(This is a weekly series of articles entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback”. I will try to post them two days after the football games are played so as to have our wilder emotions under control by then. It will be my take on the positives and the negatives we saw happen and a chance for commenters to agree or disagree and to add their own thoughts.)
I tried to tell myself to wait until Monday to do this edition of this series but for a few personal (travel) reasons I just can’t put it off. This will be short but not sweet as there aren’t many positives to talk about at all. We had our asses handed to us by the freakin’ Akron Zips of the MAC conference! That says it all really. I’ll put down some more personal opinions at the end of this article.
POSITIVES
1. Our kicking game continues to do well. Punter Ryan Winslow was tasked with punting seven times due to the ineptitude of our offense and had a 42.1 ypp average. His longest was 49 yards; he put two punts inside Akron’s 20 yard line, had one touchback and two fair catches. That leaves another positive in that two of his punts were returned for a total of 10 yards, which means our Punting Team covered well. Our own punt return team didn’t fare so well and looked like the Two Stooges at one point. This one play is burned forever into my eyeballs.
Chris Blewitt stayed his good kicking self as he went 1/1 on a 34 yard FG and kicked off three times for three touchbacks. When a kicker can limit the opponent’s starting field position to their own 25 yards line that’s playing well. So far on the season Blewitt is 7/7 for 21 points and has completed 19 of 20 PATs for a total of 40 points.
2. Hmmm, let’s see. Ok – RB Rachid Ibrahim continues to shine in his very limited role. He had three catches out of the backfield for 40 yards, a 13 yarder which was and a 26 yarder, both for 1st downs and all YAC, and one rushing attempt for 10 yards. His abilities to run with the ball are as good as Boyd’s so use Ibrahim more and don’t rely on Conner up the middle so much.
His game wasn’t perfect as he missed a couple blitz pickups but in the Fog of War those things can be overlooked. He is a multi-talented kid who I’ve liked ever since he was recruited out of my area down here in Maryland.
During the game I commented that we needed a back who was quicker to the hole than Conner was showing yesterday and Ibrahim would have really helped the team with 5-10 carries on the day. His season totals so far are pretty impressive for a guy who gets small spot duty; 16 carries for 106 yards (6.6 ypc) with a long of 17 yards. His receiving has been good but really sparingly used; 4 catches for 43 yards (10.8 ypc) and a long of 26 as we saw on that nice swing pass yesterday. 10.8 ypc might not seem like much but remember he’s coming out of the backfield.
3. I have to reach for this one, I’d say Vinopal’s INT was nice but then again he whiffed on so many plays for so much Akron yardage (as the whole team did) I crossed him off. So, I’ll go with the fact that the staff burnt Adonis Jennings’ redshirt and put him in for a few plays. It wasn’t any sort of remarkable play from Jennings that makes me like this move, he had only one reception for 11 yards, but it was Chryst finally acknowledging that we need every bit of talent we can field out there playing for us, every damn bit and future be damned.
I’ve never been wrapped around the wheel about preserving redshirts anyway. I think there are way too many variables in a college player’s four years that one can assume he’ll even be on the team to take advantage of his 4th season of eligibility anyway. Unless you can stockpile 4* and 5* recruits like some of the monster college football programs do you have to use every player you can to WIN GAMES NOW. So, I didn’t mind this move at all and actually applauded it.
I did think it was kind of ironic that Jennings was used and lost his extra year because a deep passing threat, which Jennings most certainly is, is completely lost with our current QB under center. It does make me wonder though… is the next redshirt to be burnt a true freshman QB who can actually throw decent deep passes to Jennings and Boyd?
NEGATIVES
1. It is kind of nice that I’m limited to only three issue for this section as I can write all day about things that not only were negatives but that went terribly wrong yesterday. I’ll start with this; Paul Chryst and his staff have done a horribly poor job of motivating these kids, especially the younger ones, to power through adversity. The whole team carried over the Iowa game’s 2nd half malaise and from the 1st quarter until the end was two steps behind Akron’s play out on the field.
I didn’t see anyone throwing the towel in out there or any indications that the kids gave up, but it was evident from the very start of the game that they were not ready to come out and play good football against a team that they should have beaten. No fire, no real emotion and by the end of the game some real frustration. The staff has to re-evaluate the track they themselves are on and make some changes to how they approach these games week to week. If we show this lack of intensity and want then we’ll be lucky if we win another game.
2. The total lack of an ability to stop a suspect Akron running game. Our run defense was our strength throughout our first four games and it completely dissolved on Saturday. Even after Akron broke a couple of 10+ yard runs in the 1st half you had a feeling that we were containing the run pretty well and would keep doing that and then force Akron to beat us through the air in the 2nd half.
Akron shot that down right away when they came out of halftime with running the ball #1 on the agenda, and it worked to perfection. On their 2nd half TDs drive series Akron ran for 42, 11, 3 in the first one and 8, 12, 8 and 3 for the second one. That might not sound like much but the fact is that our DC was unable to see what was happening and make proper adjustments. At times we had only two down lineman in front of the Akron RBs and they made us pay for it. Those two 2nd half TDs Akron had were supposed to be the way PITT would win the game.
3. Chad Voytik. In last week’s MMQB I said this at the end of the ‘Negatives’ section; “Don’t get me started on his lack of deep passing, I’m getting resigned we won’t see it on a regular basis maybe for the whole season.” Now I’m at the point where I actually am resigned that it won’t happen often at all and if by chance Voytik does start completing well thrown long balls I’ll run right out and buy a winning Lotto ticket. Five games in and the longest pass play we have is 41 yards to Boyd. That was a nice throw, he should try it more often don’t you think?
Yes, he completed some late passes Saturday and yes, he racked up some late yardage but that was at later in the game while behind by 11 points, and having Akron showing a very loose “don’t get beat deep’ defense.
Forget about those stats Voytik racked up in the 4th quarter of play. He played poorly out there Saturday and did nothing to show any real improvement over his first four games. Every negative trait we have mentioned in the past that Voytik has been showing was still there. I’m not going to list them here again; we have talked about then ad nauseam on here.
Even his running game, which is his only actual strength, was hesitant save for that one good 1st down scamper, which was great to watch. When that goes out the door I think some real serious decisions have to be at least talked about and considered by the offensive staff for the future of the team.
Notes:
Lastly and I do have to ask this. When I read all the “Open Thread” comments during these first five games I get that there is a real sense of disappointment when the fans are watching Voytik play out there. Did none of us pay any attention at all to what was being written about him in the media in the preseason? Forget about what I’ve been saying on here for a long time, but think about what the local writers said during this fall’s camp.
When you read local writers, who by their professional nature can’t be too critical of individual players, say things like ‘Voytik had an off day again’ and ‘Voytik needs work that will hopefully come from game experience’ or ‘Voytik is still taking the 1st team snaps in camp’ you really have to read between the lines. I’m paraphrasing those quotes but each of those thoughts and more were expressed by the media directly up until the opener. ‘Off day…’, ‘needs work…’ and ‘still taking…’ are super secret media code words for “fans, don’t get too excited about this kid yet”.
This is why I’m not as angry or frustrated about what we are seeing out there with him as many PITT fans are. I guess you can put some blame on the OC for his play calling but that’s minor in my mind. The OC isn’t out there trying to complete passes. At the end of camp I figured that Voytik would be average at best this season and maybe grow into a better QB for us in 2015. But at this point, with two+ years in the program and five starts under his belt, he still looks pretty unsure and panicky out there.
I’m still hoping he can carry those few bright spots we have seen in the Iowa and Akron games over to play a full and good game in the future. He has some of the physical skills needed to do so, he just needs to learn to settle in and trust himself to execute his plays – which he isn’t doing yet.
Finally: I read that there was an old European punishment called “The Goat Torture” where they would soak a man’s feet in salty water and let goats lick at them continually. First it tickled, then it was irritating and finally, as they kept dunking the guy’s feet into the water day after day and the goats would keep licking them day after day until the pain was so intense, he would go insane. And so it goes as a PITT fan…
That’s it – three thumbs up and three thumbs down. How did you see it?
Steve H. – No one’s saying that Voytik can’t throw short passes, he can as evidenced by that fine pass to Boyd that was called back by penalty. That pass is a ‘quick hit’ where its the primary receiver with no checkdown. Voytik’s problem is that next play was a longer, poorly thrown incompletion.
I wonder at this point if the OC & HC think that deep passes are more of a risk than reward. Our QB’s inconsistency of accuracy on those passes could lead to more INTs, which is the one thing Voytik has been pretty good at not doing. The staff probably think that every possession is too valuable to risk ending on a mistake.
But as I said above – if we have Boyd and Jennings active then those are two fantastic deep play guys so our QB HAS to start taking advantage of that. We also have to remember that those deep pass play calls also have the 2nd and 3rd receivers out in patterns so Voytik may just be skipping over the deep receivers and going shot because he’s more confident those would work. Again, the OC calls the plays but the QB is the guy with the ball and the options.
Akron’s play calling was far more creative (and that’s putting it nicely), but I had to wonder if our seemingly pitiful playing calling was due to a lack of thought/preparation, or were the plays hamstrung by the lack of confidence in CV? I don’t know, just asking. Best play call of the day was the rollout throw to Holtz, the only pass I could see that went to a TE all day.
Regarding CV: He never throws up the middle, which has effectively eliminated TEs from our arsenal. He struggles with his decision making as well. Notice the Akron QB constantly look in one direction and throw back in another… I think there’s now enough live game data to conclude that a QB change should be considered. Given that the abilities, attributes & limitations are presumably almost identical between CV & TA (and that CV beat out TA), and considering the position that the teams is in right now, I’d alternate Bertke next Sat. with CV, and let the more effective guy win the job. I don’t think it’ll happen, just think it’s time to take some chances, play with urgency, and try to carve out a new direction.
I think Pederson should go, but really Gallagher needs to decide if we intend to play big time college football (if so, spend MONEY) or focus on research grants and academics. Quit being dishonest with the fan base. We deserve better. H2P
I don’t think there is much Pitt can do to help the defense other than get it’s offense rolling. The two things I think we can do to help the offense is play our two biggest freshman recruits. James is more of a homerun threat than Conner. If he breaks past the first 5 yds…he may go all the way. Get Jennings out there to take some pressure off of Boyd. As for Voytik…I can only hope he improves…but I just think the kid doesn’t have it.
Here in lies the issue. Does Coach Chryst continue to hitch his wagon to our current starting QB while Chad attempts to improve his discussion making, progressions and actual long ball throwing technique while we play ACC games against better foes that have been handed the formula required to beat Pitt by watching the Akron game film?
That could prove to be a pretty ugly experiment against Virginia and VT. Worse yet, if Chryst concludes that Voytik’s development remains slow, then we’ll probably be sitting at 3-4 at that point and he’ll be doing damage control at that point to sedate a frustrated fan base while trying NOT to lose his team at the same time.
So what’s a rational alternative after such a poor “team” performance against Akron? I suggest that doing NOTHING new but “cleaning things up” as usual after watching the film will not be the correct answer. This loss was unacceptable. The coaching staff needs to shake this team’s mindset up and at the very least try to find a new winning formula going into our ACC schedule.
Adonis Jennings, apparently, is going to play this season. That is a step in the right direction. Gabe Roberts replaced Officer midgame on Saturday, that’s another move to find a solution to a poor offensive performance during the game. By logical progression, why not try our RS junior QB for a game or two to experiment with the most important position on the offense if a shake up is desirable and you have a pretty good chance of getting beat over that period of time anyhow based on previous experience?
Even if Trey Anderson is no better than CV in running the Offense, that change will add a new dynamic to the mix that should influence how our guys feel about themselves and their future potential to win games, and it produces an “unknown” factor that Virginia will have to adjust to “in game” when Trey trots out on the field Saturday night to lead the Panthers.
Coach Chryst will probably stay with CV, that’s my bet, but I would respect his decision to change things up with Anderson. I also feel that Anderson “deserves” his chance. He has been a loyal Panther, he’s been a team player, doing whatever requested by the staff for four years now, and the team would rally around him, supporting him while they hope to turn this thing around.
This season is far from lost, but how Coach Chryst deals with this totally unacceptable loss will be the preface to the rest of the story in his remaining tenure as our head football coach. IMO, doing “nothing” new but expecting a different result than what we got on Saturday, tells me that we have future trouble on our hands and probably at 5-7 season staring back at us come season’s end.
I too have been a CV supporter, and with no regrets, but like I said, now that the there’s enough live data to look at, I agree with you, that he probably just doesn’t have it. You can make a really good case for alternating him with TA, as Trey has truly earned the opportunity, but with where things are at right now, I’d just want to throw in my best player, and I suspect that’s Bertke. I would prefer we take some real chances right now.
Same goes for Pitt. We are the youngest team in FBS with almost 80% freshmen and sophomores. Our players need to grow (muscle) and gain experience before we throw them into games against the varsity.
We should not be expecting our JV team to win. Next year they will be a very young varsity team and we can hope they will begin to be able to compete against those older, stronger more experienced teams.
@ Shawn, Bertke should be considered in the mix but at this point he is NOT the “next man up”! If I’m the head coach, in my QB meeting today I lay out the plan, Anderson is this week’s starter and Bertke better digest that playbook over the next couple weeks, since he’s on deck if Trey’s opportunity doesn’t pan out either. Right now Bertke looks like our future QB. ” FUTURE” as in not now, Bertke needs to RS this year and get ready to compete for serious playing time come Spring practices.
Let’s hope that Bertke never sees the field this season, because if that is the case, it means that nothing but bad karma has befallen Pitt football in 2014. That would be playing for Pitt’s future, getting Bertke playing time this year, but it would surely indicate that this season has been lost already, remember the mantra for this season is “why not now” but that means winning now, not playing our unprepared freshman QB NOW.
Chad looks like a high school QB out there. The weak arm, physical stature, rattled in the pocket and scrambling for no reason.. The only throws he can consistently hit are the RB swing out of the backfield, and a 10 yard out… Everything about his game screams HS QB… Nothing screams 3rd year player, ACC starter.
This is the scenario most were dreading… Chad struggles/gets hurt, Trey stinks(I’m sorry, should have been ‘we already know Trey’s limited ceiling’), and there’s no way Bertke is ready.
Just a sad, sad state right now at the most important position on the field, with no end in sight…
And why is there only 1 QB recruit in this class? Most schools have 5-6 scholarship QBs.. Guys transfer, guys stink, guys get kicked off the team.. That’s why you need numbers. Give yourself some options.
It’s stupid for me to stay in and block, because even if we protect Chad, he’s gonna take off and run.
Would I have a better shot at the NFL if I transfer, sit out a year, and play 1 season somewhere my talent can be highlighted? Or do I stick it out here, and get my cardio in every Saturday for the next 2 years.
Connor looked to be running hard in the first half and had some holes but some of those 6-9 yard runs weren’t 15-20 yard runs because Akron stacked the box. In the second half, it looked to my untrained eye that Connor slowed down and looked a bit banged up. Ibrahim, Bennett and James might not be Shady, Dion and Ray Graham but they are pretty damn good backs. They have to be given a chance and set up to the plate and deliver.
I really don’t know what to do with Voytik. I like the kid. I still think he can be a good college qb but I admit he doesn’t look much better in week 5 than he did in week 1. He is limiting the offense so drastically right now it’s going to be tough to get man w’s with the rest of our schedule if things don’t improve immediately. I don’t care what the stats say, Akron had everyone in the box, we have an All-America wr on the outside and we still can’t make them pay with the forward pass.
The defense isn’t stellar by any means but they are not awful to date. Akron had a ton of possessions and scored 21 points. Eh, not good don’t get me wrong. But not embarrassing. Iowa scored 24 points. BC 20. Not awful. Our db’s are good but the pass rush isn’t much better. Lewis had to step in for Maddox and made a few plays actually but was just confused/turned around on the long td. He was there, just no idea how to make the play. One thing that seemed odd to me was that it looked like we only had 2 down linemen at times in the second half. Not sure what that was about. I get the sub-packages and the need for the Nickel but anyone can run on you with 2 down linemen and Grigsby and Bradley in there who are built like safeties more than lbs. Maybe someone can chime in on this as admittedly my eyes wore down by the 4th and I stopped paying very close attention.
6 or less in the box, we’re running the veer and giving it to our 2 star, slow, white kid from Ohio RB who had 43 yards on the season coming into the game, so he can pick up 10 yards (seriously, 7.8 YPC).
7 or more, lets run a couple crossing routes under their safeties, or play action pop to the TE..
We can run these three plays, and chew them up for almost 400 yards.
I probably didn’t need to clarify. lol
Also, as Pittnumerous listed above, James may be the home run threat .. as we seem to be lacking in big plays these past two games. And since Jennings had his redhsirt burnt, maybe he can prove to be a big play threat.
Note that RB and WR are two positions that a freshman can really contribute since they both rely more on natural ability and instincts than other positions.
Caw, you are corect. We have a JV squad and a JV staff …. I’m just hoping we begin to se results in the near future. I’m going to make the same statement I made last year …. if we see improvement, then I am encouraged. Problem is from the 4th game on last year, I saw very little improvement (except for the 2nd half in the bowl game.)
A screen? Something to the TEs? Gotta be able to release the pressure. At least make the other guy something to think about.
And if Chad can’t get through the progression to the TEs.. Then make them the primary read for a handfull of plays.
Maybe he should spend a little more time on fundamentals, such as drills where receivers have to look the ball into one hand, rather than reading coverages to get open – then dropping the ball.
Voytik was recruited by Todd Graham to be a roll out QB. PC is trying to turn him into a pocket passer. He recruits huge offensive linemen. Voytik is 6’1″”, but plays like he’s 5’6″. Pitt needs a 6’5″ strong-armed QB (I know, easy to say).
I like PC, but he is not a natural motivator. He doesn’t have the personality to fire up the players, and probably would seem phony if he did. They say if you have a weakness that you can’t correct, hire an assistant who can.
That was a just a really boring game to watch… I usually don’t hard on attendance, or atmosphere (because I believe if you win, all that stuff takes care of itself)… But when you combine it with a crappy MAC team, and everything else.. That was just a poor, poor product.
Makes me wonder why I’m buying season tickets… This was my first year back in the city since college, and I was excited to get season tix and support the guys…
But man, I can think of better ways to spend a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon.
Good stuff on Lewis, and the down linemen situation.
I don’t know if it was by design, or he was that bad and his man was running that open.. But it seemed like they went after him every time he was in the game.
And I know Troy Dougless ain’t coachin the kind of technique he displayed on the deep ball… Ugly
When there are only 2 down lineman, I can run between the tackles for 8 yards.. What the heck was that?! It was on like first and second down too?
Good point about making the TEs the primary read every now and then. If Voytik simply can’t get through his reads maybe we need to force him to throw the ball to the TE on occasion. Hell, he forces it to Boyd in double coverage so we might as well have him force it to TEs who are running wide open. I know, I’m over simplifying things and half jokingly throwing out options.
I do think the coaches need to do a better job of getting him comfortable. He’s jittery in the pocket so call some designed rollouts early, or a qb draw or something that gets him going and calmed down.
First, however, Chancellor Gallagher needs to fire AD Pederson. He’s had more than long enough to find a good football coach and/or provide his football program with the support they need to succeed on the field and he’s failed to do so. Gallagher should find his woman or man to be AD and make it clear that turning the football program around is job #1.
Over the last 5 years, we have DW going 7-5, fired, largely because of off field player issues. Michael Haywood, hired and fired over the course of two weeks because of a domestic abuse arrest, Todd Graham hired who goes 6-6 and then leaves after 11 months on the job, specifically citing promises not kept by Pederson (not that you can trust anything he says but still), Paul Chryst hired, 6-6 with a loss at home to FCS YSU, 6-6 with a loss to Navy, and currently 3-2 with at home loss to Akron. And DW goes on TV and cites SP as an obstacle for Chryst’s success.
Ignoring all the other issues with Pederson – changing our school colors, changing our logo, forcing Dino-cat down our throats, and on ad nauseum, the last 5 years and 4 coaching decisions alone should be enough for him to be fired.
This being year 3 of 5 for Chryst, we need to make a decision about him by the end of next season at the latest, no matter what. And Pederson’s record clearly demonstrates that he should neither be the person to make a determination about whether to extend Chryst nor be involved in hiring Chyrst’s replacement. Pederson absolutely must go, and he must go now.
Also, how did all these people become experts on what Trey can do? The guy has played about ten minutes over the past three seasons if I’m not mistaken, and never more than one series at a time?! His true freshman year was I think the only time he got to even play a whole quarter of football and it turned out he had a badly damaged wrist that season…
True, he may not be any better than Voytik but how on earth would any of you know? A shameful loss to Akron isn’t enough to get you to take a small chance? Waiting for that 66-0 thumping from UVA or UNC to get you motivated?
Now I’m not calling for Chryst’s head yet but let’s go, third year as the head coach is time to take the training wheels off and that goes double for that questionable hire at DC. House has to produce this season. Up until Saturday the defense has been acceptable. Where do we go from here?
@ PittHW, Start the fire Pederson, I’ll be glad to sign it. BTW, you forgot to include the genius idea to change the University’s nickname from “Pitt” to “Pittsburgh” was certainly brilliant too. Just fire the dude now and get a real AD in place ASAP.
Well the reason I hold out hope for Voytik is he has shown us glimpses of how good he can be.
I’m not going to list every good or great pass he’s thrown but there have been several. The 57 second TD drive at the end of the 1st half at BC which probably won that game is a good example. We went 80 yards in 6 plays.
Last 4 plays of that drive was all Voytik:
> 2nd and 10 at BC 46 Chad Voytik run for 10 yds to the BC 36 for a 1ST down
>> 1st and 10 at BC 36 Chad Voytik pass complete to J.P. Holtz for 9 yds to the BC 27 (hey he hit the TE, what do you know)
>>> 2nd and 1 at BC 27 Chad Voytik pass complete to Manasseh Garner for 22 yds to the BC 5 for a 1ST down. This was just a gorgeous pass, along the sidelines. On the dime as they say.
>>>> 1st and Goal at BC 5 Chad Voytik pass complete to Tyler Boyd for 5 yds for a TD, (Chris Blewitt KICK)
So this drive proves the kid has the talent to produce quality football. He hit the throws on the dime or PITT probably loses this game as well, as BC outplayed us in the 2nd half. This drive gave us the 20 – 7 halftime cushion.
Now do I think he should have been sat on Saturday against Akron for a few series ?
Yes I do. It worked against FIU, so since the team was so flat, a change in QB could have energized the troops. And maybe also re-energize Voytik when/if in came back in.
I couldn’t believe when he was thinking a 7 win season would about all this team was capable of.
Just the homer fan in me, but here we are the unthinkable happening again. It’s like being a Pirate fan for 20 horribly played baseball seasons.
It’s not that we don’t win it’s the teams we lose to and how we find a way to lose that just rips your heart out. I quit watching baseball 10 years ago and I’m on the verge, after waiting 30 years for this Program to get rebuilt for the 5th time, of giving up on Pitt football. If Reed thinks next year is the real judge of this team then I’ll hold on a little longer but this lose has me on life support.
Emel, you clearly love Voytik so I won’t try to convince you anymore…other than to say your points seem very selective in weeding out his lesser moments…which seem more damaging than his strong moments beneficial. Conner pounded BC into submission and Voytik hit a few nice passes, but they weren’t all that impressive. He threw into heavy coverage vs. Iowa and Akron in both second halves, and was lucky to only have one pick out of it…the pick six at the end of the game to terminate things was really awful, and had nothing to do with the kid jumping offsides…just lucky we got that call.
If you’re willing to put Trey in and let Voytik sit to ‘get things started’, what would you do if we won the game with Trey in there?
If Anderson was put in and performed well and was instrumental in leading us to a victory, of course you would go with him the next game. What else ? lol
The holding call on Dorian Johnson cost us a TD.
And there were several other calls in the 1st half that those MAC refs called on us that gave us long down & distance plays or negated PITT gains.
Are we or are we not a Power 5 school ?
Plus PC is known more for his rushing bludgeon the other team offense than a passing attack.
Savage I read, really wanted to transfer back to Rutgers but that wasn’t allowed and sort of ‘fell’ into PC’s lap. Since he had to pay tuition I believe the year he sat out, at least it was ‘in-state’ tuition for him. Him being from the eastern part of PA. It probably came down to PITT and Temple for his services. Ever been to Temple’s campus.
Nothing would make me happier.
Chancellor Gallagher doesn’t give a damn about PITT football right now. His first order of business is 1) keep the university’s main mission areas running smoothly; 2) meet with each big money donor and make sure they are in the fold for the Changing of the Guard and 3) Do all of the above again except get better then before in the main mission areas.
I guarantee you football is about the last thing on his mind right now. One reason is that whether PITT goes 3-9 or 9-3 the school is going to receive exactly the same amount of money in 2014. he’s not going to fire Steve Pederson until there are only a year or two left on SP’s new contract if at all, so put that out of mind also. Gallagher was hired by the BoT to run the University, not the Athletic department. As I’ve said before we won’t see SP or Chryst fired this year unless a major national scandal breaks out – which won’t happen.
Guys, don’t kid yourselves that Anderson is real far behind Voytik in skills and talents. I think we fans are basing that from seeing Anderson in 2011, but he’s a different player now.
He outplayed Voytik a bunch of times in the Fall camp. He has a good deep pass, smoother passes with as much or more accuracy and I think a better command of the position than our current QB. As to running with the ball – I’d say Anderson is just about as good. Remember that TG grabbed Anderson to be that mobile QB to run his high octane offense so the kid can move.
You know Chryst trusts Anderson out there when he gave him the ball on our one yard line and we went down and scored.
I’ve said before that IMO the sole reason Chryst had Voytik as the starting QB coming out of camp is because he figured to have a solid three years with him and thought that he (Chryst) could mold him into a player like Russell Wilson who was the 2011 QB under Chryst at Wisconsin. That season Russell only ran 79 times – way lower than his previous time at NC State and about half as much as the year before – and Chryst molded him into the prototype NFL pocket QB who was pass 1st and run 2nd.
That is the thought anyway and I don’t think Chryst is going to yank Voytik on a permanent basis any time soon.
Chryst jumped on Savage as soon as the BE said he couldn’t transfer back to RU, and Chryst was looking for transfers even before that. There was no way Voytik was going to start last season.
Reed, I hope your wrong about Chryst…man, that’s bull to play a guy simply because you have more years with him instead of because he earned it. Sadly, I don’t doubt it.
Matt – I have thought for some time that if Anderson was to be the solid QB1 taking 1st string snaps in the camps and practices that he’d do OK as a starter – lots of other people don’t feel that way though. He’s no star QB but I think he’d be a solid starter for us.
However, please remember that I have said that Voytik could also grow into a solid starter for us, perhaps not this year but in ’15.
Who really knows, But in the last two years Chryst played his 2nd string QBs hardly at all yet we’ve seen Anderson out there in the 1st two games.
It’s crazy. I guess change really is scary as F for a lot of people — the devil you know…and all that sort of thing. I would have guessed after Tino people would have chilled and allowed for some new thinking, but clearly I guessed wrong. Wow.
