Look, I know we won, but can we talk about the defense?

[H2P 2003]

Seriously, when is this going to stop? 600 total yards? And frankly, duke probably should have had two more tds as they dropped a wide open td catch and the weird fumble where he just dropped the ball at the end of the first half.

We are in year 4, narduzzi has his guys, and the defense is still awful. For a defensive guru, it seems that when we do win it is almost always because of the offense.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

It's the frustrating thing about the situation. If Narduzzi was the offensive play caller, we'd just be saying "ok, easy fix, hire a new DC next year." There is no easy fix when the side of the ball that is worse is the side your head coach controls.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Maybe it is a lack of sufficiently talented defensive players in an era where offense is king?

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Maybe it is a lack of sufficiently talented defensive players in an era where offense is king?

I think so. Front seven is mostly flat out bad. Secondary is doing OK considering the pressure on them. I know that sounds weird after giving up around 400 passing yards again.

 

[gourdt]

I didn't understand why none of db's ever tried to jam a reciever at the line. Everyone got a free release, and the QB made quick throws.

 

[HailtoPitt]

It's not so much the defense as it is the players. They are simply not very good, to say the least.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

This is college fb in 2018

 

[McKee Place]

I think it is the trend of the game today, offensive oriented, hard hits no longer allowed, maybe even that more of the best kids want the glory of offense etc. All over the country, defenses seem pretty poor.

But not as poor as this one, egads.

 

[FurioGiunta]

It's not so much the defense as it is the players. They are simply not very good, to say the least.

I think they are both terrible, players and scheme. The run defense was especially awful yesterday.

 

[franklinman]

This is college fb in 2018

Yep, i watched the Syracuse N.C,State game last night, over 1000 yards on offense between the 2 teams.

 

[ThePanthers]

It's an offense world out there. Just the way the game is in 2018. Look at all the other games. Most are like this.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

It's not so much the defense as it is the players. They are simply not very good, to say the least.

It’s 4 years of awful defense.

It’s awful with nfl caliber defensive backs.

It’s very much the defense

 

[FurioGiunta]

It's an offense world out there. Just the way the game is in 2018. Look at all the other games. Most are like this.

Ahhhh....the defense sucks so bad that when you run out of excuses, just say it’s an offensive world. That will definitely cure all that ills Pitt. LSU hasn’t given up more than 21 all year, Clemson hasn’t given up more than 26, Penn State hasn’t given up more than 38. Pitt by comparison has given up 51,38, 45, 45,44. In more than 1/2 of their games, they’re giving up more than 5 touchdowns. It is an offensive world, Narduzzi and Pitt are incapable of adjusting.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

This is college fb in 2018

Tony Gibson begs to differ

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

It's an offense world out there. Just the way the game is in 2018. Look at all the other games. Most are like this.

Ahhhh....the defense sucks so bad that when you run out of excuses, just say it’s an offensive world. That will definitely cure all that ills Pitt. LSU hasn’t given up more than 21 all year, Clemson hasn’t given up more than 26, Penn State hasn’t given up more than 38. Pitt by comparison has given up 51,38, 45, 45,44. In more than 1/2 of their games, they’re giving up more than 5 touchdowns. It is an offensive world, Narduzzi and Pitt are incapable of adjusting.

Correct. If our defense can just be average or even bad, that might be acceptable. But Narduzzi's D has been catastrophic. There's no excuse for that

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

It is an offensive world, Narduzzi and Pitt are incapable of adjusting.

Correct.

A defense should never, ever be playing it's base 4-3 when the offense has four or five receivers on the field. And while we have started putting a fifth defensive back on the field in that situation sometimes, sometimes simply is not enough. You cannot cover those slot receivers with linebackers like we attempt to do and think that you are going to have any chance to be successful.

 

[gary2]

I didn't understand why none of db's ever tried to jam a reciever at the line. Everyone got a free release, and the QB made quick throws.

True dat

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

It's an offense world out there. Just the way the game is in 2018. Look at all the other games. Most are like this.

Would be a very good argument if we weren't ranked 103rd? in team defense. Again.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Would be a very good argument if we weren't ranked 103rd? in team defense. Again.

I prefer the eye test. Let’s review the defense against D1 opponents.
PS - played well for about 3 quarters. The game was lost by the special teams.
GT - they played well and were the main reason they won.
UNC - they did not play well. It was a team effort in the loss.
UCF - they did not play well. It was a team effort in the loss.
Syracuse - they were average, but created some big turnovers. It was a team effort in the win.
ND - they played well. Special teams and offense lost this one.
Duke - they did not play well. Offense won the game.

 

[gary2]

Would be a very good argument if we weren't ranked 103rd? in team defense. Again.

Yesterdays game:

Hendrix played OK
Watts played well
Bright played OK
Jackson played well
Motley played well

That was it. All other starters (Watts/Bright not listed as starters) played poorly.

 

[gary2]

I prefer the eye test. Let’s review the defense against D1 opponents.
PS - played well for about 3 quarters. The game was lost by the special teams.
GT - they played well and were the main reason they won.
UNC - they did not play well. It was a team effort in the loss.
UCF - they did not play well. It was a team effort in the loss.
Syracuse - they were average, but created some big turnovers. It was a team effort in the win.
ND - they played well. Special teams and offense lost this one.
Duke - they did not play well. Offense won the game.

You have to be suspect of the PSU game because of the horrendous weather.
GT is an animal of a different sort.

It seems to me that teams that a willing to nickel and dime us will have great success against us. Passes into the flat, bubble screens, backs out of the backfield, pass to the tight end - These are the plays that kill us, not post patterns, fly patterns or deep sidelines, etc. - Longer developing plays give us a chance to exert pressure. Quicker throws force us to tackle.

We do not tackle very well

 

[DiehardPanther]

You have to be suspect of the PSU game because of the horrendous weather.
GT is an animal of a different sort.

It seems to me that teams that a willing to nickel and dime us will have great success against us. Passes into the flat, bubble screens, backs out of the backfield, pass to the tight end - These are the plays that kill us, not post patterns, fly patterns or deep sidelines, etc. - Longer developing plays give us a chance to exert pressure. Quicker throws force us to tackle.

We do not tackle very well

It is dumb to use the argument of poor weather. The weather yesterday was similar to the PS game. You cannot pick and choose to suit your point.

GT is a very difficult offense to hold in check. That was a very good performance.

 

[joeydavid]

Yesterdays game:

Hendrix played OK
Watts played well
Bright played OK
Jackson played well
Motley played well

That was it. All other starters (Watts/Bright not listed as starters) played poorly.

Other than play where we could have prevented a TD, Reynolds played reasonably well.

The dline and pressure was negated due to the QB mostly getting rid of the ball so quickly- which doesn't explain why the DBs were so far of the line all game.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

It is dumb to use the argument of poor weather. The weather yesterday was similar to the PS game. You cannot pick and choose to suit your point.

GT is a very difficult offense to hold in check. That was a very good performance.

As a one dimensional offense it shouldn’t be

Even duke’s awful defense only surrendered 14.
They are 4-4 like us for a reason

 

[joeydavid]

Gtech yardage by game.

465
354 (Duke)
554
532
203 (Clemson)
386 (Pitt)
602
543

Looks pretty tough to stop most weeks. Duke was 16th in rush defense (116 per game I think) before this week.

The morale of the story, there's probably more talent on Pitt's D than is showing up in the stats every other week.

As a one dimensional offense it shouldn’t be

Even duke’s awful defense only surrendered 14.
They are 4-4 like us for a reason

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Georgia Tech is a good offense but also a good match up for us. Our weak pass rush doesn't come into play for one. We also keep nine in the box anyway. We're weakest against play action and rpo teams who freeze our linebackers and safeties then quick slant and hitch us to death.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Georgia Tech is a good offense but also a good match up for us. Our weak pass rush doesn't come into play for one. We also keep nine in the box anyway. We're weakest against play action and rpo teams who freeze our linebackers and safeties then quick slant and hitch us to death.

I agree with this, but it is still difficult to stop GT no matter what defense you run.

 

[McKee Place]

I don't know if it's scheme or talent or what but so often our LB are seen doing absolutely nothing on a play

 

[4upmc]

Correct.

A defense should never, ever be playing it's base 4-3 when the offense has four or five receivers on the field. And while we have started putting a fifth defensive back on the field in that situation sometimes, sometimes simply is not enough. You cannot cover those slot receivers with linebackers like we attempt to do and think that you are going to have any chance to be successful.

All day LB’s and S trying to cover slot WR’s. Agree you can’t stick in the base D against this. Mismatch city.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Correct.

A defense should never, ever be playing it's base 4-3 when the offense has four or five receivers on the field. And while we have started putting a fifth defensive back on the field in that situation sometimes, sometimes simply is not enough. You cannot cover those slot receivers with linebackers like we attempt to do and think that you are going to have any chance to be successful.

All day LB’s and S trying to cover slot WR’s. Agree you can’t stick in the base D against this. Mismatch city.

Does that extra linebacker we play even do anything? Seems like our outside linebackers never make tackles anyway.

 

[4upmc]

Does that extra linebacker we play even do anything? Seems like our outside linebackers never make tackles anyway.

Not much, I’m not impressed with our starting outside LB’s. Would much rather have in a DB who at least has a chance in coverage.

 

[shortball]

PN has no idea how to contain the run -option-pass offenses that you see in ACC play.
Watch the games and you will constantly see linebackers and defensive backs completely
out of position leaving receivers wide open. This is coaching my friends. If the coaches don't
understand what to do how can we expect our players to adapt. Pitt does not have the best
talent as we all concur however I have to believe they are better than giving up nearly 600
yards of offense to Duke. This is not an isolated thing but a very normal occurrence just about
every game we play against the spread. PN has no clue how to defense this offense. They
hardly run this stuff in Big 10 play. So he gets Bates who knows even less about what to do than he does. Go get a good defensive back coach from SEC Conference that understands what is going on and give him a shot at defensive coordinator job. If he does not make a defensive
change not sure how many more years PN will be around.

 

[MyNameisJoe]

Not that it matters, but here's what I think. I think HCPN actually is, maybe was, a defensive guru. You cannot deny the schemes and performance of his D when he was at MSU. I also remember listening to him when he was one of the crew for the national champ games. Dude not only knows so much about the game, but articulated it in a way someone who knows very little could understand. Which should translate into being a great coach. Hell, he would call out a play before it happened just based on how an offense was lines up. What I think the biggest problem is, well 2 biggest problems he has is 1) offenses have changed and 2) aside from Ga Tech, offenses just don't grind it out in the ACC. He's still coaching like it's 10 years ago when those things worked. Defense in general these days is way down and offense is way up. It reminds me of when the spread first came out...not sure it was really WVU, but that's not the point. Point is, D Coord figured out better ways to scheme, different personnel, etc and everyone copied it. Sooner or later someone will figure it out and the D will catch back up to the O.

Back to his 2nd biggest weakness - updating his style. Not so sure he'll do it. He's gonna need someone to have a long conversation with him about adjusting what his "base defense" is. I think he really is a great X and O guy. I really do. I just hope the X and O he knows or knew isn't antiquated and he learns to adapt

 

[4upmc]

Not that it matters, but here's what I think. I think HCPN actually is, maybe was, a defensive guru. You cannot deny the schemes and performance of his D when he was at MSU. I also remember listening to him when he was one of the crew for the national champ games. Dude not only knows so much about the game, but articulated it in a way someone who knows very little could understand. Which should translate into being a great coach. Hell, he would call out a play before it happened just based on how an offense was lines up. What I think the biggest problem is, well 2 biggest problems he has is 1) offenses have changed and 2) aside from Ga Tech, offenses just don't grind it out in the ACC. He's still coaching like it's 10 years ago when those things worked. Defense in general these days is way down and offense is way up. It reminds me of when the spread first came out...not sure it was really WVU, but that's not the point. Point is, D Coord figured out better ways to scheme, different personnel, etc and everyone copied it. Sooner or later someone will figure it out and the D will catch back up to the O.

Back to his 2nd biggest weakness - updating his style. Not so sure he'll do it. He's gonna need someone to have a long conversation with him about adjusting what his "base defense" is. I think he really is a great X and O guy. I really do. I just hope the X and O he knows or knew isn't antiquated and he learns to adapt

Great post. No denying what he did at MSU. He was impressive calling out plays and explaining as you stated during the national chip.

But the key in ur post is how he has to make adjustments. What worked in B10 is not ideal against the modern spread O. Will someone have the “long conversation” with him? I hope we have some guys who are not just “yes guys” and will tell him he needs to adjust his D to fit the game played today. He needs to put his ego aside. It’s hard for coaches but many coaches better than him have done it.

 

[shortball]

All good points which just reinforces what I eluded to in post. He is lost in a cloud
of dust and never should have hired Randy Bates. Needs somebody that understands
the spread and can translate the concept to players.!

 

[McKee Place]

Great post. No denying what he did at MSU. He was impressive calling out plays and explaining as you stated during the national chip.

But the key in ur post is how he has to make adjustments. What worked in B10 is not ideal against the modern spread O. Will someone have the “long conversation” with him? I hope we have some guys who are not just “yes guys” and will tell him he needs to adjust his D to fit the game played today. He needs to put his ego aside. It’s hard for coaches but many coaches better than him have done it.

Short of someone like Dantonio counseling him, who would he actually listen to other than the AD? His assistants are gonna be yes guys. So that "guy" who gives him The Talk is gonna have to be a lady. They seem to have a good relationship. We'll see if that goes well.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

I don't think the AD can or should micromanage a coach to the extent of telling him what defensive style or assistant coaches he should have. What she should do is say here is the priorities for your contract: division title or conference title, x wins, y APR, etc. If he doesn't meet the goals, he should know he will be fired and that should be no surprise. I'd say the same thing if the AD was a former football coach too -- they are there to hold people accountable to expectations, not to tell a coach they need to use nickel personnel more.

 

[HailtoPitt]

When I see three Pitt players in position to make a play, and they all miss, I have to assume that the defensive scheme worked but the players failed to execute. At least on those plays. And those plays happen often.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

When I see three Pitt players in position to make a play, and they all miss, I have to assume that the defensive scheme worked but the players failed to execute. At least on those plays. And those plays happen often.

I agree. Which means we need to recruit better players on defense.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

You have to be suspect of the PSU game because of the horrendous weather.
GT is an animal of a different sort.

It seems to me that teams that a willing to nickel and dime us will have great success against us. Passes into the flat, bubble screens, backs out of the backfield, pass to the tight end - These are the plays that kill us, not post patterns, fly patterns or deep sidelines, etc. - Longer developing plays give us a chance to exert pressure. Quicker throws force us to tackle.

We do not tackle very well

That's because our DB' and LB's aren't good fast athletes.
Our DB's play so far off the recievers they have automatic 3 -7 yard free pass plays.

Plus the tackling after the reception was terrible. Guys diving at the recievers feet with their heads down??? Who coaches that?? Youth football players know better than that.

If our DB's played tighter making it harder for the recievers to get off the line those easy over the middle passes would become harder to complete.

Our problem is our DB's aren't fast or athletic enough to play like that and our LB's are the same so they get no help!

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!