I posted these on Twitter and figured I would share them on the board as well.
10 quick thoughts on the win over Louisville
1. Alex Kessman gets a game ball today. For everybody who said "If Kessman makes his kicks, Pitt beats Syracuse 30-10." Well, if he doesn't make his kicks, Pitt loses to Louisville 20-14. He made them all - 41, 42 and 45. Big game for him.
2. Pitt's veteran defensive players are doing what you'd expect (and then some). But the emergence of guys like Calijah Kancey, SirVocea Dennis and Marquis Williams is huge - for this year and beyond.
3. We kept saying that Jordan Addison was going to be really good, but you never know until it happens. Well, it's happening, and he looks like the best freshman WR Pitt has had since Tyler Boyd. And soon we might drop the "freshman" from that sentence.
4. Back to special teams: Kirk Christodoulou looked like he found his groove. Some really nice punts today.
5. If Israel Abanikanda can block, he should see his reps increase steadily over the coming weeks.
6. It's going to seem like a letdown or even a disappointment when Pitt's defense has a game with "only" 3 sacks. Currently averaging 5.7 per game. Just dominating up front.
7. The Steel Panther uniforms were fine. The names were impossible to read and the Panther logo on the helmet was pretty tough to see. I would have liked to see some more yellow accents - maybe even doing the numbers in yellow. That would have "popped," as the kids say
8. Gotta give a quick shout-out to Chris Maloney, the walk-on defensive lineman who suited up at fullback today. Pitt used some jumbo packages, and he was a part of them. Solid effort for the first time he played the position in a game.
9. Another shout-out has to go to the Pitt players overall. Not one had to miss today's game due to COVID protocols. That's pretty impressive.
10. Finally, Pitt has to score more. We know that. 22 points per game isn't enough. But it's not bad to have the cushion of a pretty great defense to carry the load while the offense figures it out.
10 quick thoughts on the win over Louisville
1. Alex Kessman gets a game ball today. For everybody who said "If Kessman makes his kicks, Pitt beats Syracuse 30-10." Well, if he doesn't make his kicks, Pitt loses to Louisville 20-14. He made them all - 41, 42 and 45. Big game for him.
2. Pitt's veteran defensive players are doing what you'd expect (and then some). But the emergence of guys like Calijah Kancey, SirVocea Dennis and Marquis Williams is huge - for this year and beyond.
3. We kept saying that Jordan Addison was going to be really good, but you never know until it happens. Well, it's happening, and he looks like the best freshman WR Pitt has had since Tyler Boyd. And soon we might drop the "freshman" from that sentence.
4. Back to special teams: Kirk Christodoulou looked like he found his groove. Some really nice punts today.
5. If Israel Abanikanda can block, he should see his reps increase steadily over the coming weeks.
6. It's going to seem like a letdown or even a disappointment when Pitt's defense has a game with "only" 3 sacks. Currently averaging 5.7 per game. Just dominating up front.
7. The Steel Panther uniforms were fine. The names were impossible to read and the Panther logo on the helmet was pretty tough to see. I would have liked to see some more yellow accents - maybe even doing the numbers in yellow. That would have "popped," as the kids say
8. Gotta give a quick shout-out to Chris Maloney, the walk-on defensive lineman who suited up at fullback today. Pitt used some jumbo packages, and he was a part of them. Solid effort for the first time he played the position in a game.
9. Another shout-out has to go to the Pitt players overall. Not one had to miss today's game due to COVID protocols. That's pretty impressive.
10. Finally, Pitt has to score more. We know that. 22 points per game isn't enough. But it's not bad to have the cushion of a pretty great defense to carry the load while the offense figures it out.
