The jet sweeps

[Sean Miller Fan]

Here's a rare football analysis post.

On the one hand, I like the "eye candy" offense and generally, its been successful but my own personal opinion, I feel like all the misdirection and different blocking schemes takes away from our offensive line's and Conner's strength. This offensive line, built by Chryst, is best at road-grading and they have bulls in Conner and Ollison. I am seeing success with the misdirection but it seems like later in games when the defense adjusts to the "trickeration," this team wasnt built to ground and pound a victory. It seems to rely too much on the eye candy......which would be great for a team without enough good linemen. I am just wondering if the emphasis on the misdirection and eye candy takes this team away from its strength.

In some ways, this offense reminds me of specialty offenses like the Triple Option. Difficult to play against, difficult to prepare for but once a team figures it out, there's not much else the offense can do because its so specialized.

I dont know, maybe I'm just trying to rationalize the last 3 game-ending failures by our offense.

 

[buckage]

You may have something there.

I would argue that we need to be more balanced all around on offense. Use the motions, pro sets and passing game to keep the defense on its toes.

I would also argue we need to throw the ball forward on 3rd downs, rather than side to side.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You may have something there.

I would argue that we need to be more balanced all around on offense. Use the motions, pro sets and passing game to keep the defense on its toes.

I would also argue we need to throw the ball forward on 3rd downs, rather than side to side.

I love Qadree Henderson but it seems like the offensive is designed for him and not the 3 NFL linemen and stable of RBs. I just dont think they have practiced enough power and counters with the emphasis of learning the eye candy offense. And the Nova game is evidence of that. When we tried to road grade Nova, we couldn't. Maybe the OL is overrated and we need trickeration. I dont know.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

I would like a pass play beyond the first down marker on 3rd and 6.

 

[thebadby2]

Here's a rare football analysis post.

On the one hand, I like the "eye candy" offense and generally, its been successful but my own personal opinion, I feel like all the misdirection and different blocking schemes takes away from our offensive line's and Conner's strength. This offensive line, built by Chryst, is best at road-grading and they have bulls in Conner and Ollison. I am seeing success with the misdirection but it seems like later in games when the defense adjusts to the "trickeration," this team wasnt built to ground and pound a victory. It seems to rely too much on the eye candy......which would be great for a team without enough good linemen. I am just wondering if the emphasis on the misdirection and eye candy takes this team away from its strength.

In some ways, this offense reminds me of specialty offenses like the Triple Option. Difficult to play against, difficult to prepare for but once a team figures it out, there's not much else the offense can do because its so specialized.

I dont know, maybe I'm just trying to rationalize the last 3 game-ending failures by our offense.

The problem is we have no balance. The opponent doesn't have to devote too much to defending the downfield pass. Chryst's offenses here had the same problem although we weren't quite this handicapped in the passing game.

You mix in some success throwing the ball and doing it on. 1st down and many of our problems are solved. We don't need to throw for 250/game but we need to be able to keep the D off balance and on its heels when necessary-and that's necessary at some point against every decent Power 5 opponent.

I mean, Peterman is what he is but he was light years better throwing the ball last year. Some of that was Boyd but more of it was the fact that our offense gave him chances to throw in situations other than 3rd and long, when the deck is stacked.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

The problem is we have no balance. The opponent doesn't have to devote too much to defending the downfield pass. Chryst's offenses here had the same problem although we weren't quite this handicapped in the passing game.

You mix in some success throwing the ball and doing it on. 1st down and many of our problems are solved. We don't need to throw for 250/game but we need to be able to keep the D off balance and on its heels when necessary-and that's necessary at some point against every decent Power 5 opponent.

I mean, Peterman is what he is but he was light years better throwing the ball last year. Some of that was Boyd but more of it was the fact that our offense gave him chances to throw in situations other than 3rd and long, when the deck is stacked.

I'd say Chryst's offense was different in the year when he had a bona fide passer. When savage played, Chryst really didn't have any reservations about throwing the ball downfield. Of course, Savage had a big league arm, whereas Peterman and Voytik don't.

 

[pittdan77]

Peterman did exactly what was asked of him. Yeah, he misfired late but he also kept a couple of drives alive with some nice passes and runs. He's doing exactly what is being asked of him. Henderson had 9 attempts & Ffrench had 2 compared to 16 for Conner and 7 for Moss. Conner caught more passes than Henderson. Should we complain about that too?

I think over analyzing the offense is insane when they are putting 36 points on the board every week. The misdirection makes everyone's life easier because it keeps the defense honest but this team can line up and mash with the best of them. NC has a gigantic D-Line. You don't run into it headstrong if you don't have to. When they were playing run first, Pitt went nowhere. Don't care how good Pitt's OL is, just doesn't work that way on this level.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

It isn't insane to over analyze the offense when the quarterback has 0 yards passing in the fourth quarter.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

I'd say Chryst's offense was different in the year when he had a bona fide passer. When savage played, Chryst really didn't have any reservations about throwing the ball downfield. Of course, Savage had a big league arm, whereas Peterman and Voytik don't.

Not to mention he had Street, Boyd, Garner, and Holtz to throw to. Makes a huge difference when you have 3-4 receivers you can trust to go up and make a play on the ball.

 

[PittEngineer]

Here's a rare football analysis post.

On the one hand, I like the "eye candy" offense and generally, its been successful but my own personal opinion, I feel like all the misdirection and different blocking schemes takes away from our offensive line's and Conner's strength. This offensive line, built by Chryst, is best at road-grading and they have bulls in Conner and Ollison. I am seeing success with the misdirection but it seems like later in games when the defense adjusts to the "trickeration," this team wasnt built to ground and pound a victory. It seems to rely too much on the eye candy......which would be great for a team without enough good linemen. I am just wondering if the emphasis on the misdirection and eye candy takes this team away from its strength.

In some ways, this offense reminds me of specialty offenses like the Triple Option. Difficult to play against, difficult to prepare for but once a team figures it out, there's not much else the offense can do because its so specialized.

I dont know, maybe I'm just trying to rationalize the last 3 game-ending failures by our offense.

That is a rationalization. I would argue that the reason why Pitt has been ineffective in the 4th quarter the last three weeks is that (1) they went away from the motion-based running scheme in key situations (like the unbalanced line formation witht he toss sweeps to Connor) and (2) they haven't figured out how to properly pass out of the formation. If they could figure out 1 or 2 pass plays out of the sweep, it would make a big difference.

A major difference between PItt's 2016 offense and the specialty offenses you mention is that PItt's 2016 offense doesn't have a run-first QB. Theoretically, this offense can be run by a pro-style QB who can be an effective drop-back passer.

I think a more likely explanation is that this offense is so run-heavy that the passing attack doesn't get into any sort of rhythm. Without a deep passing attack, solid pass blocking and or any rhythm, the offense has trouble in obvious passing situations.

 

[fivetoolprospect]

Look, our WRs are average at best. Why do u think we haven't been going downfield? Besides Boyd last year and maybe ford who is out, the wr group is a issue. I haven't had a issue last year with Chaney and this year with Canada to tell u the truth. Years of the coaching carousel, missing out on recruits puts Pitt in this position period. As Narduzzi said, players make plays. U can second guess playcalls all day long. The margin for error for this team is small. We will be ok. Gonna take time. This is a few games into year 2

 

[Jpripper88]

The worry for me is that as we get further into the year, defenses will be 100% keying on our offense like they are figuring it out come 3rd and 4th quarter lately and the whole game will be like those 2nd half shut downs.

 

[yourhired]

I believe your going to see more passing as the season moves along. Once the staff gains confidence in Tipton, Weah, Matthews, and ETC the offense should be throwing deeper passes. Henderson at the moment is our best offensive player so you want him to get the most touches.

 

[MajorMajors]

Lots of good observations in this thread.

What puzzles me is that our experienced OC does not have a package of plays to take advantage of the defensive adjustments the opponents make to better defend the jet sweeps. Seems like those adjustments should open up something else for big plays down the field, but we haven't even seen any attempts in that direction.

Go Pitt.

 

[Piranha]

Here's a rare football analysis post.

On the one hand, I like the "eye candy" offense and generally, its been successful but my own personal opinion, I feel like all the misdirection and different blocking schemes takes away from our offensive line's and Conner's strength. This offensive line, built by Chryst, is best at road-grading and they have bulls in Conner and Ollison. I am seeing success with the misdirection but it seems like later in games when the defense adjusts to the "trickeration," this team wasnt built to ground and pound a victory. It seems to rely too much on the eye candy......which would be great for a team without enough good linemen. I am just wondering if the emphasis on the misdirection and eye candy takes this team away from its strength.

In some ways, this offense reminds me of specialty offenses like the Triple Option. Difficult to play against, difficult to prepare for but once a team figures it out, there's not much else the offense can do because its so specialized.

I dont know, maybe I'm just trying to rationalize the last 3 game-ending failures by our offense.

How did the Villanova game look to you playing that style? Canada has done a good job with what he has to work with. The one area they need to work on is finishing games. The first 3.5 quarters of the last 3 games he deserves an A. The last .5 of those games deserves an F.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

Lots of good observations in this thread.

What puzzles me is that our experienced OC does not have a package of plays to take advantage of the defensive adjustments the opponents make to better defend the jet sweeps. Seems like those adjustments should open up something else for big plays down the field, but we haven't even seen any attempts in that direction.

Go Pitt.

Agreed. Maybe a play action pass over the middle on first or second down, instead of running the ball right at the teeth of the defense. If that doesn't work, then call running plays to keep the clock moving if the 3rd down is not converted. PITT missed on multiple third down passing plays which resulted in the clock stopping, rather than running off another ~40 seconds. Had they simply run the ball on first through 3rd down, they would have either forced UNC to burn timeouts or run out of time in their furious comeback.

 

[Jpripper88]

How did the Villanova game look to you playing that style? Canada has done a good job with what he has to work. The one area they need to work on is finishing games. The first 3.5 quarters of the last 3 games he deserves an A. The last .5 of those games deserves an F.

3.5? We had one 50 yard run in the 2nd half vs OSU to score. Otherwise we punted or turned the ball over 8 times. Against UNC it was 3 3 and out punts and a FG in the 4th. Even against PSU, we had 1 nice TD drive, but the only other offense in the 2nd half was a 30 yard scramble run by our QB. Take out that one drive and the 30 yard run by Peterman and we had 19 total yards and 4 3 and out or worse possessions the entire rest of the 2nd half.

It hasn't just been the last 7:30 of the 4th quarters where we have struggled.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

How did the Villanova game look to you playing that style? Canada has done a good job with what he has to work with. The one area they need to work on is finishing games. The first 3.5 quarters of the last 3 games he deserves an A. The last .5 of those games deserves an F.

Terrible which is my point. They dont spend enough time practicing ground and pound football. Its all trickeration and eye candy. When the defense figures it out, we cant get a first down.

You can blame play calling all you want but the lack of 2nd half success is more related to the defense being more disciplined and prepared.

 

[Turdferg717]

I am not sure how seriously I can take someone who makes up the word "trickeration". It's trickery not "trickeration".

 

[VAPITTALUM]

I am not sure how seriously I can take someone who makes up the word "trickeration". It's trickery not "trickeration".

To be fair, I've heard the term "trickeration" used a lot more in and around football than "trickery".

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

To be fair, I've heard the term "trickeration" used a lot more in and around football than "trickery".

Yea, its a fairly basic football term.

 

[pittdan77]

The offense isn't why this team is 2-2. All of this hand wringing is insane.

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

The problem is we have no balance. The opponent doesn't have to devote too much to defending the downfield pass. Chryst's offenses here had the same problem although we weren't quite this handicapped in the passing game.

You mix in some success throwing the ball and doing it on. 1st down and many of our problems are solved. We don't need to throw for 250/game but we need to be able to keep the D off balance and on its heels when necessary-and that's necessary at some point against every decent Power 5 opponent.

I mean, Peterman is what he is but he was light years better throwing the ball last year. Some of that was Boyd but more of it was the fact that our offense gave him chances to throw in situations other than 3rd and long, when the deck is stacked.

Good points. Got to wonder if Nate is afraid to throw it down field or if the coaches are afraid to have him throw it down field. Either way, it sure doesn't help Pitt that defenses never have to worry about them going deep.

 

[Piranha]

3.5? We had one 50 yard run in the 2nd half vs OSU to score. Otherwise we punted or turned the ball over 8 times. Against UNC it was 3 3 and out punts and a FG in the 4th. Even against PSU, we had 1 nice TD drive, but the only other offense in the 2nd half was a 30 yard scramble run by our QB. Take out that one drive and the 30 yard run by Peterman and we had 19 total yards and 4 3 and out or worse possessions the entire rest of the 2nd half.

It hasn't just been the last 7:30 of the 4th quarters where we have struggled.

If a player or players fail to make a play when it is there, then that is on the player(s). Missing open receivers, turning the ball over, etc.

 

[Jpripper88]

If a player or players fail to make a play when it is there, then that is on the player(s). Missing open receivers, turning the ball over, etc.

What? We did absolutely nothing in the 2nd half against OSU. Nothing in the 4th quarter against UNC. We had 1 good drive against PSU. This isn't us not making plays that were right there to be made. This isn't even a plethora (really just 1) of turnovers. This isn't just poor playing calling for the last half of the 4th quarter. This is clearly us going into a shell and our opponents adjusting for 3 straight games.

 

[thebadby2]

Peterman did exactly what was asked of him. Yeah, he misfired late but he also kept a couple of drives alive with some nice passes and runs. He's doing exactly what is being asked of him. Henderson had 9 attempts & Ffrench had 2 compared to 16 for Conner and 7 for Moss. Conner caught more passes than Henderson. Should we complain about that too?

I think over analyzing the offense is insane when they are putting 36 points on the board every week. The misdirection makes everyone's life easier because it keeps the defense honest but this team can line up and mash with the best of them. NC has a gigantic D-Line. You don't run into it headstrong if you don't have to. When they were playing run first, Pitt went nowhere. Don't care how good Pitt's OL is, just doesn't work that way on this level.

Let's talk about the 4th quarter offense. For the quarter, Pitt had 4 possessions, ran 15 plays, used about 6 minutes, gained about 60 yards, and kicked a FG. Peterman was 1-4 on 3rd downs, all on short flare-type passes, with the only completion being a screen to Conner for no gain on a 3rd and 8--a play that never had a chance to move the chains.

In the last 9 minutes. Pitt had 2 possession, ran 6 plays, gained 6 total yards, used 3 minutes, and punted twice.

I think that factors into the analysis of the offense. If you can't finish, who cares what you do for the first three quarters.

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

Peterman did exactly what was asked of him. Yeah, he misfired late but he also kept a couple of drives alive with some nice passes and runs. He's doing exactly what is being asked of him.

Boy on PSN did a nice review of Peterman's 4th quarter failures. The boy choked.

 

[pittdan77]

Let's talk about the 4th quarter offense. For the quarter, Pitt had 4 possessions, ran 15 plays, used about 6 minutes, gained about 60 yards, and kicked a FG. Peterman was 1-4 on 3rd downs, all on short flare-type passes, with the only completion being a screen to Conner for no gain on a 3rd and 8--a play that never had a chance to move the chains.

In the last 9 minutes. Pitt had 2 possession, ran 6 plays, gained 6 total yards, used 3 minutes, and punted twice.

I think that factors into the analysis of the offense. If you can't finish, who cares what you do for the first three quarters.

Pitt was up 13 heading into the 4th quarter. Was up three scores in the first half. This board should be mad that Peterman even had to be on the field.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Let's talk about the 4th quarter offense. For the quarter, Pitt had 4 possessions, ran 15 plays, used about 6 minutes, gained about 60 yards, and kicked a FG. Peterman was 1-4 on 3rd downs, all on short flare-type passes, with the only completion being a screen to Conner for no gain on a 3rd and 8--a play that never had a chance to move the chains.

In the last 9 minutes. Pitt had 2 possession, ran 6 plays, gained 6 total yards, used 3 minutes, and punted twice.

I think that factors into the analysis of the offense. If you can't finish, who cares what you do for the first three quarters.

This goes back to my theory that when you are too 1 dimensional with this specialty eye candy offense, once the other team figures it out, you really dont have a chance.

On the flipside, maybe we NEEDED this kind of offense because without it, we'd never score playing regular football???

 

[California Panther]

Was up three scores in the first half.

Pitt was never up 3 scores in the first half, we had leads of 2-0, 5-0, 12-0, 19-7. 12 was the biggest lead we had in the first half and that is only 2 scores.

 

[pittdan77]

Pitt was never up 3 scores in the first half, we had leads of 2-0, 5-0, 12-0, 19-7. 12 was the biggest lead we had in the first half and that is only 2 scores.

Okay. Two scores. No stops.

 

[Piranha]

Pitt was never up 3 scores in the first half, we had leads of 2-0, 5-0, 12-0, 19-7. 12 was the biggest lead we had in the first half and that is only 2 scores.

They should have been up more. Missed tackles and the fumble cost them.