Pitt needed all hands on deck, and good QB play to have a legit chance to win. Unfortunately, that has not happened.
Are we recruiting well enough?
- Thread starter sappycrease
- Start date
Franklin is outrecruiting him to a wide margin, so this amount of homerism is clearly delusional.
Are you following all other teams' transfers to compare? So far we have had 1 impact transfer: Nate Peterman. This year, we hope 4 more are big additions.
Throw in new OC ( not just the usual coaching shuffle, but replacing the creator of the best offense we ever had).
And a new kicker, who might be ok, but early on likely will miss key kicks as many new kickers do, in a season we might really need FG more than ever due to all the other changes noted.
Yes lots of teams have many changes most years. But we play two top 10 teams in the first month. We didn't need the latest obstacles (injuries and suspensions) to make the task any more formidable.
Easy to say they are OOC games and "mean nothing". Big ugly losses in such games wouldn't be easy to ignore. They'd set the stage with the fans if not the players for a really meh season. Which would duly be reflected in subsequent crowds (if you think the Duke crowd after Clemson were disappointing... imagine how they'll be if 52d in the first two real games), which many of you say demoralize the team. Either way, tough to recover, even from such "meaningless" games.
Just how it is.
Ok, we are an 18 point (before the injuries and suspensions) underdog. We are the clear underdog in that game. That doesn't mean we can't win, but we certainly aren't expected to win or even keep it close.
We are doing fine at recruiting. We haven't had consistently good seasons and there was the coaching merry go round. It amazes me how People on this sight expect to hire a new coach and automatically compete with Saban, Meyer, Harbaugh and company. Pitt has to win period !!!
Doesn't matter who coaches, on campus or on campus stadium, uniforms. Its a circle winning means good recruits, good recruits mean winning. But it starts win winning and Narduzzi is bring in better recruits. Also note that guys like Sibley (Ohio St.) and Camp (USC) were down graded once that left their original commits and committed to Pitt.
Doesn't matter who coaches, on campus or on campus stadium, uniforms. Its a circle winning means good recruits, good recruits mean winning. But it starts win winning and Narduzzi is bring in better recruits. Also note that guys like Sibley (Ohio St.) and Camp (USC) were down graded once that left their original commits and committed to Pitt.
No one expects us to compete with those coaches/programs.
That is not true about those recruits.
Narduzzi has a couple strikes against him when he goes to bat with a recruit!It's hard to hit all the time in those situations.In my opinion he's doing an above average job at Pitt.Its very difficult to get those 4-5 stars that you need to be top tier in the P5.Wvu has a couple advantages over Pitt( home attendance- own stadium) and their recruiting isn't that much better than Pitt's.
I think we have enough offensive weapons that a good QB will be able to score points with them, and if Browne can play then I think PN can scheme a defensive game plan to lead McSorely into some poor decisions.
But, it's more likely to be a 40-10 loss than a 27-24 win.
A 4 star QB that got drafted is significant. We have other highly rated Transfers in the fold as well that PN and the staff deserve credit for.
The fact that we lost a lot of key members. The fact that we have a new OC
The fact that we have a new qb
The fact that it seems several key members are suspended or hurt
The fact that their team grew up a lot last year
The fact that they return almost their entire O
The fact the game is in happy valley and the game is circled on their schedule
Stranger things have happened but if you're asking what has changed since last year you haven't been paying attention. ALOT
PS clearly should win this game. They should beat us badly. The pressure is on them. No doubt.
Yeah, I said Peterman was the 1 impact, so far.
We have 3 guys who were highly rated recruits and left their schools for differing reasons, some of which is they didn't make the impact expected at their schools. Max Browne was a 5 star recruit, but has not been a successful college player after 4 years of trying. That isn't the same as getting a 4 or 5 star recruit.
Are you giving credit to other staffs for their transfers? Here is an article ranking 6 other QB transfers higher than Browne.
https://sports.yahoo.com/top-20-college-football-impact-transfers-2017-150045486.html
pittdan77
Athletic Director
To be fair to Browne, he suffered Lane Kiffin and then was jumped by the leading Heisman candidate going into this season.
That is totally fair. For all we know he could be the 2nd best QB in college football, behind only Darnold. It's more likely however, that he is closer to Anthony Morelli when the games start being played.
Suffered Lane Kiffin? Say what you want about Lane's maturity level, but he is an excellent QB coach/OC.
Been a while since Lane was at USC anyway.
Been a while since Lane was at USC anyway.
All coaches should be given credit for any recruits they bring in. It does not matter if they are Jucos, Transfers, or Fr.
Fair enough. Which of these players has produced at a high level on the football field so far?
Agreed. At least Duz aggressively does pursue all options.
We do know he's not the 2nd best Qb. He was 1-3 as a starter last year for a USC team loaded with talent. I do feel like he can be successful within Pitt's offense though as the game is simplified for the QB.
Nate - excellent recruit
A bunch of guys who are TBA. Guys who played at Powerhouse Programs like USC, Texas, Tennessee, etc.
It does not matter one iota how or where we get good players from. PN just needs to get them. He has done a good job of building up this program. This is not an easy job. Pitt fans need to learn that the grass is not always greener (i.e. Sherrill, Dixon).
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Moronelli did not perform like the touted 5 star he was supposed to be, but rather a solid 3 at the college level. It is not like he was Nick Marmo picking splinters from his butt.
We don't know that for sure. His first three college starts were against #1 Bama (L), Utah State (W) and then #7 Stanford (L). I think it would be tough for anybody to be successful in that situation. Darnold then started game 4 and USC lost again to Utah.
I think it is likely that he he just going to be an average QB who has a great arm, but he could also turn out to be very good.
Fair enough. I think PSU does have the edge in this game, but can counter almost every point you have made above with a reason to be optimistic.
1. PSU was the second game of the season, with a brand new OC in Canada. 2. Browne will likely have the reigns in this game. Although he is new to the program, he had experience against 2 of the premiere programs in the country last year. I can't imagine he'll be rattled going into Happy Valley.
3. No doubt this will change the dynamic of the game. Having a leader like Whitehead on the back end of the secondary is extremely important against dynamic offenses. Aston will hurt in the running game, but there should be options to at least keep the FB position in play in short yardage situations.
4. You could say the same for PITT.
5. Their offense should be explosive this year, if they can keep everyone healthy.
6. The atmosphere should be incredible. Some teams perform better on the road than they do at home. PITT has had some success in recent years on the road against tough opponents (Clemson, VT). They've also had some tough losses on the road (UNC, Iowa) where they were literally seconds away from a victory or forcing overtime. Should be interesting to see which team shows up.
Completely agree this is going to be an uphill battle, but if you look strictly at when this game was played last year compared with this year, last year's PITT team had a lot of unknowns as well. Most people were imploding after the offensive (homonym) display against Villanova in Week 1.
We are not recruiting well enough , not good enough to win our league , and not even as good as our rivals lately. DUZZ has one weakness it's recruiting , save the excuses
You are correct , Jackie, Johnny, even Wanny gave PSU tough battles and got their fair share , Duzz is being smacked around hard by PSU....SO FAR
Many of St Penn's recruits are from MD, NJ and VA. St College is closer to their homes than Pittsburgh is. St Penn goes up against Rutgers, MD often in those battles in terms of close to home options and you have to like those matchups. Pitt has done fine in the Pgh market against St Penn.
seriously your act is wearing thin. Another year of your hard-on for all things Franklin & Penn State.
The difference is I think the other guy is Mauti and has been trolling here where as you are just a strange dude who claims to be a Pitt fan.
"own stadium". Doesn't matter. You guys misconstrue this. "On Campus" stadium, stadium size, that is where you have an advantage. If Pitt was to average the same attendance in a 50K on campus stadium, there would never be a word issued about attendance. But we play in a 70K Monolith, so big you can fit Mountaineer Field AND the Coliseum in it, with bright yellow seats.
I think you are reaching there. I man a kid from Southern Jersey or Virginia, what is an extra hour or 2. Why can't we just admit Penn State is a bigger and better football program than we are. That they care way more about football than we do, at least as a school, and the town exists solely to promote football, where in Pittsburgh people grocery shop during Pitt games.
