A lot of people have mentioned the bad game Maddox had, but what about Amara? He missed a ton of tackles in the first half, including two on Syracuse's two play TD drive on their first possession. Why he was trying to cover a WR, I don't know, but he can't cover a quick WR. Period. We played more zone in the second half than we have all year and it worked pretty well.
None of the OL had a consistently good game. They all had spells of opening up holes, but none was consistent in doing it. DJ was the most consistent.
Both Ollison and James missed the hole on quite a few occasions. For example, on a 3d and 4, Rowell took his man to the left and Officer took his to the right. The hole was between them. Instead, Ollison ran to the left, where all the traffic was. This has been something I have noticed quite a bit this year.
How bad was the tackling in the 1st Quarter? Even Jordan Whitehead missed 3 tackles.
Every week we are told that Reggie Mitchell is probable. And every week he doesn't play. He is Pitt's Ryan Shazier.
I initially thought that Conklin didn't blitz much in the first half. But he did. Syracuse just was very well prepared and picked up the blitzes well. We actually blitzed less in the 2d half when we held them to 3 points. Jarrett had a poor game and didn't play much in the second half.
Chaney's play calling was bad. He is Matt Cavanaugh with Charlie Weis' belly. No vertical passing game except for Boyd's throw to Ford. Syracuse could play tight and walk their safeties up because they weren't worried about the deep threat. And except for one throw to Orndorff and one to Holtz he apparently forgot we have TEs.
Aston was a revelation earlier. But he didn't have a good game blocking at all. Unsuccessfully tried to cut blitzers; didn't make any big blocks in the running game. Parrish played much better as the H back.
Perhaps, the Jester Weah experiment is over. Challingsworth was the 3rd WR whenever we used one. Although since we tried a lot of WR screens it could be that Challingsworth is the better blocker. USF successfully ran a lot of WR screens against Syracuse. But they also threw deep off the same formation. Although not many were successful, it forced Syracuse's Safeties to respect the deep pass and not to crowd the LOS.
I can understand them reversing the targeting call. But, reversing the personal foul because the ref called it roughing the passer instead of a personal foul? A hit to the head of the QB is supposed to be a personal foul and he definitely did that.
The refs were bad. The replay official was horrible. On Narduzzi's challenge on the spot where James was called out, the replay clearly showed green between James' shoe and the sideline where the official marked him out. On the spot for the Syracuse WR the replay booth gave him an extra yard. Maybe his forward progress was to the 45 and maybe that would have been enough for the 1st down, but no way was it to the 46.
If he continues to improve, Brian O'Neill is going to have a great future both at Pitt and in the NFL. Biz, on the other hand, will likely play his last FB game next year. I haven't seen much improvement from him. DJ, on the other hand, is steadily improving. Officer I think is a better C than OG. The OL should be better next year if Bookser can play RG.
I initially thought that Shafer's challenge of the spot on Ollison, the one replay that went our way, with 1:39 left was a mistake because it cost him his last TO. But now I think it was a smart move. His defense was gassed and he gave them a little rest. And if he wins the challenge he could use the TO after the next play to rest them again. If the first down was upheld he knew they weren't getting the ball back anyway.
According to a poster here, Blewitt's dad said he much prefers to kick from the right hash. It was a smart move after the first down on the 17 to run him to the right hash. Then almost right up the middle but behind DJ on the next play. That put the ball almost dead center but slightly to the right for the FG, which he drilled high and right down the middle.
In a short week, we need to improve a lot to beat UNC. Yesterday they scored 26, the first time in 5 games they have scored less than 40. And their defense, which has been a sieve for two years, has been very good this season. I think the keys are to contain the QB Williams and keep the ball out of the hands of the WR and KR Williams. On offense, we need to protect the QB and take some deep shots to loosen them up. And the DL needs to play much better than it did against Syracuse, where it made few tackles and didn't get to the QB.
None of the OL had a consistently good game. They all had spells of opening up holes, but none was consistent in doing it. DJ was the most consistent.
Both Ollison and James missed the hole on quite a few occasions. For example, on a 3d and 4, Rowell took his man to the left and Officer took his to the right. The hole was between them. Instead, Ollison ran to the left, where all the traffic was. This has been something I have noticed quite a bit this year.
How bad was the tackling in the 1st Quarter? Even Jordan Whitehead missed 3 tackles.
Every week we are told that Reggie Mitchell is probable. And every week he doesn't play. He is Pitt's Ryan Shazier.
I initially thought that Conklin didn't blitz much in the first half. But he did. Syracuse just was very well prepared and picked up the blitzes well. We actually blitzed less in the 2d half when we held them to 3 points. Jarrett had a poor game and didn't play much in the second half.
Chaney's play calling was bad. He is Matt Cavanaugh with Charlie Weis' belly. No vertical passing game except for Boyd's throw to Ford. Syracuse could play tight and walk their safeties up because they weren't worried about the deep threat. And except for one throw to Orndorff and one to Holtz he apparently forgot we have TEs.
Aston was a revelation earlier. But he didn't have a good game blocking at all. Unsuccessfully tried to cut blitzers; didn't make any big blocks in the running game. Parrish played much better as the H back.
Perhaps, the Jester Weah experiment is over. Challingsworth was the 3rd WR whenever we used one. Although since we tried a lot of WR screens it could be that Challingsworth is the better blocker. USF successfully ran a lot of WR screens against Syracuse. But they also threw deep off the same formation. Although not many were successful, it forced Syracuse's Safeties to respect the deep pass and not to crowd the LOS.
I can understand them reversing the targeting call. But, reversing the personal foul because the ref called it roughing the passer instead of a personal foul? A hit to the head of the QB is supposed to be a personal foul and he definitely did that.
The refs were bad. The replay official was horrible. On Narduzzi's challenge on the spot where James was called out, the replay clearly showed green between James' shoe and the sideline where the official marked him out. On the spot for the Syracuse WR the replay booth gave him an extra yard. Maybe his forward progress was to the 45 and maybe that would have been enough for the 1st down, but no way was it to the 46.
If he continues to improve, Brian O'Neill is going to have a great future both at Pitt and in the NFL. Biz, on the other hand, will likely play his last FB game next year. I haven't seen much improvement from him. DJ, on the other hand, is steadily improving. Officer I think is a better C than OG. The OL should be better next year if Bookser can play RG.
I initially thought that Shafer's challenge of the spot on Ollison, the one replay that went our way, with 1:39 left was a mistake because it cost him his last TO. But now I think it was a smart move. His defense was gassed and he gave them a little rest. And if he wins the challenge he could use the TO after the next play to rest them again. If the first down was upheld he knew they weren't getting the ball back anyway.
According to a poster here, Blewitt's dad said he much prefers to kick from the right hash. It was a smart move after the first down on the 17 to run him to the right hash. Then almost right up the middle but behind DJ on the next play. That put the ball almost dead center but slightly to the right for the FG, which he drilled high and right down the middle.
In a short week, we need to improve a lot to beat UNC. Yesterday they scored 26, the first time in 5 games they have scored less than 40. And their defense, which has been a sieve for two years, has been very good this season. I think the keys are to contain the QB Williams and keep the ball out of the hands of the WR and KR Williams. On offense, we need to protect the QB and take some deep shots to loosen them up. And the DL needs to play much better than it did against Syracuse, where it made few tackles and didn't get to the QB.
