The run defense was pretty good.
#22 in negative play %
And when adjusting for the quality of the rushing opponents, 9th overall in the country in rushing defense (out of P4 teams).
(according to Pick 6’s analytics).
If they can maintain that with the new guys, you take that all day.
The problem is what if the new guys can’t maintain it?
The passing defense was bad.
110 in yards per pass.
94 in completion %
122 in explosive plays
Basically, whatever the other team wanted to do in the air, complete lots of short passes to move the chains, or go up top for huge plays, it did with insane success. Pitt was 46 in P4 teams when adjusting for quality of the passing offenses faced.
Will that probably improve some? Maybe. Probably. But even Peak has talked about the pass rush being one of the two main concerns right now on the team. So that isn’t going to help.
But what if the rush defense takes a normal step back? From near the very top to middle of the pack. Which I think would be a fair prediction. Then the passing defense needs to take a huge improvement to balance it out.