It's often said that a football has pointed ends and takes crazy bounces. That concept can be extended to many facets of the play in a game too.
Watching the game on replay, the number of fluke bounces that went WVU's way in the first-half was ASTOUNDING. Every one of multiple fumbles went their way... the ball, incredibly, bouncing back to QB's and RBs. None crazier than Des Alexandre's hit on WV QB that launch the pass up in the air like mortar shell, wobbling and spinning, the type of outcome that seems almost always to end in an INT. Instead, the tall receiver sees it first, times his jump, and gets the 1st down anyways!!
And this happened on at least the first half-dozen times a WV player lost ball control. Bub Means' fumble was horrible (after a great catch and run). The one time we caught a break was WV fumbling shortly after.
With even a snippet of even-handed fate, Pitt likely goes into the half with a solid lead and a ton of momentum. Instead, the players had to be thinking "we're clobbering these dudes, and we're tied?!"
Couple thoughts:
> WVU athleticism much improved over what I've seen of them the last couple of years.
> JT Daniels is REAL GOOD. Based on what I saw, I'd take him over our USC Transfer... but I do like Slovis, alot. Daniels is just really really good
> Biggest disappointment was inconsistency in plugging the run. Man, WV was ripping off ALOT of runs... not Pitt-like. Now, the D did have alot of great run-game control. But LBs were slow and tentative to shoot the gaps.
> Izzy and Rockin' Rod are terrific RBs. Izzy is better used to grab swing passes and run outside the tackle. Rod just knows how to slither thru a hole and burst hard.
> Excited for WR's... but OLine has to be get ALOT better in pass protect. Having Kenny last year probably hid a lot of this OL's innate deficiencies... just because someone started last year on the OL doesn't translate into "good" play. There are certainly options on the OL for playing time... use them!
Watching the game on replay, the number of fluke bounces that went WVU's way in the first-half was ASTOUNDING. Every one of multiple fumbles went their way... the ball, incredibly, bouncing back to QB's and RBs. None crazier than Des Alexandre's hit on WV QB that launch the pass up in the air like mortar shell, wobbling and spinning, the type of outcome that seems almost always to end in an INT. Instead, the tall receiver sees it first, times his jump, and gets the 1st down anyways!!
And this happened on at least the first half-dozen times a WV player lost ball control. Bub Means' fumble was horrible (after a great catch and run). The one time we caught a break was WV fumbling shortly after.
With even a snippet of even-handed fate, Pitt likely goes into the half with a solid lead and a ton of momentum. Instead, the players had to be thinking "we're clobbering these dudes, and we're tied?!"
Couple thoughts:
> WVU athleticism much improved over what I've seen of them the last couple of years.
> JT Daniels is REAL GOOD. Based on what I saw, I'd take him over our USC Transfer... but I do like Slovis, alot. Daniels is just really really good
> Biggest disappointment was inconsistency in plugging the run. Man, WV was ripping off ALOT of runs... not Pitt-like. Now, the D did have alot of great run-game control. But LBs were slow and tentative to shoot the gaps.
> Izzy and Rockin' Rod are terrific RBs. Izzy is better used to grab swing passes and run outside the tackle. Rod just knows how to slither thru a hole and burst hard.
> Excited for WR's... but OLine has to be get ALOT better in pass protect. Having Kenny last year probably hid a lot of this OL's innate deficiencies... just because someone started last year on the OL doesn't translate into "good" play. There are certainly options on the OL for playing time... use them!