In hindsight, the Penn State game could not have gone any better. Pitt won, but the second half showed the areas Pitt needs to improve. I had a great conversation with a coworker, a former high school offensive coordinator with decades of experience, about the game. I mentioned the thing that bothered me was how Pitt dominated the game, but still almost lost.
The issue, as we both agreed, was passive coaching. The second half was a terrible combination of the offense stagnating due to conservative plays and PSU’s offense getting into a rhythm. I’m not entirely sure what happened on defense other than they started playing tight after PSU began moving the ball consistently. The offense, however, is very easy to see. Here’s where Matt Canada and the offense went wrong in the second half.
It started on the third drive of the second half that resulted in a missed FG. Penn State fumbled, giving Pitt an opportunity to reclaim a three score lead and shut down any hope of a comeback. On 3rd and 7, a pass behind the line of scrimmage was called. Scott Orndoff lost a yard. Out trots out Blewitt to try a 50 yard FG. Of the last 13 kicks Blewitt has attempted over 40 yards, he has made 6. At best, this is a 50/50 shot and Blewitt has not looked good so far this year.
These two plays failed on multiple levels. First, the short pass to Orndoff was a safe play likely with the intention of kicking the field goal if it failed. Second, the focus wasn’t on getting the first down or going for the win; it was designed to be safe to prevent PSU from getting any momentum. Third, Blewitt was put in a bad position that gave PSU a way to gain momentum.
A more aggressive play-call could’ve failed too, but the attempt wasn’t there. With a chance to end the game, Canada went safe. The result was a missed FG and a short field for PSU to make it a one score game. Thankfully Quadree Henderson happened on the next drive to get the two score lead back. I can’t fault Canada for the Conner fumble, but it would’ve been a much less horrifying event had the offense scored on the missed FG drive.
The next opportunity the offense had? Conner rush, Conner rush, third down, fail, punt. Yes, the OL had been dominating, but some level of unpredictability would’ve been wondrous. Unless I’m missing it, was there a single WR jet sweep in the second half? Between WRs and Whitehead, the offense got 92 yards on only 6 attempts. What an ideal time to throw another one in there to at least TRY something different that half.
The last offensive drive with a chance to seal the win, Canada calls a RB swing pass on third and four. That’s a high percentage throw with a low chance of turnover and success. The game was on the line and another conservative play was called. This does correlate with a fair criticism I’ve seen of Narduzzi so far; he relies too heavily on his defense to win the game. Perhaps it was his decision for the offense to go conservative, not Canada’s.
Narduzzi said after the game “[w]e have to find out why we couldn’t finish it off faster.” To me, the passive play-calling on offense is why. Go for the win when multiple opportunities present itself. Instead, the plays were designed to be safe.
This isn’t to pick on Canada or the offense. In the first half I LOVED the offense. It was run heavy, but a bit unpredictable and multiple plays were run off of the same lineups or personnel groupings. If you want to keep a defense on edge, use numerous different plays from similar alignments and players. Penn State had no idea what was coming in the first half. But the defense was clearly faltering and playing it safe on offense put too much onus on the defense to win the game. Penn State’s offense can’t score when they’re sipping Gatorade on the sidelines.
I hope that a lesson was learned yesterday by Narduzzi and Canada. Something similar happened last year against Louisville as well. When you have a large lead against a good team, don’t let them linger. End it. Oklahoma State learned that lesson last week the hard way. Hopefully Pitt learns it the easy way.
I don’t see a whole lot from Ollison this year. He’s got good speed but not many moves — I’d rather see Hall become the primary back-up to Conner, and a few less carries for Conner overall…maybe 15-20 per game and give Hall about 10. Also, how quick is Whitehead…man!
biggest play of the game (other than the Ryan Lewis pick) was Quadree Henderson’s 84 yard Kick Return to the Pedo State 10 yd line and 3 plays later produced the TD which made the score 42-31.
Again with the offense sputtering, perhaps Pitt doesn’t score any more points if it doesn’t get that extremely short field, Henderson’s return provided.
Even though Pitt was clearly the BETTER Team, we were one PERFECTLY thrown DROPPED Pass away from a likely loss.
Absolutely Narduzzi and his Staff and especially the Players are to be complimented for pulling out the Win.
But there are some obvious problems that have been pointed out by many here.
Let’s hope that Narduzzi is telling the truth and Peterman REALLY can throw the football effectively… without a Tyler Boyd.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
The play-calling in the first half was excellent. So many different players got involved and Pitt did a great job of using various formations, motions, etc. to keep PSU unbalanced.
The second half was very, very conservative. I don’t recall many jet sweeps, maybe only 1 actually to Aston. That’s crazy considering PSU didn’t come close to stopping it in the first half. No vertical passing off of play-action. Just beyond vanilla. I’m not sure PSU even made many adjustments because we really didn’t call the game type of game.
The first drive got off to a bad start. Penalty on the kickoff, converted 3rd and short only to be negated by a penalty. Pinned deep, blah punt and PSU was in business with great field position.
I’m thrilled with the W and proud of a great time effort. But a fair analysis on the second half. Good stuff Justin.
Seriously, you’re in the Second Half of a BIG Game where you’re watching your lead and your ability to control the football disintegrating… and you REFUSE to pass in a couple of critical situations so as to not expose a couple of pass routes to future Opponents.
If Narduzzi is telling the truth on this, then this has to be one of the DUMBEST strategies ever employed by a Head Coach.
But, then again Narduzzi did say Hendrix and Zeise were “day to day.”
Hopefully this Narduzzi is telling the truth here despite how UNUSUAL and DUMB it might sound.
That’s far better than the alternative which might be that Coaches are really lacking some confidence in Peterman’s ability to effectively throw the Ball without turning it over… especially with no Tyler Boyd.
Making worse was the fact that with 8 or 9 guys in the box, still no green light to pass.
I think we were afraid of the PSU D-backs, and concerned about our pass protection.
Although I hate them, there were not even any quick screens attempted.
A team that runs for over 300 yds, mostly in the first half, has a huge runback, and wins the turnover battle, shouldn’t win by three points. No way that PSU should have been driving for a victory with plenty of time on the clock.
While I agree that you don’t have to throw if you can run, we were unable to run in the second half. A few deep passes would have put them on their heels a little.
The pass rush will be crucial this week, without pressure OKST will have a field day.
Not a peep or text from any of the 7 family PSU’ers I was tailgating with.
It’s glorious!!
Thank you HCPN, staff and players!!
Enjoying immensely!!
H2P!!!
Good stuff – keep winning and I’ll play Sgt. Shultz all day long – “I know nothing, I say nothing”.
HTP!
Some replies for family when the subject finally is broached:
“Maybe we can call PSU a RIVALRY when they finally give us a game! Otherwise, its like calling Akron a RIVAL.”
“PITT will still respect PSU, not love but respect, as long as they don’t steal our coach, since they will likely soon be in the market for one”
On to beat the Okies of OSU.
H2P
I only gave one serious jab all day, and wasn’t even to a family member.
Guy walking out of the game, bloviating non-sense, and I just said,
“hey, you can get on to your rivals now, maybe you can beat one of them”.
Fin.
Never knew players to cry, unless it was to a hated rival.
Of course these SJW males cry at the drop of a hat these days. ha
Left lane hammer down will.
Defense isn’t good enough yet to be put in that position.
key to season: Orndorf!
Use him!!!
but also thought the defense was a little too passive in the latter stages. McSorely had too much time on the 4th and 16 …. and the 2 pt attempt for that matter