Having slept (quite nicely I might add) on our victory last night thought I'd post a few random thoughts about the game and the team:
1. That was the most impressive defensive performance I can remember from a Pitt team in many many years. Defensively, we beat the Cuse in every way possible. Our D Line and LB's played by far their best game. Holding Syracuse to 6 net yards rushing is insane. More importantly, the pressure we put on McCord really rattled him.
2. Sometimes things work out; When we lost 2 starting LB's from last years team and a D tackle I have to admit I was worried. Obviously, my fears were not justified. Our current LB's are far better then the guys they replaced. I can't help thinking that not only are we better in the short term but we're way better off in the long term getting these young LB's playing time. They are going to be a true force to be reckoned with next year.
3. I sound like a broken record but man is Ben Sauls money or what? The guy is a machine. What a weapon.
4. As good as our defense was, our offense still wasn't clicking yesterday. We only managed 13 first downs and only rushed for 73 net yards. You could say that Eli was efficient passing the ball (16-22) but only managed 144 yards passing. He did have 2 nice TD throws but overall, the offense still wasn't really in sync. Maybe time of possession had an impact since we only had the ball for 18 minutes. Still, we're going to need to improve on offense to beat some of the teams we'll be facing in the next few weeks.
5. Great job from our coaches putting the defense in the right spots to make all those picks. Nice mix of blitz and coverage.
6. One criticism...why on earth was Eli in the game so late and why is he running at that point? No possible benefit and a lot of risk (as we saw).
7. The team is starting to generate some serious media buzz. If we can keep this going we'll be in the conversation about playoff teams (which should help recruiting and donations).
This is the first Pitt team in a long time to dramatically over- perform relative to my expectations. It's been a blast so far. Keep it going.
Cruzer
1. That was the most impressive defensive performance I can remember from a Pitt team in many many years. Defensively, we beat the Cuse in every way possible. Our D Line and LB's played by far their best game. Holding Syracuse to 6 net yards rushing is insane. More importantly, the pressure we put on McCord really rattled him.
2. Sometimes things work out; When we lost 2 starting LB's from last years team and a D tackle I have to admit I was worried. Obviously, my fears were not justified. Our current LB's are far better then the guys they replaced. I can't help thinking that not only are we better in the short term but we're way better off in the long term getting these young LB's playing time. They are going to be a true force to be reckoned with next year.
3. I sound like a broken record but man is Ben Sauls money or what? The guy is a machine. What a weapon.
4. As good as our defense was, our offense still wasn't clicking yesterday. We only managed 13 first downs and only rushed for 73 net yards. You could say that Eli was efficient passing the ball (16-22) but only managed 144 yards passing. He did have 2 nice TD throws but overall, the offense still wasn't really in sync. Maybe time of possession had an impact since we only had the ball for 18 minutes. Still, we're going to need to improve on offense to beat some of the teams we'll be facing in the next few weeks.
5. Great job from our coaches putting the defense in the right spots to make all those picks. Nice mix of blitz and coverage.
6. One criticism...why on earth was Eli in the game so late and why is he running at that point? No possible benefit and a lot of risk (as we saw).
7. The team is starting to generate some serious media buzz. If we can keep this going we'll be in the conversation about playoff teams (which should help recruiting and donations).
This is the first Pitt team in a long time to dramatically over- perform relative to my expectations. It's been a blast so far. Keep it going.
Cruzer