Momentum? Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.
Possibly Earl Weaver’s greatest quote that doesn’t include a string of expletive deleteds.
I thought about that quote shortly after Pitt’s win over ND. The euphoria of the win still lingering in the air as I left Heinz Field. Hearing people talking about how this could carry to the next game and so on. Reading it the next day in various comments. Then seeing it become a short piece.
As Chryst pointed out after the game and again at his news conference Monday, whether or not the Panthers seize the momentum they gained Saturday is yet to be seen.
“It was a good night, and something we can move forward with,” Chryst said. “The thing that I was most proud of is the way the guys kept playing. You look at that tape and compare it to previous games, and it wasn’t a different team, wasn’t different guys. We just made some plays at the right situations and found a way to win.”
And another.
There are still several days before Pitt plays UNC. And in football, I find it harder to buy into the idea of momentum when there is so much time between each game. As Coach Paul Chryst also pointed out, the team made plenty of mistakes in the ND game. They overcame them. And Notre Dame definitely made their share of costly gaffes.
Then there is the opponent. UNC. They were a trendy darkhorse pick in the ACC, before a horrid start to the year. They lost their starting QB for the season. Now they’ve won 3 straight and nearly knocked off Miami before the winning streak. (Yes, those three wins came against teams that are a combined 10-20.) Arguably they have some momentum on their side as well (if you buy into it).
Their defense is finally playing with something approaching a plan. The offense has picked it up to be along the lines of what was expected.
The Tar Heels did lose their starting quarterback, Bryn Renner. This only changed their offense as Marquise Williams has taken over. While Renner was a passing QB, Williams is much more of a mobile QB. Even before Renner’s injury, Williams was being used regularly in the offense.
This is not a UNC team with a feature back. Including Williams, they have five players with more than 35 carries on the season. By the same token, none of their backs has 300 yards for the season. They run it nearly as often as they throw it, just not with any one particular back.
As an aside, North Carolina continues to lead the country in dragging out scandals to insane lengths while pretending to be pristine. Remember the football scandal? No, not with the rental cars, guns and dope. That’s basketball. No, not the academic one that enveloped the entire athletic department (and is still meandering through questions and scapegoats). I mean the agents-runners-coaches stuff. Yeah, the one that helped do in Butch Davis. It’s still puttering along.
A fourth person is expected to face criminal charges Wednesday stemming from the football scandal at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Orange County DA Jim Woodall said that the person, who is coming from out of state, is scheduled to appear at the Orange County Courthouse Wednesday at 2 p.m. The indictment, which was handed up by a grand jury six weeks ago, is currently sealed.
Georgia-based sports agent Terry Watson, Georgia real estate agent Patrick Jones and former UNC academic tutor Jennifer Thompson already have been charged with violating the North Carolina Uniform Athlete Agents Act, which prohibits giving money to college athletes.
Putt-putt-putt.
Other things. Ray Vinopal has had a decent week. ACC DB of the Week. Claiming to have tuned out all negativity, he now has to tune out all the positive stuff.
Tom Savage made Coach Chryst happy on Saturday. And, hey, he’s a good teammate. The only thing I question from the Starkey puffer is this portion.
The book on Savage — at least the copy I received — was that he could make all the throws but wasn’t real keen on the contact thing. Possibly a pretty passer who disintegrated the instant he got smacked in the chin.
That book was dead wrong.
Savage, as it turns out, willingly accepts his beatings and sometimes even seeks them. Like the maniacal, motorcycle-riding Cage in “Ghost Rider,” he has some daredevil in him.
I’m sure there were some with hyperbole who made that claim, but no one who actually remembers Savage made that claim. It’s not “the instant he gets smacked,” but if you pressure him and hit him over and over in game after game he gets shaky. Like just about any other QB. That was the story from his Rutgers days, and it sure was the story for stretches this season. His toughness and willingness to take hits was never in question.
In the Notre Dame game, he only took a couple hits. Go figure he stood up in the pocket. Moved better and had his feet set. Amazing what not fearing for your life can do for your game.
And you’re absolutely right about questioning the “claim” presented in Starkey’s piece.
Seems Mr. Starkey took some literary license to tie his story angle to Savage’s collision with Tuitt.
The negatives on Savage at Rutgers were limited to difficulty in reading defenses, tendency to take sacks and throw interceptions.
Ya, there might have been something said by someone somewhere that Savage might get a little gunshy after taking repeated hits… but that was never something heard from the mouths of avid Rutgers fans.
Maybe Starkey should produce his source for the “Book on Savage” he claims to have been handed.
We still need to win the turnover battle.
Plenty of good, cheap tickets on Stubhub. Bring the whole family, neighborhood, fraternity, co-workers. Fill those seats.
His best quote (Jim Palmer’s) on every visit to the mound when a pitcher is struggling “Babe Ruth died 40 years ago, throw strikes!”
You should of heard what he said about Danny Murtaugh!
I think NC actually has a much more dangerous offense than ND!
Very true. Clubs seats for $35, lowers on the 50 for $16, and uppers on the 50 for $5.
No reason not to go… Unless you’re stuck in Boston.. ugh
He still passes to the wrong shoulder or into the ground in some cases. Almost uncannily like his predecessor did on the same passes.
Even more than the passing game I think our running game has to be the key to wins here on out. We are currently 5-1 in games where we rushed the ball more than 30 times.
If you want to see just how poorly we have played in certain aspects of the game then check this out:
105th on total offense; 106th in running offense and 69th in passing offense.
Defense is a bit better with only one category over the 100th Mendoza line in our Red Zone defense at 107th; 42nd in total defense; 63rd in rushing defense;a respectable 43rd in passing yards allowed.
We truly do need to put complete games together to winn ballgames. Neither unit can carry the other one to victory against decent teams
Ouch – I hadn’t realized it was so bad.
“Donald soaked it all in and began dominating, but college recruiters were not nearly as enamored with him. He got plenty of looks. But only three schools offered scholarships — Akron, Toledo and hometown Pitt. Donald grew up a huge Pitt fan, so the offer was “a dream come true,” he says. He committed after his junior year.”
Anything in that excerpt look familiar to PITT fans who are bitching about Chryst’s approach to recruiting? The PITT staff and DW saw what type of player, the desire he had to play ball he was and what his true skill set was and grabbed him as soon as possible.
I think we’ll see some real gems like Donald out on the field over the next few years from players who weren’t highly recruited by other schools because I trust that Chryst has a detailed plan and is sticking to it.
We don’t have to have >200 yards in rushing but enough to keep the defense honest. The other part of it is that when you are running the ball well, it means that you usually aren’t too far behind … and you don’t have to pass nearly every play, again not allowing the defense to tee off.
Lastly, running the ball keeps the other offense off the field … thus helping your own defense.
Maybe hear from recruits soon as HS football winds down.
I’ll be interested to see how UNC defends AD. ND double and triple teamed AD on some plays and anytime that happens, someone else, especially a LB, should have a opportunity to make splash plays. Yet we barely heard the LBs name for much of the game. We’ll see how UNC approaches AD and whether someone else can get some pressure on their QB.
Overall, I think UNC has some very nice talent. Their mobile QB obviously causes some concern and their TE is a matchup nightmare. Pitt will need a complete game, especially on special teams, to win. HTP!
I’d also like to chime in on defense, as painful as it was to watch the defense adapt to House’s zone scheme in the beginning of the season, I’m starting to think it was a case of “short term pain for long term gain”. I’m still not a huge fan of the soft zone, but what I noticed against Notre Dame was a lot of man in the early going and then a switch to zone later in the game. The great thing about forcing the defense to learn the soft zone early, is that now they have got it down so that when it’s time to call it, there is some confidence that they can execute. Hopefully House’s game plan is just as solid this week against NC.
Last year’s ND’s defense was obviously better, but the fact that we were able to get a first down on the final drive would seem to indicate a worn-down unit … but on the plus side, our Oline may well be improving.
If nothing else, the team has played the 2nd half much better the last 2 games than they had all year.
Sidenote: those at the game probably noticed that pretty much the entire 500 level of the student seating was glaringly empty. Yet Pitt sold standing room only tickets to the public. Would have liked to see them allow those standing to fill in those seats, or for a sold out game like this — figure out some way to sell those seats if the students aren’t going to buy them.
That said, Pitt has been a solid home team so far under HCPC Ignoring the YSU game last year (conveniently), they have yet to lose at home to an unranked opponent, and have beaten 3.
Should be a good one!
PC took over a program that was a mess… Haywood, Graham, players leaving…left over wanny guys.. etc. Yet he has made a bowl game, and barring utter collapse he should do it again.
Maybe Im drinking some kool aid.. but if you look it took Jim Haurbaugh 3 years to get Stanford national attention again, and he took over from good old Walt Harris.
I also think we all need to become Wisconsin fans, because if all goes to plan we’re just one coaching search away from doing it all over again…
So what did he say about Danny Murtaugh?
H2P Stick it to the Tarheels
So, they are the Tarheels, but the mascot is a Bighorn Ram. Duh?
H2P Stick it to the Tarheels
If nothing else, we need to maintain the Aliquippa and now Clairton pipepline.
Good point. But, it would show some spirit to have a sticky foot as your school mascot.
H2P Stick it to the Tarheels
That’s really weak. The rushing at 106th would leave one to believe this past games slightly better rushing might have been due to the one big ND lineman being tossed out of the game and the giant nose guard being somewhat hobbled, think they said it was his first game back after missing several with a knee.
A good rushing attack was what Wisconsin is/was known for.
Better start teaching the linemen and especially the RB’s…..how to Dance better !
Now we win one game, one frickin game people, and Pitt is it again?!?! I don’t think so.
As Coach Chryst mentioned already, “you look at that tape and compare it to previous games, and it wasn’t a different team, wasn’t different guys. We just made some plays at the right situations and found a way to win.”
I love Pitt Panther Football! But we will be lucky if we’re bowl eligible come 11/29. The ND win was great, and in my mind will not be deminished if we fail to win another game this season. But this team is young and unpredictable. And in case you haven’t noticed we are not very good.
However IF, and that’s a big IF they play as a team for 60 minutes and get a few turnovers and have some luck they can win. But please, I don’t want to hear any nonsense that just because we beat ND that we should be expected to run the table in the next three contests, P L E A S E!
Just kidding…UNC will a very tough game
Earl Weaver on Danny Murtaugh…”The Irish must be lucky because I let that stupid f’n Irishman beat me twice!” Note – Earl is Irish
More like a transplant from England/Scotland.
ScotchIrish.
Danny actually played in the Major Leagues and led the league in Stolen Bases. And finished on the Top 10 of the 1949 MVP award.
As they say in Ireland….f*ck Earl Weaver. lol
The idiot Weaver died on an Oriole Cruise(ship) at Age 84 or so.
More than likely with his foot in his large mouth !
I love to give credit where it is due so I’ll say the OL played well on Saturday. Regardless of how the ND line was banged up, and remember all we every hear from the media is that ‘every two-deep ND player would make the starting lineup at PITT’, you play against whoever is in front of you. The OL did that and did it well. Good for them.
Something that is really bothering me is that Savage hasn’t been able to complete his deep passes consistently like he was doing in the beginning of the year. If we take away Street’s fantastic 43 YAC run after his catch on the 63 yard TD pass play we have a 20 yard pitch and catch completion. The next longest pass was a 17 yard completion to Boyd.
It isn’t like we have cut those deep route plays out of the offense either. Savage has been inaccurate on the deep routes lately and that is worrisome to me as he has been really very good at that type of passing game. Those deep completions effect how the defense sets up also.
The deep game has been his bread and butter and I just think it is kind of strange that it has almost completely disappeared over the last four games. In the three games previous to ND his longest completions were 21, 28 and 17 yards.
IMO we really need deep completions in the game to augment the other plays we run on offense. Thank goodness that he’s been more accomplished in the shorter game over that time period.
I’ve said before that I think we need to go deep at least two times per half. If he complete 50% of those plays we are in good shape.
You need at least 4 seconds for guys to get deep downfield or longer. When they get better at pass blocking or come up with a some better blocking sheme, I would imagine you’ll see it again.
Remember Savage was pretty shell shocked for several games.
Hopefully this team and it’s fans are learning how to win.
I know I want to see another “Happy Dance”