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October 10, 2010

Mistakes Continue To Be Made

Filed under: Coaches,Football,Wannstedt — Chas @ 12:55 am

I’m going to keep this brief as I try to give myself a breather after games like this. When I’m feeling ticked, frustrated and more likely to overreact. Still…

Make no mistake, it isn’t like Pitt deserved to win this game. Too sloppy. Too stupid.

I’m not saying Notre Dame did anything to cover themselves in glory. They did their best to piss it away. It was almost like an inversion of last year’s ND-Pitt game where Pitt had the game well in hand and then nearly gave it away late.

That said, this game has me highly upset for the shear volume of mistakes.

Dave Wannstedt continually preaches mistake free play. This season has shown none of that. From the execution of the players to the decisions by the coaches to the frickin’ equipment.

…the fact that it took Pitt an entire half of having guys slipping and falling all over the field to change cleats is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. What exactly was going on in pregame warmups? Isn’t that what you are supposed to do on a new field or playing surface? Aren’t guys supposed to run around, see if they can make cuts, see how the shoes they are wearing feel, see the slick spots and rough spots on a field? I can’t quite figure this one out. Tino Sunseri and Max Gruder both said a lot of players changed cleats at half-time and once they got the right cleats, they were fine. This may seem like a small thing, but it isn’t. There is something to be said for getting it right the first time.

This, unfortunately has been a hallmark of Wannstedt’s teams. They are always close but never quite make it. It’s always one play away. One mistake that shouldn’t have happened.

And yet Coach Wannstedt insists on gameplans that are supposed to minimize mistakes. At some point doesn’t the coach have to ask himself why the same thing keeps happening?

No. Of course not. There is no problem with the system. The system is fine. It’s always the execution. It is always just some bad luck. It is always something else. Someone else.





TampaT – it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why Sunseri isn’t throwing over the middle – he had a problem with it in the camps also. He’s maybe 6′ tall and has a wall of at least eight 6’4″+ guys in front of him.

Comment by Reed 10.11.10 @ 1:20 pm

Tampa – should have read your whole post.

That said, I think Sunseri is still very nervous back there and so sticks with the things he is comfortable with – as you say, throwing over the middle isn’t one of them.

Comment by Reed 10.11.10 @ 1:24 pm

Dan 72, Johnny Mike almost made the list until I realized he was 56-49 over 11 years. By that standard, Wanny’s a keeper.

Comment by Dock71 10.11.10 @ 1:30 pm

I keep going back to other schools that have a downturn, they fire a coach and there is immediate, recognizable results. Nebraska, Alabama to name a few. We hire and have a “rebuilding” period. Over and over this is the case.

I also don’t accept the fact that Pitt is not a desirable coaching position. Look what Dixon has done for basketball. Pitt has football tradition, name recognition and could be poised to get back to winning ways if the right leadership was in place.

When DW was hired, i think everyone thought good hire, but had that nagging “uh-oh” because of his history. By all accounts, he is a tremendous individual, role model, cheerleader for the university, recruiter (although this is now even in question for certain areas), et.c, etc. But for God’s sake, can the university please make a move and hire a mover and shaker for football?! Football is a business – period. A sustained winning national program at Pitt would add an unreal amount of revenue.

Comment by Pitt it IS 10.11.10 @ 1:30 pm

I keep saying this too (listen-up isnore). Some people keep talking bowls…There is a VERY real chance we do not win another game this year. And for those who say that is an over reaction, look how we have played thus far, look ahead at the BE schedule and there are absolutely no games that you can apply a W to. None.

Comment by Pitt it IS 10.11.10 @ 1:49 pm

So many good points made above, and a lot of it illustrates why part of me wonders if letting Wannstedt go would fix the problem.

I have to say I tend to agree with many of the thoughts that wbb has about where Pitt exists and has existed on the overall college football landscape, and where the expectations should probably be for the program (a lot of nine-win seasons.

I agree with what Chris says about the realities of Wannstedt’s recruiting – better than it was under Harris and his predecessors, but still not bringing in enough upper-echelon kids through and through to expect to routinely knock off the stronger OOC opponents.

I also agree with pretty much all of the points that Virgil made in his post above as well (as an aside, apologies for our back-and-forth a few threads back, Virgil. That was the culmination of a pretty bad few days.)

But as much as I agree with all that, I also look at the points that some others make regarding the successes that other programs have achieved and wonder, why not Pitt?

I’m not talking about Pitt existing on the same plane as Florida, Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State, etc.

I think what’s frustrating is that we’ve seen other perennial Top 40 or Top 50 programs elevate themselves consistently to that “next level” – teams that win 9-10 games a year in and year out and look a lot sharper doing it.

These would be programs like Oregon, Oregon State, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, TCU, Utah, Boise State. Hell, even WVU. They may not be programs that exist on the same level as the elite, iconic programs, but they’re there just about every year with nine or ten wins. They’re competitive in bowl games and other non-conference games against quality opponents.

I don’t know how some of these teams manage to do it, especially at recent levels. A look at the Rivals and Scout pages of Utah, Boise and TCU reveal classes chock full two and three-star players (I know rankings aren’t everything *cough*DarrelleRevis*cough*).

Perhaps the major thing is a coaching staff that knows its system and knows how to work its players into that system. It knows you don’t win by trading TDs for FGs. It knows that when you have talents like Graham and Lewis on the roster, it’s OK to get them in the same backfield and find ways to exploit matchups. It knows you do what Wally mentioned above – hit the ground sprinting at Labor Day. It knows that you don’t play to have a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter; you make sure the effing game is out of reach midway through the third quarter.

Comment by Stoosh 10.11.10 @ 2:15 pm

Stoosh… its pretty clear why we have better/equal recruiting classes and they continue to outpeform us

coaching

end of story

Comment by DeVanzo 10.11.10 @ 2:23 pm

I have to agree it is coaching, granted Texas is a huge state but TCU is a small school and recruits behind Texas, OU and some of the other Big 12 schools.

TCU has a coach that exploits matchups and they play the game to win, not field position!

Pitt football has been mismanaged since 1982, Gottfried was decent but Bozik ran him off and Wlat was different but you have to admit he got us to a BCS Bowl and Wanny will not have as many bowl apperances over the same time period.

You need an innovative coach!

Sadly we have a vanilla coach and it shows, he plays not to lose and for field position, hence 6-6 at best this year.

Comment by Vito the Godfather of Soul 10.11.10 @ 2:46 pm

Hoops start soon

Comment by steve 10.11.10 @ 2:47 pm

Wanny’s issues are when he DOES outcoach teams, (up huge on Cincinatti att he start of the 4th quarter last year, up huge on ND only to almsot lose, etc.) He doesn’t go for the kill.

While our defense is down this year mostly because they can’t cover and our pass rush is crippled from not having Romeus, the theory works fine. Bama runs the same D as us, their D looked fine until Saturday.

Wanny CAN coach, his players just aren’t executing. I think alot of this has to do with the injury to Romeus, Fields getting booted and the team not being 100% behind Tino.

Switch QBs and we will see a different result. Wanny needs to make a few tweaks to how we do things, i.e. blitzing to make up for the lack of a pass rush and swtiching QBs. But we don’t need to fire the guy

Comment by Dave 10.11.10 @ 2:57 pm

Oh, you tell no lies “pitt it is”, they are gonna have their hands full with Syracuse!!

Comment by Dan 10.11.10 @ 3:01 pm

Also, Ron Cook makes a living by focusing on negativity. He is the new Bob Smizik. Do not take that man seriously

Comment by Dave 10.11.10 @ 3:02 pm

wow, you guys really think Syracuse, louisville and Rutgers are to be feared?

Rutgers lost at home to TU FRIGGIN Lane

Comment by Dave 10.11.10 @ 3:04 pm

Why wait until halftime to change cleats? Can’t it be done on the sidelines?

There have been successful head coaches who are great recruiters and poor X and O guys. They hire excellent coordinators and leave the coaching to them! Johnny Majors was an energetic CEO; not the best tactician and in his first stint he had great assistants (i.e. Jackie Sherrill and Jimmy Johnson).

Comment by AZ Panther 10.11.10 @ 3:11 pm

Everyone sucks, fire and cut everyone!

There, I just figured I’d summarize every post here with one sentence so we could get onto thinking about playing a, suddenly respectable, Syracuse team Saturday.

Comment by Jimbo Covert's my Dad 10.11.10 @ 4:00 pm

Mediocrity rules!

Let Wanny shoot himself in the foot until he runs out of bullets!

Why have high expectations??? We should be happy to be on same field as elite programs!!!

Tino is 21 and has been in the program for 3 years… but he has so much “upside” from here!!!

Who cares what happens when we play real teams?? We have a chance to win the worst major conference ever!!

does that sum up all of the apologist posts?

Comment by DeVanzo 10.11.10 @ 4:10 pm

Not only does Pitt have a moron for a head coach, but they play boring football. It isn’t fun to watch Pitt win by a field-goal on the last possession to a clearly inferior UCONN team. Or let a mediocre UNC team play Pitt down to the wire. The games are always close, but they are BORING.

Comment by Omar 10.11.10 @ 4:51 pm

Cook may focus on negativity, but, I’ve seen nothing this past month from him, on Pitt, that hasn’t been true. P.S. also, comment above on the media leads with Pitt negativity when PSU got blasted by Illinois. Everyone on the radio has said Penn St. stinks too. I’ve been listening all day, they have taken many shots at Happy Valley too. As a matter of fact, one of them even said, Pitt-Penn St. would be a great game this year, two lousy teams facing off.

Comment by DAN 10.11.10 @ 4:52 pm

Dave,

I don’t think feared is the right word. But can you actually say those games are in the bag?

We played 3.25 quarters of a death struggle with FIU before we wore them down.

Rutgers did pretty much the same thing. So at best I think we are at parity with RU.

If we are peers to RU, Syracuse, Louisville which I suggest we are…then it is likely we could end up anywhere between 3-0 and 0-3.

I think those two are the extremes so more than likely we are looking 2-1, 1-2 in those games.

1-2 is a disaster, as that means at BEST we can expect to see with the remaining four teams a split and 5-7.

I still stick to the prediction we will be 4-3 in BE play and finish 6-6 with no bowl.

DaveD

Comment by DaveD 10.11.10 @ 5:00 pm

Wannstedt just needs to get out of his own way on game day. Let the assistants handle the game. Make one of them the associate head coach and let him call the game. Wannstedt is just too darn stubborn for his own good. I wonder how often he overules his assistants to do the conservative thing. You are already 2-2 with an embarrasing loss to Miami at home. What the heck did Pitt have to lose on Saturday? Why play so conservatively on defense? Wanny does this over and over. The one game where Pitt actually outcoached the opponent was an example of the coaches being more aggressive then we have ever seen on the defensive side of the ball (13-9). Wannstedt just doesn’t get it.

Comment by Omar 10.11.10 @ 5:03 pm

Everyone calm down………I’ve got it…………
It’s time to……..change uniforms and colors again!!!! Yes, that will solve it. I’ll be waiting for the Pederson press conference!!!!

Comment by DAN 10.11.10 @ 5:17 pm

Just heard on sports radio, they are looking into tearing down the Pete, and putting an “on-campus” stadium where the Pete was. Couple confirmations, I’ll keep listening………

Comment by DAN 10.11.10 @ 5:19 pm

Syracuse dropped so low in the past nine years that its belt buckles were hitting the ground. If we lose to Syracuse the season is over.
I AM STILL WAITING FOR AN ANSWER TO MY PHIL BENNETT QUESTION…anybody want to comment?
If we tank completely this year what is going to happen to our recruiting?
Another question…does Tony Wise get involved with O line recruiting. Pitt is in a very sorry
state.

Comment by isnore 10.11.10 @ 5:23 pm

Also, since the ship is sinking, let’s talk about more important things. LOSE those lousy blue pants, and don’t even think about bringing those white things out! Wear your gold pants and go down with some pride!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by DAN 10.11.10 @ 5:41 pm

Also, I don’t know if Nike thinks they pulled a fast one or not, and, don’t ask me how I know this, I’m sad I know it too, the nike “uniqueness” is not quite as uniques as it may seem. Check out a Washington Huskies game sometime, identical uniforms, purple and gold, of course, but, identical. They have three pairs of pants, gold, purple and white, stripes identical too Pitt’s. They didn’t try to hard. Come on, I’m trying to talk about anything but actual football!!!

Comment by DAN 10.11.10 @ 5:44 pm

Anyone up for bringing back the Pitt script? It’s a curse.

LOL

Comment by Pitt it IS 10.11.10 @ 6:16 pm

People who think Bostick would not have done better are unique thinkers. He beat a great WVU and average ND team on the road. He has everyone of Dave’s biggest wins while Sunseri has yet to win any game against someone good. Sunseri can’t hit a long pass to save his life. If people keep arguing against Bostick who won every spring and summer competition according to every single scoutig service, I think I will just have to walk away from these forums entirely. The only reason Dave loves Sunseri is because of his Dad. He has earned nothing. The experiment is over. Just like Graham and Dickerson, Dave does not recognize talent and ruins it in the process. And when he does realize it… He runs it till the wheels come off just like he did Shady. If Shady did not leave he would have been crippled by the end of the next season. Dave must go! Bostick must start.

Comment by firewalt 10.11.10 @ 6:20 pm

I did think of one great thing, Ray Graham running down the sidelines and pointing to an imaginary blocker to nail the ND defender, when ND defender saw this, he stopped, and Graham went on for 6 more yards. Would have been classic had we been good. Anyhow, great play Ray, I’m sure you’ll get 3 or 4 more carries or swing passes next week!!

Comment by Dan 10.11.10 @ 6:22 pm

The NBc announcer was impressed with Sunseri at practice. That is certainly comforting, since none of us were there to witness what impressed this guy the 10 to 15 minutes I’m guessing he watched Pitt practice. With not only one 6’5″ 1rst round draft pick receiver to throw to, but also another 6’5″ talented receiver on the other side to throw to, I’m thinking I could hit them a few times on a post route. Certainly my throws would be closer than Sonny’s. Unfortunately I do not have any more eligibility left, and then again my dad didn’t play football for Pitt and neither was he a lifetime football coach either.
So it wouldn’t matter anyway. Lot’s of excellent points fellow Panthers, and yes we need to bring back SCRIPT PITT AND THE MUSTARD YELLOW AND OLD BLUE COLORS circa 1976-1981. It’s all in the Uni’s.

Comment by VirgilSollozzo 10.12.10 @ 6:04 am

Check out Paul’s blog on the Post Gazzette this morning. There he goes again, drinking Dave’s Kool Aid. Continues to miss the point: so what if Pitt stumbles through the Big Least and gets enough wins to be bown eligible? They have firmly established, on the national stage on three different occasions no less, that they belong in division II playing Youngstown State for PA/Ohio bragging rights. And it is not the players who are the problem.

Just once, I wish somebody call a spade a spade at one of Wanny’s sermons and ask the man if he ever once considers that he, himself, is maybe, you know, part of the problem.

Comment by wally 10.12.10 @ 6:47 am

Sunseri should be learning to play in the secondary because there is no way he should start ahead of Myers next year. If you were going to have an inexperience QB why not start with a guy with size and talent.

Comment by Pittastic 10.12.10 @ 8:37 am

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