Few thoughts from 5 hrs away

[spitdoc]

Having followed Pitt Football since I trained in the Burgh in the late, 80's I've traveled across the state since then never having taken a class at Pitt. The WVU loss may have been the most painful thing to watch ( on TV) since we lost to South Florida. That team was 1-5 until Walt Harris realized that MAJOR change was necessary and we won the last 6 games and beat NC State and Philip Rivers in the Tangerine Bowl. QB is a problem and I have seen enough of #5 PJ. As I recall Yarnell is 1-0 as a starter. Regardless, we have alot of inexperiencedbackup players on both sides of the ball. I am not a Cignetti fan...sorry...just boring to watch his offense.

#1. Offensive play calling is boring
# 2 We seem to not execute screen passes well
#3 We all know that Bartholomew is not being used to his potential
#4 I get the feeling that the TE's are being kept in because we are not giving the QB enough time
#5 Cignetti has to go
#6 We heard all spring about how we were going to exploit the other teams by throwing deep passes.....was I reading about another team?
#7 It all starts on the lines and Hayes and occasionally Green and Jules have had an impact but thereafter mehhh
#8 Our backup linebackers seem to be out of position alot but the backups other than George are very green/ young
#9 Do we have ANY trick play in the playbook......we are so vanilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#10 Cignetti has to go
#11 We are missing alot of tackles
#12 Too many penalties
#13 Cignetti has to go
#14 McMillan has been quite good against the run ( no taunting please until you are an All American...did you see Larry Fitzgerald ever taunt??)
#15 As above.....Walt Harris perhaps our best coach ever given losing to Ohio State at home 70-0 and acquiring a horrible team knew that MAJOR CHANGES WERE NECESSARY ( basically changed the whole offense)....what will you do Pat?
#16 Sigh HELP ME!! )

 

[NatronaHeightsPanther]

When all of these WPIAL kids committed, we gushed about how dominant they would be. Where is:

Elliot Donald
Nahki Johnson
Sean FitzSimmons
Dorien Ford

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

When all of these WPIAL kids committed, we gushed about how dominant they would be. Where is:

Elliot Donald
Nahki Johnson
Sean FitzSimmons
Dorien Ford

everyone from that class, Davis, Donald, Ford, etc, the one I thought would do the least in college was McMillon and he has turned out to be the most productive of the bunch.

 

[The Ole Six-Fiver]

Those are 16 more items than Duz (or Heather Lyke) has contemplated.

 

[perchance]

Having followed Pitt Football since I trained in the Burgh in the late, 80's I've traveled across the state since then never having taken a class at Pitt. The WVU loss may have been the most painful thing to watch ( on TV) since we lost to South Florida. That team was 1-5 until Walt Harris realized that MAJOR change was necessary and we won the last 6 games and beat NC State and Philip Rivers in the Tangerine Bowl. QB is a problem and I have seen enough of #5 PJ. As I recall Yarnell is 1-0 as a starter. Regardless, we have alot of inexperiencedbackup players on both sides of the ball. I am not a Cignetti fan...sorry...just boring to watch his offense.

#1. Offensive play calling is boring
# 2 We seem to not execute screen passes well
#3 We all know that Bartholomew is not being used to his potential
#4 I get the feeling that the TE's are being kept in because we are not giving the QB enough time
#5 Cignetti has to go
#6 We heard all spring about how we were going to exploit the other teams by throwing deep passes.....was I reading about another team?
#7 It all starts on the lines and Hayes and occasionally Green and Jules have had an impact but thereafter mehhh
#8 Our backup linebackers seem to be out of position alot but the backups other than George are very green/ young
#9 Do we have ANY trick play in the playbook......we are so vanilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#10 Cignetti has to go
#11 We are missing alot of tackles
#12 Too many penalties
#13 Cignetti has to go
#14 McMillan has been quite good against the run ( no taunting please until you are an All American...did you see Larry Fitzgerald ever taunt??)
#15 As above.....Walt Harris perhaps our best coach ever given losing to Ohio State at home 70-0 and acquiring a horrible team knew that MAJOR CHANGES WERE NECESSARY ( basically changed the whole offense)....what will you do Pat?
#16 Sigh HELP ME!! )

Harris did not realize that major changes were needed, he was called in and ORDERED to stop his little Northwestern experiment. Implementing a new and questionable offense in fall camp with the wrong players for that offense was absurd. No one ever knew who they were supposed to block and and, man, did it show. USF's first year and win in Division I broke the camel's back.
I liked Walt, but his hubris destroyed what likely would have been a very outstanding season.

 

[pittdrum]

Harris did not realize that major changes were needed, he was called in and ORDERED to stop his little Northwestern experiment. Implementing a new and questionable offense in fall camp with the wrong players for that offense was absurd. No one ever knew who they were supposed to block and and, man, did it show. USF's first year and win in Division I broke the camel's back.
I liked Walt, but his hubris destroyed what likely would have been a very outstanding season.

That was my final year at Pitt. Walt talked for years about not having a QB who grasped his system fully. Then he finally had one in David Priestly who did (as evidenced by how quickly they could change back in the second half of the year) and he went to an offense that made no sense with how that team was structured.

The other frustrating thing about that year was that the defense was really good. They were just forced to be on the field so much because the offense was so bad that they wore down.

Very frustrating year that didn’t need to be that way.

As far as the current situation. The players may have an understanding of this offense but it is in no way dynamic or creative. It is slow on the run side with deep handoffs and slow on the pass side with a lot of deep drops.

My dad and I were watching in the stadium last night and we commented to each other on a play where PJ stayed in the huddle with his arm up reading off the wrist band calling out a play for around 10 seconds only to just turn around and hand it off to the RB. Maybe they were trying to make it seem like a pass was coming but it just seems way to overly complicated.

Narduzzi has always said he wants guys playing fast. They seem confused and slow like that 2001 team, but I don’t see a mid season turnaround coming because there is nothing to fall back on.

H2P

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

When all of these WPIAL kids committed, we gushed about how dominant they would be. Where is:

Elliot Donald
Nahki Johnson
Sean FitzSimmons
Dorien Ford

If they were any good, James Franklin wouldn't have let them come here. Narduzzi conceded WPA to him.

 

[pittizit]

Having followed Pitt Football since I trained in the Burgh in the late, 80's I've traveled across the state since then never having taken a class at Pitt. The WVU loss may have been the most painful thing to watch ( on TV) since we lost to South Florida. That team was 1-5 until Walt Harris realized that MAJOR change was necessary and we won the last 6 games and beat NC State and Philip Rivers in the Tangerine Bowl. QB is a problem and I have seen enough of #5 PJ. As I recall Yarnell is 1-0 as a starter. Regardless, we have alot of inexperiencedbackup players on both sides of the ball. I am not a Cignetti fan...sorry...just boring to watch his offense.

#1. Offensive play calling is boring
# 2 We seem to not execute screen passes well
#3 We all know that Bartholomew is not being used to his potential
#4 I get the feeling that the TE's are being kept in because we are not giving the QB enough time
#5 Cignetti has to go
#6 We heard all spring about how we were going to exploit the other teams by throwing deep passes.....was I reading about another team?
#7 It all starts on the lines and Hayes and occasionally Green and Jules have had an impact but thereafter mehhh
#8 Our backup linebackers seem to be out of position alot but the backups other than George are very green/ young
#9 Do we have ANY trick play in the playbook......we are so vanilla!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#10 Cignetti has to go
#11 We are missing alot of tackles
#12 Too many penalties
#13 Cignetti has to go
#14 McMillan has been quite good against the run ( no taunting please until you are an All American...did you see Larry Fitzgerald ever taunt??)
#15 As above.....Walt Harris perhaps our best coach ever given losing to Ohio State at home 70-0 and acquiring a horrible team knew that MAJOR CHANGES WERE NECESSARY ( basically changed the whole offense)....what will you do Pat?
#16 Sigh HELP ME!! )

Well said

 

[thebadby2]

That was my final year at Pitt. Walt talked for years about not having a QB who grasped his system fully. Then he finally had one in David Priestly who did (as evidenced by how quickly they could change back in the second half of the year) and he went to an offense that made no sense with how that team was structured.

The other frustrating thing about that year was that the defense was really good. They were just forced to be on the field so much because the offense was so bad that they wore down.

Very frustrating year that didn’t need to be that way.

As far as the current situation. The players may have an understanding of this offense but it is in no way dynamic or creative. It is slow on the run side with deep handoffs and slow on the pass side with a lot of deep drops.

My dad and I were watching in the stadium last night and we commented to each other on a play where PJ stayed in the huddle with his arm up reading off the wrist band calling out a play for around 10 seconds only to just turn around and hand it off to the RB. Maybe they were trying to make it seem like a pass was coming but it just seems way to overly complicated.

Narduzzi has always said he wants guys playing fast. They seem confused and slow like that 2001 team, but I don’t see a mid season turnaround coming because there is nothing to fall back on.

H2P

Narduzzi has always said he wants guys playing fast

He only says that in the context of his defense. In fact, he has stated many times, in so many words, that he wants his offense to be run heavy and clock eating. He was very proud of that 8 minute TD drive against UNC. never mind that UNC scored three TDs in the first half on 7.5 minutes of offensive posssession time, not including the punt return TD. This Cignasty offense has been crafted in the Dooz's grand defensive coordinator vision. Grahnd and pahnd baby. Yabba Dabba Duzzi.

 

[forbesfield]

When all of these WPIAL kids committed, we gushed about how dominant they would be. Where is:

Elliot Donald
Nahki Johnson
Sean FitzSimmons
Dorien Ford

Anybody who saw some of those kids play knew they were overrated. And in one case, way overrated.