[EDITOR NOTE: Sorry about the site going down around halftime. The volume was overwhelming the hosting company’s shared server and took me offline until I could tweak some things. Hopefully it won’t happen again.]
Take your pick. O-line that is getting crushed. Quarterback that is terrified of getting hit many more times. Running backs not producing. Defense only showing up for one half of football (Aaron Donald, excepted). A huge breakdown on special teams. Backbreaking defensive surrender in a key 4th quarter moment.
This one had all the classics of the season in one game.
It’s not that anyone can say Pitt deserved to win. Yet, Georgia Tech has to be breathing a sigh of relief that they got away with so many missed chances, gave Pitt oppotunities, and still won. The Yellowjackets shot themselves in the foot repeatedly when they had chances to bury Pitt in the first half.
Pitt had chances with Georgia Tech leaving the door open. Pitt tripped going up the steps, smashed their face into the door frame, stumbled about and fell into the rose bush.
The one difference in this game was that the team came out horrid in the first half — on both sides of the ball — and played better in the second half.
In the first half the defense looked like a team facing the triple option for the first time. Not a team that played against the same offense a week earlier. The discipline was poor. The scheme was moronic.
Ur MLB shouldn't be lined up 7 yds deep, especially when the most important thing to do when stopping the triple option is to stop the dive
— Scott McKillop (@smckillop59) November 2, 2013
Apparently someone passed that tip along to DC Matt House, and along with Aaron Donald’s absolutely amazing performance, the defense was excellent in the second half. Forcing a fumble and forcing GT into three 3-and-outs in the second half. But for that ridiculous 42 yard reception, Pitt’s defense was looking to pitch a second-half shutout.
Worth more than aside, but Aaron Donald. Wow. 11 tackles. 6 tackles for loss. 2 forced fumbles. 1 sack. The superlatives don’t do him justice. This was a tremendous game, but his consistent excellence all season has been lost at times. Only 4 (I would love to say 5, but I just can’t at the moment) games left to see him in a Pitt uniform.
Unfortunately, the extent of the offensive adjustments was a brief moment that led to a score and then more of the same nothingness. The season long streak remains intact: Pitt has failed to outscore a team in the second half.
Look, we all know the O-line isn’t particularly good. Nor is it deep. The injuries forced Dorian Johnson into his first start — and it showed. I’m hesitant to say that it is getting worse. The reality is, teams have more tape on the O-line. They can easily see the same weakness and exploits. And the defenses are doing so.
They know that the offense is stronger when it can stretch the field with the deep ball. But rather than worry about dropping extra guys into coverage, they are bringing the pressure knowing the O-line won’t be able to hold them long enough for the ball to get downfield. To some extent, there isn’t a lot Pitt can do to counter that.
Still the offense. As much blame goes on the O-line, Tom Savage is starting to look more and more like Rutgers sophomore Tom Savage. Nervous. Unsure. Scared to take more hits. He’s struggling to keep looking downfield when he is looking at the pass rush.
Odd thing. Despite Pitt’s “commitment to run” Pitt only gave the ball to the running backs 14 times against GT. In the VT loss it was 15. Even in the Navy game, when Pitt RBs took the ball 31 times, Pitt only ran it 7 times in the second half. It really seems that OC Joe Rudolph and HC Paul Chryst are quick to abandon the run.
The questions and problems are mounting. The team is now 4-4 and no one can look at the last 4 games and be certain Pitt will win at least 2 more. Can they? Sure. Do they have it in them at this point? I don’t know.
In a few months we can look forward to getting bounced in the first round of the ncaa tourney by the Davidson Wildcats. cant wait!!
They didn’t come close. The very next play the GT running back waltzed into the endzone, untouched pretty much from over 20 yards away.
Had they held GT to a FG it’s still only a 1 score game at 17-10.
So when it counted they folded, just like last week against Navy. Not to the extreme of last week, but nonetheless they ….folded.
Excellent point Chas, since that was supposed to be their forte at Wisconsin.
So it’s beginning to look like Bob Bostad who was the Running Game Coordinator and the O-Line coach at Wisky was the most valuable one and of course we didn’t get him. We got the stiffs !
I don’t know if that’s good news that Pitt-GT wasn’t compelling enough to attract viewers but at least the audience was most likely not one which seeing our performance would change it’s perception of the University.
….after our grand offensive display of 1 yard of offense in the ENTIRE 1rst quarter.
Now mind you this after a week’s worth of game playing by these morons. A week’s worth of game planning resulted in…..1 total yard.
That says about it all !
need more coffee….
Good coaching can overcome average or even bad players.
Good players can never overcome average or bad coaching.
Pitt has average at best and bad at worst coaching.
I haven’t given up on PC but he has too many average or bad coaches for a first time HC
I also didn’t think Savage played that bad. When he has any time at all he completes his passes, and in the second half PITT moved the ball more. The running game is still nonexistent though.
other positives:
-Donald will be an All American
-Boyd has a big game for the first time in awhile
-They got the TE’s involved
-They are staying in games despite the OL being absolutely awful
The Coach em ups are having a hard time coaching up a 4 star recruit (Biz) and a 5 star recruit (DJ)
Can’t wait to see the results with the MAC 2 stars.
🙂
I think the ND game is a much better matchup for us
They went into the Navy game missing a couple DL players and two or three got hurt on top of that, while I think ND will move the ball on PITT fairly well, but If our OL blocks even at all, they can have some success on offense
Coach em downs …..lol
They have let us win in 1999 in the last game ever at Pitt stadium. lol just because
Cuse is better at the C-Dump and most likely they’ll play their best game of the season against us. (what else is new)
Still, as bad as we currently smell, with just a little luck going our way for a change and a few better efforts by our players on critical plays during the last two games, we actually could be 6-2 instead of 4-4 while trailing smoke and fire beginning a death spiral smack into the hard conclusion of our schedule. And that’s not the Koolaid talking.
Pitt usually has one game a season that, out of nowhere, we play a complete game on both sides of the ball and produce a win that has everybody scratching their heads wondering how the hell that just happened. Could it be our Prime Timer against the Domers this week? probably not, more likely we $hit the bed as usual on national TV, we seem to have that technique down pat but I’m showing up for this next game at least, even though I could have sold my season tickets on the 45 yard line for the price of half of my entire season ticket cost to some Irish jagoff follower for this one if I had the sense to do so.
Note to Vinopal: Look son, you have a 3 1/2″ vertical….next time just try to tip the pass away.
Comment by 66Goat 11.03.13 @ 2:21 pm
hahahahahahahahahahaha
Everyone got booted for being meanies to chryst & staff.
Although I submit…..has gotten worse (past tense)
Yes Juantez Hollins good question? Didn’t want to post that earlier, waiting for SOMEONE ELSE to bring that up.
Food for thought, as the O-line hasn’t progressed, isn’t progressed, actually regressed since Duke, as we’ve seen Duke’s defense isn’t bad, only giving up 7 points to Navy and 10 to Va. Tech. This leads you to ask:
what in the fook has happened to this unit since the Duke game. Ga Tech was avg’g 1 sack per game had 5 and pressured twice that.
Just what is going on ??????
Huebner was with the NFL Vikes for
becuse you see chryst is just a so so coach and even less than that once the game starts
foget the recruiting it is poor coaching which kills us.
Hueber and his wife Nancy have four children: sons Jeffrey, Jonathan and Joseph, and daughter Kristy. Joe Hueber is a football recruiting assistant with the Panthers, while Kristy works in the Pitt ticket office.
Even a so-so head coach calls for a review of the Vinopal interception against Navy. Since they were driving for a TD. That play was a game changing momentum swing type of play.
Can’t think on his feet. Maybe up in the box under no pressure, but not on his feet.
but if the AD had balls or cared which he does not hr could make him hire new asst and fire some old ones but he wont.
I’m afraid we’re going to have hit ‘rock bottom’ ala 1966-1969 and then again in 1970 before we have any chance of a major program shaking shakeup.
And for us long timers, that may be the best route, because continual 6-6 or 7-5 or 5-7 seasons aren’t going to cause that major shakeup to occur. Which is much needed.
Although it will be the next guy, like Majors 2 that will really suffer. (after the last Paul genius OC wrecked the program) (history is repeating itself, exactly 20 years later, truly amazing)
hell there were future NFL coachs on thoes staffs and some will be hall of fame coachs some day and put them next to are staff now and you will see why we will go no were now.
People want to all out players by name, but I rest my case on Duke. Your telling me Duke’s coaching staff has won these games with superior talent?
Teams are heading one of two directions at this point – either they are getting better or going backwards. We are going backwards. The offensive line is terrible and I lay a lot of it on what we are asking them to do.
A friend of mine at Tech says he knows exactly how we feel about defense. For years they have struggled with “bend but don’t break” and precise gap control crap. This year they have Ted Roof with arguably worse talent – they blitz, they move, they disguise coverage, they play more aggressively.
I do not blame Savage, if I had taken as many punches as Rocky Balboa I’d be gun shy too. But, couldn’t we throw Voytek in for a series or two and roll out, run a QB draw, maybe just pitch the ball on a sweep just for a change of pace?
This ends badly if PC does not upgrade the assistant coaching staff in the off season and also get with some other college coaches to do some things differently. We are so predictable it is boring. I think he should keep Rudolph and tell him he has the latitude to add some wrinkles. The rest of them I’d clean house on.
but if you are loud enough and keep trying you might get 2 or 3 new asst coachs.
but forget the dump chryst stuff he is here for at least 2 more years you can bet on it.
Chryst big chance.
For us it’s nothing that new, but I think I read that was the MOST points the Steelers have EVER given up or it was back in the 50’s.
Still can’t believe we won that game 58-55 against Duke. I think if we replayed that now, we’d get killed.
But, instead I’ll focus on the positive. Matt House has recieved his fair share of criticism, from me and everyone else. But the D has actually played pretty well recently. I forget which of the postgame write ups it was in, but in the last 5 games opposing teams are only averaging a shade over 18 points per game. Not too shabby. AD is obviously a big part of that. But House and his Defense have improved quite a bit and they deserve at least a little recognition. Keep up the good work.
