SMU isn't a juggernaut, but they could hold their own with any team in the SEC except for maybe Georgia.
Thoughts on the SMU game
- Thread starter pittmeister
- Start date
SMU isn't a juggernaut, but they could hold their own with any team in the SEC except for maybe Georgia.
Depends on who comes calling. There is a lot of unrest in the blueblood club. Michigan will be looking soon, Florida, FSU, Auburn and Oklahoma are already looking, USC, possibly PSU. If DeBoer loses 2 games again at Bama next year, he'll be gone too.
SMU has never been a brand, and never will be. All of the schools named above can pay whatever it takes to get who they want, the issue is whether they will pay it. I think most of them would. Michigan did it to get Harbaugh from the Niners, then went the cheap route with Sherrone Moore and got what they paid for, I think they will be happy to go back to the blank check hiring process.
Look at SMU's schedule and results this year-then let's revisit this.
You think a team composed mostly of guys who tranbsferred to SMU because they couldn't get on the field at those SEC schools is suddenly ready to contend in that conference? Come on now. Going into this game, we hadn't played anybody, they hadn't played anybody--and yes I'm including BYU in that statement. SMU certainly had better coaches and athletes than Pitt, game planned us and our simplistic offense well, knew we were weak in the trenches and elsewhere, knew we only have one real offensive weapon and he weighs 175 pounds, knew the LBs, corners and the back end of our D are suspect, and came out and shoved it up our a$$es from the opening snap on.
Point being, the fact that they beat the brakes off this Pitt team that featured most of the same guys on the field that went 3-9 last season doesn't mean they're ready to take on the big boys. BYU, Duke, Nevada and Louisville all agree. None of them are even remotely in that class.
Vanderbilt is 3-2.
LSU is 3-1
Tennessee is 4-1.
Those teams aren't exactly juggernauts either.
This might be wrong of me but as a Pitt fan, I felt like that game was due. Poor tackling really set things off. Holstein didn't look great but it's tough to play from behind after you haven't been pressed hard for a couple of weeks.
We have become more than a bit too much dink and dunk.
Holstein is at his worst dinking and dunking. (That is where his footwork is most negative)
Sure, he makes some bad reads too that lead to interceptions and near interceptions. Still, he makes more than enough significant throws to merit that risk.
Lee should have caught one of those throws last week. The SMU kids made those catches.
Holstein is at his worst dinking and dunking. (That is where his footwork is most negative)
Sure, he makes some bad reads too that lead to interceptions and near interceptions. Still, he makes more than enough significant throws to merit that risk.
Lee should have caught one of those throws last week. The SMU kids made those catches.
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Just a really poor performance - against the first team that has more talent than Pitt .
They dictated every aspect of the game to us.
Narduzzi ‘s defense gets exposed against a quality QB if pressure can’t get home .
It’s time to play Yarnell- Eli needs to sit and watch doe
Awhile -
He’s been bad for 4 games now .
They dictated every aspect of the game to us.
Narduzzi ‘s defense gets exposed against a quality QB if pressure can’t get home .
It’s time to play Yarnell- Eli needs to sit and watch doe
Awhile -
He’s been bad for 4 games now .
SMU was dropping into zone all night.
Finding the soft spots in the zone are what you’re suppose to do. It’s a defense designed to make you methodically move down field.
I'd place significant money on 2 of those 3 to handle SMU relatively easily. Vanderbilt is the Northwestern of the SEC, every once in a while they bite a big boy's ankle like they did this year, but that's all they've got. SMU is not in the same hemisphere as the other two as far as personnel, depth, size, athleticism, talent.
I don't think SMU is even as good as Miami or Clemson, to be honest. Any one of those teams could roll Pitt by 30 on the right day, though. And on the wrong day, Pitt can probably hang with any one of them.
Holstein has had trouble with swing passes behind the line of scrimmage and 3 yard outs all year.
He needs throws down the field. They all do not have to be 35 plus yards.
SMU and Miami played some good teams.
Until Louisville, Clemson only played (and got clocked by) Georgia.
Miami and SMU clearly top 2 in ACC.
Interested in seeing who teams 3 and 4 are.
He's not throwing downfield because he's not staying in the pocket and looking downfield. I've read a lot of people talk about the pressure, but much of what is perceived as pressure was created by him with happy feet.
If you go back and watch some of the early drives, he had time and just didn't see guys, then would start running around and get himself into trouble. He missed Kenny Johnson open several times in the first few drives.
I think a lot of this is the offense just hasn't been in rhythm for various reasons, including an OC who is struggling to adjust to what DCs are doing against him now. Can't get tempo going because they can't piece together positive plays.
QB and OC have hit the freshman wall. Might need to give Nate a chance if they start slow again.
Problem was they were also generating pressure with just four guys.
I would say it is more hesitant to get rid of it quickly than happy feet.
The happy feet follow the hesitancy.
I agree with this (without watching a game replay). It seemed like few balls came out quick to a primary or even a secondary read outside of throws near the line of scrimmage.
Cover 3 said SMU blitzed at a 51.5% rate, which is insanely high for them (their previous high was 30% in week one).
Then Narduzzi said they were unexpectedly playing cover 2/cover 3 instead of their usual man.
So, putting the two together, it seems like teams want to test Holstein’s ability to make quick reads the whole way up the field. That seems more like Yarnell's type of game; taking away the explosive plays has definitely made things tough on Holstein. One thing is for certain: we need to run the ball more effectively.
Yep.
Being able to run the ball would help mitigate so much of this.
You can have a QB who has happy feet, can’t read a defense, has accuracy issues, etc. and still be successful on offense. If you can run the ball to help stay on schedule.
You can’t have that type of QB if you’re asking the entire offense to go through him. Unless he’s like Michael Vick or something.
- missed tackles early
- O line sucked (largely due to injuries) and couldn't give any time for a deep ball
- O couldn't stretch the field and D with any deep passes
- punting was an embarrassment
- 2nd half first drive attempting to go for it on fourth and long - stupid
- Holstein was not overly accurate, Yarnell looked more poised at the end
- Kade Bell getting predictable in playcalling
- Every bounce and call went SMU's way early
- Couldn't get pressure on QB
- They had better athlete.
We could still win every remaining game or lose every one.
- O line sucked (largely due to injuries) and couldn't give any time for a deep ball
- O couldn't stretch the field and D with any deep passes
- punting was an embarrassment
- 2nd half first drive attempting to go for it on fourth and long - stupid
- Holstein was not overly accurate, Yarnell looked more poised at the end
- Kade Bell getting predictable in playcalling
- Every bounce and call went SMU's way early
- Couldn't get pressure on QB
- They had better athlete.
We could still win every remaining game or lose every one.
You are pretty spot on. The two items I highlighted in your post are the ones that struck me the most:
1) Bell's offense was so new to Pitt that our early opponents had little tape to watch and plan for this. The past three games have proved that our opponent's defenses are making the adjustments, and I believe that (your second point) the OL is not able to give Eli the time and pocket separation he needs to run the options
2) The one game that I don't think we have a realistic chance of winning is @ Louisville. They always play us tough there, and the game vs Clemson showed me that their defense is good, and they have their offense back with Slough @ QB. But to your point, all of the games are losable if we don't clean up the mistakes made @ SMU
I think part of his happy feet is that early in the year, he was coached to take off and run if doesn't have a quick read and throw. Now he's become indecisive about running because he's starting to get swallowed up fairly quickly when he does. Opponents have just caught up to it. Just a theory.
I don't know, but I can remember being truly amazed at his poise early on. He just stood in the pocket with his eyes downfield like a vet. That poise is gone, for whatever reason.
And I know people are slamming the OL pretty hard, but there were many times in the first half where he had time and a nice pocket, but his happy feet caused a sack or pressure. People immediatly blame the OL, but the QBs movement is also at fault sometimes.
There was one third down early where he was looking for Reid on the wheel route that wasn't open. He had Johnson crossing short over the middle for an easy first down, but he simply missed it and ran himself into a sack.
to the extent he was able to stand in the pocket earlier in the year, it’s probably because the first read was more open.
It’s easier to stand in the pocket and wait for the route to come open, when the route will come open.
That’s just not happening anymore. It’s possible that other routes are coming open, but not the first read route. It requires going through progressions. And a combo of real pressure and his perception of oncoming pressure, is resulting in him just not wanting any part of that.
It’s easier to stand in the pocket and wait for the route to come open, when the route will come open.
That’s just not happening anymore. It’s possible that other routes are coming open, but not the first read route. It requires going through progressions. And a combo of real pressure and his perception of oncoming pressure, is resulting in him just not wanting any part of that.
Nice summation...
Note: I believe after Battle failed to tackle the SMU receiver on the second play of the game he was benched.
When you see a higher ranked team getting 7.5 it's pretty much already decided. Why it works that way, I don't know, but with so many bets and so much money on Pitt, plus the spread, the outcome is not surprising.
