a few game thoughts

[Slick Manager of Champs]

After having some time to reflect a little.

-UVA wasn't that much different than last year. Perkins is good, but I've seen way better QB's. To their credit, they played mistake free football and did what was needed to win the game. But this was a very winnable game for us.

- The kid from TJ should have been ejected for his cheap head shot he took, not sure why it wasn't reviewed. At least the refs called a personal file.

-Pinnock is not a good tackler at all. His missed sack was a killer, did that a few times last year as well.

-I like Hamlin but man he can be frustrating. Had a few rough plays. Paris Ford on the other hand appears to be the real deal. Causing that fumble was huge as UVA had a first down.

-Pickett...what more can be said? I was a fan and thought accuracy was a strong point. I ADMIT TO BEING WRONG!! Can't hit the out pattern, can't hit the deep ball, takes bad sacks. I think we are seeing the reason we only fought off Temple for his services.

-But the drops absolutely crippled Picket as well. Mack, Tipton and Stewart dropped very catchable balls that would have been big gains. Game was pretty much done when Mack drops ball in 3rd quarter that would have put us in position to score and retake lead, Instead next play Picket throws a pick, UVA gets a TD, and that was pretty much ball game.

-Attendance. Once again it is based on season ticket sales. Very rarely do you get walk ups for games. With no marque opponent on home schedule (i.e. PSU or ND), and no star/local players to create buzz, there will not be a big season ticket surge and what you see is what you get. Good student turnout. Pitt alumni are more the problem. An alum friend of mine whose wife is also an alum and kids currently attend Pitt chose not to go. Not sure the reasons, is it all playing off-campus that is failing to create any type of bond/connection to Pitt Football after the students graduate?

-I'm not a big fan of Mark Madden, but he always says your record says what you are. We are 0-4 in the last 4 games and there is no way to sugar coat that. You have to hope a light bulb goes off with Narduzzi since we cannot enter the coaching carousel. No way no how. The admin has proven they won't commit to getting a big name winner (Urban Meyer). Or even an up and comers like Fickel, Norvell or Heupel from the AAC. So that means another crap shoot with an assistant. So unless the wheels totally fall of and we produce a 3-9 season, we can't even think about having this conversation this season.

 

[McKee Place]

Good post.

I was heartened that Ford looks like a player at safety. I had always thought he should be on offense. I still wonder if there is some way he could contribute there as Whitehead did. Just to give some spark of interest. But at least he didn't wash out as a prospect aka Salahuddin.

Good perspective on Pickett and the receivers. His shortcomings mostly led to the problems with the offense but there certainly were some key drops.

They bailed out pickett on some catches however. All the wheel route passes were at the backs knees or lower. And fired like a cannon. And recall the catch on the sideline whenTipton had to soar about to 11 feet high while toeing the sideline, to because it was thrown so badly high (it was ruled incomplete at first because it seemed impossible he could have caught it and got a foot down, but confirmed on review that he did).

Could understand it with a raw freshman but this is a 3rd year guy with almost 20 starts under his belt. At that point even the most enthralled KP fan has to suspect he may never have it.

As far as Narduzzi, exactly. Getting rid of him would be the easy (but expensive) thing. Replacing him with a clear, significant upgrade would be the trick.

But i remain convinced he's not a problem, his aversion to bench Pickett aside. He is solid. Players play hard for him. His issue is not having a school that is willing to cooperate with boosters to entice better recruits. This is what is necessary and it's proven over and over. Until then, no coach we'd hire, short of a top 5 name who attracts solely on his fame and rep (which only last so long) is going to clean up with high end talent.

If unwilling to play The Game the way it exists today, it really doesn't matter who coaches. It won't be better with anyone else. Could be worse though, as several of our past coaches have proved. So may as well stay with him.

 

[thebadby2]

Good post.

I was heartened that Ford looks like a player at safety. I had always thought he should be on offense. I still wonder if there is some way he could contribute there as Whitehead did. Just to give some spark of interest. But at least he didn't wash out as a prospect aka Salahuddin.

Good perspective on Pickett and the receivers. His shortcomings mostly led to the problems with the offense but there certainly were some key drops.

They bailed out pickett on some catches however. All the wheel route passes were at the backs knees or lower. And fired like a cannon. And recall the catch on the sideline whenTipton had to soar about to 11 feet high while toeing the sideline, to because it was thrown so badly high (it was ruled incomplete at first because it seemed impossible he could have caught it and got a foot down, but confirmed on review that he did).

Could understand it with a raw freshman but this is a 3rd year guy with almost 20 starts under his belt. At that point even the most enthralled KP fan has to suspect he may never have it.

As far as Narduzzi, exactly. Getting rid of him would be the easy (but expensive) thing. Replacing him with a clear, significant upgrade would be the trick.

But i remain convinced he's not a problem, his aversion to bench Pickett aside. He is solid. Players play hard for him. His issue is not having a school that is willing to cooperate with boosters to entice better recruits. This is what is necessary and it's proven over and over. Until then, no coach we'd hire, short of a top 5 name who attracts solely on his fame and rep (which only last so long) is going to clean up with high end talent.

If unwilling to play The Game the way it exists today, it really doesn't matter who coaches. It won't be better with anyone else. Could be worse though, as several of our past coaches have proved. So may as well stay with him.

Agree with your observation about Pickett’s lack of accuracy and touch on the short passes to his backs. One stood out to me-I believe V Carter was in the backfield and the play was a designed swing pass to him. The ball is snapped, Carter swings out on a good angle, the edge and outside is blocked clean, the table is set and the space is there for an explosive play from a dynamic player, and Pickett fires a low fastball behind Carter for an incompletion.

The camera flashed to Whipple on the sideline and he looked like someone just shot his dog. He had his hands out in front of him feebly gesturing “put the ball out in front of your man”-but instead of looking angry and agitated like he did in the first half, he looked defeated and hopeless.

 

[Las Panteras]

I would just add that the 3rd down drop by the transfer tight end cant be dismissed.

Through his hands , hits him in the face mask and we are punting

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I would just add that the 3rd down drop by the transfer tight end cant be dismissed.

Through his hands , hits him in the face mask and we are punting

agreed.

 

[Rayz5089]

Yeah I’ve been a KP fan but he not only botched multiple deep throws but his botched screen passes are indefensible, and on one of them I remember seeing Whipple screaming with a face that was bright red. I thought the play calling was ok and that our WRs seem to be way better at getting separation compared to last year, but if KP can’t get the ball to them (then on few occasions he does get it to them) they can’t drop it.

Paris Ford looked as good as advertised though

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

Lyke will resign before she lets some academic pick the next football coach. Get real.