PODCAST: Wrapping up the regular season and more

[Chris Peak]

All eyes are on recruiting right now, but I did want to spend some time on this week's podcast talking about the regular season that was.

What to make of the Syracuse game? What to make of the defense? Plus a look at the Broyles Award finalists and All-ACC and a few other things.

https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/podcast-wrapping-up-syracuse-and-the-regular-season

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

Enjoyed your podcast, Chris.

It was certainly great to see Pitt finish strong this year, even though they continued to struggle against the pass.

As Pitt fans, we certainly owe it to the players and coaches to be fair about the reasons for Pitt's poor pass coverage this season.


Wanted to respond to some of your thoughts.

You mention In your podcast how we must keep in mind that Pitt's defense has played against 5 potential future NFL QBs. That is a fair ask. But if that is a card we want to play, we then need to compare how many yards those 5 QBs had against Pitt vs other opponents they played this season.
Let's take a look...

- Yds those QBs threw for against Pitt/other opp. -

Rudolph - 540 (83 more yds than any other opp)
Trubisky - 453 (48 more yds than any other opp)
Evans - 406 (90 more yds than any other opp )
MI- Kaaya - 356 (only more yds vs Duke & App St)
CL-Watson- 580 (200 more yds than any other opp)

If we look at the numbers, we see that the "Pitt played against 5 NFL QBs" arguement doesn't hold much water. In fact, we just prove that Pitt's pass coverage was indeed abysmal. Pitt was worse than 53 of the 55 other defenses those QBs played against this season.

You also mentioned in your podcast that there were a number of starters out... however... virtually none of those players (with the exception of Hendrix) were out for the games Pitt lost- so "missing starters" is not really a reasonable excuse to accept either.

Conclusion...
In all honesty, Pitt's pass coverage has been horrible due primarily to three (to possibly five) reasons: Poor technique by the DBs (and possible below average athleticism), poor coaching (and even poor decisions made) by coaches, and (to some extent) the inability to consistently put pressure on the QB (Though that is really a distant third- as evidenced by the fact that Pitt was tied for 10th in the nation in team sacks this season).

Silver Lining: If Pitt has an upgrade in DB corp next year and the coaches can actually teach them how to stay with their man and turn their head and make a play on the ball, this could be a very dangerous Pitt team next year- even with a new QB.

 

[Chris Peak]

Enjoyed your podcast, Chris.

It was certainly great to see Pitt finish strong this year, even though they continued to struggle against the pass.

As Pitt fans, we certainly owe it to the players and coaches to be fair about the reasons for Pitt's poor pass coverage this season.


Wanted to respond to some of your thoughts.

You mention In your podcast how we must keep in mind that Pitt's defense has played against 5 potential future NFL QBs. That is a fair ask. But if that is a card we want to play, we then need to compare how many yards those 5 QBs had against Pitt vs other opponents they played this season.
Let's take a look...

- Yds those QBs threw for against Pitt/other opp. -

Rudolph - 540 (83 more yds than any other opp)
Trubisky - 453 (48 more yds than any other opp)
Evans - 406 (90 more yds than any other opp )
MI- Kia - 356 (only more yds vs Duke & App St)
CL-Watson- 580 (200 more yds than any other opp)

If we look at the numbers, we see that the "Pitt played against 5 NFL QBs" arguement doesn't hold much water. In fact, we just prove that Pitt's pass coverage was indeed abysmal. Pitt was worse than 53 of the 55 other defenses those QBs played against this season.

You also mentioned in your podcast that there were a number of starters out... however... virtually none of those players (with the exception of Hendrix) were out for the games Pitt lost- so "missing starters" is not really a reasonable excuse to accept either.

Conclusion...
In all honesty, Pitt's pass coverage has been horrible due primarily to three (to possibly five) reasons: Poor technique by the DBs (and possible below average athleticism), poor coaching (and even poor decisions made) by coaches, and (to some extent) the inability to consistently put pressure on the QB (Though that is really a distant third- as evidenced by the fact that Pitt was tied for 10th in the nation in team sacks this season).

Silver Lining: If Pitt has an upgrade in DB corp next year and the coaches can actually teach them how to stay with their man and turn their head and make a play on the ball, this could be a very dangerous Pitt team next year- even with a new QB.

You're right, and I knew that bringing up the talent level of opposing QB/WR would have some connotation of giving Pitt's DB's and coaches a pass - which certainly wasn't my intention. All I was trying to say - and I tried to say it a bunch of times - was that we can't ignore the opposing QB/WR Pitt has faced.

That doesn't overshadow the issues Pitt had in its own right, and the numbers comparisons to other opponents reinforce that when Pitt faced those QB/WR combos, the opponents took advantage.

I do think the missing starters are relevant; Hendrix definitely could have helped, but some of the others are notable, even if they didn't come in losses (some of those big passing days by opponents were Pitt wins).

Either way, I think we can all agree that the secondary has to improve - the talent has to improve, the technique has to improve and the coaching has to improve.

Thanks for listening.

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

... I do think the missing starters are relevant; Hendrix definitely could have helped, but some of the others are notable, even if they didn't come in losses (some of those big passing days by opponents were Pitt wins).

Either way, I think we can all agree that the secondary has to improve - the talent has to improve, the technique has to improve and the coaching has to improve.

Thanks for listening.

You're welcome Chris and yes, agreed.

I look forward to your next podcast.