One final bit from the Virginia game. The fake FG. Virginia Coach Al Groh has his explanation.
According to Groh, Pittsburgh was in a defensive formation on the field goal that made the fake field goal automatic.
“It was an opponent-specific call,” Groh said. “We could call ‘white’ any time that the look was there and the look was probably only going to be there on that hash mark. If we get other looks, we would have other possibilities to do things with Vic.”
At that point, with UVa leading 37-14, the call would not necessarily have come from the bench.
Or would it?
“I wouldn’t say ‘not necessarily; I wouldn’t say ‘necessarily,’” said Groh, who then invoked Kiraly. “You’re supposed to play your best on every play, regardless of the time or the score in the game. You’re just trying to win the next play.
“The play was there, Vic called ‘white,’ and it didn’t have anything to do with minimizing the score or maximizing the score.”
Of course after the game, Groh initially said it was, uh, “hash-mark relative” to go for the fake. You know, I wasn’t bothered by them running the fake. I am finding the fact that Groh won’t admit to calling it and just wanting to run it for whatever reason a little strange and annoying, though.
The UVa game also was a solid reminder of Pitt’s defense deficiency starting with the DC.
And a second poor performance this season means the coaching hot seat is resting beneath defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads.
Pitt has given up 78 points in the past two games and the defense has struggled to force turnovers or come up with big, game-changing plays.
Virginia’s statistics weren’t overwhelming — it had 342 total yards — but that’s mostly because the Cavaliers had several short fields in which to work. But for the second consecutive week, the defense failed to make stops on third-and-long. Virginia converted on each of its first five third-down attempts and was successful in six of its first eight.
But the shorter fields weren’t the reason Virginia scored so quickly. The Panthers’ defense provided very little resistance and looked virtually powerless to stop the Cavaliers. Virginia scored touchdowns on its first four drives and a field goal on its fifth.
The Cavaliers, who built a 30-0 advantage, were content to play conservatively…
I can’t wait for the next article from someone to say how Rhoads deserves another year.
That brings us to the most likely candidate to write such an article. Joe Starkey’s ESPN.com Big East notebook (Insider subs.) has little not known already.
It’s time to regroup for coach Dave Wannstedt and the slumping Panthers (2-3, 0-1), who have a bye before hosting Navy on Oct. 10. Pitt has lost three in a row — 8 of 10 dating to last season — and is looking like a candidate for last place in the conference. Even in the bye week, there is bad news. Starting right tackle Jason Pinkston is out for the season with a shoulder injury. He joins receiver Derek Kinder, quarterback Bill Stull and defensive tackle Gus Mustakas on the long-term injury list. “We can use the extra time [off] with all the young players we’re using,” Wannstedt said.
“Regroup.” Sure why not. Oh, and the season isn’t lost either.
That isn’t much different than anything the Panthers have been saying to this point. But they still are showing a united front publicly despite mounting evidence that the season is rapidly spiraling out of control.
“Our season is not over yet,” Berry said. “We have to keep fighting. Right now we are at the point where we can either fold it up and give up or keep fighting and trying to get this thing right. And right now, it doesn’t seem like anyone here is ready to quit, everyone wants to turn this around, everyone wants to start winning and get to a bowl game.”
Berry’s sentiments were echoed by many of the players and coaches who, after taking a few days to heal and regroup, returned to the field yesterday for their first full contact practice in preparation for Navy (3-2).
The Panthers play host to the Midshipmen in a Wednesday prime-time affair, and Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said the outcome will go a long way toward determining the Panthers’ fate for the rest of the season. Wannstedt said the Panthers need a win, not only to get back to .500, but also to help the team regain its confidence.
And if Pitt doesn’t win, many fans will just be watching the sidelines to observe the body language and behavior of the players and coaches.
Coach Wannstedt is pleased with the progress and dedication QB Pat Bostick is already showing. Whether that translates into giving him a gameplan that actually lets him throw in the first half remains to be seen.
Glad to see Curtis coming back! He was a class act in the NFL
anyone think its actually possible?
I have no idea how they changed the D from giving up over an avg of 40 pts a game to a total of 14 over the next 3 games, but it would be a miracle if our D could do the same.
I watched both the Navy/Rutgers and the Navy/Airforce game this week, and I have no idea how we’re going to stop that. You need to have 9 guys in the box and not all run in the direction of first movement…good luck. We’ll have to win 45-42 or something. I’m sure our D will somehow give up a passing TD because they’ll get sucked into run coverage and leave someone wide open, even though from what i saw in the Rutgers game, their QB is terrible at throwing.
I just don’t know how we’re going to execute on every play on O and D…or even on every play of a single series.
It still could happen, but I just do not think it is likely with how the team has performed.
You know, Walt doesn’t have a job. Walt for OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR. He wouldn’t have to recruit.
What I mean by this is I think Wanny may be able to explain this season to some recruits he tries to land next year (although I am betting 2008’s recruiting class will not be as highly touted as the previous two years)
There will be a variety of reasons for it from the lack of progress (wins), to the fact that recruits will not be sure of the coaches tenure since they likely won’t extend Wanny’s current contract.
That being said, if we don’t show progress next year I think we are looking at a serious dilemma in the following years (2009+).
Potential recruits will have no faith in Wanny or the program to field a winner, we will likely see a head coaching change and any recruits that actually considered attending Pitt under Wanny will likely look elsewhere. In effect, we will see yet another rebuilding effort .
That is why I don’t think they have the luxury of sticking with either Rhoads or Cavanaugh if things do not improve.
In short…i don’t miss Walt at all…thanks for returning Pitt to some measure of respectability….but it was always a struggle…
Of course that era sure looks better than the Wanny train wreck year 3 were are trapped in….
I hate to revise history to some point simply because Wannstedt has done such a great job making the program look like it on the verge of becoming USC under Harris. Harris accomplished a lot of good things, beat some teams he shouldn’t have, and went to bowl games. But his era was also characterized by some absolutely inexplicable losses just as Wannstedt’s has been. He struggled to beat teams that his teams should’ve destroyed – Temple seemed to be a bit of thorn in his side, for instance. And in some of these games, he seemed more concerned with outcoaching the opposition than winning the game sometimes (think the USF loss, for example). And think back to the response after the 2003 season that ended with a fourth-straight third place Big East finish and a fourth-straight late-December bowl. Were fans really thrilled to be going to another December bowl game at the time?
Given the limitations and the way the athletic department and the school operate in certain facets (budget allowances for salaries, involvement of the Chancellor, involvement of the alumni, etc), maybe we were all crazy for thinking at the time that the football program could take steps beyond where Walt took them. Walt had elevated Pitt into a solid second-tier program.
But prior to clinching the BCS appearance (which happened as Walt and the administration were at very public odds and he already pretty much had one foot out the door), all we were seeing was a string of third-place Big East finishes and late-December bowl games. Meanwhile, some programs that existed on a similar level – programs like Maryland and Iowa, for instance – had passed us by and were making regular January 1 bowl games. By the time Pitt joined those ranks with the Fiesta Bowl appearance, as I said, Harris was already gone and the overwhelming opinion was that the fans were glad to see him go.
I don’t want to say it was entirely mutual, but it sure seemed that way. Not many people had a problem with him leaving because pretty much everyone assumed that he had taken Pitt as high as he could.
Maybe we were right and maybe the school just made the wrong hire with Wannstedt. As I’ve said here before, just because many fans wanted change didn’t mean we all wanted Wannstedt.
But maybe we never allowed for the possibility that Harris took Pitt as high as Pitt could reasonably expected to go. Maybe the best Pitt can ever hope to be is a consistent second-tier 8-9-10 win program that manages to find its way to a January 1 or BCS bowl game every few years. I’m not sure Pitt will ever exist consistently on the same plane as the likes of USC, Oklahoma, Michigan, Ohio State, etc. We very well might be a lot more like the Marylands, Iowas, NC States, Virginias, and Purdues than anything else.
Nuff said
Your last point was exactly why I can’t fault Pitt fans/alumni/whoever for wanting the change to be made.
I’ve heard the argument that the collective Pitt fanbase and program deserves this current team because the program was almost delusional for thinking it could be something more than it was under Walt. In a sense, I can see the argument given the “cheap” nature of the school when it comes to shelling out $$ for coaches (as compared to places like Bama, ND, Florida, etc). And I can see the lack of relevant recent tradition hurting the program as this isn’t really looked at as a “destination” program for a young up-and-coming coach (like Florida was for Urban Meyer, for instance). And I can understand some of the criticism of the possibly-misguided involvement of the Golden Panthers, Nordenberg, etc, in maybe overemphasizing certain things (Pitt ties, restoration of a particular image, etc) over getting a coach who really understood the modern college game. And I can see how this would have an effect on the decisions that were made.
But in the same respect, I look at programs like WVU, Louisville (who’s poured a ton of $$ into their program in recent years), USF, Cal, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Oregon, etc. and wonder why Pitt can’t compete on the same levels as those schools.
Then again, maybe Morelli has totally lost it and they’ll come out tomorrow and implode. I think the only way Iowa wins is Morelli has a TO on the first possession – the whole team will fold, Iowa wins 10-9. But I just don’t see that happening.
I don’t think much of wisconsin (and Ill beat them as I projected) and i thought PSU would beat them, but both are playing so poorly right now, i’m not sure anymore… the ridiculous part is PSU will get ranked for beating them. Crappy overrated (still, somehow) big televen.
Yes, I am truly amazed at how Morelli STILL managed to throw 2 interceptions to keep Iowa on life support for that long in the game. And you’re right, I think that PSU will be ranked if they beat Wisconsin and Indiana. However, I think that PJ Hill will do damage against PSU’s ‘amazing’ D and Bielema will outcoach OldPa this week.
