The past 24 hours, I’ve had this one thought in my mind: this win can’t be for nothing. If Chryst and company lose the next three games, the Notre Dame victory won’t mean much. While I’m not a fan of statements like “program changing” or “stepping stone” because they put too much emphasis on one game, it is vital that this team gets to six wins. A huge win has to be followed up with meaningful results. Three straight losses is anything but that.
Does that mean I think UNC is a must-win game? Absolutely not. But, we can’t see them with another regression like we did earlier this season. UNC is hot right now; they’ve won three straight by an average of 21 points. Each victory was over an ACC squad, so they aren’t beating up on cupcakes. A loss to UNC isn’t the end of the world, but if we see a game like Georgia Tech again, it could kill any positive momentum gained by the Notre Dame victory.
*I’ve openly complained that the coaches abandoned the run too quickly this season. Against GT, Conner and Bennett combined for 14 carries and 19 yards. Against Notre Dame, they combined for 27 carries and 92 yards. That includes 3 carries for 5 yards on the first three drives. Even though the offense was struggling, Chryst didn’t abandon the running game and it got moving later in the game.
*Ray Vinopal won the ACC Defensive Back of the week for his incredible performance against Notre Dame. That’s huge for him, the defense, and the coaches who kept believing in him.
*Tom Savage the past three games: 67/99 (67%) for 679 yards (6.9 YPA) 5 TDs and 1 INT. He was only sacked once against Notre Dame. It’s a bit later than most had hoped, but he’s coming around and has looked better than the previous game during this stretch. He looks leaps and bounds better than he did against Virginia, VT, and GT.
*Syracuse has the pleasure of playing FSU this weekend. It’s tough to say whether that helps or hurts Pitt the following week. Sometimes a huge loss motivates you, sometimes it kills any positive feelings you have. Cuse is playing great defense lately, only allowing three total points to Maryland and Wake Forest. Obviously this assumes FSU torches them, but all signs point to no one stopping FSU until January.
*I wonder if a Duke victory over Miami sets them off on a tailspin. Their loss to FSU is completely understandable, but they followed that up with an old fashion butt-whooping by VT. A loss to Duke could really remove any motivation Miami has to play hard the rest of the season.
*How about Duke, though? They’re 7-2 and could possibly see 10 total wins including a bowl game this season. Unfortunately it looks like they won’t be the pushover they used to be.
*Devin Street is 334 yards away from a 1,000 yard season. Tyler Boyd is 371 yards away. It’ll be close, but both players could finish over 1,000 yards. A bowl game will really help that cause.
Sorry for the soapbox. We need to beat UNC and ‘Cuse, and probably Miami…who looked as outmatched vs. FSU as we did — no reason we can’t close it out strong this year…especially with a healthy, hard running Conner and Bennett. Total agreement with you, don’t quit on the run.
If anyone who knows anyone who has anything to do with what shows up on the big screen at Heinz Field, please get them to put up the locker room dance scene this Saturday before the game and every time we score. I know that the students will go crazy and that will way pump up our team—and maybe even Paul C himself.
H2P Stick it to the Tarheels
Their QB Williams is mobile, which is always a cause for concern. But they’re so pass-heavy and dependent on big plays that House’s soft cover defense can be helpful against this team. Keeping them in front of us will be the key. They also have no running game, despite a little success last week against UVA. Everything they do get on the ground comes around the edge. The O-line doesn’t get much of a push. The TE Ebron is a beast though, he could cause a lot of problems. UNC also uses trick plays pretty regularly. A WR has thrown a TD in each of the last two games, we’ve got to be looking out for trickery. The offense is very penalty prone though. We won’t shut them out but I’d be surprised if we give up more than 24.
Defensively, the D-line doesn’s look too imposing which is plus for Savage. They also use 4-2-5 packages a lot. That should allow us to have success on the ground with Conner finally heavy again. That said, their Dbs are fast, really fast. Rolling Savage out and using the dink-and-dunk 5 yard passing will be pretty helpful this week because of the absence of Lbs most of the time.
Their HC is their special teams coach and they ran one back against UVA. They seem to do well on special teams. Their Kicker has missed 2 fieldgoals and an extra point in the last 2 games though, so field goals could very well decide this game.
Thanks for the rundown. Now, please tell me that you know the guy/gal who puts the stuff on the big screen at Heinz Field.
H2P Stick it the Tarheels
They’re probably the worst team in the ACC at running the ball. From my research, they use a 4 RB rotation and those 4 guys combined have only 873 yards on 203 carries. For perspective, Conner and Bennett have 1020 yards on 211 carries and they’ve had games where they did nothing.
Their offense is pretty much QB Marquise Williams, WR Q. Davis, and TE Eric Ebron. Now, Ebron is one of the best TEs in the country, so our Safeties and LBs will have their work cut out for them covering him.
we would have are 6 wins now if not for that.
now i have to worry for 3 games when i should have been able to sit back and smile and think of maybe
7 wins but no we have to do it the hard way if we do it.
North Carolina… scares me more than a little. Not a lot. But not a little either. They were almost indescribably bad the first third of the season and have turned it around the way we wish we would have earlier than last Saturday. Is NC going to be better this Saturday than they have been the last 3 weeks? Probably. Are we going to better than we were vs ND? I hope so, because if we are or at least AS good, we have a 50/50 chance to win at worst. If we do regress at all, well…get ready for another excruciating 3-4 hours.
A good 60 points or so will cure that problem.
It will also quite possibly negate a possibly super large loud crowd at the Carrier Dump.
FSU couldn’t come at a better time, imo…don’t want these turkeys at Cuse riding a 3 game winning streak.
Then this GIF appears online, with PC doing the Funky Chicken.
Nice to know they all read the Pitt Blogs isn’t it.
more players got into it.
that should make them love there coach it should be a recruiting tool.
Same ole Pitt.
We should be coming off a high, it’s up to the coaches to keep that high. We got the MO.
Beat Fresneck State !
we should have beat navy so i dont have to go thru this.
as far as BB that derrick randall is a big man 6 foot 9 260 pounds i think we will be ok in center this year if the Z goes soft on us this year as he has done in the past we just plug in the derrick.
Seems like we are consistently pretty good at home. (Except when we are playing the likes of Florida State)
Nice to have home field advantage against the ‘Heels. I think it will help. I’m hoping 40k+ show up.
Maybe we can get our first road win in a truly hostile environment against the ‘Cuse.
Will be interesting to see if there is a letdown after an emotional win. I don’t think so though. I’m calling ND a hump game, and we’re over that hump.
Looking forward to Saturday.
They can also plug in Randall at Center and slide Z over to PF if we want to go xtra 4X large. haha
I think Y could also play SF, that would make for a real nice sized frontline. 6’9″, 6’9″ and 6-8
1) Savage continues to build upon the improvement he first showed against Navy in becoming a MORE COMPLETE Quarterback capable of running the Chryst Offense on All Cylinders.
2) The WHOLE Pitt Team earned STARS on Saturday. But as deserving as any was the Offensive Line which FINALLY ARRIVED. Can they play up to the same Level of Performance again this Saturday? I guess we’ll find out.
3) Thanks to the play of O-Line, Mssrs. Bennett and Connor saw enough daylight to know where to go.
The result was the kind of HARD STRAIGHT AHEAD runnning that Chryst counts on from his backfield. This was especially so for Connor who said as much in his post game interview with the Trib Review.
“I decided that I have a big body and I had to use it to get inside the end zone.” – James Connor
And it wasn’t just close to the end zone but all over the field that the Freshman ran like he had a BIG BODY Saturday. Forget the jukes James, you have found your NICHE.
As far as Defense goes…
4) Has anyone noticed that Aaron Donald is NOT the only Player on Defense having a GREAT YEAR?
Nearly as dominant and consisent has been Tood Thomas at linebacker. And Notre Dame was just another day at the office for TT.
5) Certainly not the least of the “TAKEAWAYS” (Ha,Ha)… After continuing in his role of “Safety No.9” in the first half against Notre Dame… Ray Vinopal pulled out his best Bob Jury imitation for the second half of the Big Show.
Now, I’ve been as critical as anyone of Safety No. 9 and his shortcomings. But, yes… the Youngstown native has certainly earned a vote of confidence with the credit going to his Coordinator for sticking with him.
Question is… “Who is the REAL Ray Vinocpal?” Let’s hope its Bob Jury Redux.
*Final Note… More recognition for that kicker named Blewitt. Sometimes not pretty, but he keeps putting them through.
And how about that burst of speed in helping run down the return in the second half? Someday, we just might see Mr. Blewitt score more than just a field goal or an extra point.
Now that would be fun to watch.
Don’t read too much into UNC on Saturday. “LETDOWN FACTOR” could be lying in wait.
Not a Prediction, just Caution.
The result Saturday will depend a lot on the answers to the questions posted above.
Anyway… GO PITT… BEAT the TAR out of those Heels. If you ask me, they don’t look all that tough.
Plus we have a talented punter coming in next season as a rsFR in Ryan Winslow. He got a scholarship also. In HS he was rated the #4 punter nationally.
Since it appears that a Paul Chryst led PITT team will have their share of close games these kids might help. Our punting has been sketchy at best this season.
We at least make it OT against Navy if not for a 20 yard punt.
Which is surprising as Yoklic was 43rd last season with an almost 42 ypp average. Something happened to give him the yips this season.
