Sometimes you get beat because the other team is better, sometimes you lose cause your players don't execute, sometimes you lose because your coaches suddenly have a brain fart or commonly known as coaching malpractice. yesterday's bowl loss was the latter:
1. After scoring 18 straight points and taking a 10 pt lead halfway through the fourth quarter, I texted one of my Pitt buddies "Run, Run, Run, then Run some more and punt" recognizing that the clock is our friend and no need to take risks with essentially your 4th string QB first action (More on Dugger later). So this was WTF moment #1. Why are you having Dugger throw the ball at midfield on 3rd down? So of course Toledo throws a zone blitz with their DT covering the middle and Dugger hands him the ball and their fat guy outruns our fat guys for a pick 6. I mean I don't really understand why you put the QB in that position. Run the damn ball, milk the clock and let them score twice in the final 6minutes and change to beat you or tie you. Seriously. And the HC can override Bell and tell him to NOT throw the ball. I was going crazy at that call.
2. You have a kicker that can kick the ball from Chicago. Why are you not trying to gain 10 yards at midfield under a minute to go to get Sauls in range? However this is a small wtf #2 because I get that they didn't want to give the ball back to Toledo at midfield but still. Game was tied at that point but why play for OT?
3. So let me get straight you decide from the one your best option was to have your TE throw the ball to your freshman tackle eligible to try to win the game when you've been averaging over 5 yards a carry when their best two Defensive Linemen are out of the game? So you get all wild on third down and then you kick a FG from inside the 1 yard line to Tie the game? That's WTF #3. How about two power plays straight up behind Cooper? I mean at this point I'm resigned to the fact that this game was lost. When the coaching staff played for the tie they lost me. Just a brutally bad call shades of the PSU game.
4. Refs were a mixed bag. To their credit they properly called the holding in the end zone and the Dugger conversion. They missed a blatant OPI on the long TD by Toledo. You cannot block downfield while the ball is in the air you can only do that at the line of scrimmage or a yard past. It was a blatant miss by them. Thought the game got a little away of them as it got chippier but frankly we've seen much worse.
5. Des Reid what more can you say? He took a pounding, was the best player on the field and played his ass off. Hats off to him. I love watching this kid play.
6. The one positive I take from this game is that Julian Dugger will play next year with packages. Not only is he a great runner but what surprised me most was his accuracy and his ability to go through some of his progressions. He made several great throws, and his arm looked like it had some pop to him. I don't know what the coaches see in practice to assess that Lynch deserved to start over him but at least they came to their senses. Dugger does tap the ball before he throws it which slows his release but that's something that can be worked.
7. While the defense in the second half held Toledo in check for a large portion and obviously you can't blame them for two pick sixes but they had a chance to win the game several times with 4th down stops and couldn't do it. Matlack missed the QB twice for large losses in OT and the corners were not great. But if the coaches do their job they aren't put in this situation.
8. What to make of the season? It was both exhilarating highly disappointing. The 7-0 start really brought some juice to the season but not showing up at SMU, and the disaster that followed really put severe question marks on the program and the team. Does the loss of the starting LT create such a disparity in performance? what does the lack of adjustments in the offense scheme after Holstein got injured say about Bell's ability to adapt to the situation? We were bad on third long defensively all season, can Bates and Narduzzi learn that sometimes balls to the wall is not always the way to go? Yesterday I saw a few three men rush schemes on long 3rd downs which was new. What happens if Bates retires?
9. There are some positives. The front seven has some really nice talent. Dez Reid is a game changer but needs to be schemed better. The freshman back seems to have some wiggle and could be a productive piece. Kenny Johnson and Williams are good WR but I don't see a game breaker amongst this group. Who aside from Gandy is going to play corner? Brookins is going to be a really good player at safety but who else? Safeties are critical in this scheme.
10. And we end the season with 6 straight losses which is not acceptable. Pat Narduzzi has some positives and negatives. For me, he really cares about his players, runs a clean program, the players play hard for him and seem to love him. On the downside, I think his recruiting has been iffy, the inability to shore up certain areas like the OL, and brain fart games every year are problematic. I think next year is a big year for this program especially in this new expanded playoff era.
Alas another year goes by the wayside. For me personally, I'm close to retirement as I turn 65 next year and I'm seriously considering not renewing my season tickets, not because I'm disgruntled or anything like that but more about looking at the finances and how we want live in retirement. We are heavy travelers, next year we've already booked Morocco, France and me a golfing trip to Scotland with my buddies. I have to assess if weekly flights to Pitt or away games are in the cards. We will see. Onto basketball.
Pitt82
1. After scoring 18 straight points and taking a 10 pt lead halfway through the fourth quarter, I texted one of my Pitt buddies "Run, Run, Run, then Run some more and punt" recognizing that the clock is our friend and no need to take risks with essentially your 4th string QB first action (More on Dugger later). So this was WTF moment #1. Why are you having Dugger throw the ball at midfield on 3rd down? So of course Toledo throws a zone blitz with their DT covering the middle and Dugger hands him the ball and their fat guy outruns our fat guys for a pick 6. I mean I don't really understand why you put the QB in that position. Run the damn ball, milk the clock and let them score twice in the final 6minutes and change to beat you or tie you. Seriously. And the HC can override Bell and tell him to NOT throw the ball. I was going crazy at that call.
2. You have a kicker that can kick the ball from Chicago. Why are you not trying to gain 10 yards at midfield under a minute to go to get Sauls in range? However this is a small wtf #2 because I get that they didn't want to give the ball back to Toledo at midfield but still. Game was tied at that point but why play for OT?
3. So let me get straight you decide from the one your best option was to have your TE throw the ball to your freshman tackle eligible to try to win the game when you've been averaging over 5 yards a carry when their best two Defensive Linemen are out of the game? So you get all wild on third down and then you kick a FG from inside the 1 yard line to Tie the game? That's WTF #3. How about two power plays straight up behind Cooper? I mean at this point I'm resigned to the fact that this game was lost. When the coaching staff played for the tie they lost me. Just a brutally bad call shades of the PSU game.
4. Refs were a mixed bag. To their credit they properly called the holding in the end zone and the Dugger conversion. They missed a blatant OPI on the long TD by Toledo. You cannot block downfield while the ball is in the air you can only do that at the line of scrimmage or a yard past. It was a blatant miss by them. Thought the game got a little away of them as it got chippier but frankly we've seen much worse.
5. Des Reid what more can you say? He took a pounding, was the best player on the field and played his ass off. Hats off to him. I love watching this kid play.
6. The one positive I take from this game is that Julian Dugger will play next year with packages. Not only is he a great runner but what surprised me most was his accuracy and his ability to go through some of his progressions. He made several great throws, and his arm looked like it had some pop to him. I don't know what the coaches see in practice to assess that Lynch deserved to start over him but at least they came to their senses. Dugger does tap the ball before he throws it which slows his release but that's something that can be worked.
7. While the defense in the second half held Toledo in check for a large portion and obviously you can't blame them for two pick sixes but they had a chance to win the game several times with 4th down stops and couldn't do it. Matlack missed the QB twice for large losses in OT and the corners were not great. But if the coaches do their job they aren't put in this situation.
8. What to make of the season? It was both exhilarating highly disappointing. The 7-0 start really brought some juice to the season but not showing up at SMU, and the disaster that followed really put severe question marks on the program and the team. Does the loss of the starting LT create such a disparity in performance? what does the lack of adjustments in the offense scheme after Holstein got injured say about Bell's ability to adapt to the situation? We were bad on third long defensively all season, can Bates and Narduzzi learn that sometimes balls to the wall is not always the way to go? Yesterday I saw a few three men rush schemes on long 3rd downs which was new. What happens if Bates retires?
9. There are some positives. The front seven has some really nice talent. Dez Reid is a game changer but needs to be schemed better. The freshman back seems to have some wiggle and could be a productive piece. Kenny Johnson and Williams are good WR but I don't see a game breaker amongst this group. Who aside from Gandy is going to play corner? Brookins is going to be a really good player at safety but who else? Safeties are critical in this scheme.
10. And we end the season with 6 straight losses which is not acceptable. Pat Narduzzi has some positives and negatives. For me, he really cares about his players, runs a clean program, the players play hard for him and seem to love him. On the downside, I think his recruiting has been iffy, the inability to shore up certain areas like the OL, and brain fart games every year are problematic. I think next year is a big year for this program especially in this new expanded playoff era.
Alas another year goes by the wayside. For me personally, I'm close to retirement as I turn 65 next year and I'm seriously considering not renewing my season tickets, not because I'm disgruntled or anything like that but more about looking at the finances and how we want live in retirement. We are heavy travelers, next year we've already booked Morocco, France and me a golfing trip to Scotland with my buddies. I have to assess if weekly flights to Pitt or away games are in the cards. We will see. Onto basketball.
Pitt82
