Pitt #7 nationally in total D, but did anyone notice that BC, NCSU and Duke

[thebadby2]

are #1, 3 and 4 in total D respectively?

I was surprised to see that. Huxtable must be doing a pretty good job down at NCSU this year.

 

[WNYPanther]

I've noticed BC, their D is very good .... Problem is their O is horrendous.

 

[Panthertag]

NC State plays Butler Community College every week, so once they get into the full-swing of conference play their ranking will go down.

 

[ThePanthers]

I knew BC and Duke were highly ranked with good Ds.

I was surprised with NC State.

 

[Farnox]

NC State plays Butler Community College every week, so once they get into the full-swing of conference play their ranking will go down.

Virginia Tech didn't have any trouble moving the ball on them.

 

[pittpitt]

Complain about Pitt's offense all you want, but it looks like it's being consciously fit into a larger team context predicated on the defense holding things down (similar but opposite to Oregon the past few years giving up 25 points/gm which wasn't a sign of a bad D because their team was predicated on the offense scoring so fast the opposition starts playing faster and isn't used to it, which resulted in a ton of turnovers by the second half -- and even if opponents do score quickly a few times, it only put their D right back out there to the wolves). I say this because BC's defense has been lights out this year (points surrendered: 0, 3, 14, 14, 9, 3) and they're still losing games to bad opponents 0-3. I feel like our offense is being held back by coaches in the second halves (PN said as much after VT), and it would be better throughout a game in which we needed it. This is why I believe Pitt breaks their streak of games in which we're losing in the 4th quarter without coming back for a win this season -- we nearly made it happen at #17 Iowa a few weeks ago.

We've won by 8, 17, 4, and 7 points, yet three of those four point margins were actually our smallest in the fourth quarter. Basically we're regularly in control in the 4th quarter, and we play slow and give up something late that doesn't matter. The only lead we made look better in the end was against Akron (up 17-7 until we scored a late TD to win 24-7), and it's not like Akron was close to coming back at any point; they gained only 105 yards all day.

So go easy on our second-half offense until it truly craps the bed in a game we need it; until then it looks like the games are moving along close to how our coaches want them to.

 

[thebadby2]

Virginia Tech didn't have any trouble moving the ball on them.

358 yards isn't exactly a big offensive output, but 200 were on the ground.

Complain about Pitt's offense all you want, but it looks like it's being consciously fit into a larger team context predicated on the defense holding things down (similar but opposite to Oregon the past few years giving up 25 points/gm which wasn't a sign of a bad D because their team was predicated on the offense scoring so fast the opposition starts playing faster and isn't used to it, which resulted in a ton of turnovers by the second half -- and even if opponents do score quickly a few times, it only put their D right back out there to the wolves). I say this because BC's defense has been lights out this year (points surrendered: 0, 3, 14, 14, 9, 3) and they're still losing games to bad opponents 0-3. I feel like our offense is being held back by coaches in the second halves (PN said as much after VT), and it would be better throughout a game in which we needed it. This is why I believe Pitt breaks their streak of games in which we're losing in the 4th quarter without coming back for a win this season -- we nearly made it happen at #17 Iowa a few weeks ago.

We've won by 8, 17, 4, and 7 points, yet three of those four point margins were actually our smallest in the fourth quarter. Basically we're regularly in control in the 4th quarter, and we play slow and give up something late that doesn't matter. The only lead we made look better in the end was against Akron (up 17-7 until we scored a late TD to win 24-7), and it's not like Akron was close to coming back at any point; they gained only 105 yards all day.

So go easy on our second-half offense until it truly craps the bed in a game we need it; until then it looks like the games are moving along close to how our coaches want them to.

I don't buy any of that for a second. Way too many second half three and outs, which is a recipe for disaster in a close game. The offense has been forced, awkward and has not yet found any kind of rhythm or consistency. I's a work in progress to say the least. Are we calling plays more conservatively with a second half lead? Probably, but we are too conservative all game long. Is that because our coaches believe that our D is infallible and we don't need to score, possess the ball, etc.? I sincerely doubt that. All it takes is a bad bounce, a bad break, a special teams failure or a bad penalty and you can easily lose in a close game, no matter how well your D is playing. It's imperative to move the ball, score touchdowns and pad your lead for 4 quarters. You don't want the game riding on your kicker or your defense's ability to get one more stop all the time.

If you can;t move the ball or get it in the end zone when you need to, you will lose. It's not if, it's when and to who. Our offense has not shown the ability to finish, and I'm sure the coaches are very concerned about that and working hard to fix it.

 

[pittpitt]

The offense has been forced, awkward and has not yet found any kind of rhythm or consistency. I's a work in progress to say the least. Are we calling plays more conservatively with a second half lead? Probably, but we are too conservative all game long. Is that because our coaches believe that our D is infallible and we don't need to score, possess the ball, etc.? I sincerely doubt that. All it takes is a bad bounce, a bad break, a special teams failure or a bad penalty and you can easily lose in a close game, no matter how well your D is playing. It's imperative to move the ball, score touchdowns and pad your lead for 4 quarters. You don't want the game riding on your kicker or your defense's ability to get one more stop all the time.

Please explain what Pitt's OC/staff did wrong in each of these games.

vs. VA: Weah drops a TD that would have made it 21-3. Next drive: Peterman's insane sack/fumble/TD instantly flipped the game from us up huge and moving (our previous 4 drives went for 217 yards and 17 points). We followed it up with conservative plays and punts to get to halftime up a TD (our D held VA to 8 yards on 3 drives to end the half). Second half starts: we score a TD on a short field, hold VA to a FG, then march 74 yards and fumble on the 1. Next drive: We move 20 yards on 4 plays before the hike over Peterman's head that kills that drive. VA scores a TD with under 6 minutes left to make a not-close game look respectable. What did the OC do wrong in this game?

vs. VT: We're leading 10-7 at halftime in a sloppy downpour. Second half starts: Pitt quick TD, VT punts, our next possession we start at the 2 and get two first downs out to the 25 then Ollison fumbles after a 7-yard run to the 32. With a 10-point lead in a sloppy game in which our D was killing VT and we had just fumbled, Narduzzi understandably goes super conservative on offense (says this in his post-game presser). VT gains 27 total yards on their final 5 series, never threatening. Even in turtle mode, Pitt's offense still gained 72 yards on their next 2 series after the fumble to eat clock, knowing our D has VT locked down. What did the OC do wrong in this game?

vs. Iowa: Iowa is a great defense and hosted a super-amped night game. Our one good drive in the first half moves 70 yards to Iowa's 5, where Peterman in his first college start throws a dumb pick in the endzone to the country's #2 interception man (King, 5 picks in 6 games). We have the ball 3 times in the second half. First possession goes 45 yards, FG. Second possession goes 33 yards, where we then famously punt on 4th-and-1 from Iowa's 42 (which we learned from). Last possession goes 75 yards for a clutch tying TD with under a minute left. What did the OC do wrong in this game?

vs. Akron & YSU: We were never in doubt of losing either of these games, even with our D giving up 3 long, broken-protection TD's in the final 16 minutes to YSU. No one can complain about going conservative in these games when you're in control for most of both games against teams you don't pull out all the stops for, especially a downpour in Akron. But if the OC did something wrong in these games, let us know.

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

358 yards isn't exactly a big offensive output, but 200 were on the ground.

I don't buy any of that for a second. Way too many second half three and outs, which is a recipe for disaster in a close game. The offense has been forced, awkward and has not yet found any kind of rhythm or consistency. I's a work in progress to say the least. Are we calling plays more conservatively with a second half lead? Probably, but we are too conservative all game long. Is that because our coaches believe that our D is infallible and we don't need to score, possess the ball, etc.? I sincerely doubt that. All it takes is a bad bounce, a bad break, a special teams failure or a bad penalty and you can easily lose in a close game, no matter how well your D is playing. It's imperative to move the ball, score touchdowns and pad your lead for 4 quarters. You don't want the game riding on your kicker or your defense's ability to get one more stop all the time.

If you can;t move the ball or get it in the end zone when you need to, you will lose. It's not if, it's when and to who. Our offense has not shown the ability to finish, and I'm sure the coaches are very concerned about that and working hard to fix it.

Tend to agree with this assessment.

We have scored 0 offensive points in the last two 4th quarters. That should be a bit of a concern.

The offense was far from stellar in the Iowa game, but at least they did a nice job of moving the ball with confidence at the end of that game.

Where has that will to score in the 4th qtr gone. Does Pitt need to be down in the 4th to get that type aggressive play calling. This offense just needs to keep the foot on the pedal and put a team away. Got to quit with this "play not to lose" Wannstedt mentality.

Even Narduzzi made a comment about overly conservative offensive play calling at the end of games.

 

[pittpitt]

We have scored 0 offensive points in the last two 4th quarters. That should be a bit of a concern.

The offense was far from stellar in the Iowa game, but at least they did a nice job of moving the ball with confidence at the end of that game.

I outlined this above, but...
1) We scored 0 in the 4th against VA because Ollison fumbled at the 1, the ball was hiked over Peterman's head as we were moving, and then we simply killed clock on our only other possession of the game. Not exactly our coaches being soft.
2) The VT game is the one game Narduzzi admitted going conservative in because we were up 10 in the 3rd in a downpour and Ollison had just fumbled. We easily held VT off from that point forward. Still, in the 4th we moved 39 yards on a drive (almost as much as VT in the entire 2nd half), missed a FG on the next drive, and then conservatively did nothing on our final real drive. It seems reasonable we'd finish this game conservative when VT couldn't do anything and it was a slop-fest.
3) Iowa has a great D, and we moved the ball in all 3 drives in the second half, including a 5-minute, 75-yd TD drive to tie it with less than a minute. Other than not going for it on 4th-and-1 at Iowa's 42, our coaches did nothing to hold up our offense in this 4th quarter (or the entire second half, actually).