Thoughts on Ok State Game

[UPitt '89]

- We can argue all we want, but Max Browne will be starting on Saturday. Until Pitt loses a couple ACC games, there won't be a change at starting QB unless Browne gets injured. Narduzzi isn't going to pull the plug on him this soon. So shout and yell for Dinucci all you want, but he isn't starting. Though he may play - we'll see.

- Jester Weah and Q Henderson are pre-season all-ACC players. Neither is playing *ANYTHING* close to that level so far. Is this a case of them being overrated? Did Weah do well last year because Nate Peterman was throwing to him? Did Q have a great year because opposing defenses focused on other weapons? I'm worried that both have spent way too much time reading their preseason accolades and not focusing on making themselves better.

- Not having Jordan Whitehead is going to hurt MUCH more this week than it did last week. Mason Rudolph is twice the QB that Trace McSorley is... and OkSt's weapons in the passing game are much more dangerous, with the exception of the TE position.

- B12 teams... tend to have trouble stopping strong running games. Hoping that a second week under his belt makes Bookser even better and that Pitt can open up some serious running room for Ollison and Moss, who both looked good against PSU.

- Our TEs were supposed to be a strength this year.... but they've been hugely disappointing so far. Maybe this week is the week?

- Hopefully the remnants of Irma make for a sloshy wet game... but I am guessing it will be long gone before Saturday.

- This game is an 11am start for OkState's internal clocks. Maybe they won't be ready to play that early and we can jump on them.

- With the graduation of all the big-time QBs from the ACC last year.... Mason Rudolph will be, by far, the best QB Pitt faces this year - and it isn't close. If Pitt holds THAT team under 40 points, then it bodes very well for the rest of our season defensively.

 

[rmf05]

Tulsa has an amazing RB and they did good against him but our scheme is totally different. I think we'll sustain drives but finishing in the red-zone will be key.

I'm calling a break out game for Chris Clark this week. At least 6 catches and at least 1 TD.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

I thought the defense did a good job against a very good PSU offense. I don't hold Barkley in as high regard as many of the PSU envy type here do, but he is still one of the top backs in the country and we did a pretty good job containing him. D-line improved over week 1. If we continue to get some pressure on the QB, that will be the key,

Biggest problems against PSU were failing to convert in the red-zone, key drops and some bad breaks. If we recover Sanders fumble, or if Hamilton's catch was correctly over-turned, we would have had some really good field position and maybe got some points. That Hamilton catch was big. We would have probably had decent field position after the punt, some momentum and a chance to cut it to a one score game. Instead the punter pinned us down, safety, and game was over.

Hopefully we don't come out flat like we did last year against OSU.

 

[revampedpanthers]

OSU will be Pitt's toughest game of the season, or at least it should be if they give us their best game. They are a bad matchup for us on D. Much more explosive passing attack than PSU.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

- We can argue all we want, but Max Browne will be starting on Saturday. Until Pitt loses a couple ACC games, there won't be a change at starting QB unless Browne gets injured. Narduzzi isn't going to pull the plug on him this soon. So shout and yell for Dinucci all you want, but he isn't starting. Though he may play - we'll see.

- Jester Weah and Q Henderson are pre-season all-ACC players. Neither is playing *ANYTHING* close to that level so far. Is this a case of them being overrated? Did Weah do well last year because Nate Peterman was throwing to him? Did Q have a great year because opposing defenses focused on other weapons? I'm worried that both have spent way too much time reading their preseason accolades and not focusing on making themselves better.

- Not having Jordan Whitehead is going to hurt MUCH more this week than it did last week. Mason Rudolph is twice the QB that Trace McSorley is... and OkSt's weapons in the passing game are much more dangerous, with the exception of the TE position.

- B12 teams... tend to have trouble stopping strong running games. Hoping that a second week under his belt makes Bookser even better and that Pitt can open up some serious running room for Ollison and Moss, who both looked good against PSU.

- Our TEs were supposed to be a strength this year.... but they've been hugely disappointing so far. Maybe this week is the week?

- Hopefully the remnants of Irma make for a sloshy wet game... but I am guessing it will be long gone before Saturday.

- This game is an 11am start for OkState's internal clocks. Maybe they won't be ready to play that early and we can jump on them.

- With the graduation of all the big-time QBs from the ACC last year.... Mason Rudolph will be, by far, the best QB Pitt faces this year - and it isn't close. If Pitt holds THAT team under 40 points, then it bodes very well for the rest of our season defensively.

Eastern Time Zone teams are the only ones that dont play 11AM games. The rest play many 11AM games, it wont matter in the least to OKST.

We really need another WR to step up since teams will pay close attention to Weah.

 

[BFo8]

Eastern Time Zone teams are the only ones that dont play 11AM games. The rest play many 11AM games, it wont matter in the least to OKST.

We really need another WR to step up since teams will pay close attention to Weah.

Correct, the game this weekend that will be interesting to watch as far as time zones go is UCLA traveling to play a good Memphis team at 9AM PST.

 

[SouthTulsaPoke]

- We can argue all we want, but Max Browne will be starting on Saturday. Until Pitt loses a couple ACC games, there won't be a change at starting QB unless Browne gets injured. Narduzzi isn't going to pull the plug on him this soon. So shout and yell for Dinucci all you want, but he isn't starting. Though he may play - we'll see.

- Jester Weah and Q Henderson are pre-season all-ACC players. Neither is playing *ANYTHING* close to that level so far. Is this a case of them being overrated? Did Weah do well last year because Nate Peterman was throwing to him? Did Q have a great year because opposing defenses focused on other weapons? I'm worried that both have spent way too much time reading their preseason accolades and not focusing on making themselves better.

- Not having Jordan Whitehead is going to hurt MUCH more this week than it did last week. Mason Rudolph is twice the QB that Trace McSorley is... and OkSt's weapons in the passing game are much more dangerous, with the exception of the TE position.

- B12 teams... tend to have trouble stopping strong running games. Hoping that a second week under his belt makes Bookser even better and that Pitt can open up some serious running room for Ollison and Moss, who both looked good against PSU.

- Our TEs were supposed to be a strength this year.... but they've been hugely disappointing so far. Maybe this week is the week?

- Hopefully the remnants of Irma make for a sloshy wet game... but I am guessing it will be long gone before Saturday.

- This game is an 11am start for OkState's internal clocks. Maybe they won't be ready to play that early and we can jump on them.

- With the graduation of all the big-time QBs from the ACC last year.... Mason Rudolph will be, by far, the best QB Pitt faces this year - and it isn't close. If Pitt holds THAT team under 40 points, then it bodes very well for the rest of our season defensively.

1) I'm not buying Browne starting. We had problems with a mobile QB against Tulsa and flattened USA's pocket passer. If we're not prepping primarily for DeNucci, our coaches aren't as smart as I think they are. Your coaches are sandbagging.

2) You've been listening to too much SEC network. USA had ZERO rushing yards at the half. We held Tulsa's All-American Conference RB to 33 yards on 22 carries. We're much better against the run this year.

3) I guess we would be weaker at the TE position when you factor in that we don't have any TEs. We use a hybrid TE/FB. We haven't shown them much so far. Maybe that's some of the "chocolate " we're going to pour on the vanilla offense WE've been playing.

4). If we get to 36 points, we've likely won the game. We've never lost with Rudolph as the QB when we've scored more that 35 points.