So Pitt piled up 393 yards yards of offense and held BGSU to 254 and lost. That gives Wannstedt the excuse that the turnovers were what did Pitt in. That’s a load of crap.
142 of Pitt’s total yards were in the 1st quarter. Pitt had 0 turnovers. They failed to capitalize on a BGSU turnover inside the BGSU 40 — 3 yards and a punt from the 34. Pitt also punted from the BGSU 35 when a drive stalled out.
Pitt finished a drive started just before the end of the 1st quarter with a TD. That was an additional 36 yards. So Pitt had 178 of their 393 total yards on offense in the first 19 minutes of the game and had 14 points to show for it.
As for the Pitt defense that held the “high powered” Falcons to only 254 yards. Of course the Falcons were lacking their starting tailback, who was suspended for the game, but that’s just quibbling. The numbers, though are skewed by a strong 1st quarter by the defense where BGSU was held to only 6 yards. That means BG had 248 yards the next 3 quarters to Pitt’s 251.
Pitt’s offense simply struggled against a less than solid BGSU defense. Delude yourself any way you want, but Pitt’s offense never was proactive. The playcalling was predictable and poorly executed. It panicked, but it sure wasn’t able to dictate anything.
In the second quarter, Pitt had it’s first turnover. At the BG 48. BG went 52 yards and scored to tie the game. BGSU had 125 yards of offense that quarter on just two drives.
Pitt had dominated time of possession nearly 2-1 in the first half (19:51 to 10:09). They had a yardage advantage of 234 to 131. Turnovers were equal. The score, however, was only 17-14 Pitt.
Here’s something that stood out in the 2nd quarter and continued into the 3d quarter. The Pitt defense let BGSU go 7-11 on 3d downs and 1-1 on 4th downs. Any shock that BGSU scored 20 points in those two quarters? The Pitt defense just could not get off the field.
As someone who cheered when Rhoads left, and argued that yards alone don’t tell the whole story, this game was more of the same. New DC Phil Bennett has preached the need to create turnovers. Pitt’s defense had at least two balls bounce out of their arms. BGSU actually put the ball on the turf two additional times but recovered their own mistakes. So, yeah, there are plenty of problems still on the defense.
I said before this season started that the time for excuses was done. That there could no longer be the inexcusable losses. You know what, it seems even the beat writers feel that way.
Enough with the excuses.
Pitt got outcoached and outplayed by Bowling Green Saturday. It’s that simple. Point the finger at who you will, whether it’s the coaches or the players, but it doesn’t change the final score:
Bowling Green 27, Pitt 17.
I can pinpoint pivotal plays in the game, which I’ll get to later, but this game was an obvious sign that Dave Wannstedt’s football philosophies aren’t in tune with the college game. With all due respect to Bowling Green, the Panthers were outmaneuvered by an inferior opponent.
The excuses from last year don’t even apply when Pitt’s experience was supposed to be one of the reasons they would be better.
It was the kind of offensive output that plagued the Panthers last season — but last season they had to play two freshmen quarterbacks.
That wasn’t the case Saturday, yet the offensive game plan was every bit as conservative as many last year, lacked imagination and, most importantly, failed to put any pressure on the Falcons’ defense.
For instance, the most explosive receiver in Pitt training camp was freshman Jonathan Baldwin, and he showed that again Saturday when he blew past the Falcons’ defense on a deep pass.
But Baldwin played sparingly and had only one other ball thrown his way.
Then there was Greg Cross, the athletic junior-college quarterback who was recruited to pump some life into the offense and be a change-of-pace player. He had a package of plays drawn up for him and is an exciting player and was expected to contribute.
Cross, and his spread-formation package, stayed on the sideline the entire game.
And McCoy, who clearly wasn’t on his game, rushed 23 times for 71 yards and also had a critical fumble. McCoy was replaced early in the game by LaRod Stephens-Howling, who is quicker, and Stephens-Howling produced 71 yards on only seven carries — but he only had one carry after the half.
But beyond the players, Panthers offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh didn’t have a great day either, as the offense was too predictable and didn’t take many shots down the field. That’s especially questionable play-calling considering Bowling Green coach Gregg Brandon admitted they basically were daring the Panthers to throw the ball over the defense the entire game.
What does that say when beat writers who depend on access to do the stories seem willing to suggest there is some real frustration about Coach Wannstedt after only one game?
After calling Wannstedt “our coach” at Big East media day July 29, Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson was silent Sunday. Pederson didn’t return phone calls seeking comment a day after No. 25 Pitt lost to Bowling Green, 27-17, at Heinz Field.
Wannstedt also is in danger of losing support from his players.
Whether it was a sign of disappointment or dissension, only LeSean McCoy knows. But the Pitt star sophomore tailback placed his displeasure with the way the Panthers ended the first half squarely on Wannstedt.
“We stick with our coach,” McCoy said when asked about Wannstedt’s decision to let about eight seconds tick away before calling a timeout to kick a field goal for a 17-14 halftime lead. “Whatever our coach calls, we try to execute. It would have been nice for us to get a touchdown, but we followed our leader, you know?”
What remains to be seen is whether the Panthers will continue to follow Wannstedt. The coach now returns to the hot seat after being rewarded with a three-year contract extension through 2012 last Dec. 1, hours before the Panthers stunned then-No. 2 West Virginia, 13-9.
There’s a bit of the conventional wisdom from Gorman that Pederson would be proactive on coaching changes, but I already made that counterpoint. And sure enough, Pederson is giving the always valuable “vote of confidence” in Wannstedt.
After previously saying Wannstedt had finally figured out the college game, it was back to basics.
Twice, the Panthers were inside the Falcons 35 facing a fourth down, and, on both occasions, Wannstedt chose to punt instead of go for it.
Then, the Panthers drove to the Falcons’ 20 with 37 seconds to play in the first half — and played for a field goal despite having two timeouts left (they used one to stop the clock after getting the first down).
Pitt then threw a short pass on first down, ran up the middle (setting up the field goal) for 1-yard on second and allowed 27 seconds to tick off the clock before Wannstedt called the final timeout and sent out Conor Lee to kick a field goal on third down as time expired, giving the Panthers a 17-14 lead.
Wannstedt explained that the play calling before the half was necessitated by the fact that he didn’t want the Panthers to make a mistake — throw an interception, take a sack, fumble the ball — and squander the opportunity for three points.
And, as for why he didn’t go for it at least once on fourth down, Wannstedt basically reverted to his time in the NFL and brought up the field-position game.
Even if Pitt goes 7-5, it won’t cut it this year for the fans. It means there was at least one more season with an inexcusable loss. The knock on Walt Harris as head coach was that he only beat the teams he should — and only rarely pulled the big win. Wannstedt, with one exception, has struggled with winning the ones he should.
