A few quick thoughts

[pittmeister]

*Disappointing loss in a winnable game, but a gutsy performance. We’ve pulled out wins at the end of a few games this year, but couldn’t finish it off today.

*This game for some reason reminded me of the Tennessee game in 2022

*A few boneheaded posters mocked Yarnell last week especially one particular poster, but he played really well. Best quarterbacking in weeks. 34/54 350 yards. 1 TD and a last play interception.

*OL is horrible and the reason we lost today. The number position to go after in the portal.

*In addition to the OL, we had too many penalties. A couple of them were bullsh@t calls, but nonetheless contributed to the loss.

*The defense played great, especially in the second half. Louis is an All-American if there is any credibility left.

*Too bad Daniel Carter got hurt. The staff finally decided to give him the ball more, and he gets hurt.

*Reid looked much better than he has in a while. Too bad he got tripped up on the long pass. He would have easily scored a touchdown

*Coaching… Well, it was spotty on the offensive side of the ball. Enough has been said already on other threads. But I will say they need to get the OL on the same page, fast. Giving up 8 sacks and constant pressure will make any offense sputter. Yarnell did great under those conditions.

 

[NCanton Panther]

I think it may be a tossup on who to pin the loss on more, OL play or coaching. I may have to go with coaching.

May be recency bias but I’m having a hard time thinking of a Pitt loss I could blame on coaching more.

Offensive side of the ball, way too long of a list to bother ragging on.

Defensive side of the ball, inexcusable allowing 2 easy sideline catches by Clemson with them having no time outs, pretty much put them close to FG range right off the bat without taking any time off the clock. Made us go into a risky defense to try to keep them out of FG range and leave them open to what happened.

Not to mention the 3-play 75-yard Clemson TD drive that I’d blame mostly on scheme/coaching as well.

 

[Burgh15]

Pitt should not have went into turtle mode settling for a FG at the end. They needed to still try to score a TD.

I don't know how this coaching staff can look great and awful all on the same day. I mean, they had a real good plan for the most part against Clemson. Then some of those calls on offense and constantly going horizontal on first down along or how long it took to take a time out, etc. were just mind blowing.

Pitt was good enough to win today and should've won today. Take that for what it is, but the bottom line is it is another in the loss column.

 

[bwh05]

We’re flat out undisciplined which is what coaching is. We got 3 straight encroachment penalties & 3 straight procedure penalties in a row AT HOME.

The poor clock management hurt at the end as well.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Pitt should not have went into turtle mode settling for a FG at the end. They needed to still try to score a TD.

I don't know how this coaching staff can look great and awful all on the same day. I mean, they had a real good plan for the most part against Clemson. Then some of those calls on offense and constantly going horizontal on first down along or how long it took to take a time out, etc. were just mind blowing.

Pitt was good enough to win today and should've won today. Take that for what it is, but the bottom line is it is another in the loss column.

A first down was the most valuable thing they could have achieved at that point. It would have allowed them to milk the clock and kick the game-winning chip shot. These idiots were running tempo when they should have milked it against UNC, etc. But when ten yards is what stood between them and guaranteed victory they went total chicken shit mode and gave away two downs.

 

[Burgh15]

A first down was the most valuable thing they could have achieved at that point. It would have allowed them to milk the clock and kick the game-winning chip shot. These idiots were running tempo when they should have milked it against UNC, etc. But when ten yards is what stood between them and guaranteed victory they went total chicken shit mode and gave away two downs.

They acted like there were 30 seconds left in the game, not 2 minutes which is an eternity in football.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

They acted like there were 30 seconds left in the game, not 2 minutes which is an eternity in football.

No doubt about it. And the frustrating thing is that you know what's going through Narduzzi's mind in that situation. "My defense has stopped them this entire half."

But a lot of that was Clemson knowing they didn't need to be overly aggressive because Pitt wasn't doing anything on offense. Teams are just so different when it's the last chance and they NEED to score. It happens all the time. Totally different mindset.

 

[NCanton Panther]

They acted like there were 30 seconds left in the game, not 2 minutes which is an eternity in football.

It wasn’t just going into turtle mode, didn’t they shoot themselves in the foot with another false start penalty after they had gotten down around the 20-some yard line. Ran it on 1st down which you can’t fault them for at that point to make sure Clemson has to use a timeout. That’s when they had the false start penalty (Bart I think), which put them in a hole at 2nd and 14-15 yards. So they run it again there which is debatable but it’s either be aggressive or make sure Clemson uses up all their timeouts. Now it’s 3rd and 14-15, they drop back to pass and Yarnell promptly gets sacked. More so than turtle mode, they just dug themselves too much of a hole with another stupid 5-yard penalty and the OL getting blown up on 2 rushing attempts.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

It wasn’t just going into turtle mode, didn’t they shoot themselves in the foot with another false start penalty after they had gotten down around the 20-some yard line. Ran it on 1st down which you can’t fault them for at that point to make sure Clemson has to use a timeout. That’s when they had the false start penalty (Bart I think), which put them in a hole at 2nd and 14-15 yards. So they run it again there which is debatable but it’s either be aggressive or make sure Clemson uses up all their timeouts. Now it’s 3rd and 14-15, they drop back to pass and Yarnell promptly gets sacked. More so than turtle mode, they just dug themselves too much of a hole with another stupid 5-yard penalty and the OL getting blown up on 2 rushing attempts.

Making Clemson use timeouts was never going to be as valuable as getting a 1st down. They were going to only need a field goal in 1:40. Hell, they ended getting a touchdown in a fraction of that time.

You're right that the false start was big. But that run on 2nd down was what I had the biggest problem with. I can think of no other reason for that to be the play call than for them to want to make Clemson burn another timeout.

 

[boseman7]

I thought Yarnell played better than his numbers indicated. A LOT of drops and a lot of non catches on catchable balls. I think Yarnell is way more suited to the pro style offense we had before. The spread is very…..predictable. They gotta get more formations than just Shotgun when you’re inside the 5 yard line.

 

[franklinman]

And Stanford beats Louisville 38-35 .

 

[NatronaHeightsPanther]

It’s concerning that for 3 straight weeks, it looks as though the team didn’t practice at all, and it comes out looking lifeless, countless bone-headed penalties, or overwhelmed by their own success. This is year 10 for Narduzzi. You can not continue to point to 2021 and claim that is the reason he deserves to be here, he’s 19-16 since then. If that’s good enough for you, cool. It’s not for me.

 

[Parkview57]

*A few boneheaded posters mocked Yarnell last week especially one particular poster, but he played really well. Best quarterbacking in weeks. 34/54 350 yards. 1 TD and a last play interception.

I thought Yarnell played better than his numbers indicated

Glad you all pointed this out. Yarnell is a good Pitt man, he got screwed by Bell.

 

[TD_6082]

Pitt should not have went into turtle mode settling for a FG at the end. They needed to still try to score a TD.

I don't know how this coaching staff can look great and awful all on the same day. I mean, they had a real good plan for the most part against Clemson. Then some of those calls on offense and constantly going horizontal on first down along or how long it took to take a time out, etc. were just mind blowing.

Pitt was good enough to win today and should've won today. Take that for what it is, but the bottom line is it is another in the loss column.

They called the TO as soon as the knew it wasn't a first down. But the ball was out of view from the Pitt sideline. They didn't want to burn a TO if the clock was going to stop anyway.

 

[Tvax1]

Making Clemson use timeouts was never going to be as valuable as getting a 1st down. They were going to only need a field goal in 1:40. Hell, they ended getting a touchdown in a fraction of that time.

You're right that the false start was big. But that run on 2nd down was what I had the biggest problem with. I can think of no other reason for that to be the play call than for them to want to make Clemson burn another timeout.

so you somewhat excuse Barto on the penalty, I can't

tons of mistakes but that one and the missed tackle on Klubnik to possibly force a FG attempt if we could've stopped them from there were the final nails

 

[Tvax1]

Glad you all pointed this out. Yarnell is a good Pitt man, he got screwed by Bell.

Nate likely made Eli more affordable to keep and I can live with either if we get a much better O-line through NIL or whatever is possible

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

A first down was the most valuable thing they could have achieved at that point. It would have allowed them to milk the clock and kick the game-winning chip shot. These idiots were running tempo when they should have milked it against UNC, etc. But when ten yards is what stood between them and guaranteed victory they went total chicken shit mode and gave away two downs.

exactly. I think Peak tweeted in game asking if he was the only one thinking Pitt wasn't being aggressive enough. A 1st down in that situation would have pretty much ended the game.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Pitt should not have went into turtle mode settling for a FG at the end. They needed to still try to score a TD.

My comment at the game was something along the lines of "they are going to be selling out for the run, do we have the guts to throw a play action pass here".

Spoiler alert, the answer was "no".

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

We got 3 straight encroachment penalties & 3 straight procedure penalties in a row AT HOME.

That didn't belong on the "things you don't see every game" list, that belonged on the "things I don't think I've ever seen in a game before" list.

13 total penalties for an even 100 yards. Pathetic.

 

[Burgh15]

They called the TO as soon as the knew it wasn't a first down. But the ball was out of view from the Pitt sideline. They didn't want to burn a TO if the clock was going to stop anyway.

The officials didn't signal a first down or to stop the clock as though it was a first down. The entire stadium yelled "time out." The only person who didn't know to take a time out there was Pat Narduzzi.

 

[bwh05]

That didn't belong on the "things you don't see every game" list, that belonged on the "things I don't think I've ever seen in a game before" list.

13 total penalties for an even 100 yards. Pathetic.

It would be embarrassing in youth football.

 

[TD_6082]

The officials didn't signal a first down or to stop the clock as though it was a first down. The entire stadium yelled "time out." The only person who didn't know to take a time out there was Pat Narduzzi.

He actually called a time out as soon as it was ruled that it wasn't a first down. Pitt easily had time to run plays on 3rd & 4th down.