Sigh! I walked away from my TV Set yesterday after the final Hail Mary with complete emptiness and anger. Here we go:
1. On WHAT planet is Narduzzi's decision to take the game away from his players remotely defensible? It's just a horrible decision on so many levels. We can argue the play calling was less than stellar (a qb sneak would have been nice), but for the love of god you have 1 Time out left and if you don't make it PSU is at the 1 yard line. You went for it on 4th and 2 at midfield with the great call on the play action. Punt there and no one would have really criticized. Just an atrocious decision which he's making worse with his stammering answer in the press conference.
2. The decision could have repercussions in the locker room as well. We will see what happens in the rest of the season but players can't be happy this morning.
3. All week long I was more than a little angry with the media's view on this game. Apparently the media and many pundits were highly impressed with Penn State's destruction of Idaho and Buffalo because no one gave us a chance. Let's be clear, PSU is good but their OL is heh and frankly their QB was extremely average. They do have a ton of speed.
4. Pro Scouts watch a ton of tape and they'll watch Carter Warren's performance against supposedly PSU best pass rusher and they will note that Warren completely took him out of the game. It was actually a mismatch. Warren's feet and his long arm are prototypical NFL. Even when Gross passed him on a speed rush Warren was able to shield him with his arms. A great performance.
5. I got news for you UCF is better than PSU. If this team doesn't get over PSU quickly it's gonna be really ugly at Heinz Field next week.
6. Our corners played very well. I'm not sure they threw at Jackson and Pinnock and Mathis were great in coverage. Paris Ford was everywhere. The back line of this defense is going to need to be even better next week against the array of UCF receivers and patterns.
7. I hate punting inside the 40. Hate it! I'd have rather gone for it or try the long fg.
8. Davis had a TD on the first red zone opportunity if he doesn't slip. LB had overrun the play and he would have waltzed in the end zone.
9. Boy the ACC looks pretty awful after Clemson. Especially the Coastal. Very mediocre right now.
10. I wasn't happy with the calls at the goal line late but you gotta give the OC credit for the great screen calls and the pass to the TE on fourth down.
11. Both Mack and Ffrench dropped some key throws but both were really good. The catch at the Pylon while he's being interfered with was just spectacular.
12. Pickett played a heroic game, he was so good in this game that it's a shame to waste it with a bonehead call like that.
13. I get the running game needs work but the little bubble screens and screens and short crossing routes really are just running plays.
14. PSU really tackled well on a wet field. Kudos to them. A few times on crossing routes a missed tackle and it's a big gainer. Tackling is almost a forgotten art.
15. Missed tackled cost us the first TD on the long run. PSU is essentially conceding the play with a simple hand off and 3 missed tackles later it's an 88 yard run. In this kind of game you can't do that.
16. VT got some homer calls to beat Furman especially an atrocious call on a recovered onside kick by Furman. They just aren't that good. And boy I'm guessing Cuse ain't the darling anymore. WVU where did that come from?
17. UCF just fast breaked Stanford to death early. Their pace of play and overall speed was really too much for the Cardinals. On paper you want to slow the pace and grind it but it's not like the UCF front is anything to sneeze at. They rotate a ton of players and there's speed at all levels. A very tall task to beat this team.
18. Whipple needs to get more creative with the run plays. Needs to get these guys in space like the jet sweep to Shocky. It appears that the majority of the run plays are between the tackles and I'm not sure the personnel on the team warrants that.
19. Our punter has really improved. In fact his ability to pin PSU down inside the 20 was a critical part of the team.
20. While Narduzzi was not covering himself with glory with his decision making, Franklin was not much better. His play calling late wasn't exactly stellar. His decisions multiple times to take Hamler out of the game on third and long makes you scratch your head. Hamler is the one kid that scares you. Classy comment by the kid after the game also about Pitt.
21. I'm not sure as a fan I can ever forgive Narduzzi for what he did yesterday. I hope the players do and I hope this team continues to grow. I'll be flying down to Pitt for the game next week but boy I really hope the coaching staff is ready. Pitt will need to score in the high 30's to win this game and right now they haven't shown the ability to do that. We shall see.
Pitt82
1. On WHAT planet is Narduzzi's decision to take the game away from his players remotely defensible? It's just a horrible decision on so many levels. We can argue the play calling was less than stellar (a qb sneak would have been nice), but for the love of god you have 1 Time out left and if you don't make it PSU is at the 1 yard line. You went for it on 4th and 2 at midfield with the great call on the play action. Punt there and no one would have really criticized. Just an atrocious decision which he's making worse with his stammering answer in the press conference.
2. The decision could have repercussions in the locker room as well. We will see what happens in the rest of the season but players can't be happy this morning.
3. All week long I was more than a little angry with the media's view on this game. Apparently the media and many pundits were highly impressed with Penn State's destruction of Idaho and Buffalo because no one gave us a chance. Let's be clear, PSU is good but their OL is heh and frankly their QB was extremely average. They do have a ton of speed.
4. Pro Scouts watch a ton of tape and they'll watch Carter Warren's performance against supposedly PSU best pass rusher and they will note that Warren completely took him out of the game. It was actually a mismatch. Warren's feet and his long arm are prototypical NFL. Even when Gross passed him on a speed rush Warren was able to shield him with his arms. A great performance.
5. I got news for you UCF is better than PSU. If this team doesn't get over PSU quickly it's gonna be really ugly at Heinz Field next week.
6. Our corners played very well. I'm not sure they threw at Jackson and Pinnock and Mathis were great in coverage. Paris Ford was everywhere. The back line of this defense is going to need to be even better next week against the array of UCF receivers and patterns.
7. I hate punting inside the 40. Hate it! I'd have rather gone for it or try the long fg.
8. Davis had a TD on the first red zone opportunity if he doesn't slip. LB had overrun the play and he would have waltzed in the end zone.
9. Boy the ACC looks pretty awful after Clemson. Especially the Coastal. Very mediocre right now.
10. I wasn't happy with the calls at the goal line late but you gotta give the OC credit for the great screen calls and the pass to the TE on fourth down.
11. Both Mack and Ffrench dropped some key throws but both were really good. The catch at the Pylon while he's being interfered with was just spectacular.
12. Pickett played a heroic game, he was so good in this game that it's a shame to waste it with a bonehead call like that.
13. I get the running game needs work but the little bubble screens and screens and short crossing routes really are just running plays.
14. PSU really tackled well on a wet field. Kudos to them. A few times on crossing routes a missed tackle and it's a big gainer. Tackling is almost a forgotten art.
15. Missed tackled cost us the first TD on the long run. PSU is essentially conceding the play with a simple hand off and 3 missed tackles later it's an 88 yard run. In this kind of game you can't do that.
16. VT got some homer calls to beat Furman especially an atrocious call on a recovered onside kick by Furman. They just aren't that good. And boy I'm guessing Cuse ain't the darling anymore. WVU where did that come from?
17. UCF just fast breaked Stanford to death early. Their pace of play and overall speed was really too much for the Cardinals. On paper you want to slow the pace and grind it but it's not like the UCF front is anything to sneeze at. They rotate a ton of players and there's speed at all levels. A very tall task to beat this team.
18. Whipple needs to get more creative with the run plays. Needs to get these guys in space like the jet sweep to Shocky. It appears that the majority of the run plays are between the tackles and I'm not sure the personnel on the team warrants that.
19. Our punter has really improved. In fact his ability to pin PSU down inside the 20 was a critical part of the team.
20. While Narduzzi was not covering himself with glory with his decision making, Franklin was not much better. His play calling late wasn't exactly stellar. His decisions multiple times to take Hamler out of the game on third and long makes you scratch your head. Hamler is the one kid that scares you. Classy comment by the kid after the game also about Pitt.
21. I'm not sure as a fan I can ever forgive Narduzzi for what he did yesterday. I hope the players do and I hope this team continues to grow. I'll be flying down to Pitt for the game next week but boy I really hope the coaching staff is ready. Pitt will need to score in the high 30's to win this game and right now they haven't shown the ability to do that. We shall see.
Pitt82
