Have to throw this up early. Beyond the usual need to hit the road before sunrise, I am abandoning the press box for regular seats so my daughter and I can attend the game. That means some actual time to tailgate with friends, walk around the family-friendly activities and no laptop. I’ll still be tweeting in-game, but it will be nice to wear Pitt gear to the game and cheer out loud today.
Akron has struggled to stop the run. That happens to be what Pitt does really well on offense. James Conner should have a good day, and hopefully the rest of the running backs get some work. I know he has been a workhorse, but with seven conference games to play there is still the concern of wearing down.
Defensively, Akron does play a spread-style offense. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some early struggles by the Pitt defense — just like with FIU — before really clamping down on the Zips. Not to mention their running backs battling injuries. Their offense hasn’t done much since their opening game against Howard.
Other items:
Terry Bowden does know how to talk up an opposing team.
Chad Voytik doing plenty of film work.
Another week, another piece on James Conner. This one on his underwhelming recruitment. The simple answer is the mix of being behind a talented running back and some shaky academics after his junior year. The academics was a bigger knock than the story suggests. Conner was a 3-star recruit, but a lot of teams will back off if the grades are weak. It is an allocation of resources and risk management. It’s one thing to do that with a high-ceiling, big recruit. But to take a chance on recruiting and offering to a recruit somewhere in the middle-to-lower half of talent expectations is something else.
Beating Delaware & FIU is obviously not included in the new totals as they are most definitely ‘cupcakes’.
Pitt has been shitting the bed for years and our local D-Bag AD gets a raise and contract extension.
Not comparing Pitt athletics to Michigan, but one school demands to win or heads roll (that would be Michigan), the other just doesn’t give a shit and hands out undeserved extensions worth millions.
Oh, I forgot..He got us into the ACC. hahahahahhahahahahahahah
Thank God I love my alma mater. We need to turn the corner.
I’m actually at the point that I really don’t care.
We were actually laughing about it in the car on the ride home.
That’s sad. Last week we were mad, this week,
“so what”.
That’s a bad place to be as a fan. That’s when you start offering the tickets to co-workers and neighbors.
That’s when you start to think, it’d me more beneficial to power wash the driveway walls, than go down there.
If Chryst has zero confidence in Anderson then its time to bring in Bertke and let him get some valuable experience…if the year is lost, at least we have a strong-armed kid getting ready for next year with some snaps and game experience under his belt and can hit the ground running in 2015. But I do think Anderson could do some good things and would like to see him get at least a full game or two to show it. If Voytik plays, UVA could drop 50 on us.
Whoever said I was jumping the gun a few weeks ago about Voytik, how you like me now!?
Ok, next year Bertke starts. We manage to go 5-7 with the now annual loss to Akron (at Akron next year).
That’s ok, it’s Bertke’s first year, give them a break. (That will be 4 different starting qb’s in as many years), who’s that on??
Bertke’s second year, we manage 6-6, “hey, they’re starting to come together”.
2017 Bertke just isn’t cutting it. We still manage to stay 6-6, allthough the loss to Villanova is HCPC’s demise and he is let go at the end of the year.
Smug Smile Steve has it all covered though. Has an ace up his sleeve.
He has a friend, who knows a coach, that has a friend, and his wife knows that the assistant linebacker coach at Southern Illinois is about to really break onto the scene.
Smug, scoops him up as our new head coach.
He will be bringing a new pistol/spread to the university. The fans want more points.
Knowing that the fans don’t really care about winning, they want more bells and whistles…….
We debut our new uniforms!!! As the rest of the college football world comes down off of the funky uniform thing and have gone back to traditional colors and helmets.
Pitt comes out in all dark purple jerseys, with blue pants and yellow accents.
The helmet is green, with three gold stripes signifying the three rivers, and the Rivery City Trophy.
Back to football. We again go 5-7 with the new coach, and the new pistol/spread offense.
Give them a break though, these kids are designed for a power offense, they really aren’t adapted for the pistol/spread.
We need to wait for the new coach to get his full allotment of recruits, only then will we be able to judge.
In recruiting news, the new coach has received 2 verbals from some nice 2 stars, who were also considering, Western Kentucky and Miami (Ohio).
The new coach and his offense don’t quite cut it though. Smug and the fans want a return to the glory days and power football.
Artie Rowell has always been a “Pitt” guy, and is hired off of his graduate assistant stint at Middle Tennessee.
It is now around 2024.
Anyone car pooling to the Fort Pitt Bridge?
A shame you could not have incorporated the lack of any college atmosphere at that rusty jail cell we are all incarcerated in every Saturday, Heinz Field!
Is the pitt program the pirates of college football??
do we have a 20 year plan?….Smug promises we’ll be competitive once we move into our new on campus football Field!!!!
gotta love sucking year after year..and being able to laugh at it
Maybe we’d be better suited in a conference where we can be competitive year after year..like the MAC..
But we obviously have ALOT of work to do to even be comptetive in that Conf…one day we’ll get there……
It’s for Same Old Pitt..
are we having fun yet???
I was wrong last week and you were right.
We wouldn’t beat WVcc or Creepy Valley State.
Each opposing QB could pass for 500 yds against that joke of a defense.
Watched the first half from the field and the second half from the press box. OSU figured it out, like we didn’t. When you aren’t good enough to make it at OSU, you go to UC. When you play each other, OSU says we are better and we will beat you because we know you are going to give us your best effort. The players know this and respond. If they don’t respond, they sit. Simple! Because of the mindset, no ohio team has beaten OSU in over 90 years. Oberlin beat them 6-5 in the early 20’s.
Pitt has 4-5 running plays. The box gets stuffed and that forces Voytik to beat you. He hasn’t shown he can do that against Iowa or Akron. Virginia will load the box. I am being serious here, so be patient. Bertke needs to start. He obviously should know how to hand the ball to Conner on 4-5 different plays.
If his arm is strong and accurate as is being reported, he gives us a chance. It also give Jennings and Boyd an opportunity to get excited to play. Perhaps the oline gets motivated to protect.
It was awesome to watch big boy football tonight. Steve Pederson should resign. I sincerely believe that the AD must resign or be fired by the new Chancellor or risk losing what little fan base remains. Pitt must next start making plans for a smaller on-site stadium. Akron built a new stadium and they ain’t big boy. As far as Chryst is concerned, I am starting to have second thoughts. Our player’s openly said that they relaxed after having success against Iowa in the first half of the last game and lost focus. Those players should have sat. We need to determine if this play is on Chryst or whether Chryst is being controlled/constrained by the AD. Pederson hates Chryst and wants him to fail so that Pederson can tell the Board that he was right in not wanting to hire Chryst in the first place, but had to because he was trumped by our large donor. I for one, don’t mind having occasional off the field issues and would trade them for some wins. Off the field issues are primarily a one to two news cycle lifespan anyways…unless you are at FSU or OSU. That is how far we have fallen. We are not relevant!
I’m now beyond anger and disappointment. I’m knee deep in apathy and sincerely questioning why I pay money for this. Dejan hit it pretty close to the bullseye with his article today. It’s just boring. All of it. Uniforms, stadium, schedule, results, game plan, coaches…yadda yadda yadda.
At least I caught some rays at the game.
Oh, and I’d like to thank the idiots who run the stadium for A: Having security lines that refused to screen people because they were “closed” and instead forced you to wait in other lines. And B: for not opening the exit gates when there were less than 3 minutes left in the game and all we wanted to do was escape. Freaking brilliant. It was like being stuck in a shitstorm vortex.
Awesome experience.
They played very well and to my eye the talent level was fairly level. Their QB was vastly superior and both of their lines played better.
It should not be surprised that we were outcoached, Bowden is the former coach of Auburn, son of the great Bobby Bowden with a lifetime of experience. Amato was FSU’s coach in their heyday, winning multiple National Championships. Our head coach is in his third year and our defensive coordinator has one year experience. Add to that a team that lost a tough one last week and is extremely young.
They still don’t realize you have to get up for every game.
What is laughable are the fans that predict 8 or 9 wins, based on what?
Voytik was awful in the first half, but they still are not giving him enough easy throws, not enough to backs or tight ends and no throws over the middle.
We have a true sophomore playing middle linebacker and a defensive line putting little or no pressure on opposing QB’s.
Teams have figured out if you stop Conner you stop Pitt. The problem is can the coachs come up with plays that Voytik can execute? It should not be that hard.
If you have been a Pitt fan for any length of time, a loss like this is one of many, no big thing.
A year ago, many were saying we need to bench Savage in favor of Voytik, what do you think now?
It is one thing to come out flat, but to get totally dominated in the 2nd half is another, especially when you are built to wear the other team down by the end of the game.
For 2 second halves in a row, one every key play … and I mean EVERY key play …. we had no answer.
There is plenty of blame to go around. Let’s begin with Pederson. Most employers look at prior job experience and refer to past performance when considering a hire. Everybody in Nebraska agrees, Pederson sucked at Nebraska, and he has continued the process here at Pitt. Can’t we just fire him to at least get that cancer excised from the University’s administration?
Next, I’d be asking the coaching staff the process that they utilize to impress on their charges how essential it is to ALWAYS RESPECT YOUR OPPONENT! This team came out flat, got punched square in the face by Akron and was completely unprepared psychologically to respond to such formidable resistance. That’s a coaching issue more than a player issue. Another coaching issue is being able to adjust to their game plan. Akron just demonstrated to the entire Coastal Division of the ACC how to effectively beat Pitt. Stop the run and you beat Pitt, period.
I’ve been a cheerleader for this coaching staff and a supporter for Chad Voytik. He deserved time to develop and grow into his starting roll as our QB. IMO, he has had his chance during these first five games and unfortunately yesterday Chad demonstrated that he does not have the passing game to carry the team on his back when necessary.
Something needs to change or else we will be fortunate to win a couple more games this season. Jennings was on the field yesterday, apparently burning his redshirt. That means that this coaching staff feels that they are willing to play the best guys they have, attempting to win now. If that is the case, then it is time to plug in the next guy in line at the QB position to see if we can get this passing game fixed.
Upittbaseball predicted that Trey Anderson would play the hero this season for the Panthers. Well, if that drama is to play out, now is the time to raise the curtain on that show.
Chad’s “test by fire” concluded yesterday. More experience against the much better competition on Pitt’s horizon is not going to produce different results than we saw yesterday against a mediocre opponent. This season is still salvageable, but it is going to require a major shake up in this team’s mindset and game plan. Replacing the starting QB at this juncture might just be the spark required to right this severely listing ship.
If HCPC decides to simply stay the course, then this ship is sunk. The Akron Zips assured that yesterday when the exposed the soft underbelly of our woefully inadequate passing attack. OK, Coach Chryst, what are you going to do about it? Yesterday’s loss was unacceptable. Your seat just got hot, what are you going to do about it??
We were flat in the first half. Even worse in the second, so much for wearing anyone out. Maybe our O-line was beat up from the week before, but they had no surge off the line.
Our D was the one that got wore down.
A team built with a power running game requires a stellar defense, otherwise teams will just out score you. Would you send your 5 star son to play for House?
How did Akron hire Chuck Amato as DC and we get
an inexperience like House?
Did anyone notice Akron had 7 or 8 guys in the box to stop
Connor?
Had to stop watching the game….terrible FB. Blame is on the staff.
Careful, we’re down to about a thousand.
Game day experience? See above and last week. He does control that. I can’t begin to inventory all of the complaints about gameday experience, but I will say this. Many on here have said that they never, triple ever, thought Pitt would lose at home to Akron. There is NO “at home” field advantage, because Heinz is not home. Oakland is home. If anything, playing at Heinz field pumps up the opponent more than our own players. Pitt is used to sharing facilities with the Steelers, opponents are not. AKRON! They have an on-site facility with slightly less than 50k seats. FIU has their own. Did anyone watch the Miami game last night? There is no home field advantage playing at a professional stadium. HELLO, Administration. Get away from the Duquesne Club and think out of the box. We need a smaller stadium that will drive season ticket sales and create an atmosphere and traditions that we lack at Heinz. Wake up.
Next rant will be at PC who I support completely. If you use Jennings, you put in Bertke. He is the prototypical strong armed, accurate passer. Voytik and Anderson do not fit Chyrst’s eyes. Bertke can hand off to Conner on all 4 of our running plays. Pocket passer! Cincy went deep on OSU all night and lost, but they went deep and were successful against a much better opponent. It is an exciting brand of football. 3 yards and dust will not work. 3 times three is 9. Last I checked (even using common core math), that makes a three and out. You need 10 yards, not 9. He needs to open it up, every drive. It is almost the same thing with our hoops team right? We can’t attract the top talent because the system of offense and defense is old school. The elite players want to be on sportscenter, not local news. Speaking of local news, if the local reporters didn’t despise Pederson so bad, we could actually get some good coverage in our hometown. Yes, he is responsible for that too. Another failure! Glad we didn’t have a prediction thread yesterday morning….
All that said, I will be rooting for my panthers next week.Carpe’ Cavaliers!
There should be some sort of gratus counseling service offered by UPMC for those of us trapped in such a repetitive abusive relationship, being a faithful Pitt football fan has proven to be over the last 30 years or so.
GC – “Voytik was awful in the first half, but they still are not giving him enough easy throws, not enough to backs or tight ends and no throws over the middle.”
Comment by gc 09.28.14 @ 8:09 am
That is the real head-shaker for me.
They are not putting him in a good position to succeed.
EXAMPLE – Look at Pitt’s first pass play in the game. The line up Boyd on the left, crossing right, with Voytik as a right-hander. Hard throw to make – there is no room for error on that throw. You cannot lead the receiver on that throw. Its either on the money – or as we saw, not.
Why not line Boyd up on the right and run the same pattern, but heading left? Voytik has a much better chance of making the play if they run it that way.
If I can see this, they should.
Now, having said that about HCPC and Rudolph…this was a complete team loss. Depressing to see us not want it as bad as the Zips. Disgraceful.
I personally hate Sweet Caroline. Who the hell gets hyped up on that song. I wasn’t aware Chuck “The Chest” Amato was there DC. Does Akron outspend us in assistant coaches salaries?
At this point I can’t think of one.
Comment by Reed 09.27.14 @ 3:21 pm”
I won’t criticize you if you don’t.
We need to get to the Virginia game and be 1-0 on the game played on October 4, 2014.
I believe that in today’s college football the teams are all capable of beating one another like BB. Desire, coaching and talent do make a difference but desire in my mind is number one.
It’s for Same Old Pitt..
are we having fun yet???
Comment by Keith 09.27.14 @ 10:06 pm
lol beat ya to it Keith.
I patented it already ! 🙂
SOP
Comment by Emel 09.27.14 @ 2:43 pm
Comment by pittandpsugrad 09.28.14 @ 8:14 am
Agree pitt&__grad
Young teams shouldn’t be that difficult to get up because everything is still new, somewhat fresh and exciting. This is the worst aspect of this coaching staff, imo. As well as their inability to draw up games plans other than bull rushing Connor 30 times a game last year and throw the ball deep last year with Savage.
The pattern here is that after the first few games of each season, and the opposing adjusted to stop Connor and Savage last year. This coaching staff for the most part didn’t have any answers.
And if you can’t motivate players and be able to get them to play with some emotion when it’s needed. AND IF YOU CAN’T ADJUST TO OPPOSING TEAMS during the entire season, let alone not make many if any IN GAME adjustments.
That would seem to indicate you got some serious problems in managing others to get the best out of them. We’ve seen the worst out of them on way too many occasions.
And for those that say if we criticize PITT we don’t love PITT, I say hogwash.
That is akin to saying if you criticize the Gov’t you aren’t an American. Really ???
It is because we love PITT and we want them to be great again.
And that applies to America as well.
The pattern that’s developed is that; after the first few games of each season, the opposing coaching staffs adjusted to stop or contain Connor this year which stops PITT and last year they knew if they stopped(limited) Savage by blitzing they stopped PITT, pretty much.
This coaching staff for the most part didn’t have answers last year and doesn’t seem to have any this year. If they did you wouldn’t score 10 measly points against a scrub team like Akron, who more than likely will be a middling team in the weak MAC. ^
After all.. Marshall of Conference USA just destroyed the Zips 48-17 last week. They only had beaten woebegone D2 Howard before yesterday.
Comment by alcofan 09.28.14 @ 11:29 am
Don’t we seem to say that just about every year after one of these mind-blowingly losses to MAC or D2 schools.
How it will play out is: if we’re lucky we’ll end up in another irrelevant bowl game like the last several years.
Call me clairvoyant ! 🙂
Comment by Dr. Tom 09.28.14 @ 10:14 am
I think that’s the main purpose of The Blather Doc.
It’s amazing we still have so many that even care anymore. Good thing we have long memories. (of when PITT was actually relevant in football)
How soon we forget when the ball happens to bounce our way too. Everybody was boo whooing the win against lowly Duke last season, but what did we know they actually don’t suck in football now. Who knew?
The Syracuse win was also a GIFT when we got that timeout right before the faked punt that saved that win and got us to bowl eligibility at the end of that game.
Yeah we really played like $hit yesterday. We’re not top 25 material apparently, but we will win again. We can at least take solice in that, can’t we? Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start getting ready for Virginia.
From a football perspective, Start Bertke! May as well do that and let him work with Jennings. Anderson and Voytik have the same skill set. We need to be 1-0 after saturdays tilt.
