Even before the recruiting miss yesterday there was going to be pressure on Matt House and the defense. There was the Miami game to end the season.
The defense allowed the same amount of points it surrendered in the opener against Florida State, a team that advanced to the national championship game.
Miami is good, but far from the Seminoles’ caliber, and the poor performance could be seen as an indication of a lack of progress on Pitt’s defense this season.
“I feel like we got embarrassed out there,” Donald said of an effort in which Pitt (6-6) allowed five touchdowns and 476 yards of total offense in its 12th game.
“Could be seen as an indication of a lack of progress?” Could be?
“A lot of little mistakes piling up early,” said safety Ray Vinopal, repeating a theme from most of Pitt’s losses this season. “It’s always hard, especially against a talented team that is coached well, to recover from such a deficit so early.
“When they grab the momentum so quickly, you really have to dig down deep and get it going. I think we did get it going, but it was too late.”
…Again.
It wasn’t just the Miami game. The final three of four games saw Pitt let a team jump out on them in the first quarter or half. Heck, you could even toss in the ND game since the Irish missed chances with a missed FG and a fumble in the redzone that may have made it a blowout early.
This was a defense that was ill-prepared for the start of each of the final four games. They looked lost and out of position. Unmotivated.
And it doesn’t help when the defensive coordinator says things suggesting he is ignoring that common theme.
He also noted, though, that he was pleased with his players’ reaction to the slow start.
“You could tell that guys truly were disappointed and irritated with themselves,” House said. “Also, you’ve seen the tempo in our practices now be cranked up. I think part of that is we have set a bar and an expectation and throughout the year we’ve improved, improved, improved — with that last game being an aberration. I think it truly ticked the kids off.”
But the slow start in the UNC game. The GT game. Or even — for god’s sake — the Syracuse game didn’t?
One game should not determine a coach’s fate. But this game is the culmination of a full season of the Matt House defense. We know there is a superlative player in Aaron Donald. There are players who have improved over the season like Ray Vinopal and Anthony Gonzalez. But as a unit, not so much. And this was a veteran group. Donald, Ezell, Gordon, Hendricks and Williams are all heading for their final game.
At the very least this game has the dire potential of sealing the perception of Matt House.
Emel – Who knows man but I can tell you everyone else has sizzle and sells and our guys act like we are Bama and don’t need to sell or add sizzle.
I do like the sound of the Panther P***Y Kats! Haha.
“Pitt’s 2013 finale against Bowling Green in the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl is less than a week away, but early bowl practices have allowed the Panthers coaching staff to take a tiny peek ahead.
Like a year ago, Pitt coach Paul Chryst and his assistants have used some of their early bowl practices to give younger players more practice snaps than they might get in the usual game week.
“I think the right way to go about the bowl is to take advantage of the time,” Chryst said. “You’re not going to reinvent who you are as a team, so you’ve got to keep guys going and try to improve on who you are.”
After Pitt’s regular season ended with a 41-31 loss Nov. 29 against Miami, the team had the next weekend off. Over the ensuing week of practice, Pitt’s bowl opponent was still to be determined, so that time was dedicated primarily to developing younger players.”
Ok I agree, play the younger players for the future.
But why not any discussion or even a thought, apparently, of giving next year’s QB at least a half game of playing time. You know,,,,Chad Voytik, the odds on favorite to be the man behind center next year.
If we’re going to be forced to play in this 4rth tier bowl game, at least use the thing to get Voytik some playing time.
Maybe you missed it.
Happy Holidays !
No, no problem at all. I don’t really care about the game that much either brother.
I get that. Who really does?
And I don’t care anymore than anyone else on here. We’re all great Pitt fans, but, I think we know bunk when something is bunk.
I’m strictly talking on the “HCPC is gonna be a great coach and he’s building something” crowd.
Do we play well………..or get waxed??
That’s all.
Think the recruiting might pick up, just a tad !
😉
Dokish said the pitt staff did not return henry calls for a month and he knows this for fact then you wonder why he went to WVU
Does that include the cheerleaders ?
Is he a BS’er, or is he pretty reliable.
I don’t know how the recruiter and/or the head coach could ever “lose” tract of a recruit for a month.
I’d have to hear the whole story from both sides.
I find that very hard to believe.
Don’t get me wrong, if it’s true, it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Again, if true.
I think you should go to his site and read it your self it is the post abought mckenzie in the coment section were he answer qustion from the people .
in panther prey
strength and conditioning coach has been fired.
dont know if true was on a tweet or what ever you call it.
and now you have to ask why chryst kept him around for 2 years.
and you have to wonder if that was what was wrong with the O LINE
Werner ? @SWernerPG
Todd Rice has indeed resigned as #Pitt’s strength and conditioning coach.
Guy didn’t have a great rep at NC STATE either.
Another PC bad hire. Go Figure !
After the Bowl Game, House needs to go too !
I understand the Jacksonville Jaguars need a new Coffee Boy for the coaching staff.
Wbb did you read what tags said
Chris Dokish is very good at what he does. He is pretty high on Dixon at this time and he likes the way Jamie is recruiting.
Dokish thinks Chryst’s staff is, for lack of a better work, incompetent. He has praised Chryst’s knowledge of the offense, even though this year’s numbers don’t show it.
He has pissed off people in the Pitt administration so he is a little less critical.
You are right about the bowl. Aaron Donald is kind of an aberration in an inconsistent, under-coached program that is on the decline. This observation is based on the ACC blog on ESPN and other prominent sources not my opinion.
Pitt needs to win for us to gain any respect going into 2014. I’m not bashing HCPC but a poor performance in Detroit, coupled with the poor performance in Birmingham (Myerberg of USA today faulted Chryst for never adjusting in the loss to Mississippi) will set the perception of Pitt football back. It will be worse than if Pitt had not been invited to a bowl.
We all should be watching come Dec. 26.
a ex pitt player taglianetti says the pitt strength coach was incompetent.
how can you not think that things at pitt are a joke
things are poorley run face it it is a cluster fuck
Rumors Todd Rice is no longer head strength coach at Pitt. Hallelujah. He was incompetent
Retweeted by Paul Zeise
What….these guys don’t know how to email, phone or text ?
Although I do understand Paulie made a in house visit to Shai. Thank God for Navigation in new cars. Or he would have ended up in Sheboygan or Oshkosh.
I feel bad for Chryst. He surrounds himself with bozos. His boss is incompetent. And then his bosses boss is fine as long as players stay out of police blotters. The recruits must see and hear it as well. We don’t drink the Kool Aid and this site doesn’t censor opinions or ban posters. So different and refreshing from other school sites. You’ll find more of The Truth on Blather than other blogs. All is not well with Pitt so I don’t blame the recruits for running away.
But does anyone in power positions…real decision makers listen and understand and agree. And then are willing to do something about it. I know that answer.
Pitt Football, indeed a Black Comedy if ever there was one.
Have a good nite guys ! Cheers.
When my brother and Wannstedt were being recruited (both were all WPIAL and a bunch of other honors, I asked him why he took all the recruiting trips (he ended up at Rutgers his first visit)and he told me story after story of the female escorts (all friends with benefits)assigned to every recruit and the $$ money handed out under the table with promises of more to come. Only Pitt played it straight up and this was in 1970 and we can all remember how that went for Pitt.
I am sure that some of it has changed today but doesn’t Pitt Recruiting staff have a good CRM (sales contact and organizing tool) I have run 5 sales forces in my life and would not think of running a recruiting force without one. Again Beano was right, “same old Pitt.”
I am actually thinking of coming out of retirement and wagering on Bowling Green because I cannot stand to watch another game where Pitt running backs and punt returners carry the ball in the wrong hand, players don’t know who should be on or off the field, Pitt gets called for too much time after a TO, et alia! Maybe we should just wear the Three Stooges (Steelers Jailbird) striped Uni’s/ What utter incompetence!
The morale at Pitt is at a all time low. I rarely read any thing positve about the school including this blog.
Now, I’ll give you the McKenzie comments having some validity, the “loyalty” comment was kind of interesting coming from Shai though, considering his own evasiveness concerning his lean towards Pitt early on, where was his loyalty? He never gave any indication that Pitt was a heavy favorite as his top pick early. So instead, Pitt successfully closes on two other guys, Ollison from NY (so Syracuse can’t keep their own backyard recruits?) and Chris James from Illinois (I think that there are some B1G schools around his hometown that unsuccessfully recruited him too, 6 offers from the B1G).
Confirmed, not getting Henry hurts, but consider that his buddy Fields was a lock already at WVU, plus Rushel Shell apparently has some relationship with Dravon that goes back into their HS days too. So Henry could have his own reasons for becoming a Hoopie that made that pick right for him. Yes, not getting Nicholson REALLY HURTS! But we are in some elite company considering he snubbed offers from FSU, Ohio State, Oregon, etc. besides mighty Pitt too.
Losing those guys is not good for the perception of Chryst’s recruiting prowess for sure, but let’s not simply ignore the successes that he has had on the recruiting trail in this class.
Bookser is a great get, and although it probably won’t come to pass, Alex could pan out to play on the DL if asked to. That makes his commitment even more attractive considering our lack of depth on the DL in this class. Another guy like that, who got taken out from under VT’s nose, who also offered him, is Mike Herndon. I like this kid. I think this OL prospect ends up on the defensive side of the ball when it’s all said and done.
Then we see our 3-4star QB commit Wade Frebeck coming out of Florida, which we all agree is a state Pitt has to hit harder in the future, and then just recently, a much needed LB target in the form of Folston from Florida shows up to commit recently too. That is a positive trend.
Now we still need to get either Kamara or Jennings, getting both would be super sweet, but one is essential. So, of the big 5 that were left to decide as of last week, we’ve gotten 1 out of 3. Realistically, if we get 2 out of those 5 you would have to be happy for Pitt. If we miss on both Jennings and Kamara too, then I’ll be pissed and whining right along with the rest of you that we have to figure out why Pitt can’t close on these high level prospects. Let’s see how that goes first though with Kamara and Jennings prior to passing final judgement.
Now on to the bigger Pitt picture, we have two ADs, one we love to hate and one we just LOVE. In unison now, FIRE PEDERSON! Good, we got that out of the way. Now can we at least appreciate the unheard of success that one of our own home grown products that did stay local to earn his fame in the ALL EVERYTHING Aaron Donald? From the defensive perspective, Aaron stands shoulder to shoulder with the offensive player that won the Heisman, Jamis Winston. In essence Donald won the individual National Championship as the best defensive player in the nation hands down, no questions asked while playing on a mediocre 6-6 team that has been irrelavent on the national scene forever. An unprecedented accomplishment!
Now lets bash Matt House, he should not have been hired as DC! Chryst fumbled the ball on that one, agreed. But you know what, as was demonstrated in a previous investigative type article, considering the upgraded competition in the ACC, House was kind of a lateral move when compared to our previous DC in our last season in the Big East. We could have gotten a better hire I think, but his rookie year just wasn’t a complete diaster as it could have been. Now our special teams were that cluster fu*k however. Coach Chrsyt, YOU GOTTA FIX THAT!
Rice is gone, is that good or bad? probably good. So Chryst can fire somebody on his staff after all!
So here we stand at season’s end at 6-6 in a minor bowl game against a MAC team that supposedly is a no win contest for Pitt. Can we all at least agree that if in fact we just go out and take care of business and bring home a win that in fact it will go into the books as a bowl victory? Now all you whiners out there can spin that $hit anyway you want to but in my book beating a very good MAC Champion team is no slight to this program and can only benefit the mindset of this young team going forward. It also gives us a winning season, Something that very few of us anticipated in the preseason when considering our first ACC schedule.
Therfore, I would suggest that we start looking at this bowl game as a must win situation, if for no other reason then to send off our most decorated defensive player in the history of Pitt football on the right note! The sky is not falling, there is plenty of work to do however, the most pressing of which is to beat Bowling Green!
And BTW, we beat the frickin Domers! Any season that includes a win against those pompous a$$holes can’t be viewed as a complete failure, IMO. Hail to Pitt!
Anonymous December 20, 2013 at 2:50 PM
Henry’s parents and MacKenzie generally feel disrespected. They both feel they weren’t getting enough love. How dare they offer Dravon so late? How dare they recruit more than one running back? Issues with the Pitt staff and the locals (with the exception of DW) goes back to the days of Walt Harris. Nothing new here…
Chris Dokish December 20, 2013 at 2:51 PM
The staff didn’t return Henry’s calls for a month. That’s a fact.
Zatiti Moody December 20, 2013 at 2:56 PM
Chris – Meaning that they had lost interest in Henry or that they were slack?
Anonymous December 20, 2013 at 2:59 PM
And that’s shocking considering the Quip pipeline and the fact that LaSalla is at PITT.
Chris – how many more recruits can PITT bring on this year. They have 17 seniors leaving.
Chris Dokish December 20, 2013 at 3:00 PM
They definitely didn’t lose interest in him. Their methods are poor. Multiple times over the past two years there have been miscommunication problems between the staff and the prospects.
Always two sides to the same story.
Now let’s see, we could start up a “Panther Kitties”, no, that doesn’t rhyme. What has a feline reference and starts with a “P”???? THAT’S IT! LMAO!
Have a good weekend fellas.