We interrupt puff pieces, minor injury reports, good news in recruiting, overall optimism for the season, free floating offensive line angst, and all other things that have been in the blog for breaking news.
The offense sucked in the second and final scrimmage of training camp.
It wasn’t quite so enjoyable Wednesday afternoon when the Pitt offense struggled mightily against the Panther defense in the final training camp scrimmage. While offensive stars Dion Lewis and Jon Baldwin took part in only about 10 plays, there were turnovers, dropped balls, penalties and an overall lack of execution.
“I think there is disappointment,” Cignetti said. “I saw things out there today that could lose football games.”
During the two-hour scrimmage, Pitt rushed for 64 yards on 54 carries as a team. The quarterbacks completed 12 of 37 pass attempts for 90 yards and one interception. The only touchdown was a 34-yard pass from backup quarterback Pat Bostick to senior wide receiver Greg Cross on an underthrown ball that Cross adjusted to catch.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” coach Dave Wannstedt said. “It’s obvious that we’ve got some strengths, but we also have some areas of much-needed improvement.”
Sunseri was 6-17 for 36 yards and just didn’t look good (not that Bostick looked very good either). The sad thing, the defense was a bit sloppy in the area of turnovers, so it could have been worse.
If there was one thing that the defense didn’t do well it was capitalize on the offense’s inefficiency by forcing turnovers. The defense had plenty of opportunities to make plays as the quarterbacks threw a number of balls that hit defenders in the hands, but Brandon Ifill was the only one who came down with an interception.
Pitt defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said that is not an acceptable ratio.
It almost reads like a redux of the spring game only without the cold weather (note to self: delete that atrocity from the DVR).
“Oh my God, hit us in the head, hit us in the hands,” Bennett said. “A lot of it was quick game and that ball is ricocheted and I think we got four turnovers but we had a chance to get 10. In games, that is your difference makers, if you get turnovers, you win.”
Of course there is the excuse that Pitt’s offense was not playing with its best players out there or very limited (Dion Lewis, Jon Baldwin, Ray Graham) and in a different look.
Pitt usually operates best out of two backs — fullback Henry Hynoski and tailback Dion Lewis — a tight end and two receivers but Wednesday in the scrimmage, the Panthers were in one-back with three receivers almost exclusively and the results were pretty unsuccessful.
“There is definitely disappointment,” Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti said about the offense’s performance. “I saw things out there today that can lose football games, I saw inefficiency in the run game, I saw inefficiency in the pass protection, I saw inefficiency in the passing game, I saw turnovers, penalties, dropped balls — all the things we talk about in terms of playing smart and minimizing mistakes, those mistakes all showed up today.
“Now, from a schematic standpoint, we played it a little bit different. What we wanted to find out today is could we go out there in a one-back set with three receivers and could we run the ball and could we pass the ball. And the answer to that question today is, we weren’t very effective. We did not play well enough to help our team win today.”
But it wasn’t like the defense was playing a loaded deck.
Defensive end Greg Romeus (back spasms) sat out yesterday. Fellow all-Big East defensive end Jabaal Sheard was limited to 10 plays and sophomore middle linebacker Dan Mason sat out after being banged up mid-scrimmage.
Look, when Coach Wannstedt is hailing the kickers in his opening statements after scrimmage, I can’t help but worry.
“I thought the effort was good today, the kids were competing. There were a lot of good things out there. I’ve been very pleased with our kickers. Dan Hutchins and Kevin Harper have done very well in the scrimmages. Defensively, the only plays we gave up today were on two blitzes. Our base defense, fronts, coverages, I thought were very, very solid today. Jabaal Sheard only played 10 plays, and Greg Romeus didn’t participate, so some other guys stepped in and rose to the occasion.
“Offensively, we have to get in sync a little bit. We aren’t consistent enough right now. It’s a dropped pass, then it’s 2nd-and-10. It’s turn somebody loose for a sack and it’s 2nd-and-10 or get hit at the line of scrimmage and it’s 2nd-and-10. Those negative plays are very difficult to overcome. We have the guys there that are willing to work. The offensive coaches know what we have to get done. We have to improve as a team.”
The odd thing in the coverage is that the offense was so completely bad, that no one area seems to have stood out.
But the offense was undeniably bad. You name it — dropped balls, underthrown passes, offensive line breakdowns, bad snaps, fumbles and interceptions – and the offense was the culprit. Granted, they are playing against a formidable defense – even without Greg Romeus and a limited Jabaal Sheard (coach’s decision) — but there was no excuse for the overall poor play of the offense.
“This film is going to be interesting to watch here in a couple minutes,” offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti said moments after the debacle.
Two weeks to Utah.
1) Your offensive line is clearly a weakness, and
2) You’re starting a new QB,
is just plain dumb.
They need Hyno, both for picking up rushers during passing plays and opening up holes for running plays. Cignetti ignores him at his own peril. It really worries me they ran an entire scrimage with a one back set. I hope they go back to the drawing board rather than try to force this.
This game could be similar to the low scoring Bowl Game against N.Carolina, with Dion getting 30+ carries and a couple long heaves to Baldwin and/or Shanahan.
Maybe they should have an Option offense package with Gonzalez at QB and Dion, Graham & Hyno in the bone. Or something similar to GT’s option.
GT, Navy & Air Force’s option offenses give other teams fits trying to prepare for it. And Wanny loves to run the ball anyway, so it’s food for thought.
Pitt better be able to score!
If they come out and lay a major egg vs Utah, then we have problems.
Keep up the enthusiasm for greatness!
Hail to PITT!
12 for 37 for 90 yards? Please, even in the worst of times during a scrimmage we should expect at least a 50% completion rate. This isn’t the first week of camp – these kids have practiced together a lot and this was a second scrimmage… not a good showing by any means.
Sorry, but I think you dumb this passing game down to bare bones until we see it have some measure of success. The last thing we need in a 32% completion rate and numerous turnovers against Utah. Our running game can carry the weight and our defense will have to hold…
We’ve got numerous and consistent problems on the offense. Sunseri’s totals in both scrimmages, the only two scrimmages of camp mind you, are as follows:
1st scrimmage: 5/11 for 61 yards and 0 TDs
2nd scrimmage: 6/17 for 36 yards and 0 TDs
So, at 11/28 (39%) for 97 yards and 0 TDs I’ll worry, thank you… especially since the coaching staff still hasn’t seen fit to give the experienced back up QB one snap with the first string – none. This is production against competition mind you and against a defense, while good, is still running at camp speed without the intent to kill as he’ll see against Utah.
And, regardless of Paul Zeise’s snickers of last week, the defensive line is practicing their blocked shots drill against Sunseri on a regular basis. Each practice he’s getting numerous passes knocked down either in the backfield or at the LOS… three or four in the last scrimmage alone. It is a problem that won’t magically rectify itself in two weeks.
Sorry, but I have to scratch my head when I see the staff use the main scrimmage of the camp to roll out a ‘new’ offense when the old “Power I” one was still woefully under-productive in camp so far… my first thought was that there was some desperation going on behind the scenes. Like somehow putting more WRs on the field at the same time would rectify our passing woes – which, if true, didn’t work. All it seemed to do was confuse the principals more.
I hope I’m wrong.
I’ve been posting about the PITT program since DW was hired, am usually very optimistic but have to say that I feel more trepidation going into this season than I have in six years…
Let’s face it—the passing game will be treading water for half the season, and Wanny is (predictably) counting on his backfield to carry the load. Get used to run, run, run, screen pass, flat pass.
I just hope Bennett has his thinking cap on. We’re going to need to D it up for Utah and Miami.
More trepidation because we have more on the line. Finally! Let’s hope we don’t lay an egg and have another Pitt moment of what could have been. I’m still not worried (too much, cross my fingers, stroke the rabbit foot, etc.) about trying new things, Sunseri’s mediocre numbers, etc. Remember where we were last year with Stull and look what happened under Cig’s lead. I am expecting (get out that rabbit foot again…) some of the same with Sunseri.
Hail to Pitt!
