this program. The Rutgers loss I could understand somewhat, they’re a damn good team now and I guess we’re still kind of rebuilding. The South Florida loss was tough… but I tried to convince myself that USF was just an underrated team that we overlooked, it was their homecoming, yada yada yada…
But UConn… are you shittin me? UConn?! I didn’t get to see the game, but I had ESPN’s Gamecast up. I saw we were up by 14 with about 6 minutes to go, and left the house. I came back and shit a brick when I saw the final score!!
NOTHING has changes since the Harris regime. The offensive line is still shakey as hell, and defensive line is pure crap. Wasn’t that the main complaint about Harris?!?! His teams weren’t tough enough up front and got pushed around. And still the same shit is happening under Wanny… same shit.
Last year it was “Well DW’s got to work with all of Walt’s recruits etc etc”. That was an acceptable excuse.
This year Paul Rhoads is the scapegoat, and deservedly so.
What about next year? There isn’t going to be an excuse next year. The Wannstedt honeymoon ended the minute DJ Whateverthehellhisnameis pranced into the endzone for that 2 point conversion yesterday. There needs to be NOTICEABLE improvement from this team next year, heading into that magic “year four” when all of these 4 and 5 star recruits will be juniors and (hopefully) contribute.
Just uploaded a simple chart to Flickr that illustrates how goofy the BCS bowl system is in my humble opinion.
I think that it shows how desirable a playoff system is in comparison to the current situation. The playing field leveled out a bit this weekend and I think it’s a shame that a lot of great teams are going to be on the outside looking in.
I think we should let the players decide it on the field. Also, you can’t tell me that the NCAA couldn’t make money of the scenario depicted in this bracket. Not to mention the fact that these would be some fantastic games…
I’ll end by saying that WVU may set a rushing record against our ‘bend, don’t brake’ defense.
Can anyone say that Pitt has improved since the Notre Dame game from last year?