It’s that time of year everyone. It’s time for Pitt’s annual beat down of the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE. If this game doesn’t fire you up then I suggest you look at the cold metal walls around you because you’re IN THE MORGUE. IT’S ARCHRIVAL ORANGE WEEK AND WE’RE GONNA PELT THEM WITH KIWIS UNTIL THE ENTIRE STATE OF NEW YORK RUNS OUT OF BENADRYL!!!!! THE STREETS OF SYRACUSE WILL FLOOD WITH PULP!! FLORIDA’S ECONOMY WILL TAKE A HIT SO SEVERE THAT MARCO RUBIO RESIGNS IN SHAME!!! AL CAPONE WILL RISE FROM HIS GRAVE TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE EXCESSIVE ORANGES IN THE STREETS TO MAKE MANY OLD FASHIONEDS. Dan Akroyd and Eddie Murphy’s investment will be safe though.
Let’s take a look at the many ways Pat Narduzzi will send Scott Shafer to the ER.
The ARCHRIVAL ORANGE have had an interesting journey so far this season. Senior QB Terrel Hunt went down in week one with a season ending knee injury. This forced true freshman Eric Dungey into the lineup and he has been fantastic. Dungey’s arm and legs have been the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE’S only weapon on offense for most of the season. In their triple OT loss to Virginia last week, he accounted for 70% of their total yards. Dungey will not hesitate to take off and run and the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE will use that running ability on option plays as well several times a game.
Like Pitt, the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE will use a RB rotation. Four players have at least 18 carries but it’s worth noting only one player (leading rusher Jordan Fredericks) has a touchdown against a FBS opponent. Ben Lewis will also see time in the backfield but almost exclusively as a third down/receiving back. During their three game losing streak no ARCHRIVAL ORANGE RB has had a game with more than 35 yards. That’s TERRIBLE. The advanced stats I linked above show an average rushing attack, but the success of Dungey’s legs skews that by a large margin.
When Dungey throws, he does have some respectable options that enable him to spread the ball around. Steve DON’T CALL ME Ishmael is the primary target, but Dungey will spread Pitt’s defense out and try to dink and dunk up the field. The defense will need to be disciplined on short routes to keep them as such. I also expect Dungey’s release to be quick to try and negate Pitt’s pass rush. We’ll see screens, quick hits, and maybe a few run-pass options.
Best case scenario is another VT. Motley was the Hokies’ only threat on the ground at the time and when he didn’t have time to throw nothing went right. Dungey and Motley are comparable as runners but Dungey isn’t as strong. Dungey also doesn’t have the weapons Motley had. Worst case scenario is the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE move the ball with quick passes and the read option and go score for score with Pitt.
Defensively, the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE are rather average. They’re 69th in total yards, giving up 393 yards per game (848 rushing 1513 passing) and 80th in points (27.8 PPG). Nothing jumps out as something this unit is particularly good at. There are things that are above average but I couldn’t find anything they were top 25 in (sacks, TFL, turnover margin, etc). USF RBs had 228 yards and 3 TDs on the ground two weeks ago and the anemic rushing attack of Virginia still topped 150 yards. The passing defense is worse, giving up 252 yards per game in the air. They do have six interceptions, but only one has been in the past three games.
Best case scenario is Chaney’s crew can establish the run early and take control of the game. The only way the ARCHRIVAL ORANGE can rely on winning this game is a close, defensive struggle. They do not have the talent on offense to keep up in a shootout. Even if Pitt’s defense falters a bit, an established running game along with no turnovers will virtually guarantee this as a Pitt win. Worst case: turnovers and a bad running game.
Overall, this could be the first time the offense and defense play a complete game for Pitt. Last week the offense finally put together a really good effort but the defense faltered against GT. I predict a convincing win for Pitt 37-13.
I’ll be hitting the whisky in the first half…more to calm my nerves than celebrate, but both hopefully. Looking forward to the return of our nasty D from the one week anomaly of GTECH…truly an annoying team to play, and so glad we beat them. Coach Johnson, welcome to the 21st century, 1978 called and wants its offense back.
Smart kids graduating from the good high schools in Bergen County, NJ have been picking PITT to attend. Part of reason is scholarship money PITT is giving to brighter students. The $60M to $70M private colleges in the East don’t seem to be worth the cost even in the affluent area.
PITT: 42
CUSE: 24
P-I-T-T… LET’S GO PITT!!!!
Pitt wins by 6.
I say ditch the Jester Weah trials and tribulations and get Ford and Scott Orndoff downfield deep more often. Orndoff always surprises the LBs who try to cover him deep because he has speed they don’t expect a TE to have.
We have done an excellent job at away games, Iowa included, so I think the typical 3 point home field advantage is in the wind.
Chaney said in an interview with Rivals that his playcalling was the reason the deep balls to Boyd haven’t been tried much and that he;ll open it up more now that Peterman has four complete game’s experience under his belt.
That’s nice for him to shoulder the blame but there is always, almost always, a deep route receiver on each called passing play and Peterman is hitting the shorter routes – which happen to be Boyd on most plays. I think we’ll see some tomorrow and I would like to see 1-2 deep tries each half at least from now on.
We get the win and everyone loves HCPC again because he was the best recruited Pitt ever had… or something.
I’ll try to get a MMQB up but have been super busy trying to get all of you old-time commenters into a murder mystery as suspects.
Incredible photos, going back, way back. E.g., a photo of the Carnegie Tech — Notre Dame football game from 1926. Carnegie Tech, btw, won in an upset. Baseball, football, boxing, it is all covered. Rooney, Sutherland, etc., etc.
ORANGE you glad we whip ’em??
I mentioned to them, that I was a Pitt grad and our two teams were playing Saturday.
They were like…”oh”.
I love archrivals week !
The Orange aren’t very good. Yes they are 3-3. But the 3 wins are Rhode Island(1-6 FCS), Wake Forest (3-4) & Central Michigan (3-4). So that is 7-14.
Pitt should win pretty easily, as the Orangemen’s offense is ranked #111.
In Emel’s Crystal Ball…I see a Pitt 31-17 win !!
I thought it was mezcal if it had a worm.
Haven’t drank that sh*t since the nite I almost ended up in a Mexican jail.
Pitt winning by 10+ points 37% of voters
All of their writing staff has Pitt winning.
Folks in TN didn’t see this, Nate enjoying shutting people up.
I worked as a Regional Sales Mgr. for a division of the Company that was renamed ENRON. I kid you not. At one point I got balled out by my VP for not spending enough money of my office’s budget. He told me to spend more to make sure if I needed more money the next yr. he would be able to get it for me. SO I took my 6 salesmen on a three day sales meeting at a local resort.
About two yrs. later, I started my own business. Ended up lossing all the stock option money they gave me after the Comapny lost it all years later. I was a dumb shit and was too busy to cash it in.
But with Narduzzi I really feel like he’s got the word across that each Saturday is like a different season.
Here you go bro. Enjoy !
Lost a ton of money and more importantly…time.
I won’t name the name of the company. But they were one of the ones who bought naming rights to a sports stadium. So all appeared normal.
Hope we re not looking ahead or behind.
I’ve seen some of the strangest games at the Carrier Dome.
Weird things happens. I just have a feeling of dread about tomorrow that I’ve not had at any game this year. H2P!!
Final score 21-14 because you know they won’t do that.
Hail to Pitt!
What we beat them twice in hoops last year with a crummy team.
All the CBS Sports experts like Cuse with the Points.
I’d love to 35 plus to 6 or less. But maybe a lunch pail win would be better. 24-17 will do. That way the team can go into the meat grinder of the last 5 games with humility and hunger…
I was at Achibold and saw Floyd Little run wild over us. I think that was 1964.
Syracuse can play. I hope we don’t take them lightly
IF memory serves be correctly, Yes “Rooster Jones” was who you watched. He was a scat back who could fly and yes he resembled a strutting rooster when he walked and ran!
“Too Much Jones” I believe was a basketball player for the Panthers and was extremely flashy and fun to watch.
Thanks for the memories!!! H2P
This is why the House D stunk, no pressure, QB’s doing want they wanted with plenty of time to make good decisions.
This is why with mostly the same guys, they are much better.
Dungey is their whole offense, stop him and you stop Syracuse.
Let’s Go Pitt!
We could lose any game on our schedule and we could always pull a 2006 when we were 6-1 and tanked the rest of the season to end up 6-6… But the more I read and research about this team the better I feel is is actually a solid work in progress that is succeeding a bit more each game.
We’ll give up some points to their run game but I also think we see another effective passing game on NP’s part again.
Pitt 31 – SYR 24
Jaryd JSmith Out Knee Jones-Smith will miss the entire 2015 season with a knee injury.
Alex Paulina Out Shoulder Paulina will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.
Rachid Ibrahim Out Achilles Ibrahim has suffered an Achilles injury which will keep him out for the entire season.
Reggie Mitchell Questionable Foot Mitchell missed the last game with a foot injury and is questionable to play against Syracuse.
Tre Tripton Questionable Leg Tripton has missed the last two games with a leg injury and is questionable to return
Chris Wuestner Questionable Abdominal Wuestner missed the last two games with an abdominal injury and is questionable
Terrish Webb Probable Undisclosed Webb left the last game with an undisclosed injury but expected to play Saturday @ Syracuse.
Jordn Whitehead Probable Head Whitehead is expected to play Saturday against Syracuse despite a head injury.
BTW – I’ll be in beautiful Navy-Marines Memorial Stadium in Annapolis watching our Next-Gen War-fighters in a game against Tulane.
So don’t anyone call me or anything because I have the Pitt game being recorded for later viewing.
ESPNU @ 1200 for Pitt-SYR TV viewing in case anyone was wondering.
I was always indifferent to our arch rival Orange – until I had the misfortune of sitting next to a few Cuse fans at a bar when Pitt lost to Butler in the Tourney. Smug, arrogant, and obnoxious. East Coast superiority.
I thought perhaps an exception, enhanced by the fact that I was in a particularly dark mood following that game…until I attended a football game up there a few years ago, and found that many had the same attitude. I guess that comes from having a successful (and somewhat slimey) hoops program?
Combine a somewhat obnoxious fan base with the over-coverage they get because 90% of the sports media are alums, and I now have a solid distaste for the Orange.
You brought back a neat memory … While marching, we’d have some cool/funny chants, for our entertainment. I remember marching past some really good looking young ladies on their way to the game. Our company started a chant … “Get a little; Get a little …… Yarrrrrrdage!!”
2014 6 games; 428 yds @ 5 catches per game for 71.3 ypg; 4 TDs @ .66 TDs per game; 14.3 ypc
2015 5 games; 396 yds @ 8 catches per game for 79.2 ypg; 4 TDs @ .66 TDs per game; 9.7 ypc
So, if looking at per game production Boyd is doing better this season than he had last season with the exception of YPC and that total fell off pretty dramatically. I think that will start to rise a bit.
But in everything else he’s a ahead of last season’s game by game production given the difference in games (6-5) between the two seasons.
I’m really impressed the way we are using both TEs so far this year. After 6 games into the season here is how Holtz & Orndoff’s numbers stack up in 2014 as compared to 6 games of this season:
2014: 18 for 184 @ 10.2 ypc and 2 TDs
2015: 19 for 343 @ 18.1 ypc and 6 TDs
Whatever is happening is working and as much as I’d like to see Boyd’s numbers soar I’ll take a 5-1 record any time.
BTW – I started thinking about this after reading this great article by Chris Peak of Rivals really breaking down the Pitt passing game this season. It’s a pay article but here it is anyway…
Here is the actual comparison
2014: 14 for 91 @ 6.5 ypc and 2 TDs
2015: 19 for 343 @ 18.1 ypc and 6 TDs
Gain: 5 for 252 and 4 TDs and the ypc went up 11.6 yards.
That (+) in ypc is really outstanding and you can see how some of Boyd’s stats are lessened a bit by the QB-TE connection this season.
