Left in the season or after every snap on offense.
Four games left in the regular season. Pitt needs to scrounge two more wins to get to bowl eligibility and the promised land of Shreveport.
And while Pitt is trying to find some of that early season offensive magic, it really comes down to not having the time to take the deep shots.
“Me and [Devin] Street, we love to go deep and make plays but we didn’t have enough time to go deep all the time,” [Tyler] Boyd said. “We just had to take what we did short. Once we caught the ball, we just tried to get what we could.”
Pass protection was an issue for the Panthers again. It wasn’t quite as dismal as the back-to-back games against Virginia and Virginia Tech, in which Pitt gave up a combined 15 sacks, but the Yellow Jackets got to Savage five times for losses totaling 32 yards.
“Wasn’t quite as dismal.” Now, there’s progress.
And while Pitt is trying to find ways to get the team going once more, it is doing so with more of an emphasis on the younger players.
• Senior middle linebacker Shane Gordon has been injured and hasn’t started three of the past five games, providing freshman Matt Galambos and sophomore Nicholas Grigsby increased opportunities. Galambos responded with a fumble recovery against Georgia Tech, and Grigsby had six tackles.
• Senior defensive tackle Tyrone Ezell played fewer snaps than sophomore Darryl Render, who displaced him in the starting lineup and recorded seven tackles. Render’s fumble recovery in the third quarter could have been a big play had the offense taken advantage.
“He’s been practicing well the last couple weeks,” Chryst said of Render. “He’s earned the right to get some snaps.”
• Freshman offensive tackle Dorian Johnson struggled against Georgia Tech, but he is an important part of the line’s future with tackle Adam Bisnowaty and centers Artie Rowell and Gabe Roberts. And that’s not counting four freshmen who aren’t playing this year and a 2014 class that includes Mike Grimm (6-foot-6, 328 pounds) of Bethel Park.
Going and sticking with Johnson was significant since Juantez Hollins never got a chance. Hollins may not have been a great OL, but he’s an experienced senior. The kind of guy you would think would be played especially against a good D-line like GT’s. Especially when it was clear how much Johnson was struggling.
The one place where a change hasn’t been made, or an opportunity for a younger player made, is at QB. Not surprising. Tom Savage has taken plenty of beatings on the field this year. Not likely Coach Paul Chryst is going to start beating on his ego by playing Chad Voytik over him.
Here’s a thought that fills me with dread. How does Pitt DC Matt House get his squad to readjust to facing a more conventional offense after two weeks of the triple option?
Congrats to Aaron Donald on being the ACC DL of the week.
Big weekend game for recruits. And by remarkable coincidence, Tony Dorsett will be in town.
Why does Pitt win? In recent years, ND has been a good matchup for Pitt. Every game is close. The last time we had ND at home under the lights we won. Pitt will play with emotion for once, thinking about last year’s loss.
Oh, and most importantly, Pitt wins by feeding off my intense dislike for all things Notre Dame and Brian Kelly; a dislike that exceeds even that of young Mr. Holtz, who I assume is no relation to Dr. Lou. Yes, I plan to will Pitt to victory from Section 532. Wish me luck…..
The Panthers were a wreck, destroyed by GA Tech,
So bad I can’t give my tickets away.
We’ve lost to the Navy, a win against Youngstown State, maybe?
I remember Furman in Double OT.
Help me Paul Chyrst, I need you to save us, but…
You’re so bad, only Alma Mater I’ve ever had,
another season gone bad, we’re so bad…I wish we joined the MAC East, I’d drink things that didn’t have yeast.
I miss Walt Harris and Larry Fitzgerald,
I remember once we defeated Texas A&M.
But Old Dominion threw fire like Satan’s minions,
how the hell did we stop UVA?
I pine for the old days, Paul Rhodes’ D and a dino, it looked cooler than what we wear now.
Tyler Palko give us your father, it’s true he couldn’t do any worse.
We’re so bad, this is the worst season I think we’ve ever had, I miss Fraud Graham, Penny was hot, Paul you’re so bad….for me.
Pining for the dinocat ???? Please drink some more
whiskey and pass out please AJ. 🙂
p.s. the lyrics weren’t bad till you hit that line. And you would have never made it thru the mid-90’s if you think this year is bad.
I wrote on here during the 2013 spring practices that I stood next to Dorian Johnson (he in civilian clothes and visiting a practice) and was surprised at how thin he was. He is not a big guy at all and certainly not compared to the other OL.
Re: Tom Bradley. Forget about PITT ever hiring him and he is a good indication of why. Some fans assume that part of why PITT won’t hire Bradley is because of his being an ex-PSU coach and that is our rival. Bobby Engram puts that theory to rest.
The salient fact here is that it isn’t only PITT who won’t touch Bradley. Every other school in existence won’t hire him either. You think that if some MAC school who needed a DC offered a job to Bradley he wouldn’t jump on it? Of course he would but they still don’t offer him anything.
What some fans don’t realize is that there are national conventions for ADs and football coaches where all this crap is discussed without reporters around and that is where the details of all thing college football are discussed. Bradley is nuclear and every school that plays college football, no matter the division, knows it.
Hiring and Firing: We have talked about this subject to death but all anyone has to know about the PITT football program is this: PITT fires championship HCs who are leading winning programs if PITT isn’t 100% satisfied with what is going on with the program behind the scenes and off the field. That is what PITT does.
That is a fact and is what any PITT fan has to understand when discussing PITT football and why we don’t sustain winning seasons. Anyone who knows me also knows that I don’t necessarily disagree with the above approach, but there is is.
This even goes back to the great Jock Sutherland in the way past, Jackie Sherrill, Mike Gottfried (after a 7-3 record) and continues on through Harris and Wannstedt in recent history. The PITT administration just does not put the same emphasis on winning football games as the PITT fans do and the won-loss record isn’t the only factor in the firing decisions and it isn’t even the highest priority.
So this isn’t just Steve Pederson or Nordenberg or even Posvar, Jeff long or Bowman, etc… It is what PITT has always thought and felt about the importance of PITT football in the big scheme of things at the University. Even our very best modern day football was somewhat of a flash in the pan and then we didn’t stand in the way of Majors going to Tennessee at all.
“Majors 2”? Well, we hired a lush HC who was so out of favor he was forced out of a job at his alma mater even after four straight winning seasons. We went the cheap and easy route then; the safe choice as it were, and we still do that now.
EVERYONE WELCOME!
*Beer and Hot Sandwiches will be served at Halftime at all Club Level Sections.
As usual, some good and interesting perspective.
To be honest, I was totally shocked to actually see Dorian Johnson lined up with the other Linemen. Not only did he look thin, he absolutely looked out of place at Tackle. His build is much better suited for Guard or better yet Center.
And this is the guy with all the “STARS” who people have been screaming for to start? WOW.
And regarding Pitt Coaches and the downturn in the program… one guy who keeps getting overlooked is Foge Fazio. Another “GREAT” Defensive Coach who was a HORRIBLE Head Coach.
When he took over, Fazio promptly went about wasting away everything that was the Pitt Dynasty of the Early 80s that was handed to him on a platter by Sherrill.
It is almost sacriligious to criticize such a Good Pitt Guy who contributed so much over the years as a player and Assistant Coach.
However, you talk about someone who was in “over his head” as Head Coach?
One of Fazio’s flaws, in fact, maybe his BIGGEST FLAW… was that he really wanted to be liked by his players.
On the other hand, Sherrill was only concerned that players performed well enough to WIN.
But, you don’t know, I don’t know, nobody knows. That’s why they play the games.
There are 2 times in my memory when Pitt prostituted itself:
1. It paid off handsomely — Majors brought 85 recruits (causing a rules change) in ’73, and in large part due to the fact that Western PA was an oasis of high school FB talent, it resulted in a national championship and several more Top 10s
2. It was a disaster — in Jan 2011, after a horrific hire, the AD was forced to make an expedited hire and lobbied the chancellor to pay way above his budget, and you all know what happened. This program hasn’t been the same since.
Tired of talking about the 70s, 80s, etc. Wish we knew
precisely the reasons why DW was fired? Nevertheless
PC is our guy and despite the boring HO-hum uninspired press
conferences my guess is he gets four years to demonstrate
progress. I believe he is a sincere guy who never points a finger at his players for mistakes. He deserves respect for
being a stand up guy. Like all leaders he is responsible and his fate will be determined by his ability to hire talented coaches and recruit talented players.
What I’m going to say will anger many here especially the owner of the blog, but on the other hand, it is no second guess on my part.
When Wanny was fired, I wrote in this very blog about the problem with stability with this program. You can call Wanny a doofus all you want … but he recruited well, had connections, was competitive, and more importantly, was loyal and had a better recent (3 yr) record than the guy they ended up paying twice as much for.
Wanny had a program .. something we haven’t had for a long, long time. Walt built one but as soon as he got there, it began to crumble.
This is why we need to find a guy who is willing to stay and produce a consistently good FB team even it cannot compete with the big boys. PC may be this guy … he needs at least until next season to see improvement.
We need a Don Nehlen, not a Rich Rodriquez
When you say “horrific” hire… do you mean like in Freddy Krueger?
We need someone like that as our AD. Wanny also needs a role and some other prominent Pitt greats who have been alienated. We need a uniter. We need a great fundraiser. We need someone who doesn’t kow tow to old money academics living in the 50’s.
We need to redefine Pitt.
If you remember, the thing was Haywood actually referred to “Freddy Krueger” during his first news conference when tried to describe the kind of attitude he expected from players when it came to playing defense.
Remarkable then, more so now.
If Pitt is to compete in the ACC, we need a strong football program to pave the way. Did you see that both our men and women’s soccer teams were winless this year in conference play. It will be the same story for other sports like baseball, track and women’s basketball although Suzie will eventually turn things around. We are truly an embarrassment in athletics. And don’t tout academics too much since we are in the lower half of this new conference.
Rather, HCPC is Paul Hackett, forever the poster child for “Peter Principal” promotion one level above his God-given skill set. Foge had that same promotion, but at least he bled blue & gold.
I still hold out (fleeting) hope that HCPC is the answer. But I think he’s not, and I predict in 2 years he’ll end up as an OC for some NFL team where he doesn’t have to recruit, and he’ll thrive….
Other PSU coaches who where there (and presumably knew something terrible was going on, even if they presumably didn’t know the specifics…) got jobs after leaving Nits Nation. Why not Tom Bradley?
I mean, if Bobby Petrino (guilty as sin) can get a gig, why not Bradley? I don’t get it, unless there’s suspicions he aided Sandusky. And I haven’t heard a single syllable about that in any of the horrible allegations surrounding that sickening saga…. We’dda head something by now if so.
The other problem with FOGE was his disorganization. Chryst doesn’t have that problem.
However, I am a little concerned that, like Foge… Chryst might be a little too nice of a guy. However, the COLD SHOULDER he gave Shell and a couple of others shown the door might suggest otherwise.
The other concern I have with Chryst is that he might not “HATE TO LOSE” as much as you need with a Head Coach.
Chryst is a BIG PICTURE Guy who has a life away from Football. That could be the problem.
Still, it’s my opinion that people should be patient and buckle up for the rough ride until Chryst gets a chance to show what’s possible once he has a Quarterback he recruited running his Offense.
So far, he’s had to endure a couple of Quarterbacks who just can’t get the job done when it comes to pulling out BIG WINS.
The kid in Florida that Chryst has coming next year… looks like he MIGHT be that kind of WINNER.
The Tom Bradley equivalent would be that I would be the one considered toxic, couldn’t get a job in my field, for the crimes that my office mate committed. Seems patently unfair and illogical to me.
Now the lawyers for the EX president, security chief and AD are attacking the credibility of McQueary … in other words, blaming the messenger. They are really reaching IMO instead of manning up and doing something they realize they shoued have doen 15 years ago … take responsibility.
One thing they must consider …. what possible motive would McQueary have for lying? I can’t think of anything
primary reasons he was recruited to play tackle – and is playing tackle as a true freshman
Johnson did not struggle containing Tech pass rush due to his lack of weight
Speaking of DC recruiting, House so far has gotten 3 recruits, a 2 star and 3 stars. The guys he is targeting are a 3 star, a 2 star and a 0 star. So if he gets all his guys he will have a great average recruit of 2.2.
PittofDreams, Chryst offenses have never been dependent on the QB. They would run the ball a bunch, which Chryst wasn’t even responsible for.
Are we even interested in having some of those recruits.
Do I expect us to steal recruits from FSU, Miami, the Gators, Georgia, GTU, Clemson or USC???
Of course not. But guess what, the left overs of those schools show up every week as top players all over the country. Yes, even in cold weather universities, and other universities with all kinds of built in excuses too.
I digress. Do we have anyone even trying???
How about even in Viginia and North Carolina??
Not hotbeds, but strong talent.
Seems like our base is W.Pa, E.Oh, and W.NY..
Not a criticism, just a fact. If that’s what we’re relying on and moving forward with, we will be 6-6 (plus or minus one) for the end of time.
Now in another year or two, that attitude about the record has to change because ultimately it is all about the win-loss record, isn’t it? But for now, Chryst is getting a pass on that by the Pitt administration.
The key for Chryst will be his ability to recruit, however. I’m not so sure that is a forte of his though. If no, he has to hire the guys who can recruit and close the deal on a lot of high level recruits or all other efforts to build a program go for not.
Chryst’s seat doesn’t get hot until the 2015 season and if he has not produced the program that he is striving for by 2016 I think that he will be gone.
I want us to win today as much as anyone else—but, unfortunately, we are going to have to be patient for awhile longer.
However, it is going to feel so much better after we beat the Irish on Saturday. H2P
No one had to follow the Sports Illustrated article, then Kreuger, then Fraud, the cupboard being bare, and the negative impact on current recruiting. Face it, we have been a laughingstock to local high schools and unknown to others.
An additional concern is the low budget for assistants and recruiting. Make no mistake, recruiting is the lifeblood of any program.
Next add the morgue that is Heinz Field on game day compared to the winning programs.
That is why it is far to early to condemn Chryst’s performance.
Under normal circumstances it takes time to build a program. Our’s are far from normal.
We need to lobby administration to give him the resources and support he needs. Not another flashy, dumb marketing plan, but money to upgrade assistants and bigger recruiting budgets.
It is fair to criticize poor decisions, but we have to hope he learns from them and becomes the winning coach we want.
Bradley may be a great guy and a great recruiter, but Sandusky was his boss and McQueary was his roommate. He had to know something, unless he was blind, deaf and dumb. Maybe unfair, but when you consider, it is easier to recruit for Penn State, and he has been coaching vastly superior players. You don’t know whether he would be Jackie Sherrill or Foge Fazio as a head coach. Anyway, it is not worth the risk.
More Aaron Donald’s would make Chryst on hell of a coach. As poor a coach as he is suspected of being, he hasn’t been able to stunt Donald’s greatness. LAMOJ
Time will tell if he can recruit them.
To Webb
Agree with your point of view on DW. Guys loyal to Pitt
and willing to deal with all of the inherent obstacles are few and far between. Wish I knew why DW was fired.
That, and Steve is a schmuck, ask Nebraska
gc, could you show me any evidence that the budget for assistants and recruiting is low right now? Seriously, there is zero evidence that Chryst is being hampered by the budget. Pitt was cheap in the past but the revenue from ACC is so much more. And if Chryst thinks he doesn’t have the resources but keeps quiet that’s even worse. Chryst let last year’s experienced DC go because he was too loud and not because he couldn’t pay him. Heinz Field is only a morgue right now because Chryst’s coaching loses games.
We actually beat Cincinnati three days before DW was fired. It was the horrible loss to WVU the week before that sealed his fate—plus the reputation our program was getting (warranted or not can be debated) as being out of control. The unbelievable loss to Cincy happened the year before.
Beat the Irish and make Brian Kelly cry. H2P
The SI article was his way out .. the chancellor who was grateful for what the AD did in his 1st stint (The Pete, sharing Heinz Field, etc) went along with AD, and thus DW was let go.
This is not uncommon in many areas where a manager is threatened by one who is supposed to be his underling. (Cowher and Donahoe had a similar circumtance for the Steelers in late 90s)
Once again, this is based on what I have been told by some people close to the program … so this may not be the gospel .. but it makes a lot of sense.
Heinz field has been a morgue forever, Old Dominion was before the losses.
By the way Savage is starting because he is a better QB and they don’t want to get Voytik killed.
I know you and others have made your mind up about Chryst and will blame him for everything to make your case. You probably will be proved right, it is Pitt after all. I know one thing, bringing in a new coach every other year never works.
pmd I was talking about the Cinci loss the year before. If he wins that he doesn’t get fired.
wbb, you explained it well, Steve is still a schmuck, and I bet Wanny doesn’t get boo’d when he makes an appearance at Heinz.
Worse than firing Dave was not having an heir apparent or any kind of plan in the wings.
Heinz Field sure won’t be a morgue this Saturday, unfortunately 30,000 of the seats will be filled with frickin leprechaun lovers.
Does our robot HC’s blood pressure even rise during the game.
Team also reflects this lifelessness. Plays unemotional and mostly listless. Boring as hell to watch, I want fire & brimstone, come hell or high water.
If we don’t win, nobody comes back alive !!!
If his first two years on the job are his worst from a coaching standpoint, it’s hard to argue that even with nominal improvement – just a little each year – that he won’t be a decent-to-good coach.
If his floor for winning is 6-6 and bowl elligbility that’s a fine start, IMHO. Even if you view him only as a stabilizer, if he gets all 5 years of his contract and never has a sub .500 season – something ZERO Pitt headcoaches can claim in 30 years – then we’ll be in significantly better shape when the next guy taks over than we were for Chryst.
It’s also not uncommon for threatened ppl in positions to undo their perceived enemies.
Including leaking information to news sources to write a ‘hit piece’ on that threat.
Then this one: “Texas Hires Steve Patterson as its New Athletic Director”
I got a thrill in my chest, ‘til I saw Patterson, not Pederson.
Damn!
The anxiousness is proved by the fact, Cornhole had no plan of who he wanted to hire to replace DW.
Also DW being a true blue Panther and being so should have been given the respect he deserved. As well of giving us the best 3 years in Pitt football in 30 years. One season removed from a 10 win season, he’s asked to resign. Incredible since the last 10+ season we had was in 1981.
The fact that Cornhole is still here after the nationwide ridicule Pitt has absorbed due to his incompetence and then being celebrated, makes me burn.
Comment by Dr. Tom 11.05.13 @ 10:04 am
If that is true Doc, not too concerned about the win-loss record, should he not then be playing Voytik at QB. Since TS is one and done.
Or is he not to concerned about the win-loss record for next year either. haha
(since he’ll have to break in a brand new qb next year as well)
Comment by Dan 11.05.13 @ 9:56 am
Guess I’ll answer since no one else did.
The answer is ‘No’.
Bashful & staff are concentrating on recruiting the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Though, on this subject there are going to 60 recruits at the ND this weekend including several from VA, GA, and FL. So someone is doing something in those states.
Wouldn’t look good to the recruits, for ND to go up by 21, and half the crowd is cheering.
Unless they’re being recruited by ND too!!
This week we show how good we can be for a full 60 minutes. We win by more than 14 points. Tony D sits with Dravon Henry during the game and they high five after each of our TDs. Please.
H2P
Cheick Diallo, Our Savior New American School (Centereach, NY)- A top 10 prospect in the 2015 class, the 6’9″ power forward has offers from the likes of UConn, Syracuse, Louisville, and Kansas but just getting a player of his immense talent to even visit is a big step up for the Pitt program.
Kassoum Yakwe, Our Savior New American School (Centereach, NY)- A classmate of Diallo and a top 25 prospect in the 2016 class, the 6’7″ small forward is a fantastic player with offers already from the likes of Pitt, Syracuse, and St. John’s. Like Diallo, just getting players like this on campus is a step in the right direction.
H2P
Perhaps they should hustle the kids out after they watch the Pitt band & the Golden Girls at halftime.
As we don’t want them to see the mass exodus after Sweet Caroline.
They could use some excuse, well they’re High School kids and we didn’t want them out after 11 pm.
Is this kid a PG or a 2g, the rivals site says,
2G.
Chas says 2G, so he must be a 2G.
Regardless 2015 is a long ways off, a lot can happen between now & then with these kids.
The most attractive feature of being a Pitt recruit, early playing time if you’re ready to do so!
One day Pitt’s luck will turn and when it does
like BB team life will be good for all of us.
Hope I am alive as a loyal fan my time
is running out.
Understand building a progrM from the ground up
Easy for the coach. Painful for us who
have seen rebuilding for 30 years.
Pitt will wear its blue shirst and gol dpants
PC will wear hist blue Pitt jacket
Great weather and filled house
Pitt breaks open close game in 2nd half with some amazing catch andruns by FRESHMAN Boyd,
and the game is preserved by some great runs by FRESHMAN Conner to milk the clock
Savage is interviewed post-game and doesn’t mutter the F word
Joe D scenario as to how the game will go:
Pitt wears blue on blue, and PC has his sweatshirt on for all of the country to see
It rains and there are man yellow seats
Boyd gets only 3 touches and Connor gets 12 yards on 11 carries, as Pitt loses
Savage is heard on TV yelling the F word as he is being sacked for the 7th time
First, he said he’d be shocked if Henry doesn’t come to Pitt. I hope that’s true. Dokish seems to think that as well, so here’s to hoping.
Second, most of the local guys feel like Pitt takes them for granted, that Pitt doesn’t wine-n-dine ’em like other schools do and that its been that way for a long time. Not just with Chryst. I guess even when guys do official visits to Pitt the coaches don’t go out of their way to make the visits special, and for a lot these guys despite being from the area they’ve never been to nice restuarants in the city or really been shown around, very unlike how they’re treated by other schools. And that treatment really stands out in a negative way.
The coaches who recruit them also apparently don’t stay for the whole game when they come and don’t really spend a lot of time in the locker room or hanging around the way out of town coaches do when they visit. He specifically mentioned that Jaleel Fields was offered a scholarship by Pitt but then they took it back when they thought a few guy higher up the chain were committing only to have some players back out and now they subsequently want him back. This has left a bad taste in the mouth of several undecided guys from the WPIAL.
Third, and this goes into pure speculation IMO, but was intersting none the less. I said to him, Pitt should be pitching all these guys with “do wanna be Tyler Boyd playing, getting headlines or Robert Foster?” and he said to me, well Foster is actually going to be transfering to Pitt. Said Foster’s told local guys as much. Doesn’t like it in Alabama, wants to get guaranteed playing time etc.
Take it all as internet speculation, but I did find it interesting.
So….there’s a positive! or not
Maybe we can find a sick relative for Foster so if he transfers he doesn’t have to sit out a year.
Out luck though we would have Boyd & Foster at WR with no QB who can get the ball to them.
You mention replacing the BoT members and replacing Chancellors who don’t value football but the bottom line for this university has always been academic progress, and raising the endowment, and that has happened, especially recently with Nordenberg at the helm.
There are many, many universities in Div 1 football who approach football the same way PITT does. As a matter of fact it is much more the norm than the schools who put great emphasis on the sport.
You seem to think that having a great football program is a given as an overarching goal for universities and that really isn’t the case at all. Most programs want a football program that returns money spent on it, makes a profit if possible and isn’t an embarrassment to the school as a whole. I believe PITT is in that class of schools.
As far as PITT’s missions go having a great football program is obviously pretty far down the list and that has tacit approval from the current and past administrations, alumni and students.
I certainly don’t believe there is any ‘conspiracy’ involved in the state of football at PITT. I think it just is what it is and mainly because PITT football is pretty far down the list of things Western Pennsylvanians are interested in.
Certainly that is true as far as sports go in that the Steelers, Pens and Pirates trump PITT football, as does Penn State football also. There seems to be more attention given to PSU football then PITT’s and it has been that way for a long long time.
So, I don’t think there is any evil doings at work here, quite the opposite. I believe that PITT football has had a level of existence and attention given to it which has been remarkably steady and unsurprising. It just isn’t what some PITT football fans wish it to be.
