One thing you must do when judging this coaching staff is not do it through blue + gold glasses. First , Penn States talent level is better than Pitt's right now and the inexperience at the special teams, QB and O line showed. So Pitt lost to a much better team, this is a fact, not a myth. Pitt lost to a UCF that has more EXPERIENCED talent than Pitt does, this is fact not myth. The North Carolina game is a different story. I believe Pitt was out-coached and out prepared for that game, fact not myth. I will say the coaches did have players in position to make plays and we missed tackles + dropped passes. The is the one thing we all news to focus on. Does the coaches put the players in position to make plays, that is the bottom line job coaches do. I will use yesterday as an example. The play when the QB scrambled and dove for his TD the staff had a perfect defense called. They called a corner fire and the CB (Motley) came untouched off the edge and completely missed the QB. It should have need a sack that would have knocked them out of field goal range, instead we give up 7 points. Here is another example of smart coaching that everyone was bitching about at the end of the game. "Why is he running the ball playing for the tie". Because they were playing a 2 deep safety zone man underneath coverage and up front they were sending the weak side LB and running their Juco DE off the edge who we could not block all game. The coaches played the hand they had to play, run the ball so that they had a CHANCE to tie the game, if a sack would have occurred the game was over. Believe me, I get frustrated at times, the staff does make some mistakes, all staffs do, but most of the time this staff is putting kids in position to make the plays, unfortunately the kids are not making the plays more than they are making plays right now. This staffs gives 110% in everything they do and that will turn into success. If they play let's say the 25th toughest schedule in the country this year I am sure they probably have one loss right now and we are all fired up. We are playing this schedule with a lot of kids getting their true first college starting experience and unfortunately that matters a ton. The staff needs to get better and the kids need to play better. Let's get on board and support them and see where this season goes before we are ready to tear the program up and try to rebuild it for the 29th time in 10 years.
Judging Coaching Staff
- Thread starter JJ COLLINS
- Start date
Our schedule already is about the 20-25th toughest in the country right now according to most computers. Non conference? Definitely pointlessly hard to have UCF, ND, and PSU on the same year. Our statistical SoS will peak next week after ND then slowly decline again as we move through a fairly weak ACC schedule that doesn't have Clemson or NC State.
I agree with a lot of your points though. The runs on that final drive were smart football.
I agree with a lot of your points though. The runs on that final drive were smart football.
If all you were hoping to do was to kick a field goal then that final drive was smart football. I mean are we really at the point that we think that because the defense was played a two deep with man underneath that it simply would have been impossible to throw a pass or two? Teams all over the country throw against defenses like that all the time, every week, but it's somehow beyond us to be able to do it? And the worst part of that drive wasn't even the play calling, it was the complete nonchalant attitude we had during the drive. You are losing by three points, you have the ball at the opponent's 40 yard line, there is less than a minute to go in the game, the clock is running, and you are huddling up and taking 20 - 30 seconds to get a play off. The technical term for that is "inexcusable".
Unless, of course, you were playing for a field goal. And really, even then it was a stupid way to run a drive.
Yesterday was a perfect example of the idea that just because you won the game that doesn't mean what the coaches did was the correct strategy. What yesterday showed is that sometimes even when the coaches do stupid stuff the team wins the game anyway.
- Teams all over the country throw against defenses like that all the time, every week, but it's somehow beyond us to be able to do it?"
Coaches that coach out of fear and teams that play out of fear are never successful in the long run. Never.
It is not coaching out of fear. It is coaching smart. He was not afraud so much of the INT but the sack. Any sack and the game was over. They could not block the juco DE all day without help. If you give the OT help then you have three receivers running with man coverage which means great take them deep, bit they had over the top help with the two safties. I good coaching staff knows it strengths and weaknesses, you have to ride your strengths. As I posted earlier, has the staff made some mistakes ? Absolutely, but all in all their record is what it is because they lost two games to teams that are that much better than them right now. They need to keep grinding and getting better. There is no magic wond.
That’s all in hindsight because he actually made the FG. Had he missed it the jackals would be out today and rightfully so.
Playing for a 45 yard field goal on a crappy field with an erratic college kicker is never the right option. It just happened to work this time, doesn’t mean it was the correct decision just because it worked.
I agree with what you said about the nonchalant attitude. They should have been getting the snap off more quickly. But I do agree with Narduzzi trying to make that the last possession of the game or leaving next to no time on the clock for SU. You should essentially end up either winning the game in regulation or make the FG and go to OT.
LOL you play for the field goal when you have zero confidence in your quarterback. At this point neither do I.
Or, because you didn't really get the ball all that close to the goal line and you are playing on a crappy field that took a ton of rain an hour or so earlier you miss the field goal, and you lose.
And leave out the winning the game in regulation part, because with the way we played it the only chance we had to win in regulation was to break off a long touchdown run. And how many of those should we be expecting in one game?
We played that drive like all we needed was a field goal to win the game. And of course that isn't what we needed. The fact that we made a dumb strategy work doesn't mean that it wasn't a dumb strategy.
I can't imagine anyone who understands the game of football could possibly think that the way we played that last drive was smart. I'd imagine that if you sat down, say, the ten best coaches in college football and showed them that drive and asked them if they'd have done it that way that the first response from all ten would have been to laugh.
Syracuse could not stop the run why not run the ball until they do it was smart by the coaches. The orange pass rush was putting heat on the QB every time. IT worked in this situation.
I had no issue running the ball either, but they should have been getting up to the line and calling the plays faster and not called a TO after making the one 1st down. They could have had 2-3 more plays if they weren’t so nonchalant with calling the plays.
Because playing it the way we did only gave us a 45 yard field goal on a sloppy field that is notoriously difficult on kickers to tie the game.
Agree you should have tried to move the ball a little more quickly. even if you run, fine if thats the best way to get into position to tie or win, but you need to still run a hurry up offense. I also strongly agree that there are times a coach makes the wrong call and it works and fans will say see it was the correct decision and the opposite where it was the smart percentage call and people will bitch because it didn't work.
This is correct, that’s why they are called fans.
They only see what the end result was, that is the be all and end all. Nothing else matters.
Like I mentioned in another thread, Pitt lost to a lousy UNC team so they say Narduzzi sucks. Had UNC fumbled at the end (like bad teams sometimes do) and Pitt scooped and scored these same people would be saying how great he was.
Fans are absolutely incapable of looking at the big picture, whatever happened last is the only thing that is important.
That’s absolutely fair. The whole time I was thinking, should we even attempt to pass? Can Kenny make a throw?
My issue on that drive more than anything.... no urgency. They are huddling up after every.... single.... play. No matter what! You’re running the ball great, maybe someone will break one like narduzzi said. Hurry to the line, keep the defense on their heels, maybe in the heat of the moment someone makes a mistake and it provides an opportunity to then pass the ball.
I had no problem trying to win or tie the game with our running backs, although I will say straight up playing for a tie is risky. I just don’t understand why pitt can never, ever, ever show any kind of urgency whatsoever.
Go back to RAL’s 3rd down catch that was overturned. Kenny is struggling to make any kind of throw at all, finally someone appears to make a play and a pass is completed on 3rd down. Syracuse defenders immediately signal incomplete.
Did narduzzi or Watson have some incredible view where they could tell for certain it was a catch? Apparently not, because it was overturned. And that call being overturned was 110% on the pitt coaching staff. Screw going to the huddle and coming up with the best play, line the hell up and just hand it off. I have never seen a team give the opposition that much time to ponder a review.
I've had a lot bigger issues with Narduzzi this season than the strategy on the last drive. I can't argue with anyone who says playing to win is the right call. You play to win. However, consider the following:
I believe when you're at home, you play for the win. Although I disagree with Narduzzi's strategy, I understand his thought process.
- On the last drive, who were Pitt's best players on the field for the last drive? In my opinion, it was Hall and Ollison. You give your best players the ball.
- Your best receiver (Mack) wasn't playing, your OL can't pass block to save their lives, and Pickett is shaky at best. Throwing the ball may not the best strategy at that point.
- Narduzzi's strategy showed he had no confidence in his defense. If Pitt throws the ball and fails to score a TD and settles for a FG, does anyone here feel comfortable with the defense stopping Syracuse with 1:30 on the clock?
I believe when you're at home, you play for the win. Although I disagree with Narduzzi's strategy, I understand his thought process.
The point you skipped, and the only thing that actually matters, is that Narduzzi and his staff aren't recruiting well enough. Game strategies and preparation are all nice, but you mentioned not having talent and experience and never looked inward at why a coaching staff, in year four, is struggling with that very issue.
Right now, Pitt doesn't have enough talent to win a G5 conference but you think the coaching staff just need to get the kids to play better and that will win the ACC. That's not how it works.
Playing for OT is one thing in that situation, but you sure as heck shouldn't lolligag your way to a 45 yard tying FG attempt at Heinz on a wet field. Didn't we have the ball around the 50 yard line with around 2 minutes left and three time outs?
Which ACC teams left on our schedule pose a serious threat in the passing game? Our nonconference opponents were a lot better.
