That was pathetic. Left my house at 7AM and just got back. At least I had a good time hanging out in Annapolis so I didn’t completely waste 14 hours of my life and several hundred dollars.

Ok …finally home after the worst 2 football days I can remember as a Pittsburgher not in Pittsburgh!
For all of you that went and suffered thru both games…I feel your pain!

Like most of you, I had high hopes for a Pitt win. I bet em at + 5.5 and when the line dropped to -2.5 today I at least thought Pitt would be competitive …but not even close.

A fellow Blatherite and frat bro put it this way at dinner ” I became emotionally involved with Pitt Football this year after 31 years but after today, I’m back to just being a fan !”

You guys have nailed the finer points of the game but here’s a few thoughts not covered:

* I won awards as a corporate VP and Sales Mgr by following
A simple philosophy not always popular with higher ups….that is” any time you touch the public, do it with utmost class and spend whatever you have to ..to do it!”
As I sat in the mud floor tent that was the Pitt Alumni reception..I pondered that thought…not enough food, heat, rest rooms, giveaways etc. A very poor effort by Pitt D- at best

* Then there were the Pitt Tidy Whitey Uni’s. On national f’ing TV this is what represents Pitt!!! These are the uniforms the HS JV squads wear for games, passed down from varsity’s past.

Then there was the game. A mismatch from 14 seconds in. Pitt was exposed in the ugliest way of every deficiency we had.

Most of all I missed meeting all of you…GC, Marrieta, etc. and even you wbb! A cold nasty deeply dissappointing day where 13,000 of my long suffering friends made the trip to my home state…and for what? Lily Tomlin once said, ” being from NY is never having to say your sorry!”

Well being from Pitt Football means always having to say your sorry. Today was no exception!

Good post, Dan72.

I’ve read this column for years and seldom contribute except when I can give someone my 2 cents worth. Left this morning and am only getting back within the half hour. It was disappointing but not devastating, although I believe Salem ruined his audition for OC. Great crowd, atmoshpere and a good time. Times will get better, let’s just keep this coach. Happy New Year!

Missed you too Tony77. Hope everyone makes it home safely.
Wouldn’t want anything else to add to these 2 days of bliss!

I must have had 50 people ask me leading into this game if I thought Pitt would win. My answer to everyone was the same…no. Keenan Reynolds final game on their home turf with a chance to win a school record 11 games did not bode well for Pitt.

However I didn’t think Pitt would get soundly beat in all phases of the game. Navy was 14-17 on 3rd and 4th down. Didn’t think in addition to gashing Pitt for over 400 yds on the ground, they were also going to be extremely efficient throwing the ball too. I also thought Pitt would score more than 2 stinking TD’s on offense and not turn the ball over 3 times. Just a bad day at the office. Real bad.

That said 8-5 was a decent debut for Narduzzi. Hopefully this staff can finish this recruiting class strong and make a good hire at OC.

It is evident more talent is needed. Hendrix and Edwards should provide an upgrade in talent at DE. DT still is a big concern and more talent there is needed.

Galambos and Caprera are smart football players but are a bit too slow. Wirginis may be a bit better, looked ok in limited times. McKee, Brightwell, Pine(if he don’t flip), and Pugh are more purely talented and should improve that position.

I like the talent being recruited in the secondary. Land Hamlin and keep Ford and this secondary can be really good sooner than later. Need corners that can cover without a lot of help in this defense. Pressuring the QB is essential in this D also.

Nate Peterman disappointed down the stretch and regressed actually. He is the starter next year, however. Macvittie is a must keep and the new OC’s 1st priority should be keeping him aboard. He can be a future star. But only started one year in high school and just isn’t going to start as a true freshman. Need to recruit more depth and talent at QB starting with next years class.

If Conner and Ibrahim return healthy next year our RB’s can be among the best in the country. I still think George Hill should get a long look at RB.

Tyler Boyd likely played his last game as a Panther. Dontez Ford, Challingsworth, and Zeise can all be decent receivers but none of them are stars. Flowers and Winfree can be. I think Pitt screwed up recruiting Aaron Mathews, the kid wants to play WR and Pitt should have gave him his 1st shot there. Now that Pedo St offered that ship probably sailed. Quadree Henderson, Tre Tipton, and Maurice Ffrench all have the speed to be good slot receivers that make plays in space.

The OL is in good shape but that is a position you have to continue to recruit depth and talent. Need 8 guys minimum that can play and start at all times.

I like Ordorff and Chris Clark can be a beast, but unfortunately will probably have to sit next year. Zach Poker switched to TE but depth there is a real concern.

I am glad Narduzzi is our coach. I love his fire and seemingly endless energy. I think he plans on being here and building a program. I think we all want a program that consistently contends for ACC titles and a fixture in the top 25. If you get to that point there no reason you can’t make occasional runs at the top 10 and play in New Years Six type bowl games in better years.

I remain cautiously optimistic. But there is much work to be done. Let’s start it with a top 25 recruiting class.

Hail to Pitt!!

I was upset yesterday but I truly believe the program is heading in the right direction. We got beat by a team with an experienced O line, great college QB and a team with a coach that has been there since 2007. HCPN will get the type of players who fit his system and we’ll be very happy with the results. H2P!!!

The offense was bad but the defense was even worse. Both Houston and Army gave Navy all they could handle their last two games.—Did you notice how our defensive line played off the line of scrimmage on many plays yesterday? That was not the case when Army played them. They didn’t let the Navy offensive line get the jump on the ball snap. That disrupted the Navy line coordination on many of their plays. Also the Army DB’s played much closer to their WR’s, whereas Pitt was playing what looked like that House soft zone. You can’t do that against an excellent QB.—And probably most disappointing was how badly our coaches had this team prepared for this game on both sides of the ball(particularly on D).

Got home late last night and I was too disappointed to post. My wife and I enjoyed the trip to Annapolis, except for the game. Only one team showed up. Pitt players and coaches looked unprepared. Not sure that is where I want to place my entertainment money in the future – back to that later.

In looking at the game stats, Pitt ran the ball (ONLY) 21 times for 198 yards (YIKES). Pitt lost both halves in regards to points. N.Peterman was 13-21 for 137 yards, 3 INT’s and 1 TD for a QBR of 19.4 (PATHETIC). Did Chad transfer already that he didn’t play? There was a player that looked like him on the sideline with a #16 jersey – just sayin, plus I was payin to watch that (PATHETIC) performance.

T.Boyd touched the ball 12 times – 6 receptions for 53 yards + 5 carries for 55 yards and one dropped pass early in the game. T.Boyd was off the field more than he was on it – an informed Pitt wife sitting next to me mentioned that fact numerous times throughout the game. And QO was off the field too much as well. I’m fine with T.Boyd or J.Whitehead spelling QO at times in the backfield, as both were super productive – but anyone else was (PATHETIC).

The use of our TE’s was just as (PATHETIC) – 3 targeted passes (THREE!?) – Orndorff 2 catches for 31 yards and JP with 1 drop (OUCH!).

Some on this thread last night pointed to a 3rd and 15 for the Navy O as the key play of the game. Here is my key series – Pitt’s O has the ball near midfield and QO runs for 8 or 9 yards on 1st down. Two plays later we PUNT!? We averaged nearly 10 yards per carry. Why did we not RUN THE BALL DOWN THEIR THROATS?

Our QB had a very bad day and should have been benched for Chad or any of the others – I paid for a better performance by these coaches. The halftime adjustments were missing as well – they didn’t work if there were any…

Pitt has had a very poor FB history since I left school in the mid-80’s and I’ve spent my hard earned money for the entertainment value. I’m either a poor consumer or a sucker. This year I started believing that things had changed – yesterday I became a cautious consumer. The smoke cleared and mirrors were broken. The Pitt crowd was present for sure but our coaches and players weren’t worth the entertainment dollars (AGAIN).

Off to work, focused and prepared to do my job. More than I can say for Pitt FB yesterday.

QB recruit McVitte was at the game with his dad. Young Thomas should be told immediately (however Pitt can do that legally under NCAA rules) that he will get a REAL shot to start next year.

In fact, ALL positions should be open next year for competition. No one should have job security after yesterday’s pathetic effort.

Unless T.Boyd decides to come back for his senior year.

MacVittie is the correct spelling. I’ll do better…

Lol Erie Express. Me, my dad, and brother have a running joke that the only bad part of our Pitt football trips is the game.

I’ve seen Pitt on the road several times and amazingly this year in Blacksburg was the 1st time I’ve ever seen them win.

What’s not funny at all is that any time Pitt gets fans to show up in a big way they shit the bed. Watching the game yesterday I said to my dad I wonder how many Pitt fans that went said that’s the last time they’ll spend money to see them in a bowl game.

This shit has to stop at some point. Or maybe not. Hell its been this way for the majority of this program’s history. I hope once the disappointment wears off fans are willing to give Narduzzi time to get his program in place. But I can’t blame the casual fan that every time they try to buy in are treated to a shit show like yesterday.

I said the same thing, Pitt build the hype and sells a lot of tickets and did nothing in the game. It was awful by the way they played. I had a great time Sunday in the town and Monday before the game. Just a bad effort from the players.

My first look at the thread, I’m not big on ‘predictions’ or live-game comments, and I’m not going to read 350+ posts, but I did read the last 10 posts and I saw what I saw, so I’ll summarize accordingly:

Dan72 – The all whites are pathetic, agreed, just awful. We really should look the part of a D1 school, I think that’s a fair expectation.

Salem – Play calling was stiff and predictable at best, if he ever was a candidate for OC, he’s not anymore, and better to know now than later.

Narduzzi – One concern I have with him, is that he influences the OC calls (Chaney and maybe Salem) in the first half of games, to keep things conservative and trust the defense. I don’t know if that’s true at all, but it’s a concern I have. He needs to make a really good OC hire, with the help of the AD, and get the heck out of the way. This is far and away my #1 new year’s wish for the fb team.

We need better linemen, both sides of the ball.

Same story all year long, we need 2 new CBs.

We need a real QB competition.

response:

New unis next year but still may end up with all white

Agree our new OC will be from outside

Disagree on PN influencing play calls in 1st half, or we would have seen a lot more run attempts. Are you aware that at halftime, Pitt had a better rushing YPA than Navy?

We are getting better DL, not sure about OL

Our CBs in the next couple of years will be an improvement, no doubt

we need a real QB

Don’t forget we need a new kicker. 60% doesn’t cut it

Erie-I expressed the same sentiment to friends last night. Tired of having otherwise pleasant road trips tarnished by Pitt football games.
I
For a long time I had become an observer
There every Saturday but no expectations
This year I was sucked back into the vortex of optimism. But I’m over it now.I’ll be there on Saturdays because thats what we do but I’ll need some serious evidence before I can get emotionally invested again.

Made it back to Marietta late last night and after watching two Pitt teams get their a$$es handed to them, I’m ready for Pitt basketball.

All-in-all, the weekend was great except for the main attractions. I’m glad Pitt went to the Military Bowl because of the venue and the opponent.

Navy proved to me that a college does not have to recruit 4 and 5 star players to be competitive. Good football is about good coaching. Pitt’s offense can be excused (I guess) because their coordinator left for Georgia – even though play calling was not much better when their coordinator was still coaching at Pitt. Defensively, Pitt looked like they didn’t want to get their white uniforms dirty and I’ll leave it at that.

Since this bowl game and its outcome is irrelevant for Pitt’s players, they better show more effort in 2016 or Pitt will lose their meager fan-base. I travel to several GA Tech away games every year and can say that Pitt’s fans travelled quite well yesterday. Except for Tech’s trip to the Orange Bowl, Pitt‘s fans out-numbered Tech’s travelling fans. I don’t want to read about the empty yellow seats at Heinz either – if Pitt starts playing competitive football, Pitt fans will show-up for their games – maybe not like the Cow College but Pitt’s fans will show.

As Johnny Major’s once said, a good football program has to have “attention to detail.” Until Pitt goes back to the ‘70’s state of mind and being, Pitt football will not get to the elite level of college football. One part of Pitt’s “enthusiasm” I’d like to see go away is their fourth quarter water whatever. Pitt needs to be more business-like in all aspects of their athletic programs. Jumping up and down only wastes their energy.

Now that I voiced my opinion about the weekend, I’d like to wish all my Blatherites a Happy and Healthy 2016. Let’s think good thoughts for Pitt’s athletics in 2016 – I know it can be hard but that’s why we bleed blue and gold.

Hail to Pitt!

i’m no chryst apoligist, but we seemed to have an offensive identity, ie smash mouth run first. i though it would be the same under hcpn. what is our identity?? it doesnt seem like we have one.

Boy, how soon you guys forget ..

Before yesterday, Pitt was 5 and 1 on the road this season with the only loss at Top 10 Iowa. And Navy was also a ranked team wit 11 wins.

They were 3 and 3 at home.

Seriously, we need NEW PLAYERS? Better PLAYERS? Faster PLAYERS?

It was NAVY!

Used to be Pitt looked at Navy and Army as AUTOMATIC Wins.

Heck, ARMY would BEAT this Pitt Football Team!!

oh, i kinda like the all whites..

I like the all whites more than the all blues. But have they worn my favorite combo this year … blue over gold?

Bottom Line… Narduzzi was TOTALLY and COMPLETELY OUT-Coached!

He’s even admitted to so much.

********

“You can’t prepare for stuff you don’t know is coming.”

— Pat Narduzzi — Post Gazette

Probably the WORST Head Coach comment after an EMBARRASING Loss… of ALL TIME!

And you Guys thought Chryst was DUMB.

I always wait until the comments on the game thread dwindle down to almost nothing before I post my post-game article. I’m drafting that now and have some interesting tidbits to talk about.

I will say one thing – for all you Pitt fans who watched the game on TV somewhere… in person the game was 10 times as bad. The weather was horrid and the seats are narrow… which made the piss-poor showing in every single aspect of football yesterday even harder to watch.

Went to the game yesterday. For a second tier bowl game, the pomp and circumstance was great. Small parade, paratroopers, flyover, etc. was great. Pitt got mauled. Our defense lacks elite athletes. Linemen get handled easily, LBs are small but they make up for it by being slow (:-)). DBs bite on fakes and get beat even when they play 10 yards off the ball. Peterman had a terrible day. Saw MacVittie a couple times. I hope you’re ready son! Why did Ollison run only 8 times? Holtz and Boyd with drops. Positives: Jordan Whitehead is on another level. On offense, when he has even a little open space, he is a threat. Good luck next year Darrin Hall. With Connor, Ollison, George Hill coming and Whitehead getting reps on offense, just not enough carries to go around. Hope Officer is ok. Looked bad. Hope Holtz is ok for his sake. And I hope no Blatherites get injured jumping off the bandwagon. Careful, guys. Look at the big picture and trend. We are headed in the right direction!

PoD, teams are not always the same year to year. I agree…I have seen Pitt play Navy in Annapolis 4 times…2 wins, 2 losses. Only one loss should have been a win and that was not yesterday.

Yesterday we played the best Navy team since Staubach. Someone earlier compared this loss to the HCPC loss. No no no! This Navy team was FAR superior to the one we played under Chryst.

Combine that with the fact that HCPN historically has been poor against the triple option.

The result is not all the surprising, actually.

At the beginning of the season I said to myself, I will be content if we add one more win a year for the next 3 years. We are on track. It is a process.

Some teams (Temple, etc) do turn around fast. As a Pitt fan, I find that a totally unrealistic expectation!! Too hardened to really expect that to happen to us. Did any of you REALLY think that at the begnning of this year????

One additional win a year. That is enough for me. This year was not SOP. We bascially won every game we should have and lost every game we should have. THAT IS PROGRESS (sadly).

Sam_in, great point…Ollison with only 8 carries? Way too little.

DD… the result was NOT that surprising?

You’re pretty much ALONE on that Island.

Keep in mind, I was the Guy posting about not how Good… but how GREAT Reynolds is as a College Quarterback.

And contrary to some of the “experts” here… I did end up talking with Naval Academy graduates who were UNANIMOUS in saying Reynolds is in the argument with Staubach as ALL-TIME BEST at Navy!

And that was BEFORE the Game.

I’ve felt over the course of the season that this team wasn’t really that good. There was a lot of improvement defensively with the same personnel. Offensively the offense wasn’t as good without James Conner. Over the course of the season Narduzzi and staff did good job overall. The Miami game and the game yesterday against Navy, exposed a lot of deficiencies on both sides of the ball. Now they get into the stretch run to bring in the players they need to sign. They still have a lot of work to do.

Looking at 2016, QB is not necessarily an area of concern, but it is not the strength we’d hoped. Peterman is the starter, but not beyond doubt. If/when Voytik leaves, Pitt is suddenly very thin at Q. Who challenges Peterman? Who plays if he gets hurt?

With the exception of the first half against Louisville, the passing game really sputtered down the stretch. Peterman deserves some blame, but so do the coaches. Not breaking news, but the OC hire is huge.

These Guys are every bit… in fact… MORE talented than the Team Chryst took to Annapolis two years ago.

And he at least gave them a Game.

The HUGE Red Flag… It was the Narduzzi DEFENSE as much as the “Coordinator-less” Offense.

That’s enough EXCUSE-making for Pitt Football… let’s move on to Pitt Basketball.

I will be happy with 8-4 next year against a much tougher schedule DD. Actually, 1-11 would work if the win is against the Dairy College!

Seriously, we are on the right path. Keep the class together, add a couple more and let’s go. Spring ball is right around the corner. Will be interested in Price’s and Clark’s decisions from the NCAA coming soon regarding eligibility next year.

Yes, not suprising…I thought before the game, a) the spread is too narrow b) its basically a home game for them c) HCPN cannot defned the triple option, never has been able to. Perhaps I am not shocked becuase I fairly convinced myself this would be a 2 touchdown loss beforehand.

The Nards defensive mindset is GO AFTER IT. That is in many respects EXACTLY what NOT to do against the triple option. Players that are drilled all year to go after it just have a real hard time all of a sudden becoming disciplined to play gaps.

Anyway, I am most disappointed in hoping that Salem would do a great job, stick around for 5 years or so, and we could see what our offense could do under some level of consistent coaching year to year. So much for that!

PittofDreams you may be correct on our talent but Navy is 10x more talented. Their defense alone is the best as far as talent in a long long time. Offensively, Reynolds is just flat better than GT’s qb and Navy d is just flat better than GT this year. Peterman played poorly and the entire d looked House-like. Shame since 9,000 or more Pitt fans made the trip.

@pod,

we all get you think chryst is the next bear bryant or nick saban, but don’t forget he left on his own, pitt didn’t fire him. there should’t be animosity towards hcpn because of that.

Navy is a Good Football Team… said so much before the Game. But NOT Great by any means, well except for Quarterback.

Navy is also one of the FIVE LIGHTEST Teams in Major College Football. Pitt OUTWEIGHED Navy up and down both the Offensive and Defensive lines.

Pitt should have DOMINATED the Line of Scrimmage. But obviously that wasn’t the case.

Not a lack of talent. It was clearly a lack of COACHING and GAME-PLANNING!

By the way, I was one of the 9,000.

Goalie… guess you missed all of my criticism of Chryst as an IN-Game Coach?

It’s NOT that Chryst was so Good. It’s just that all of the Kool-Aid Drinkers here were so critical of Chryst and have been worshiping the ground Narduzzi walks on.

What has Narduzzi done except beat Teams he should have beaten… and lose to the Good ones?

Just to be fair to Chryst… there is NO QUESTION he would have given Navy a better Game yesterday.

Yes, he lost Games he should have won. But Chryst did have some BIG WINS under his belt.

As GREAT as some have proclaimed the arrival of Narduzzi to be… he has yet to pull a TRUE upset.

i agree with some of what you said, but chryst def would have NOT given navy a better game. additionally, i’d rather a coach lose games they “should” lose, than lose to teams they shouldn’t..ie chryst. imo, the program just feels different under pn. in a good way. time will tell if he is successful.

Sure is amazing to read all the analysis and discontent. Too much overthinking. We got our butts kicked by a very good Navy team. Keenan Reynolds was very efficient. Navy’s ball control offense just flat out exposed Narduzzi’s attacking defense. These things happen but do not take away from all the progress of this season. PITT football is still trending upward. Our offense was horrible yesterday. We need a great OC and I am sure that Narduzzi knows that. That will be a key to Narduzzi’s continued success. Also need to close on a few more dedicated student-athletes for this class. Finally, I met Thomas MacVittie and his Dad. He is a big kid and composed. I look forward to seeing him leading the PITT offense!

If people start giving Narduzzi just some of the SCRUTINY they piled on Chryst… then there will no longer be any reason to mention Chryst’s name.

Maybe yesterday EMBARRASSMENT will prove to be the “game changer” for those standing in the Kool-Aid line.

However, based upon SOME of the comments above… the early returns aren’t very promising.

I’m actually in partial agreement with PoD. There is absolutely no excuse for scoring only 2 offensive TDs vs Navy.

I am a bit more forgiving of our defense although, of course, they weren’t good. But had our offense controlled the ball more (like it should have), Navy’s offense wouldn’t have seen the field so often.

POD:

10 quarters of bad-to-mediocre football beginning with Louisville 3rd quarter. The honeymoon is over. You are right.

Pitt: Masters of coitus interruptus

Every fucking time a little momentum begins to build Pitt pulls out. Just can’t bring it home.

2009: Cincy
2010: Miami & WVU (and, of course, the mighty UCONN Huskies)
2011: Iowa
2012: YSU
2013: Navy
2014: Akron
2015: Navy

Why?

Pitt’s diminishing attendance in 2015:
49,969 YSU
45,237 Virginia
43,049 North Carolina
68,400 Notre Dame
42,119 Louisville
40,126 Miami

take out the Notre Dame game and Pitt’s 2015 attendance actually declined during what was, at least up to the Miami game, a successful season.

Selling tickets for next season is going to challenge Barnes. It will be more difficult to do.

In a nutshell, and overly simplified, Pitt’s issues on offense are more related to coaching than talent (and yes I know James Conner was out) and vice-versa on defense.

On offense, Pitt loses Boyd, Holtz, and Rowell, and may get Conner and Ibrahim back. Hopefully one of the young receivers is a special talent. I think a good OC with some QB coaching experience could do well with this group.

The defense is wide open beyond Whitehead. We could easily see 8-9 new starters. The scheme isn’t going to change.

Pitt vs Penn State Sept 10th Heinz Field

Less than 9 months away, already fired up!!!

Great season, disappointing game yesterday, takes none of the Narduzzi momentum away what so ever.

Recruiting signing day is next, looking forward to it and then spring ball!!!

Also, looking forward to going to Clemson, a place I’ve always wanted to go.

They haven’t placed a date yet, but already have my hotel, at my sisters house in Rock Hill, SC, about an hour east of Clemson.

Couple cousins went to Clemson, we’re already talkling about the tailgate!!!

Hail to Pitt!!!!

As Barnes said, the bowl is nice but their goal is to be playing in the playoffs.

You guys make too much of what is essentially an exhibition game. It’s hard to stay sharp with a month off for a game that has little reward. It’s why so many first halves of these bowl games are so bad. Shaking off rust. Pitt was playing a team with a traditional bye week of two weeks off. NAVY played ARMY two weeks ago. NAVY was able to stay in a typical routine and play at home to boot.

I mentioned earlier, NAVY was a bad team to play against in a bowl. I loved the location because fans would be able to go but the matchup was not in our favor. Our D-line wanted nothing to do with the cut blocks and can you blame them?

One of the goals of this game was to come out healthy as one of Pitt’s weaknesses is depth (Thanks Chryst!). Guess what, they did. I was very glad to see Officer’s injury was an ankle and not a knee.

Factor in that it was Keenan’s last game and essentially a road game and that NAVY only had two weeks off vs. a month for Pitt, this was going to be an uphill battle and a steep one.

Add in that Pitt lost it’s OC and our DC’s wife had a baby the day before, are you guys really surprised that Pitt had a hard time?

Relax. Pitt, despite this loss, has some really good momentum going into next year. There is a positive buzz around the program and Narduzzi. Both locally and nationally. It’s going to take a little time. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t hold Pitt accountable. I’ll be demanding 10 wins again next year. If that’s what the goal is, we should hold them to it. But you also have to be realistic. Pitt does not have the same talent on the roster that Top 25 teams have. That’s the reality.

The coaching changes, the average recruiting, the purging of the rosters has taken a toll on the program. PSU had major penalties levied at them and Pitt still ended up with the worst end of the stick. It’s why Pitt is one of the youngest teams in the country.

Some facts for the future … D-line will be much improved and have better depth as soon as next year. PN has 6 DB’s in the class. All of them big and fast and capable of playing the physical man to man he wants. I’m not sure how many make an impact next year but the future is certainly looking bright.

EVERYONE will be in year 2 of the system. The defense will be at the level that PN wants relatively quickly and part of it will be because he didn’t scheme this year and play to his player’s strengths, but instead didn’t waste time and got his system in place to be ready for the future.

I’ve said all along, while keeping expectations high (10 wins – you’ll hear it again next year because that’s what you need to win the Coastal), that this year was all about implementing systems. PN is a system coach. Just like you have system offenses, PN runs a system defense. He had to get it implemented this year (hell or high water), even though he didn’t really have the personnel to run it properly. Slow LB’s and undersized DB’s and not much depth on the DL to keep a fresh rotation. It eventually caught up to Pitt when they played better teams. Most of us knew that first half of the year was a little bit of a smoke and mirrors act. We all saw the deficiencies.

Some of the more negative posters took joy in predicting the doom and gloom on the horizon but even the more optimistic posters saw the signs.

At times, the defense was exposed because of this. At times they over-performed. Remember, this is essentially the same group that House had last year. There is not a lot of talent on that side of the ball and even less speed.

Before the season started many thought Pitt would take a step back before going forward and that was with Conner still on the team. Pitt didn’t take a step back, yet some still complain … even when they thought it would happen. It cracks me up.

To the offense … a lot of you vastly overrated what Chryst did on that side of the ball. The o-line under Chryst were good run blockers but they never developed into pass protectors. I’d argue, based on the talent recruited, they have been somewhat of a let down and It carried over again this year.

The reason the TE’s have consistently disappeared in the passing game is because they have had to stay on the line as extra pass blockers because of the OL’s deficiencies at pass blocking. Chryst had built a one dimensional team. This group of coaches had to changed that. Balance on offense and defense wins championships. Chryst had neither.

The cupboard was also pretty bare at QB and WR and QB will be again next year as well. I think we’ll be fine at WR with the transfers and recruits coming in and the RB situation looks pretty good.

I really hope the new OC opens up the QB competition again. I know everyone hates switching QB’s every year but you have to until you find the one. I don’t think NP or Votyik are that guy. I’ll understand if they don’t but I really hope they do.

Next in line please step up.

I also really hope PN gets away from the pro-style, west coast offense. If he wants Pitt’s identity to be rushing the ball, you can still do that with a spread offense. Spread is a dirty word because it implies pass happy and gimmicky. It doesn’t have to be though. It really just means getting your playmakers the ball in space and you can be very balanced out of it.

I, also, personally think Boyd will do well at the combines if he choses to go pro. If you look at his freshman year with Savage at QB, he did fine running deep routes. His 40 time will make or break him though. He seemed to play a little slower this year.

After living in the ‘burg for 30 years, I found a new job and home in Lebanon, Pa, the heart of PSU country.

Yesterday, I invited several co-workers to come out and watch the game with me(1 Pitt guy, 4 PSU guys.)

We played so poorly that the PSU guys started pulling for Pitt, something I could never reciprocate. It looked like a friggin’ Chinese fire drill out there.

Peterman ain’t got it, he ruined the first half of the Miami game and played throw it up for grabs against Navy. These last two games just felt like punches to the gut for the fan base.

Narduzzi’s defensive scheme was good enough to have 5 top 10 defenses out of his 7 years at Michigan State, so I think he understands defense a little bit.

Gotta get the horses in.

Top 3 jobs for a college football coach.

1. Recruit
2. Recruit
3. Recruit

The only positive note of watching yesterday’s game was that I only had a $30 bar tab with seven drinks and all you can eat wings. The wife wanted to know how I was able to focus on the game with so many drinks and I told her, that was the purpose of them. Here’s to next year in the mustard and blue.

I read a few of the comments above,

wow, some people are hard on Narduzzi???

I know he’s been here 9 or 10 years, maybe it is time for him to go!!! LMAO!!!

@Tossing. Agree with all your points except the spread offense. No true spread offense has won a national championship. Until Oregon, Baylor or one of the other big spread teams wins the big one, I’m not sold.

I have to note that it is really clear Pitt does not view any of the active RBs as a game breaker. If they had one, Boyd and Whitehead wouldn’t be carrying the ball as much. Clear deficiency without Conner and Ibrahim, and I really do think Ibrahim would have made a huge difference this year. I really think they need to get Hamlin on board. Whitehead shows what a difference a playmaker can be and they definitely need them on defense. The good news is that barring any injuries, I think the O-Line will be one of the best Pitt has had in a long time. Nice depth and experience.

POD. Not a lack of talent its poor coaching what a joke. Pitt hasn’t had a top 40 recruiting class since Wanny left. Other than Whitehead and Price this is a MAC level defense. Narduzzi is the best thing to happen to this program since Johnny Majors I. You boy Paul Chryst won’t last another 3 years at Wisconsin

@dan,

you make some good and funny points. i’m disappointed with the way the team came out against miami and now navy..flat flat flat..this should not happen, i did not expect that from a hcpn team, chryst? yes..

@goalie, I agree, I’m disappointed too, but the overall picture for Pitt football hasn’t been in this good of place in 30 years, with Narduzzi, Barnes and Gallagher.

Also, I’m not good enough to determine whether a coach is good or not for 3 or 4 years into his tenure, after he has his recruits in place.

I guess some people are.