Pitt is 3-4 with five games left. Somehow, there is actually thought that Pitt could make a bowl game. Personally, I think the chances still aren’t good, but amazingly there is still a chance.
Good news, during the Dave Wannstedt press conference ahead of the Louisville game, there was no mention of what he did when he was an assistant at Miami or anywhere else.
On moving past the Cincinnati win and focusing on Louisville:
I think we have enough veteran guys and enough coaches (to keep the team focused), and that’s my job to make sure that everybody understands. We have to set the tempo in practice, which we will. I think we have good seniors that have already turned the page. These young kids, I don’t know if it’s confidence and winning and all that stuff as much as it is an opportunity to play. Every one of them (young players) to a man, they’re just so excited about playing so I don’t think that the win will affect them as much as another opportunity to play.
All you have to do is put in the tape on them (Louisville) and these guys, the last two years, we couldn’t slow them down. We did not really slow them down. Games were close for awhile, but in the end we couldn’t hold up physically, we couldn’t hold up on the scoreboard. Defensively, we don’t have many true freshmen that are going to be involved in the action; everyone else has been a part of this thing for the past few years. They’re (Louisville) balanced, they hurt us with the run as much as the pass in years past. The statistics and the names that they have, they have two or three first-round draft picks supposedly on their offense. A couple that we know for sure, so our players know that. They know what kind of talent they (Louisville) have.
The balance isn’t really there with Louisville right now. The Cardinals seem to be struggling with finding a good running game with consistency. Anthony Allen has looked good at times and at other times he has been lost. Stripling and Bolen haven’t been the answer. The Cards have run the ball 281 times (including Brohm’s sacks and scrambles) and thrown 344 so far this season.
The Cards were robbed in the game with UConn when the Big East officials blew the fair catch call that was then advanced for a TD, to the point where the Big East apologized for the officiating. The officials got fooled by a kid who knew exactly what he was doing.
“Fair catch?” Taylor said. “That wasn’t no fair catch out there. That was fair play. The referee didn’t call anything. But I didn’t call for a fair catch anyway.”
It took me a couple of listens to my audio tape of Taylor to finally figure this out, but it’s a pretty interesting quote. Taylor said the referee said something to him just before the punt.
“He said to make sure I get my hand up high so he could see it,” Taylor said.
A reporter followed that up with this “Why did you put your hand up?”
Taylor said, “I didn’t really put my hand up. I was playing a mind game with the defender. I don’t feel I got away with anything. The referee never blew the whistle.”
I asked Taylor if the reason he ran because he never heard a whistle.
“Once I caught the ball, I just ran.”
By rule, a fair catch is signaled when a player raises one arm above his head and waves it from side to side more than once. You can nitpick and say Taylor never waved his arm, he just stuck it up there. If that’s the case, then by rule the ball never should have been advanced. An invalid fair catch, in this case a player who raises an arm but pulls it back before a wave, can not be advanced more than two steps, according to the NCAA football rulebook.
He’ll never get away with it again, but it gave UConn the score they needed. And it really was the difference in the game last week. I only bring this up, now, because by all rights Louisville should be ticked at this and a loss. Pitt comes in to face them after all of that.
Both articles from the beat reporters focused on Wannstedt talking about QB Brian Brohm.
“I am a big Brian Brohm fan,” Wannstedt said yesterday at his weekly news conference. “I thought if he’d have come out last year, he might have been the best quarterback in the NFL draft. Though they’ve been inconsistent as a team, it hasn’t been because of him.”
Well, in the UConn loss, he was actually a bit inconsistent. Perhaps it was weather related — raining — but he wasn’t as precise in that game. That, however, was the exception.
Coach Wannstedt is definitely not promising that Pitt will blitz. Only that he will look to have the defense mix things up.
“I think you’ve got to mix it up on him,” Wannstedt said. “You go down there and try to blitz this guy, he’ll kill you. He’ll tear it up. But, at the same token, you have to be willing to pressure him enough to make him understand that he’s not going to have time to sit in there and hold the football.”
I’m just hoping this is a bit of misdirection from Wannstedt in the media.
“It’s easy to look at them and say, ‘First-round draft pick quarterback, Heisman Trophy candidate, 400 yards passing. You better rush the passer every play,'” Wannstedt said. “You can’t do that. You have to be able to stop the run.
“If you look back on our two games, down there two years ago, it wasn’t the passer. They ran the ball for 200-some yards against us. That’s what killed us. Last year, when they needed to make some plays, sure, Brian is going to make his share. But if you can make them one-dimensional, it creates a whole different scenario.”
Actually, as I mentioned, the Louisville run is not a major issue right now. It is to set up the pass. Two years ago, they had Michael Bush running wild. Last year they had 31 rushes for 162 yards — with no RB carrying more than 9 times. It was Brohm carving Pitt up for 337 yards and 4 TD passes. They will run a little, but it is about the passing game.
I think Pitt will blitz some in the game. If for no other reason, the players really responded to it and if Wannstedt is serious about wanting the speed on defense he has to let them loose a bit more.
Q: After the success versus Cincinnati, do you feel as though the coaching staff will continue to let the defense play more aggressively?
Zeise: One would hope, but each game is different. And you are right — it was much more interesting to watch, which is why I enjoy watching Rutgers. I’m not sure Greg Schiano ever met a blitz package he doesn’t like and they just get after it on every play. Also, if you talk to Pitt’s players, they enjoyed playing that way and they believe that by being more aggressive, they were able to force the turnovers and play faster.
The difference for Louisville this year, is that their defense has been a major letdown. Well, that’s being kind after the Syracuse embarrassment. It has looked better based on the points scored in recent weeks, but it still has big let downs. In the UConn loss, they allowed UConn to take the lead in the 4th quarter — 10 points in the final 11 minutes.
The Louisville players may have had their dreams of a national championship and likely the Big East BCS Bid, but they are still talking strong.
“We don’t ever count ourselves out,” U of L safety Bobby Buchanan said yesterday. “We’re going to keep fighting through adversity and work harder. This race isn’t over. The Big East is still a wide-open gap for anybody to win. Of course, we can’t afford another loss.”
U of L’s quest starts with Pittsburgh (3-4, 1-1) on Saturday in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium. Since building a 20-game home winning streak before the Syracuse debacle, the Cards have dropped two straight at home.
“We owe our fans a win at home,” Buchanan said. “It’s time to start the winning streak at home all over again.”
Here are game notes for Pitt and Louisville (PDF).
