Final Thoughts and Impressions against UVA

[the_insider_]

1. Pickett is completely and totally unfairly scapegoated by everyone. This is not to say he is some elite QB, because he isn't. But for every overthrow there was a dropped ball by a receiver and for every drop there was a missed block by the OL. A lot of these I think can be corrected as the offense gets used to a completely new offensive scheme. They must use Ohio to work out those kinks for Penn State and UCF.

2. I'm not sure what Taysir Mack was doing last night, but he looked lost all night.

3. I did not notice Ulizio, but I saw people saying he struggled a lot. If that is the case I would not hesitate for a second to put Van Lynn in at RT.

4. I like what the Whipple is trying to do offensively, but I think they need to try and be a little more balanced run/pass. I would like to see Carter more involved in the pass game out of the backfield, like Killins for UCF. After watching the offense, I think Whipple will have success recruiting. He will find a nice QB and a nice WR as well.

5. The defense looked good. They are definitely fast and way more athletic than in the past few years. However, the "bend, don't break" last night also hurt them. They simply didn't force enough three and outs and give the offense a short field. All three TDs were on short fields, so I won't blame them for that.

6. Special teams is still not looking good. Kessman's missed field goal was a killer. That would've made it a 6 point game. The teams entire mindset would've been different. Christodoulou still hasn't lived up to the hype when he was recruited. The blocked punt was a killer.

7. The two plays that stick out as game changing to me was Pinnock's wiff of a sack on Perkins on third and 10 on UVAs opening drive of the second half and Mack's dropped pass.

I wanted to add in that no one last year thought that Pitt was going to win the Coastal and they did. And quite frankly, I think the Coastal is still up for grabs this year. UVA and Perkins didn't impress me one bit last night. Pitt was in the game they entire time and couldn't have played worse offensively.

Lastly, I keep seeing people wanting Narduzzi fired. All I am going to say about that is be careful what you wish for. Narduzzi is a good coach. He's not great. He hasn't been able to have an offense and defense that were good the same year. But firing him isn't going to change anything. Pitt is a program that cannot run through coaches. If they do then no one will want to come, or if they do they will use them and leave like Graham and Chryst. Narduzzi wants to coach and Pitt. He loves Pitt and wants to turn it around. I know it's year 5, but you have to be with him for the ride.

H2P

 

[HailToPitt1985]

I think giving him 5 years is reasonable. This is year 5. He has made no progress with this program in 4 years. I expect Narduzzi to get us to at least 8 wins this year. That's the bottom line. Pitt fans have been putting up with this mediocrity for 35+ years. Lyke made the move to get the basketball program back on track. She can do the same thing with football. If Narduzzi can't get us to 8 wins this year, find someone who can.

The reality is that Narduzzi's ceiling for wins is probably 6. This year, I doubt if we get to 5.

 

[pittdoc57]

In modern college football, the head coach's #1 job is to recruit. Coaching is damned important, but you have to have the horses first. Narduzzi's lackluster personality will never allow him to succeed at Job #1 unless he surrounds himself with the right assistants who can fill in the gaps for his own inabilities to recruit. At MSU he was not asked to take a lead role in recruiting. I think he's trying to get those kinds of assistants in here, but it's not easy for an unexciting guy like him to attract those kinds of guys. He essentially has to get guys with potential, who haven't done it yet, and hope he gets lucky.

 

[revampedpanthers]

I think giving him 5 years is reasonable. This is year 5. He has made no progress with this program in 4 years. I expect Narduzzi to get us to at least 8 wins this year. That's the bottom line. Pitt fans have been putting up with this mediocrity for 35+ years. Lyke made the move to get the basketball program back on track. She can do the same thing with football. If Narduzzi can't get us to 8 wins this year, find someone who can.

The reality is that Narduzzi's ceiling for wins is probably 6. This year, I doubt if we get to 5.

I have never been a PN fan I did not like the hire from the beginning, having said that you do realize he has averaged 7 wins a year since taking over don't you? He win 7 last year despite playing 3 very tough ooc games. Very few teams in the country even top 25 ones go better than 2-2 ooc last year. If Pitt schedules like everyone else last year is a 8 or 9 win season.

 

[thebadby2]

1. Pickett is completely and totally unfairly scapegoated by everyone. This is not to say he is some elite QB, because he isn't. But for every overthrow there was a dropped ball by a receiver and for every drop there was a missed block by the OL. A lot of these I think can be corrected as the offense gets used to a completely new offensive scheme. They must use Ohio to work out those kinks for Penn State and UCF.

2. I'm not sure what Taysir Mack was doing last night, but he looked lost all night.

3. I did not notice Ulizio, but I saw people saying he struggled a lot. If that is the case I would not hesitate for a second to put Van Lynn in at RT.

4. I like what the Whipple is trying to do offensively, but I think they need to try and be a little more balanced run/pass. I would like to see Carter more involved in the pass game out of the backfield, like Killins for UCF. After watching the offense, I think Whipple will have success recruiting. He will find a nice QB and a nice WR as well.

5. The defense looked good. They are definitely fast and way more athletic than in the past few years. However, the "bend, don't break" last night also hurt them. They simply didn't force enough three and outs and give the offense a short field. All three TDs were on short fields, so I won't blame them for that.

6. Special teams is still not looking good. Kessman's missed field goal was a killer. That would've made it a 6 point game. The teams entire mindset would've been different. Christodoulou still hasn't lived up to the hype when he was recruited. The blocked punt was a killer.

7. The two plays that stick out as game changing to me was Pinnock's wiff of a sack on Perkins on third and 10 on UVAs opening drive of the second half and Mack's dropped pass.

I wanted to add in that no one last year thought that Pitt was going to win the Coastal and they did. And quite frankly, I think the Coastal is still up for grabs this year. UVA and Perkins didn't impress me one bit last night. Pitt was in the game they entire time and couldn't have played worse offensively.

Lastly, I keep seeing people wanting Narduzzi fired. All I am going to say about that is be careful what you wish for. Narduzzi is a good coach. He's not great. He hasn't been able to have an offense and defense that were good the same year. But firing him isn't going to change anything. Pitt is a program that cannot run through coaches. If they do then no one will want to come, or if they do they will use them and leave like Graham and Chryst. Narduzzi wants to coach and Pitt. He loves Pitt and wants to turn it around. I know it's year 5, but you have to be with him for the ride.

H2P

I could spend a lot of time and energy picking this post apart, but I’ll just keep it to this one statement that caused me to raise my left eyebrow an extra half inch over where it was already raised:

Christodoulou had hype as a recruit?

To that I can only say:

 

[BFo8]

I believe Pitt was Christodoulou’s only scholarship offer.

 

[pittdoc57]

You could make that observation about half of the current roster, if you can consider P5 offers.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

You could make that observation about half of the current roster, if you can consider P5 offers.

wrong, not surprising coming from you.

 

[prlang]

1. Pickett is completely and totally unfairly scapegoated by everyone. This is not to say he is some elite QB, because he isn't. But for every overthrow there was a dropped ball by a receiver and for every drop there was a missed block by the OL. A lot of these I think can be corrected as the offense gets used to a completely new offensive scheme. They must use Ohio to work out those kinks for Penn State and UCF.

2. I'm not sure what Taysir Mack was doing last night, but he looked lost all night.

3. I did not notice Ulizio, but I saw people saying he struggled a lot. If that is the case I would not hesitate for a second to put Van Lynn in at RT.

4. I like what the Whipple is trying to do offensively, but I think they need to try and be a little more balanced run/pass. I would like to see Carter more involved in the pass game out of the backfield, like Killins for UCF. After watching the offense, I think Whipple will have success recruiting. He will find a nice QB and a nice WR as well.

5. The defense looked good. They are definitely fast and way more athletic than in the past few years. However, the "bend, don't break" last night also hurt them. They simply didn't force enough three and outs and give the offense a short field. All three TDs were on short fields, so I won't blame them for that.

6. Special teams is still not looking good. Kessman's missed field goal was a killer. That would've made it a 6 point game. The teams entire mindset would've been different. Christodoulou still hasn't lived up to the hype when he was recruited. The blocked punt was a killer.

7. The two plays that stick out as game changing to me was Pinnock's wiff of a sack on Perkins on third and 10 on UVAs opening drive of the second half and Mack's dropped pass.

I wanted to add in that no one last year thought that Pitt was going to win the Coastal and they did. And quite frankly, I think the Coastal is still up for grabs this year. UVA and Perkins didn't impress me one bit last night. Pitt was in the game they entire time and couldn't have played worse offensively.

Lastly, I keep seeing people wanting Narduzzi fired. All I am going to say about that is be careful what you wish for. Narduzzi is a good coach. He's not great. He hasn't been able to have an offense and defense that were good the same year. But firing him isn't going to change anything. Pitt is a program that cannot run through coaches. If they do then no one will want to come, or if they do they will use them and leave like Graham and Chryst. Narduzzi wants to coach and Pitt. He loves Pitt and wants to turn it around. I know it's year 5, but you have to be with him for the ride.

H2P

I don't think Pickett is being unfairly scapegoated. I love the kid's passion and tenacity, but almost every pass that he completes is the most elementary pass in the game - - the screen or the 10 to 12 yard quick turnaround. When was the last time that he threw a ball back shoulder for a receiver to make a play? When was the last time he threw the ball in the corner of the end zone for receiver to make a play? When was the last time he hit a receiver in full stride on a crossing route? He has had 17 starts, about 14 of which were average to dreadful. Ohio is the perfect game to see if Patti is better.

 

[cashisking884]

If UVA isn’t an impressive team, which I agree with in many ways, why would losing to them give you any hope for the season going forward?

 

[jmcst5]

1. Pickett is completely and totally unfairly scapegoated by everyone. This is not to say he is some elite QB, because he isn't. But for every overthrow there was a dropped ball by a receiver and for every drop there was a missed block by the OL. A lot of these I think can be corrected as the offense gets used to a completely new offensive scheme. They must use Ohio to work out those kinks for Penn State and UCF.

2. I'm not sure what Taysir Mack was doing last night, but he looked lost all night.

3. I did not notice Ulizio, but I saw people saying he struggled a lot. If that is the case I would not hesitate for a second to put Van Lynn in at RT.

4. I like what the Whipple is trying to do offensively, but I think they need to try and be a little more balanced run/pass. I would like to see Carter more involved in the pass game out of the backfield, like Killins for UCF. After watching the offense, I think Whipple will have success recruiting. He will find a nice QB and a nice WR as well.

5. The defense looked good. They are definitely fast and way more athletic than in the past few years. However, the "bend, don't break" last night also hurt them. They simply didn't force enough three and outs and give the offense a short field. All three TDs were on short fields, so I won't blame them for that.

6. Special teams is still not looking good. Kessman's missed field goal was a killer. That would've made it a 6 point game. The teams entire mindset would've been different. Christodoulou still hasn't lived up to the hype when he was recruited. The blocked punt was a killer.

7. The two plays that stick out as game changing to me was Pinnock's wiff of a sack on Perkins on third and 10 on UVAs opening drive of the second half and Mack's dropped pass.

I wanted to add in that no one last year thought that Pitt was going to win the Coastal and they did. And quite frankly, I think the Coastal is still up for grabs this year. UVA and Perkins didn't impress me one bit last night. Pitt was in the game they entire time and couldn't have played worse offensively.

Lastly, I keep seeing people wanting Narduzzi fired. All I am going to say about that is be careful what you wish for. Narduzzi is a good coach. He's not great. He hasn't been able to have an offense and defense that were good the same year. But firing him isn't going to change anything. Pitt is a program that cannot run through coaches. If they do then no one will want to come, or if they do they will use them and leave like Graham and Chryst. Narduzzi wants to coach and Pitt. He loves Pitt and wants to turn it around. I know it's year 5, but you have to be with him for the ride.

H2P

I think I noticed Ulizio at guard with Van Lynn at tackle on at least a series or two. Unless Van Lynn was used as a blocking tight end?

 

[McKee Place]

The one thread griping about his interview comments was a tad too much. Too personal. It's over the line to personally criticize these guys. And ultimately it's not his fault that he keeps getting thrown out there time and again to fail. Just like it was with Tino.

But QB is the most important position for a reason. They get almost all the glory for success. Likewise they're gonna bear a major brunt for failure. And frankly they often deserve both.

Think about what goes into a football play. From inception to execution. It's dreamed up months or maybe years prior. Refined. Discussed in sessions with the players. Walked through repeatedly in practice. Dwelled on where or if to place it in the game plan. Or a particular possession. Suddenly it comes together. 2nd and 3. Opponent is ripe for the play action needed for the safety to bite. The play is sent in. The game changer. On the sideline, up in the booth, in the huddle, tingles go through the spines.

Ball is snapped, OL gives decent time, wideout sells the hitch and flees unabated to the post. Has 3 steps on the defender. All QB needs is to get the pass in the vicinity, really. But no. The QB freaks and airmails it 20 yards past. Does it again later in the game. And again. And the final time, for added spice, UNDER throws it and nearly gets the receiver killed.

That isn't going to go unnoticed. Or easily forgiven.

You wanna fly under the radar, get no blame for anything ... play OG, nobody notices a missed block or late pull or whatever (though those can really be costly). If you don't want ripped, don't play a high profile position. Don't play WR or RB. But especially don't play QB.

 

[NGPittCali]

Each play is it's own match, and you have win plays, one play at a time. A win on the line doesn't guarantee a good play but it's how you get good plays. Coaching is a huge part of winning plays on the line of scrimmage. Is PN a loser here? My answer is the form of a question, is Pitt a perineal top 25 in year 5? A-hem.

Soak this contract up, and start a layaway program now. I am firmly in the camp that this is only one game and no reason to go crazy and throw the kids out in the bathwater... but PN is not not going to put this program back into top 25 or even too 50 status. He just lacks the skills despite being from what I see as a respectable guy. I typically stick to basketball so go ahead and tesr my analysis to pieces, this board is ripe with piranhas.

 

[McKee Place]

Each play is it's own match, and you have win plays, one play at a time. A win on the line doesn't guarantee a good play but it's how you get good plays. Coaching is a huge part of winning plays on the line of scrimmage. Is PN a loser here? My answer is the form of a question, is Pitt a perineal top 25 in year 5? A-hem.

Soak this contract up, and start a layaway program now. I am firmly in the camp that this is only one game and no reason to go crazy and throw the kids out in the bathwater... but PN is not not going to put this program back into top 25 or even too 50 status. He just lacks the skills despite being from what I see as a respectable guy. I typically stick to basketball so go ahead and tesr my analysis to pieces, this board is ripe with piranhas.

I've gone on record that Narduzzi is generally fine as a HC. Players play hard and don't quit. Stay out of trouble, though I personally don't give two chits about that.

But if he chooses to plant his flag so intractably deep onto Mt. Kenny, he may well die up there.

 

[thebadby2]

I don't think Pickett is being unfairly scapegoated. I love the kid's passion and tenacity, but almost every pass that he completes is the most elementary pass in the game - - the screen or the 10 to 12 yard quick turnaround. When was the last time that he threw a ball back shoulder for a receiver to make a play? When was the last time he threw the ball in the corner of the end zone for receiver to make a play? When was the last time he hit a receiver in full stride on a crossing route? He has had 17 starts, about 14 of which were average to dreadful. Ohio is the perfect game to see if Patti is better.

He threw back shoulder to V’lique Carter last night. Problem is it was supposed to be a swing pass out in front of him to catch in full stride.

Actually it was more like back hip.

 

[NGPittCali]

He was running for his life most of the game, and as you've alluded to he is a superb talent. So the only way you get good results from Pickett is you defend him like he's Tom Brady and give him time. This part is all coaching and I'll be more than happy to bag on Nipple or PN here. They aren't winning basic 101 football they got there head in the clouds. Win plays. Give the QB time. Coaches design has an average at best QB set to perform at a pro bowl level. Give me a break. Coach em up. Win plays and let the skill position players you picked surprise you.

 

[Pitt-Chains]

If UVA isn’t an impressive team, which I agree with in many ways, why would losing to them give you any hope for the season going forward?

Their D was pretty good and certainly hard hitting..

 

[superstein61a]

I think giving him 5 years is reasonable. This is year 5. He has made no progress with this program in 4 years. I expect Narduzzi to get us to at least 8 wins this year. That's the bottom line. Pitt fans have been putting up with this mediocrity for 35+ years. Lyke made the move to get the basketball program back on track. She can do the same thing with football. If Narduzzi can't get us to 8 wins this year, find someone who can.

The reality is that Narduzzi's ceiling for wins is probably 6. This year, I doubt if we get to 5.

Sure, lets just call winning the ACC Coastal last year as no progress. SMH

Yeah, the record ended up at 7-7 - but realistically it was 7-3 against teams we should be able to compete with right now. The ridiculously strong OOC schedule killed the overall record while other teams scheduled patsies to prop up their record

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Sure, lets just call winning the ACC Coastal last year as no progress. SMH

Yeah, the record ended up at 7-7 - but realistically it was 7-3 against teams we should be able to compete with right now. The ridiculously strong OOC schedule killed the overall record while other teams scheduled patsies to prop up their record

Winning the Coastal was hardly progress, considering how weak the Coastal was and still is.

If you're content with mediocrity, knock yourself out. The Pitt football program has been mediocre for 35+ years now and there are no signs it's getting better or that Narduzzi is making progress. Those are the facts. What you're doing is called rationalization. That's what happens when you lose and try to make yourself feel better. Sorry, this program is not making progress under Narduzzi, in spite of winning a weak Coastal last year against really bad competition.

 

[McKee Place]

Winning the Coastal was hardly progress, considering how weak the Coastal was and still is.

If you're content with mediocrity, knock yourself out. The Pitt football program has been mediocre for 35+ years now and there are no signs it's getting better or that Narduzzi is making progress. Those are the facts. What you're doing is called rationalization. That's what happens when you lose and try to make yourself feel better. Sorry, this program is not making progress under Narduzzi, in spite of winning a weak Coastal last year against really bad competition.

Yep. You certainly don't refuse the "Coastal Title" and it's nice. You also have to be realistic that it didnt mean much after losing the last three games so badly. That's what everyone will remember.

It's fine that people have different opinions on what is success or what isn't. It's always curious to me that Pitt boards have such an active contingent of ".500 is wonderful" types.

Again, not that it isn't perfectly ok that you don't care about winning, it's only sports. You just would think if they're so indifferent to sports they wouldn't even bother with a sports message board. After all since they think .500 is fine, what's to even debate? They're getting what they want already.

Leave the boards to the "unrealistic" idiots like me who foolishly babble about coaching schemes and personnel strategies that might actually facilitate winning, especially after a bad loss like this one.

And i might have thought the whole "our schedule is too haaaarrrdddd" contingent (which seems to overlap) would have at least been silenced for one week given we opened WITH A CONFERENCE OPPONENT. Geez.

So I guess every post should come with a caveat that says something like "If Pitt wanted to really win..." then the opinion of what should be done to do so.

Others can start their posts with "Being .500 is great and you should be happy with it, so here's why..." and follow with the opinion why nothing should change. Then maybe the Ignore filter can be enhanced to allow each respective camp to filter out those other kind of posts. Cuz, it's clear they definitely don't want to read anything about what it takes to win, and I definitely don't want to read their whines about why we shouldn't win.

 

[cashisking884]

Their D was pretty good and certainly hard hitting..

And if we had done anything against their D that would be reason for some optimism.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Let the "happy with mediocrity" crowd be happy with losing every other game. The point is that we lost to some bad teams in the past and we lost badly. UVA is hardly a top tier team, even though they are favored to win the Coastal. Big frickin' deal. When we play a decent team, and there are 2 or 3 on our schedule, let's see how we do. I'm not even saying when we play a really good team because we aren't going to play one this year. PSU and UCF are good top 25 teams, and that's about it. If we are to be considered to be a good team, we need to beat other good teams and beat them badly at times. Teams like UVA. Our schedule is relatively easy. Going 6-6 with that schedule is pretty bad. We should be able to get to 8 wins very easily if we've made progress under Narduzzi. I doubt that's going to happen with no QB, no OL and no running game.

An 0-4 or 1-3 start to the season is worse than mediocre, regardless of the competition. And that's what we may be headed toward. To top it off, none of the teams we're playing are top teams. They're decent, above mediocre teams, but that's about it.

I know it's the first game, but it's how we're losing that concerns me. There is no indication of progress, good coaching, or ACC-level talent on this team, especially in the skill positions and on the OL.

 

[the_insider_]

I could spend a lot of time and energy picking this post apart, but I’ll just keep it to this one statement that caused me to raise my left eyebrow an extra half inch over where it was already raised:

Christodoulou had hype as a recruit?

To that I can only say:

There was pretty big hype when they brought him out of the program in Australia.

 

[thebadby2]

Sure, lets just call winning the ACC Coastal last year as no progress. SMH

Yeah, the record ended up at 7-7 - but realistically it was 7-3 against teams we should be able to compete with right now. The ridiculously strong OOC schedule killed the overall record while other teams scheduled patsies to prop up their record

If winning the Coastal is true progress, explain why the Coastal has had 6 different champions since Pitt joined in 2013?

Have all of those programs achieved meaningful progress as well?

In fact, UVA is the only team that hasn’t won it in that span-and they’re the favorite to win it this year. That would make 7 different champions in 7 years.

Hell everyone is progressing!

 

[thebadby2]

There was pretty big hype when they brought him out of the program in Australia.

Local media novelty hype is not the same as talent-generated hype.

 

[superstein61a]

Winning the Coastal was hardly progress, considering how weak the Coastal was and still is.

If you're content with mediocrity, knock yourself out. The Pitt football program has been mediocre for 35+ years now and there are no signs it's getting better or that Narduzzi is making progress. Those are the facts. What you're doing is called rationalization. That's what happens when you lose and try to make yourself feel better. Sorry, this program is not making progress under Narduzzi, in spite of winning a weak Coastal last year against really bad competition.

The Coastal and the rest of the ACC is our competition. If you can't be happy with winning the Coastal, you will never be satisfied.

Here is a clue. Pitt is not a Top 20 program. Hasn't been for ages. So yea, while the overall record was 7-7, it was 7-3 against the teams we have to be competitive with. The 4 losses were all to the #1, #5, #11 and #17 ranked team in the country last year.

Right now we are a 7 or 8 win program. That is the realistic expectation. Do I expect in a few years as Narduzzi continues to build the program to become a Top 20 team - YES and if it does not happen then, then you can make your arguments. But if you can't see it takes time to do it right and progress is being made, you will never be happy or satsified

 

[martingale]

Right now we are a 7 or 8 win program. That is the realistic expectation. Do I expect in a few years as Narduzzi continues to build the program to become a Top 20 team - YES and if it does not happen then, then you can make your arguments. But if you can't see it takes time to do it right and progress is being made, you will never be happy or satsified

How much time has Fickell had at UC?
7-5 coaches are expendable. What's to lose by rebooting? Not much.

 

[superstein61a]

How much time has Fickell had at UC?
7-5 coaches are expendable. What's to lose by rebooting? Not much.

30+ years of rebuilding . Teams that are successful don't do it by rebooting every 4 or 5 years

 

[martingale]

30+ years of rebuilding . Teams that are successful don't do it by rebooting every 4 or 5 years

So we keep a mediocre coach because we have a mediocre to poor history over the past 30 years???
If you want more of the same, keep Narduzzi. If you want a chance at winning, start over.

 

[Rayz5089]

So we keep a mediocre coach because we have a mediocre to poor history over the past 30 years???
If you want more of the same, keep Narduzzi. If you want a chance at winning, start over.

Who should they hire to replace Narduzzi?

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

I think giving him 5 years is reasonable. This is year 5. He has made no progress with this program in 4 years. I expect Narduzzi to get us to at least 8 wins this year. That's the bottom line. Pitt fans have been putting up with this mediocrity for 35+ years. Lyke made the move to get the basketball program back on track. She can do the same thing with football. If Narduzzi can't get us to 8 wins this year, find someone who can.

The reality is that Narduzzi's ceiling for wins is probably 6. This year, I doubt if we get to 5.

Lyke fired Stallings after he went 0-19 in conference. If Narduzzi goes 0 for 8 in ACC play, then sure, you may see a super early buyout.

Otherwise these threads are silly. He may totally be the wrong coach for us. But he won't be fired in this early in an extension unless things get super extreme bad.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

Lyke fired Stallings after he went 0-19 in conference. If Narduzzi goes 0 for 8 in ACC play, then sure, you may see a super early buyout.

Otherwise these threads are silly. He may totally be the wrong coach for us. But he won't be fired in this early in an extension unless things get super extreme bad.

I never said that Narduzzi should be fired. Financially, it doesn't make sense right now. As long as Pitt fans realize that mediocrity is our ceiling (maybe 7 wins tops, and that's every 4 or 5 years), then we keep going as we are with Narduzzi and empty stadiums and little fan interest.

But come to think of it, that's pretty much what we've had now for 35+ years at Pitt. We're used to it now.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

If winning the Coastal is true progress, explain why the Coastal has had 6 different champions since Pitt joined in 2013?

Have all of those programs achieved meaningful progress as well?

In fact, UVA is the only team that hasn’t won it in that span-and they’re the favorite to win it this year. That would make 7 different champions in 7 years.

Hell everyone is progressing!

And UVA could win it this year with 7 wins total. None of them a significant win against a quality team.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

How much time has Fickell had at UC?
7-5 coaches are expendable. What's to lose by rebooting? Not much.

Fickell plays a glorified MAC schedule. The best teams on his schedule last year were UCF, Temple, and Ohio. He lost to two of the three.

 

[gary2]

I don't think Pickett is being unfairly scapegoated. I love the kid's passion and tenacity, but almost every pass that he completes is the most elementary pass in the game - - the screen or the 10 to 12 yard quick turnaround. When was the last time that he threw a ball back shoulder for a receiver to make a play? When was the last time he threw the ball in the corner of the end zone for receiver to make a play? When was the last time he hit a receiver in full stride on a crossing route? He has had 17 starts, about 14 of which were average to dreadful. Ohio is the perfect game to see if Patti is better.

He hit Mack between two defenders on the pass Mack dropped. There were no slants or clearing patterns with crossing underneath. In this game, he forced it to Mack too much. Mack was often doubled team. It would help to have other receivers, Tipton played well. I don't feel Ffrench is your typical receiver.

Pickett takes too load to unload the ball. I know posters said receivers were open all over the field. If they were, I didn't see it. Needs to be a 1-2-3 out kinda guy. When he does scramble he can make big plays with his legs and down the field. He is not a big drop, survey the field and throw guy. That is not going to work.

There was nothing easy for Pitt. The easy pitch and catch plays. Dump offs to the backs or defense playing off the short outs.

UVA came to realize that the only non fluke plays that could hurt them were Pickett scrambles. They adjusted and took that away. Kenny ran into sacks as a result of the adjustments.

Need to design some run plays for Pickett. Need to get Carter the ball in space. Need to get some true receivers on the field. Mathews and Butler did not get a catch. If Davis and Wayne are as advertised, they need to see the field. Van Lynn needs to be starting somewhere.

On defense, it would really help to generate some turnovers. Jones needs to pick it up. Ford needs to wrap up. Everyone needs to learn how to avoid interference penalties.

 

[superstein61a]

So we keep a mediocre coach because we have a mediocre to poor history over the past 30 years???
If you want more of the same, keep Narduzzi. If you want a chance at winning, start over.

You do realize don't you that Narduzzi has more wins in his first 4 years than any Pitt coach until you get back to Jackie Sherrill

 

[DruidTM]

I think giving him 5 years is reasonable. This is year 5. He has made no progress with this program in 4 years. I expect Narduzzi to get us to at least 8 wins this year. That's the bottom line. Pitt fans have been putting up with this mediocrity for 35+ years. Lyke made the move to get the basketball program back on track. She can do the same thing with football. If Narduzzi can't get us to 8 wins this year, find someone who can.

The reality is that Narduzzi's ceiling for wins is probably 6. This year, I doubt if we get to 5.

Any comparison of Narduzzi to Stallings is idiotic

And that’s what you have to do by default if you discuss Lyke and the basketball program

 

[jsawyer95]

Here's the funny thing about these discussions. On one side, it's " we've been thru 35 years of mediocrity and we need a coaching change." The problem with that argument is that Narduzzi has been there for four years. Their criticism of the other side is " why are you guys so content with mediocrity?" One: he has one losing season in four years. Two: how many titles have the previous coaches won in the previous 30 years? You want to downplay that. It was the Coastal.
Is Narduzzi great? Not at all, but he hasn't been mediocre. What has to do is get his offense for more than a year and recruit to that system.
Also, for the people who say that you have to recruit, then the wins will come. You have to show that you can develop the players or better players won't come. Ultimately, you have it backwards.

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

Lyke fired Stallings after he went 0-19 in conference.

No, she fired him because attendance cratered. But football at Pitt is a different animal. The academics destroyed the sport in the early 90s and it will stay down forever. Narduzzi was his normal smirking, condescending self while mocking the beat reporters per usual. He knows.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

No, she fired him because attendance cratered. But football at Pitt is a different animal. The academics destroyed the sport in the early 90s and it will stay down forever. Narduzzi was his normal smirking, condescending self while mocking the beat reporters per usual. He knows.

That’s a lot of bullshit