This is the matchup that worries Pitt fans the most. Josh Heupel's offense against the Pitt defense.
You know already that UT will be snapping the ball quickly every chance they get. What you might not realize is how much different the offense for UT looks with Hooker at QB rather than Milton.
3 Keys for Pitt's defense to be successful (other than the obvious things like tackling well and taking the ball away):
1) Be sharp against UT attacking laterally
2) Disciplined pass rushing lanes
3) Always be aware of the inserted TE for play action
I'm not really that worried about vertical throws this week. That's not really Hooker's game and it's also fairly boring from an analysis standpoint to say "don't get beat deep". What changed from Milton to Hooker was UT's strategy of attack. It would be almost as big of a difference, for example, if Pitt changed from the Pickett offense to the Slovis offense midgame. There was some stuff that caught Pitt a little off guard and made them play a little more tentatively. I'll start with UT's lateral attack.
Sideline to Sideline
To be fair, UT did *some* of this with Milton in the game early.
Athletes in space. Pitt likes to blitz as we all know. This means you'll see more than one WR screen to the sideline and Pitt will have to tackle well.
With Hooker replacing Milton, this became even more important as the game went on.
Part of Hooker's success in the game last season was I think, in part, due to the fact that Milton had been bombs away so much early that it made the secondary play off farther.
Here, Hooker makes a patient read and hits the long hitch to the sideline. Something that Milton probably wouldn't have been patient enough to do.
Next play, another WR screen that Woods badly misplayed giving up a long touchdown. You'll notice hardly any throws to the outside guys 10+ yards after Hooker entered the game.
From what I could tell against Ball St., this pattern held relatively well. Hooker wasn't too sharp on deeper throws and had much more success with the lateral and intermediate stuff. Believe it or not, I think for this season, that's to Pitt's advantage.
Here's one more example with the back in motion for a sprint screen. Lateral discipline will be important. Especially on 3rd & 6+ Heupel will try to catch Pitt in blitzes and a bailing secondary that might be a little too conscious of getting beat over the top. This WR screens and sprint screens will be a big part of what Heupel tries to use to neutralize Pitt's pressure.
Disciplined Pass Rush
One of the plays earlier is worth repeating for this point.
A couple of times, Pitt's pass rush got waaayyyy too upfield. Hooker made the throw here but you can see that he could have run it too.
Pitt MUST be more disciplined or....
This can happen. I have zero doubt this is a big point for the defense this week. You can't lose your lane discipline.
Hooker is a good enough athlete to make you pay. He's much better with his legs than Daniels so the pass rushing mindset needs to be tweaked for a mobile QB.
Watch the TE/Inserted H-Back
This one is especially important because Hooker's mobility will require extra attention from the LB's and safeties. This was another area where the switch to Hooker gave Heupel something Pitt might not have been as prepared for.
Hooker is taking shots but he is good enough to hang in there and deliver the ball to the TE. You can see the boundary safety blitzing (it was disguised so Hallett was late coming back to the middle of the field) but Heupel called a play that anticipated the blitz and the TE was very open.
The back motions out so the defense might be thinking wide screen or QB draw. The H-back/TE crosses the formation and Hooker hits him after a slight run fake. It's a good throw and catch. The coverage wasn't bad or anything. But this is one of the things Heupel likes to do in the redzone. Especially if Hooker is having success running the ball...the backers and safeties need to have good eye discipline.
Again Hooker gets blasted but again he's able to get the ball off to the TE streaking across the formation. Notice how Hill was close to the LOS watching the RB and the pass goes over his head.
So what can Pitt do about this TE play? Well we sort of already got the answer to that.
This isn't the TE in route but the concept is fairly similar. Hill "robs" the post, undercutting Hooker's throw to largely seal the game.
What I mean by "rob" the route is:
If the TE crosses the formation, the backside safety looks to help if there's no other threat his way. I would put money on Hallett and Hill both having chances at a pick on this type of play Saturday especially if the pass rush is getting to Hooker and Heupel tries to use the TE in the middle of the field to take advantage of the pressure. The key is that there's often a running back and a TE/H-back when Heupel goes for this type of thing.
I expect UT to initially try to just spread it out, run the ball with pace and use the lateral passing game like screens and sideline throws to open the game which is a pretty conventional approach for them. If Pitt stymies the run game, it limits what Heupel can do with his play calling. What I don't really expect is a ton of vertical routes right off the bat. It's not Hooker's comfort zone and I think Heupel would agree. Look for Pitt to defend sideline to sideline (tackling obviously is a must) and UT to try to counter Pitt's pass rush by using Hooker's mobility to create big play opportunities in the middle of the field.
You know already that UT will be snapping the ball quickly every chance they get. What you might not realize is how much different the offense for UT looks with Hooker at QB rather than Milton.
3 Keys for Pitt's defense to be successful (other than the obvious things like tackling well and taking the ball away):
1) Be sharp against UT attacking laterally
2) Disciplined pass rushing lanes
3) Always be aware of the inserted TE for play action
I'm not really that worried about vertical throws this week. That's not really Hooker's game and it's also fairly boring from an analysis standpoint to say "don't get beat deep". What changed from Milton to Hooker was UT's strategy of attack. It would be almost as big of a difference, for example, if Pitt changed from the Pickett offense to the Slovis offense midgame. There was some stuff that caught Pitt a little off guard and made them play a little more tentatively. I'll start with UT's lateral attack.
Sideline to Sideline
To be fair, UT did *some* of this with Milton in the game early.
Athletes in space. Pitt likes to blitz as we all know. This means you'll see more than one WR screen to the sideline and Pitt will have to tackle well.
With Hooker replacing Milton, this became even more important as the game went on.
Part of Hooker's success in the game last season was I think, in part, due to the fact that Milton had been bombs away so much early that it made the secondary play off farther.
Here, Hooker makes a patient read and hits the long hitch to the sideline. Something that Milton probably wouldn't have been patient enough to do.
Next play, another WR screen that Woods badly misplayed giving up a long touchdown. You'll notice hardly any throws to the outside guys 10+ yards after Hooker entered the game.
From what I could tell against Ball St., this pattern held relatively well. Hooker wasn't too sharp on deeper throws and had much more success with the lateral and intermediate stuff. Believe it or not, I think for this season, that's to Pitt's advantage.
Here's one more example with the back in motion for a sprint screen. Lateral discipline will be important. Especially on 3rd & 6+ Heupel will try to catch Pitt in blitzes and a bailing secondary that might be a little too conscious of getting beat over the top. This WR screens and sprint screens will be a big part of what Heupel tries to use to neutralize Pitt's pressure.
Disciplined Pass Rush
One of the plays earlier is worth repeating for this point.
A couple of times, Pitt's pass rush got waaayyyy too upfield. Hooker made the throw here but you can see that he could have run it too.
Pitt MUST be more disciplined or....
This can happen. I have zero doubt this is a big point for the defense this week. You can't lose your lane discipline.
Hooker is a good enough athlete to make you pay. He's much better with his legs than Daniels so the pass rushing mindset needs to be tweaked for a mobile QB.
Watch the TE/Inserted H-Back
This one is especially important because Hooker's mobility will require extra attention from the LB's and safeties. This was another area where the switch to Hooker gave Heupel something Pitt might not have been as prepared for.
Hooker is taking shots but he is good enough to hang in there and deliver the ball to the TE. You can see the boundary safety blitzing (it was disguised so Hallett was late coming back to the middle of the field) but Heupel called a play that anticipated the blitz and the TE was very open.
The back motions out so the defense might be thinking wide screen or QB draw. The H-back/TE crosses the formation and Hooker hits him after a slight run fake. It's a good throw and catch. The coverage wasn't bad or anything. But this is one of the things Heupel likes to do in the redzone. Especially if Hooker is having success running the ball...the backers and safeties need to have good eye discipline.
Again Hooker gets blasted but again he's able to get the ball off to the TE streaking across the formation. Notice how Hill was close to the LOS watching the RB and the pass goes over his head.
So what can Pitt do about this TE play? Well we sort of already got the answer to that.
This isn't the TE in route but the concept is fairly similar. Hill "robs" the post, undercutting Hooker's throw to largely seal the game.
What I mean by "rob" the route is:
If the TE crosses the formation, the backside safety looks to help if there's no other threat his way. I would put money on Hallett and Hill both having chances at a pick on this type of play Saturday especially if the pass rush is getting to Hooker and Heupel tries to use the TE in the middle of the field to take advantage of the pressure. The key is that there's often a running back and a TE/H-back when Heupel goes for this type of thing.
I expect UT to initially try to just spread it out, run the ball with pace and use the lateral passing game like screens and sideline throws to open the game which is a pretty conventional approach for them. If Pitt stymies the run game, it limits what Heupel can do with his play calling. What I don't really expect is a ton of vertical routes right off the bat. It's not Hooker's comfort zone and I think Heupel would agree. Look for Pitt to defend sideline to sideline (tackling obviously is a must) and UT to try to counter Pitt's pass rush by using Hooker's mobility to create big play opportunities in the middle of the field.
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