I very rarely, if ever, trash a player on the internet or in conversation. I think because these kids are working hard and trying the best they can they deserve respect for their efforts. So I’ll say, respectfully, that Tino Sunseri must be taught a lesson. It has to be clear, unmistakable and administered with no hesitation. If you cause your team to lose a football game you should expect to be replaced. If you are any kind of team player and sportsman you’ll also realize exactly why it’s happening.
We had three turnovers today; each one was avoidable and directly caused by Sunseri. It’s not enough to have one good play a quarter; it’s not enough to have a great completion percentage and it’s not enough, obviously, to lead your team to a big lead. Not when you also lead your team to five three and outs… three in the second half alone. Along with his turnovers, his inability to keep the offense on the field and extend time consuming drives killed us.
I won’t say the defense played well, they sure didn’t. But you could see they were gassed by having to return to the field so soon after Iowa’s long drives in the third and fourth quarters. They played damn well in the first half when they had a chance to get their butts on the bench for a while and then get their feet back under them when playing. I’ll say this without hesitation, a major reason they played so poorly is, again, the direct result of poor play by the QB.
Enough is enough. What should have been a solid win for us imploded before our eyes and our hearts. Iowa’s passing defense was there for the taking and we really didn’t capitalize on it when it was necessary to do so. Sunseri again looked hesitant, held the ball way too long and either shortarmed wide open receivers or, because he couldn’t decide just how to blow the deep pass, either overthrew or under threw his deep receivers.
He remained telegraphing his throws yet again and on both interceptions the defensive backs had ample time to position themselves, order a beer and drink half of it before grabbing the football. Forget about the infuriating habit of throwing a two yard pass when you need five yards for a 1st down, to do differently is just too much to ask of him it seems.
I advocated starting Sunseri this weekend to see how he responded against better competition. Well, we all saw it. His stats may mitigate criticism from some fans but one has to be purposely refusing to see the nose in front of one’s face to feel Sunseri pulled his weight in any way. Yes, he completed 70 percent of his passes; yes, he rolled up 255 in passing yardage but where were the successes when it matter the most?… Nowhere, that’s where.
So what do you do when dead weight drags you down? You cut it loose and replace it with something that reverses the downward momentum. In this case that is Trey Anderson. There is most probably no way that he plays with any worse results than Sunseri has shown to this point. Hold back on the ‘inexperienced true freshman’ argument please. Sunseri’s experience hasn’t helped him one bit this season. Buckle up and make the change. It truly can’t get any worse than it is right now.
But this raises another and more damaging fear. That is Todd Graham’s unwillingness to take risks with this football team. When Iowa was storming back in the second half Graham still played it close to the vest – even when every college football fan knew that we would have to outscore them in the final minutes of play to win the game. Relying on our defense at that point was a lost cause. I understand those are hard calls to make, I honestly do, but it appeared that being aggressive in play was the ultimate in false advertising this season.
Coach, we’ve heard you say “One, Two Three, Go!’ a lot these last few weeks. How about taking a critical look at the results of our QB play over the last three games and say “One, two three, Go!” to the current starter.
You knew when we punted the ball back to them after failing to even pick up a 1rst down, when we were up 27-24 and they were charging hard, that we would not be able to stop them. Their QB had completed like 12 of 14 passes, (10 in a row at one point) and they were in the groove.
We did absolutely NADA in the 4rth Quarter(when the game was up for grabs) or the 2nd Quarter (when the 10-3 lead could have been stretched).
After last week and during the week we were led to believe we’d see some Trey packages for this game. Well….WHERE WERE THEY?
I’ve had enough of this blind insanity of continuing to play this QB . It’s the old coach’s son syndrome. Whether it’s your son or some other coach’s son, that appears to trump EVERYTHING ELSE. Unwritten bylaws of the coaching fraternity. There I said it.
Notice that the one really good play Sunseri had was when he hit Street in stride and allowed Street’s speed to score. That is what this offense is predicated on – getting the ball to your playmakers in stride so they can get YAC. And because he can’t throw over 20 yards to save his life the intermediate passing game becomes that much more important.
I’m afraid that this is mostly on Graham, not Tino. 3rd and five, and they throw into the end zone? 4th down, still in that ridiculous pooch punt formation for some reason, and they let him run a half-assed play which results in him throwing it out of bounds.
Don’t get me wrong, Tino needs replaced, but this coach of ours needs to learn that he is no longer in Tulsa playing against second tier schools.
Another visit to the renowned BBVA Compass Bowl or if we’re really lucky, the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl.
As I know Rev George will be checking in, I will keep my anger and angest clean.
I have not seen worse QB play at Pitt since Wayne Adams (and you youngsters can look it up). Tino cost us this game and it is simply beyond his talent level to change. The moment is much too big for him!
I am just sick at this loss…and as I said earlier, I will be behind the Pitt bench for the ND Game on the 25…if I see Tino going in, I will be the one arrested for hiding his helmet.
Yes the secondary was porous and I am beginning to understand why WVU and Michigan ran our coordinator out of the program…but they were just gassed. One last thing…sometimes you try so hard to disguise the secondary coverage that you fool yourself! Just f’in cover somebody! Please
It is going to be a long year if we have to watch many more displays like today, on both sides of the ball. Where was the pass rush in the second half? Maybe the condition of the players is not as good as we were led to believe.
My only hope for today is that my other alma mater The “U” can beat OSU. We got more players back this week they they did so we are favored.
With that said, Coach Graham should have burned some clock. High Octane should work it’s magic and then kill some clock to destroy any hope of a comeback. There are no excuses that he can give for what happened today. Poor time management killed us. Sunseri played badly but the coaching was even worse.
My hope is that Coach learns from this and realizes that schools like Iowa take advantage of these situations. Teams like these are not being coached by 20 somethings who were coaching High School Football the year prior. Ferentz was dreaming of that win with 8 minutes to go because he knew what Pitt was going to do next.
This one is going to sting for a while. I suggest going to Youtube and checking out Trey Anderson. Heck, check out Jones as well. That was one sweet pass. We have options that’s for sure. 2 of them were active in our lineup today-Jones and Gonzales.
However, great point made above by oliviaPitt. TG HAS to replace Sunseri with anderson next week because if Sunseri runs out of the field to start the game the crowd is going to get real ugly. I know, I know, you cannot coach based upon how the crowd is reacting. But seriously, Sunseri’s “reception/greeting” when he steps on the field next week is going to be brutal. Although I think he should be replaced, I don’t think a college kid (yes, some of you will argue he is not a kid because of his age and experience) deserves that.
Everybody seems to forget that to lose a game that you are leading by more than two touchdowns, the defense needs to stink the place up. While Mr. Sunseri needs to shoulder some of this loss, there is no way our defense should have made the Iowa quarterback look like Tom Brady today.
As for Texas joining the ACC, that just completely ruined the only good news of the day.
1) 3rd & goal: Sunseri rush for a four yard loss; FG
2) 3rd & 3; Pass incomplete
4th & 3; Pass incomplete
3) 3rd & 13; Eight yard completion (when we needed 13!); Punt
4) 2nd & 6; Interception.
See what I mean? Graham couldn’t do anything playcalling wise to make Sunseri more successful. We were 4 for 15 in 3rd down conversions today… that is QB play almost exclusively. This is why I lay the blame for the loss on Sunseri’s shoulders. He just can’t rise to the occasion.
If we are going to make a change to Trey, make it now. Give Trey the full week with the first team.
As I said before, if they start Tino, I will be the one perp walked off the field in cuffs for stealing and destroying Tino’s helmet.
Let’s not forget, for almost 3 quarters, Pitt was the better team on both sides of the ball.
The 2 Million Dollar Man (Todd Graham) blew this one. His inability to understand that Tino Suneri is not the answer to this offense is unforgivable. He is negligent of his responsibilities and it has cost us a W.
Don’t give me all of that 70 percent completion crap when the majority are 6 yard catches in a 5 wideout set. Tino killed us with two key interceptions. The first on on Iowa’s 2 yard line in the first half which robbed us of at least 3 and probably 7 points. The second at the end of the game when he under throws a fly route with no safety coverage. It’s a TD for goodness sakes.
The 2 Million Dollar Man is playing politics with this football team and enough is enough. Stop all the bravado and make a decision on the QB.
Todd Graham and Tino Suneri are both one dimensional. Graham can only go with a spread offense at high speed and can’t figure out how to manage the clock. Isn’t he the coach? Manage the clock! You are up by 21 with just over 15 minutes left. Tino can’t consistently complete the throw down field. He just doesnt have the tools. He will complete everything 10 yrds and under but that is dimensional!
Todd Graham is a gimick!
I have to absolve them of a portion of the blame due to that.
However, this piece of shit college roommate of the head coach which passes for amajor college defensive coordination got a big raise!!
This wasn’t Brian Kelly, Marty Gillyard and Tony Pike ..this was Curt Ferentz and Iowa! Yet, in the last 3 drives, the defensive line wasn’t near the QB nor were the DBs near the receivers.
One final thing, Reed … you know SURE AS SHIT that if this was last year, you would be blaming the coach and not the QB.
You can see that this offense is going to be a force once they get a qb who can hit a wide open receiver.
As absolutely frustrating and disappointing as today was, I think we saw a tremendous improvement in the offense and really caught a glimpse of things to come. The change needs to be made at QB for us to realize our potential.
I think I was pretty critical of Graham in my next to last paragraph though… especially when I wrote “but it appeared that being aggressive in play was the ultimate in false advertising this season.”
Football is a game of momentum. We had it for much of three quarters, which were pretty damn good. When we lost it, Graham did nothing to slow down old mo. He should know by now that this defense is weak against the all out passing game. We have learned this for three weeks if not three years. When the going gets tough we fold.
This is where I say Sunseri could have won it but does not, has not, and will not make the big play when it is needed most, at crunch time. How many times do you have to see it before you believe it?
To tell the truth, I think Tino played as well as he can and it can be good enough to win if the coach doesn’t ask him to do too much. It is obvious that Sunseri does not have the killer instinct to put a team away when needed, and he has never lead a scoring drive to win if memory serves. If we kept pounding them with Graham, he might have broke a big one, I think that is more likely than Tino completing a long one.
I say give Anderson a chance. At least unlike last year we may know if Sunseri is really the best we got.
But I do not agree that the 22 yr old QB who has never run a spread until 6 months ago should should all the blame.
If you think Anderson should be playing QB insetad … fine … but the fact he isn’t is CLEARLY the coaches’ fault and not Tino’s.
PittAtlanta – How can you say a downgrade from the BE in basketball? To a strong conference, look who is added – Pitt and SU. Arguably the powerhouses of the BE. Albeit, Louisville, CT and GT are left behind but good God…think about Duke, UNC, Pitt, Syracuse, UVA…I like that as well.
Go Pitt basketball!
tino got the lead, but the pressure gets to him and he cant handle it. end of story.
Pat Bostick is gone. Let it go.
TINO is not capable.
I posted not long ago the breakdown of Sunseri’s 2010 year and the reality of his play in 11 out of the 13 games. It was much like what we are seeing this season, maybe just a little better as the pro-set was better for him.
I also watched Sunseri run this offense in the spring and he had a great handle on it, and apparently did so in the summer camp also. The fact that there is such a great divide between his practice play and his gameday performances says a lot about his ability to work under pressure.
Perhaps you should go to radio broadcast school. It seemed to work out well for that other QB.
My comments:
to “wbb”: Sunseri’s problems are not related to running a spread offense. He has picked up the schemes very well. His problem is just pitching and catching. He just can’t hit open guys. He had this issue under the old system- I remember him missing wide open guys against Uconn last year and overthrowing tons of deep balls to Baldwin all year.
to “Tony C”: You know who calls a fade on 1st and goal at the 3?- an aggressive coach who wants to go win the game and knows he has a good 6’4′ wideout. You can’t blame Todd Graham for a fumbled snap on 3rd down. “Moronic” coaching is a true overstatement. We had some pretty good coaching.
People on this blog can’t have it both ways- do we want an aggressive coach who keeps trying to gain yardage in the 4th or a conservative coach who runs the ball in the 4th. It seemed to me that this whole blog was pretty much in agreement that we wanted an aggressive coach after the conservative years of Wanny.
Let’s all relax. Hopefully we’ll make a few personnell changes and we’ll have a pretty darn good team. Hail to Pitt!
I count just two 3rd down conversions by his passing for the whole game.
Check it out – it’s pretty pitiful.
We couldn’t rely on our running game as Graham was getting pretty much stuffed on the day. Take away his 24 yard run and he averaged 3.4 ypc… not good enough to solely rely on to extend drives.
We HAD to have the passing balance and it wasn’t there in the second half when it was critical.
we’ll have to disagree on this.
Agree with previous post that said we had the lead despite Tino. He simply hasn’t made routine throws and I have zero confidence in his ability to quarterback this team.
Sorry if you don’t think this criticism of Sunseri’s play is justified. As I stated in my opening sentence above I take great care not to be personally insulting to any of our players… but Sunseri’s poor play is open game.
The basic concept of the Spread Offense is YOU OUTSCORE YOUR OPPONENT. There is no ball control, nor clock management. In it’s optimum form (which won’t be realized with this QB) is pedal to the metal, all the time. Which is why TG went for it at the Iowa 38 on 4rth & 3. I liked that aggressiveness. THE PROBLEM WAS THINKING TINO COULD MAKE THAT PLAY, a long pass to Darrius Patton. I would think at this point of the season and AFTER watching all the game film of this year and last year, TG would know, the chances of Tino completing a pass, in the air over 20 yards is extremely minimal. Like in the below 10% range.
Again, to review, there is no ball control in this type of offense and their is no clock management in terms of running clock. You’re supposed to win these games 38-31 or given the opportunities, 45-31.
On a positive note, our placekicker was two for two, 2/2 on FG’s today. Quite an improvement.
We won’t (well maybe against some of the BigEast dregs) score 50 points a game as long as the current QB is the QB.
It’s that frickin simple.
Ever seen Tino throw over 50 yards for the Endzone?
And I don’t want to either. It’s like a wounded Quail.
He may be the most experienced and know the offense the best, but he is not going to improve that much more.
Comment by Z-boy 09.17.11 @ 6:00 pm
Just catching up on some of these comments. Sorry fellows I had to make a run to the liquor store, you know.
Disagree with ya Z-boy….while i do agree that Sunseri has hit ‘his ceiling’, he’s not the most experienced running this offense. Trey Anderson has been running this offense since 8th grade and led his 5A Texas High school to the Texas state championship last year. And he ran it very smoothly last week when he played.
I do agree very much with your 2nd point however, that being Sunseri is not going to improve, however I disagree with the much more, it’s anymore. lol
I do think it is time to have Trey. We need a dual threat.
As for the conference shake-up, I hope the Big East takes Texas in all sports except football. They enjoy being pushed around by schools of such ilk a la Notre Dame.
Not many young men get to start at QB for a D1 school. Their is nothing to feel bad about, he’s going to taken care of when his playing days are over. Rest assured. The rest of us coming out of college weren’t really sure what our futures held.
To an extent, you’ve simply gotta outscore your opponents with this kind of offense…not happening with our current qb. However, I do agree with you that it would be great to hand the ball off to Graham more with a big lead like that. I think the one problem is that Iowa can stack the box and just stuff the run in that case because there is no real threat of Sunseri making you pay for it by connecting on a deep route.
But only Todd Graham makes $2mil/yr. He knew who Tino was too, yet Tino was constantly placed in positions to fail. The game management was inexcusable today. I am not suggesting that Pitt call all running plays when up three scores, but they should have run more than they did and definitely should have used the play clock to help wind down the game clock. Snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock is inexcusable, and to modify a famous line for Coach Graham – “GJ Kinne isn’t walking through that door!” The quarterback that Graham had today could not succeed in holding a lead in Graham’s system for the same old reasons – he makes poor decisions, takes too long to make decisions, and doesn’t make accurate throws. So rather than setting his player up to fail, Graham should have IN THIS SPECIFIC SITUATION made an adjustment and try to run the clock down better. If he has a philosophy that he will never try to run clock, then his philosophy suffers from an inherent and significant flaw.
Sequeing to the defense, our failure to use more clock on offense, also contributed to our defenders being completely gassed. But there is a deeper problem with the defense, and it isn’t just players. You can’t tell me that Phil Bennett or Paul Rhoads wouldn’t have done a much better job of holding that lead today. Maybe the players aren’t confused by the system because it is new, maybe they are confused because it is confusing. Nobody on this well-paid defensive staff has a background that justifies my unquestioned respect and loyalty. The defensive coaches need to prove that they can coach.
I am not giving up on this staff, this team, or this season, but the coaches must take the lion’s share of the blame for this game and they need to make steps to make sure that losses like this don’t happen again. Lineup changes are only a small part. An analogy can be made with the Romo situation from last week. He got all of the blame for the loss b/c he has been to pro bowls and carried the team on his back for 3 quarters. He is talented and expected to perform, then he he did a 180 nosedive. In contrast, Todd Graham should take a lot of blame for this loss because Tino Sunseri is a very limited player who played poorly for three quarters. All he did in the fourth quarter was play like he always has.
I would say that I should start rooting for my other alma mater, but they can’t beat WVU either.
Well, I’ve calmed down. Allthough, not as upset as I thought I would be earlier, still peeved.
Pitt looked like a real college team for 3 quarters. Yes, I know, it was a HUGE 4th quarter.
I guess I should state, I never thought we were going 12-0, so start from there if you’d like to rip me.
Chas, no wonder you’re the blogger, spot on, people can spin this anyway they want.
If the qb hits some of the passes, doesn’t fumble the snap, and doesn’t cave in when the slightest pressure, Pitt well could have been up 35-3.
If he hits some passes, they are able to run out the clock.
If he hits the last pass, probably win. Yes, they could have come right down the field with a minute left, but, it would’ve been getting tight. When I saw Street open, then the ball coming, then the ball coming short, right to the cornerback, I was aghast, I could not believe he did it again!!!
I was earlier bitchin’ about clock management. Still might need to look at that, but, right again chas, five 3 and outs???? I didn’t realize that. Can’t have it.
Could have run the clock out easily, or taken a lot more time off the clock.
If the situation arises again, even if he keeps his offense totally the same, tell the qb to not snap until a second or two left????
But, in the end, one position could have made such a difference, in so many ways.
I still look forward to the rest of the season.
CONFERENCE:
No brainer. Big East and ACC have battled for top dog in hoops the last 10 years, with the Big East kind of nudging ahead a bit the past two years in the national eyes. We were behind earlier, evened out, the BE won the battles lately.
You now add Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC, tips the balance dramatically.
Who’s to say WVU and UCONN aren’t the next two to the ACC.
I feel there are so many upsides, it’s a slam dunk. (no pun intended)
Anyhow, in full openess, I have longed for the university to be in a conference, of liked minded big universities, that play most sports, that are stand alone institutions in themselves, and have a real conference feel to them.
I will wait to celebrate, until I see it in writing however.
Bottom line, soon there are going to be 4 power conferences. ACC, SEC, Big10, Pac12, then the rest.
If someone says we’re cementing you in as a player right now, you jump in that cement and let it set.
Providence has played bs games for so long, if it’s true, hats off to Nordy, and as critical as I’ve been to Steve, hats off to you.
We gave Harris 8 years, Wanny 6 years, Graham only gets 3 games. Come on.
Iowa was stopping RG in the 4rth quarter. We did try running it, as this is not a pass happy spread offense. I’m still thinking the casual observer doesn’t know that this offense is a Triple Option Spread. Ray Graham wasn’t leading the Nation in rushing after 2 games, in a pass happy spread offense.
In fact I think Zeise listed the total passing plays & total run plays over the first two games. It was very nearly a 50/50 split on running to passing plays. You can’t get ZERO points in 2 quarters. I don’t need to say it again, very inconsistent QB play. He can occasionally make a short pass, like to Street in the 1rst quarter where the kid runs 50 yards after the catch on pretty much blown coverage by Iowa or just a well designed play. You will get a play like that every so often in this offense.
If it happens, I’ll miss MSG and I’ll miss Big East basketball. It wasn’t just about having better teams than the ACC. The style of play is completely different. Pitt could see its guys foul out of a lot of ACC games.
BC did alright in the ACC, as did VT and their hoops program is not anywhere as good as ours. We’ll be fine if this thing pans out.
And in doing that it gets us better suited for the Big Dance.
Guess what, we go farther in the NCAA’s and into the Final Four!
Florida State President Eric Barron told The Associated Press on Saturday before the Seminoles played No. 1 Oklahoma that the ACC was excited about adding to its “northern tier.”
“Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who have applied, these are solid academic schools, and the ACC is a truly academic conference,” Barron said. “Certainly great basketball teams, a good history of football.
“I’m sure consideration will be very fast. I’ll be surprised if it’s not tomorrow
Chuck you are right on the money ! I was at the game and the turning point was in the 3rd quarter Pitt has a 3rd and 3 inside Iowa’s 40 yard line and the lead.
You either tell yourself you have 2 plays to make 3 yards or you go for broke on third down knowing that if you don’t make it you punt to try and pen Iowa in. What does TG do ? He goes deep which Tino hadn’t connected all day (which is fine) but didn’t punt giving Iowa great field position.
I’m tired of hearing about my system by TG, good coaches coach applying what material he has on hand to give his team a chance to win. TG only wants his offensive and defensive SYSTEMS and to hell with what he has to coach (square peg in round hole). Tino stinks but he didn’t lose this game TG did. I guess $2.0M doesn’t buy what it use to. Show me TG that you know how to coach in the interim until you can recruit players for your SYSTEM.
I attribute this loss to what I call Foge-itis. I have been a Pitt fan since the halcyon days of Tony Dorsett. Ever since Sherill left Pitt, the Panthers find a way to blow games they should have won. I am disappointed but not surprised, not surprised at all.
Tino Sunseri is not suited to play quarterback at this level, in any system, for any team. He would be a benchwarmer for Robert Morris.
This team will be lucky to win 2 more games. Thank god Paul Pasqualoni is back in the Big East. That will be one of them.
Tino is a avg QB in the Wannstedt offense. He is terrible in the Graham offense. There is nothing High Octane about his style.
Forget about the passing aspect of things, it’s the legs. He has none!! Some of those tuck and runs on the rollout were horrible.
That inability is going to be his cause for removal. The rest of the offense can not progress if the QB can not fit the system.
Problem is…. Although Trey was brought here to fit the offense..is he the pedigree of QB to unseat a Junior for one year for an incoming freshman or is he good enough to lead for four years.
As a matter of fact I look at this offense we have now and see the bones of what will be a very good offense soon. Maybe later this year if some changes are made, but certainly next season. Graham is recruiting the players that he wants and needs in this offense and we are seeing some of them produce now.
I have to be a bit patient with Graham as he is indeed working almost solely with DW’s players. That doesn’t mean I agree with his decision making sometimes but I’m by no means ready to throw in the towel on his hire… not by a long shot.
Honestly, I feel Voytik should be watching this development very closely because he’ll be the one chasing that starting position.
I’ve heard that Anderson is just that good… and Todd Dodge is very high on him – and he knows what QBs have to have to succeed in this offense..
Yeah you’re right- Tom Bradley would be a much better option because then we could not only lose to iowa, but maybe lose to teams like Temple. Bradley? cmon- Penn State is worse than Pitt this year.
to everyone who is going crazy about 2 million dollars: I remember most people on this blog complaining that Pitt needed to get it together and actually pay a coach. Well we did it and I’m glad. Then we lose one game and everyone goes crazy and turns on him. ONE GAME! sure i’m upset but it’s sports, this happens.
We couldn’t run out the clock with running the ball as many have called for bc keeping it on the ground wasn’t going to get us first downs today. We could shake Ray Graham loose today.
I do want to place Sunseri on the bench but I do see why Todd Graham had him play out the game today. He didn’t look terrible in the first half- although he wasn’t good- and it was enough to win (I’m thinking kind of like Rex Grossman and the Bears during their super bowl run). Then in the second half he had a few flashes before he went terrible. It looked like it was better to have Sunseri finish out the game and maybe get another few scores instead of placing a young freshman into a hostile environment. But I think it’s time for a change now and hopefully we’ll make that change.
I think it’s great Pitt beat WVU, Uconn & Rutgers to the punch. There are ONLY so many slots to be filled in a 16 team 4 MEGA conference setup.
This takes ALL doubt OUT of the equation.
While I will miss some of the BE basketball rivalries, it will be nice establishing new ones on Tobacco Road. And the south is full of Pitt alumni like me, as this part of the country is actually still growing.
And I’m sure if the Hoopies want to continue the Brawl, we can schedule it non-con just like Georgia-GT, UF-FSU, Utah-BYU, etc. It does not have to end at all. And it shouldn’t, we always need someone to look down upon (in a friendly kind of manner). haha
Like many of you have said..pitt looked great through three quarters. There’s no doubt if that offense is ran the right way..that it will work.
Tino just looks terrible. So many plays left all over the field today. And the d just looked exhausted in the fourth.
But. I did see a lot of encouraging thhings today. If anderson can come in aand even just run the offense decently..it will work. And pitt will be able to bury teams. Also juan price and aaron donald are monsters. I think the defense can be servicable if given enough rest..but they just stopped playing in the second half.
But all is not lost. The offense and defense will both make progress as the season goes on and there’s no reason to think pitt shouldn’t be very much in it for the be championship.
He had a good first half, we can’t take that away from him. But at the 10-3 halftime score, on the road against a B10 team, it wasn’t really enough of a lead to warrant a substitution coming out of the locker room.
At 4:25 in the 3rd quarter we had a 24-3 lead (still hard to think about that!) and I thought we’d see Anderson on the next series, but Iowa scored from 60 yards out in five plays – quickly enough to start hearing loud warning bells.
So, at 24-10 we were only two scores ahead with a full 15:00 to play. Not enough cushion really, not seeing how easily Iowa could score at that point. The rest of the final quarter was our downfall and as it shook out all we really needed was one more long drive with a TD to seal the game… in hindsight I get why Graham felt that our best shot for that was Sunseri in that situation – although I personally was screaming for Anderson at that point.
No, my concern isn’t so much about Anderson not playing yesterday as much as it’s needing to play Anderson next week, and I don’t mean for a ‘package’ or a series or two. My thought is to start anew at the QB spot. The rest of the offense did their job pretty well really, they’ll be able to function with a new QB. It’s just whether Graham has the moxie to make the move or not.
“But Sunseri also made critical blunders. His two interceptions were woefully underthrown and, after listening to Graham, probably not to the intended receivers. He also dropped a shotgun snap on a third-and-goal play from the Iowa 3 early in the fourth quarter, forcing Pitt to settle for a field goal and a 27-10 lead with 12:09 left. “We’re leaving a lot of plays out on the field,” Graham said.
That sounded an awful lot like an indictment of Sunseri, if you ask me. It’s also the same thing Graham said after Pitt’s less-than-impressive victories against Buffalo and Maine.”
Again Sunseri executed the wrong plays from that which are called. Look, by my count that’s at least 24 over three games and you can bet the mortgage there was more than just those two INTs that were misplayed by him yesterday. That’s probably why he looked so clueless holding onto the ball and running around like a chicken with his head cut off. If he can’t recognize where his receivers are supposed to be in those “One, two, three, Go!” called plays then of course the play breaks down.
That’s junior high stuff folks… it seems that he just can’t grasp this offense well enough to be consistent.
I have to think that the coaches knew, or anticipated that it may come to this and that’s why they empowered Coach Dodge to go out and bring in Trey, knowing that a smallish QB who plays the system is likely better than a well-sized (Tino still isn’t really that big a guy) who hasn’t played the system and may not pick it up. Well, Tino hasn’t picked it up. Time to trust your intuitions and throw Trey in to give us at least a chance to win some of these games.
walk ons…
Having said that Tino is a momentum killer. This O is predicated on relentless pressure on the opponent. You can’t have relentless pressure when the trigger-man 1) Pulls the trigger and misfires 2) Does not pull the trigger but runs around like a chicken with its head gone. 3)
Reed is correct. This o is predicated on scoring points. That being the case, Tino needs to ride the pine. We saw what he could do vs an average at best FBC school.
There is nothing worse for a fan than to have to support a player who is not and never will be ready for prime time. Yes a QB needs to have the physical skills but said skills are null/void if his brain cannot process the info in front of him. The end result is Tino.
I suggest you read slight less than one-third of the comments on each thread so that you too can be a member of the “33% Club” (named after Dorsett of course) on PITT Blather.
Great and thoughtful discussions everyone. The really good thing about this blog is that, for the most part, our commendatory is above board and focused into the subject at hand.
Even the severely critical comments are written for others to read and comment on.
Thanks….
I know, it was a fourth quarter meltdown by Pitt, really embarrassing, if you’re a Pitt fan. But you know what, other than for us Pitt fans, nobody else in the wider world of sports really gives a damn that Pitt shit the bed again yesterday in that game. Only us!
Pitt IS making the national headlines again though and everybody else in the college football world IS TAKING NOTICE of the real news,,,,,,,, Pitt and Syracuse going to the ACC.
I’m happy that Pitt has moved proactively but I’m not proud of how this came about. Yesterday, Nordy and Slippery Steve very effectively killed any chance of the Big East surviving this conference realignment process by their actions. Good for Pitt, bad for a lot of other schools.
I feel the worst for TCU, “welcome to the Big East, please turn the lights out when you’re done, the rest of us will already be gone”! Sorry, Jamie Dixon, awkward!
Well, at least we’re back in the national limelight for awhile.
Back to the game analysis. Yes, I fully agree with everybody who are blaming Coach Graham for this loss.
Yes, I fully agree with everybody who are blaming Tino Sunseri for this loss.
Yes, I fully agree with everybody who are blaming Pitt’s defense for this loss.
I Guess there is just plenty of blame to go around.
Here is my spin on yesterday’s 4th quarter debacle. N…E…X…T!!! As in NEXT!!!
IMO, Coach Graham lost this game. Why? By his decision NOT to start Trey Anderson at QB. If he had done that all of the other questionable game day coaching decision issues never even materialize for discussion because we would have won this game by at least 4 touchdowns going away.
IMO, Tino Sunseri lost this game. Why? Because he is just not talented enough to pull it off. Sorry Tino, you gave it your best shot, you’re just not the guy to run this offense.
IMO the defense lost this game (specifically the secondary). Why? Because they were on the field too long, got gassed and couldn’t finish. It helped that the Iowa QB put his passes on the money with touch during the 4th quarter comeback but it is still on them to defend.
Simple answer to all of the above, NEXT! As in next quaterback.
Give all of the practice reps to Trey Anderson this week Coach, correct your mistake. Start Anderson next week against ND.
When that happens this team goes through a metamorphosis.
This team has the weapons to be effective utilizing Graham’s system on offense. It only needs a QB who can stomp on the accelerator like it needs to be stomped on.
That guy is Trey Anderson. With him at the helm the entire complexion of the game changes for Pitt. The offense outscores the opponent and the pressure comes off of the defense. The confidence level goes through the roof on both sides of the ball.
If Tray Anderson starts next week against ND, we win that game, no doubt in my mind. This kid is going to turn this team around if he will just be given the chance.
I see no alternative for Todd Graham at this point but to do so. Tino just can’t get it done. With the right QB in there yesterday all those dumb coaching decisions fade away becuse we’re scoring points out of our ass and never take our foot off of the throat of this Iowa team. End of story.
Trey Anderson is a very simple answer to many problems on this Pitt football team. Thanks for all of your hardwork Tino,,,,,NEXT!!!
I fully expect that the boos will rain down from the stands next week at the ND games if Sunseri trots out on the field for our 1st offensive series but those boos should not be directed at Tino, this guy has played his heart out, they should be reserved entirely for Coach Graham and his inability to make the “all in bet” required to back up his preseason “High Octane Offense” talk, which is quickly turning into bullshit if Graham doesn’t have the balls to back it up with his walk.
BE play hasn’t even started yet. Get Trey in there Coach, we’re all in for some real fun when you finally decide to pull that trigger.
As always, “HAIL TO PITT”!
It takes tremendous effort and talent by Ray Graham to turn garbage into chicken salad…I haven’t seen a guy make more people miss for a three yard gain since Barry Sanders. With our wide receiver talent the past two years, even a decent QB would have chucked many more tds than Tino.
Having said that, though, the QB played well enough to win this game big. The defense lost this game – and nearly the last two – pure and simple. I don’t know if the defensive scheme is bad, but I do know that we weren’t any good in the secondary or at LB last year, so I can’t understand why anyone is surprised that we aren’t any better there this year. It’s the same players. DW recruited great D-linemen, but he didn’t get much anywhere else recenty. Until we get some more talent behind the D-line, the offense is going to have to outscore the opponents to make up for it. Given the state of our pass defense, it’s almost unfair to expect any QB to be able to do that.
Graham just isn’t going to do that. I’ll bet a dollar on it. This is why you see the QB put the ball into the RBs belly on every play, the options are to pull it out and throw or pull it out and run. Graham will never run a straight spread here, his whole success in his career has been the triple option. We’ve also seen it work pretty well so far – it isn’t the system that’s failing – it’s Sunseri utter inconsistency in it.
That’s why we are continually calling for Trey Anderson, because we feel he’ll be better in this offense than Myers would – especially when it’s a very long shot that the HC will play Myers for any meaningful minutes at all.
Have you ever seen Myers play? He has a strong arm but really isn’t the most accurate passer. His strength is the deep pass but I watched him throw INTs on short and intermediate passes in practice that were just poor throws. He just isn’t the savior you seem to think he’d be.
Just remember that Pat Bostick was a five star and nationally ranked #6 QB… would you want him in this offense? There are a lot of similarities in Bostick’s and Myers’ play.
Tino tries hard and probably is a decent kid, but we need to accept he’s shown us all he has and move on to another guy. No shame, that’s just sports — and if Anderson or Myers can’t do it, hold your nose and wait for next year with Voytik.
“You can’t spell IntercepTION without T-I-N-O.”
Secondly:
It’s time for Tino to step up as a captain and tell coach Graham that “I want this team to win, so please put Trey in for me.”
And Lastly:
When you have a 3 TD lead, its time to run the play clock down to “1″ and snap the ball and hand it off to Ray Graham.
Thank you.
PS- Cam Saddler talks the BEST GAME on the team! He has shown me absolutely nothing for productivity every year he has been on this team. Thanks for nothing Cam!!! Let someone else start in the 3 WR set.
I really wish now that I did go to some of those fall practices because either Graham is way more risk averse than advertised or Anderson and Myers must truly have sucked during camp. What else can we deduce? How come we got someone like Pete Gonzalez in Walt Harris’ first year — who I think broke Pitt’s all time td record for a season after those Johnny Majors train wreck seasons — to do so well despite such limited recruiting success through most of the 1990s? How much better was Gonzalez, or even David Priestly, than Tino? How is that progress? We deserve better than this crap.
I made the Bostick reference in response to DRW’s continually pointing to Myers’ four stars and Anderson’s walk-on status. The idea being that sometimes the recruiting site rankings don’t mean much… especially when you have such specific criteria for the position in this particular offense.
Mobility isn’t enough in this option. The QB has to be at least a threat to keep the ball on the option and run.
By the way… everyone who’s clamoring for Myer’s “big arm” should remember just what was being yelled by PITT fans during Bill Stull’s 2008 season… everyone and their brother wanted Sunseri to take over because his arm was “so much stronger than Stull’s”. Of course, we came to understand that arm strength is actually less a prerequisite for successful QB play then many other factors are.
That is especially true in this offense. Sunseri isn’t missing on those pass plays because of a lack of arm strength – his is just fine.
We’ve seen he can fling strong passes on the out patterns and on the deep balls…sometimes. We just haven’t seen a high percentage of success in his doing it. It’s his decision making, especially holding the ball too long, his field awareness and his lack of ability to hit receivers in stride that hold him back.
That’s why his great completion percentage is so misleading. He is continually indecisive so he is settling for the short dump pass and missing other and better opportunities. That’s why he’s actually pretty good at passing on called roll out plays – he has one target in mind and thus his decision making is taken out of the equation for the most part.
