Thoughts

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

1. Today was a microcosm of the season. Didn't think a close loss to Clemson could feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such. Didn't think 7-3 would feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such.

2. I'm so sick of saying this, but the end of the game is not like the other 58 minutes. It's just not. Offenses often find ways to score when they NEED to score. See: Kenny Pickett. Also, they mostly use 4 downs, not 3. So if you stopped them for 58 minutes, that doesn't mean you'll continue to do so. You can't rely on your defense like that. Should have been more aggressive on 1st and 2nd downs.

3. Conspiracy theory: Nate Yarnell lost the starting job, put on a pout, and didn't bother to educate himself on this offense. What an embarrassing lack of command of this offense. I've seen tighter Spring games. Overall play wasn't bad, but just no command.

4. We needed to ensure Clemson did not get the ball back in the first half. We burned through the clock, were gifted a roughing the passer penalty (not saying the call was wrong; just saying it gave us a mulligan), and then burned through it again. Clemson says thank you for the 3.

5. These safeties suck in coverage.

6. You could get by with these FCS receivers against atrocious secondaries. But wow - they've come back to Earth fast. Does Poppi need contacts? It's like he doesn't even see the ball. Not just talking about the one the defender screened him from seeing.

7. What do you even say about this O line?

8. I'm turning into a nihilist when it comes to college football. Now that the bowl games have become even more meaningless, it feels like you're either part of the show (CFP) or you're not. At least the divisional format gave us a mini marker to strive for in winning the Coastal. Now, 6-6... 7-5... 8-4... I'm starting to cares less about the difference between them, and I see no path where Pitt gets over that hump. Next year's schedule is tough.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

7. What do you even say about this O line?

To steal a line from the Player Hater’s Ball…it looks bombed out and depleted.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

To steal a line from the Player Hater’s Ball…it looks bombed out and depleted.

Jackson Brown played like Nate Yarnell laid a finger on his Butterfinger before the game.

 

[KennyTheKangaroo]

yarnell threw for 350 yards. Would he have thrown for 600 if he had command of the offense?

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

yarnell threw for 350 yards. Would he have thrown for 600 if he had command of the offense?

Imagine that: you throw it 54 times and end up with a lot of passing yards.

How about getting the play in and the offense to the line of scrimmage in a manner that doesn't become noticeably embarrassing to a point where 50,000 people are screaming?

Tyler Glasnow could have been the Cy Young here if we only counted the strikeouts and ignored the walks and hits.

 

[TD_6082]

8. I'm turning into a nihilist when it comes to college football. Now that the bowl games have become even more meaningless, it feels like you're either part of the show (CFP) or you're not. At least the divisional format gave us a mini marker to strive for in winning the Coastal. Now, 6-6... 7-5... 8-4... I'm starting to cares less about the difference between them, and I see no path where Pitt gets over that hump. Next year's schedule is tough.
[/QUOTE]

I don't think bowl games are any more meaningless than they have been. I think the sentiment that you're either part of the show or you're not has been there throughout the history of the CFP.

I think the spirit crushing thing about the current 12 team CFP, is that it opens doors for so many other programs in the SEC & Big 10, but the standard isn't changing much as much for ACC schools. Yeah, if you win the league, you're in. If not, all bets are off.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I don't think bowl games are any more meaningless than they have been. I think the sentiment that you're either part of the show or you're not has been there throughout the history of the CFP.

I think the spirit crushing thing about the current 12 team CFP, is that it opens doors for so many other programs in the SEC & Big 10, but the standard isn't changing much as much for ACC schools. Yeah, if you win the league, you're in. If not, all bets are off.

I don't know; I remember feeling pretty good after we beat UNC in 2009 and, hell, even Eastern Michigan in 2019 and UCLA in 2022. The opt-outs were never this prevalent, and it's only getting worse as the CFP expands and commands even more attention and the free transfer rule is in effect. People might not have loved the bowl games for a while, but they've gotten worse since 2020 and continue to get worse every season.

 

[cbpitt2]

1. Today was a microcosm of the season. Didn't think a close loss to Clemson could feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such. Didn't think 7-3 would feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such.

2. I'm so sick of saying this, but the end of the game is not like the other 58 minutes. It's just not. Offenses often find ways to score when they NEED to score. See: Kenny Pickett. Also, they mostly use 4 downs, not 3. So if you stopped them for 58 minutes, that doesn't mean you'll continue to do so. You can't rely on your defense like that. Should have been more aggressive on 1st and 2nd downs.

3. Conspiracy theory: Nate Yarnell lost the starting job, put on a pout, and didn't bother to educate himself on this offense. What an embarrassing lack of command of this offense. I've seen tighter Spring games. Overall play wasn't bad, but just no command.

4. We needed to ensure Clemson did not get the ball back in the first half. We burned through the clock, were gifted a roughing the passer penalty (not saying the call was wrong; just saying it gave us a mulligan), and then burned through it again. Clemson says thank you for the 3.

5. These safeties suck in coverage.

6. You could get by with these FCS receivers against atrocious secondaries. But wow - they've come back to Earth fast. Does Poppi need contacts? It's like he doesn't even see the ball. Not just talking about the one the defender screened him from seeing.

7. What do you even say about this O line?

8. I'm turning into a nihilist when it comes to college football. Now that the bowl games have become even more meaningless, it feels like you're either part of the show (CFP) or you're not. At least the divisional format gave us a mini marker to strive for in winning the Coastal. Now, 6-6... 7-5... 8-4... I'm starting to cares less about the difference between them, and I see no path where Pitt gets over that hump. Next year's schedule is tough.

What's so tough about it? It's still the ACC. At West Virginia (very winnable), Notre Dame AT PITT, Louisville AT PITT and Pitt's won two of the last three since 2020 against the Cardinals, Florida State stinks, Cam Ward is a senior so Miami will have a new QB and that's also AT PITT.

 

[Gep Dawg]

I honestly think we need a new coaching regime. 10 years is a long time for one head coach. He’s a great guy but more often than not we are out coached. I know he has a winning record. But would rather try and build something that can compete for the CFP one day than to constantly end up 7-5 and 8-4 even when the team starts 7-0. Even the one year Pitt went 11-2 and won the conference they found a way to miss the playoffs because of a terrible loss against a completely inferior team because they refused to make simple in game adjustments.

At this point it’s hard to have hope even when the team gets off to a fast start against decent competition. Mainly because the coaching staff just makes so many dumb in game decisions and the team is so sloppy it always catches up to them in the end. It just has always felt to me the when the team does win it’s despite how bad the game day coaching is.

I guess I just wonder how long we continue with the same staff before we realize that elusive great season isn’t ever happening and try something new? I don’t like calling for someone to be fired.
But it’s truly exasperating being stuck in this rut the program has been in forever.

 

[cruzer]

All valid points. I'll just add a few comments.

On the O Line. Baer was un-baerable to watch. And Jackson Browne was The Pretender....feel free to insert you own bad pun here....

Our secondary really stinks, particularly the safeties. For all the praise they got at the beginning of the season they are playing horribly now. Can't cover anyone and tackling is atrocious. McMillan whiffed on an open field tackle of a QB that cost us the game. Clubnik isn't a bad runner but he's not to be confused with Michael Vick or Lamar Jackson.

Reid is fantastic but he can't carry the entire load. The rest of our backs are pedestrian.

Yarnell really doesn't read the field. He locks onto someone and that's it. He also misses far too many open receivers with bad throws.

I watched the Clemson DB's pretty closely. They know how to cover. You didn't see many Pitt receivers running wide open. Compare that with how many times Clemson receivers were wide open. Huge difference.

Kade Bell is becoming a broken record on first down. Quick pitch run for a loss of 2 or a screen pass that loses 4. We start far too many series behind the sticks. Just stop running those plays. They are a wasted down (and this team cannot afford to waste downs).

This team is unprepared in so many circumstances. How can you come out of a time out and get lined up wrong? That's coaching and execution.

One last big shout out to Heather Lyke. Thank you so much for tying us to this boat anchor contract. F'ing brilliant move.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

What's so tough about it? It's still the ACC. At West Virginia (very winnable), Notre Dame AT PITT, Louisville AT PITT and Pitt's won two of the last three since 2020 against the Cardinals, Florida State stinks, Cam Ward is a senior so Miami will have a new QB and that's also AT PITT.

Miami, Florida State, Notre Dame, and Louisville are going to be tough outs more often than not. All spend a lot more than we do in NIL.

Syracuse (dome), Stanford (travel), and at GT are road games that all have potentially to be sneaky difficult.

At West Virginia. It's typically not easy to beat a rival on the road. Between the latest versions of the PSU and WVU series, the home team is 6-1.

 

[s.a.titan]

McMillan just stopped and let # 2 run around him. Unbelievable.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

All valid points. I'll just add a few comments.

On the O Line. Baer was un-baerable to watch. And Jackson Browne was The Pretender....feel free to insert you own bad pun here....

Our secondary really stinks, particularly the safeties. For all the praise they got at the beginning of the season they are playing horribly now. Can't cover anyone and tackling is atrocious. McMillan whiffed on an open field tackle of a QB that cost us the game. Clubnik isn't a bad runner but he's not to be confused with Michael Vick or Lamar Jackson.

Reid is fantastic but he can't carry the entire load. The rest of our backs are pedestrian.

Yarnell really doesn't read the field. He locks onto someone and that's it. He also misses far too many open receivers with bad throws.

I watched the Clemson DB's pretty closely. They now how to cover. You didn't see many Pitt receivers running wide open. Compare that with how many times Clemson receivers were wide open. Huge difference.

Kade Bell is becoming a broken record on first down. Quick pitch run for a loss of 2 or a screen pass that loses 4. We start far too many series behind the sticks. Just stop running those plays. They are a wasted down (and this team cannot afford to waste downs).

This team is unprepared in so many circumstances. How can you come out of a time out and get lined up wrong? That's coaching and execution.

One last big shout out to Heather Lyke. Thank you so much for tying us to this boat anchor contract. F'ing brilliant move.

Yeah, on one of our field goal drives Yarnell threw a ball left in the end zone when there were four white jerseys there. He wasn't under pressure, and Mumpfield was standing wide open in the middle of the end zone after his man fell down. I get that QBs miss open receivers all the time; he just didn't seem to do things with much rhyme or reason. So many of the WR screens you mention were just not there, but he threw them anyway. Clemson was blowing those up.

 

[TD_6082]

I honestly think we need a new coaching regime. 10 years is a long time for one head coach. He’s a great guy but more often than not we are out coached. I know he has a winning record. But would rather try and build something that can compete for the CFP one day than to constantly end up 7-5 and 8-4 even when the team starts 7-0. Even the one year Pitt went 11-2 and won the conference they found a way to miss the playoffs because of a terrible loss against a completely inferior team because they refused to make simple in game adjustments.

At this point it’s hard to have hope even when the team gets off to a fast start against decent competition. Mainly because the coaching staff just makes so many dumb in game decisions and the team is so sloppy it always catches up to them in the end. It just has always felt to me the when the team does win it’s despite how bad the game day coaching is.

I guess I just wonder how long we continue with the same staff before we realize that elusive great season isn’t ever happening and try something new? I don’t like calling for someone to be fired.
But it’s truly exasperating being stuck in this rut the program has been in forever.

Programs with Pitt's current investment in NIL aren't going to be CFP contenders.

 

[kma0043]

At least it’s obvious what they need in transfer portal: multiple lineman. Btw #87 may turn into a nice starting TE next year.

 

[Burgh15]

Good post.

A lot of knocking the OL and rightfully so. How about the wide receivers? Constantly dropping balls that should be caught on a weekly basis.

Not Pitt, but who the heck are all the coaches on the sideline for Clemson? They had to have about 40-50 all dressed like coaches or assistants on the sideline today and I am not exaggerating.

 

[silk5197]

Yarnell despite the deck being stacked against him, I thought played pretty well. Without multiple drops, he would have thrown for about 400 yards. He is not ideal and his command of the offense wasn't great but he was WAY better than Holsten has been the last few games. That is a fact

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

At least it’s obvious what they need in transfer portal: multiple lineman. Btw #87 may turn into a nice starting TE next year.

Unfortunately, they can join the list of programs that need offensive linemen. There just aren't many to be had, even for the better programs. At best, you get a Stephano Millin who was okay. But Ryan Jacoby, Nolan Ulizio, Brandon Hodges, Lyndon Cooper, Jackson Brown, etc. It hasn't been a pretty haul.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Yarnell despite the deck being stacked against him, I thought played pretty well. Without multiple drops, he would have thrown for about 400 yards. He is not ideal and his command of the offense wasn't great but he was WAY better than Holsten has been the last few games. That is a fact

Not sure who I'd give the nod to, but I think Holstein has a lot more of that intangible element that gets the tram to rally around him. Yarnell is probably the better thrower, but I give the edge to Hosltein on the other stuff.

 

[Burgh15]

Not sure who I'd give the nod to, but I think Holstein has a lot more of that intangible element that gets the tram to rally around him. Yarnell is probably the better thrower, but I give the edge to Hosltein on the other stuff.

Holstein can play poorly for 3 quarters and yet I have complete faith he can explode in the 4th. I had zero faith in Yarnell today and he surprised me and as well as he played, another garbage INT to close out the game without giving his receiver a chance.

 

[silk5197]

I do think they'll go back to Holstein but Nate probably made that decision a little harder today. Holstein is at least a running threat. He just hasn't thrown for shit lately

 

[silk5197]

It's a shame we have to rely on passing 50 plus times a game to generate offense. Our run game is embarrassing to say the least

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Holstein can play poorly for 3 quarters and yet I have complete faith he can explode in the 4th. I had zero faith in Yarnell today and he surprised me and as well as he played, another garbage INT to close out the game without giving his receiver a chance.

There was a wheel route to Reid that was thrown just behind him and enabled the defender to trip him up. We got no points off that drive. If he lays it out in front of him, it's an easy touchdown. Not saying Holstein would have thrown a perfect dime either, but that's just one example. I just didn't get the sense that Yarnell had that competitive spirit in him to get the ball in the end zone, either. We had it near midfield like 100 times today and did something stupid that culminated in a punt.

 

[Gep Dawg]

Programs with Pitt's current investment in NIL aren't going to be CFP contenders.

We had the talent to win ACC in 2021 and this year. That’s all you need now to get in and both years sloppy play and bad game day coaching ended up keeping us out.

 

[silk5197]

Holstein hasn't thrown for over 200 yards in a month. He missed so many open receivers last week it was sickening. Nate was better today than Eli has been in over a month

 

[PittGuy00]

Riddle me this. On the ahead drive where they played for the FG, why was their best offensive player(Reid) not on the field? I watched him stand on the sideline in disbelief

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

I do think they'll go back to Holstein but Nate probably made that decision a little harder today. Holstein is at least a running threat. He just hasn't thrown for shit lately

I put the odds of Holstein being benched next season and never playing again here at about the same odds that he'll be "the guy" for the next 2-3 seasons. But you have to go with him over Yarnell because of age alone. Yarnell will be at a Texas G5 school next season, I would imagine.

 

[silk5197]

Yep that's a true statement. Holstein is the future so he'll start and I'm ok with that. Maybe next week we can get all of our plays off before the play clock expires- or false start

 

[Gep Dawg]

When Eli isn’t hurt he is the better QB. Remember he got hurt Syracuse game and hasn’t seemed the same since.

Nate is we not reason we lost today. The offensive game calling and all the sloppy mistakes were

 

[TD_6082]

We had the talent to win ACC in 2021 and this year. That’s all you need now to get in and both years sloppy play and bad game day coaching ended up keeping us out.

Pitt has the talent to win the ACC this year? Pitt's talent level isn't even in the top half of the league this year.

But if you truly believe Pitt does have the talent to win the ACC, why would you want to overhaul a staff that recruited that much talent with such a shitty NIL budget?

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

McMillan just stopped and let # 2 run around him. Unbelievable.

that was a shame. McMillon has had a very solid year but he was terrible on that play. Like his feet were planted in the ground

 

[Gep Dawg]

Pitt has the talent to win the ACC this year? Pitt's talent level isn't even in the top half of the league this year.

But if you truly believe Pitt does have the talent to win the ACC, why would you want to overhaul a staff that recruited that much talent with such a shitty NIL budget?

Because despite being great recruiters and having a great culture they are very poor coaches, especially on game day. The game plans are terrible and they are constantly outcoached. Playcalling is attrocius and the team is sloppy and self implodes. The top talent doesn't always win when it matters the most. Look at PSU. I didn't say Pitt had the best talent but they certainly have enough to win the ACC. Any team with enough talent to be considered in the top half of the league should be able to win the conference in any given year if they play with disclipine and coaches have them prepared and a good game plan. We don't have that. We almost always win despite the coaching. Either the other team makes more plays or a couple of players make outstanding plays when it matters the most.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Yeah, on one of our field goal drives Yarnell threw a ball left in the end zone when there were four white jerseys there. He wasn't under pressure, and Mumpfield was standing wide open in the middle of the end zone after his man fell down.

If you are talking about the play that I am thinking about, he also had Davis leak out of the backfield to the right. He was standing along the sideline all by himself. I mean literally every Clemson linebacker/defensive back was from the middle of the field to the left sideline (as the Pitt offense looked at it), and Davis was just standing there on the right sideline all by himself.

 

[thebadby2]

What's so tough about it? It's still the ACC. At West Virginia (very winnable), Notre Dame AT PITT, Louisville AT PITT and Pitt's won two of the last three since 2020 against the Cardinals, Florida State stinks, Cam Ward is a senior so Miami will have a new QB and that's also AT PITT.

The AT PITT thing hasn’t seemed to mean much to the game outcomes the past couple decades.

 

[ratking17]

Yarnell pouting is 1000000% off base. He's lost starting jobs multiple years. If he was pouting he would have transfered by now

 

[pittbb80]

We had the talent to win ACC in 2021 and this year. That’s all you need now to get in and both years sloppy play and bad game day coaching ended up keeping us out.

Do we really have the talent ?

Not ONE person in this Board predicted they would contend for an ACC title the year. There had a new OC, a first year starter at qb a new offense a young dL etc.

Heck most on this Board didn’t think this team would win 4 game let alone contend to the acc

Now I’m not saying that fans shouldn’t be disappointed in the last three games especially the UVA game I’m bummed as well

But I think this team could be really good next year They return most of the key players and have a kid at Qb in Eli who I still think is going to be really good

 

[thebadby2]

1. Today was a microcosm of the season. Didn't think a close loss to Clemson could feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such. Didn't think 7-3 would feel disappointing. Pitt found a way to make it such.

2. I'm so sick of saying this, but the end of the game is not like the other 58 minutes. It's just not. Offenses often find ways to score when they NEED to score. See: Kenny Pickett. Also, they mostly use 4 downs, not 3. So if you stopped them for 58 minutes, that doesn't mean you'll continue to do so. You can't rely on your defense like that. Should have been more aggressive on 1st and 2nd downs.

3. Conspiracy theory: Nate Yarnell lost the starting job, put on a pout, and didn't bother to educate himself on this offense. What an embarrassing lack of command of this offense. I've seen tighter Spring games. Overall play wasn't bad, but just no command.

4. We needed to ensure Clemson did not get the ball back in the first half. We burned through the clock, were gifted a roughing the passer penalty (not saying the call was wrong; just saying it gave us a mulligan), and then burned through it again. Clemson says thank you for the 3.

5. These safeties suck in coverage.

6. You could get by with these FCS receivers against atrocious secondaries. But wow - they've come back to Earth fast. Does Poppi need contacts? It's like he doesn't even see the ball. Not just talking about the one the defender screened him from seeing.

7. What do you even say about this O line?

8. I'm turning into a nihilist when it comes to college football. Now that the bowl games have become even more meaningless, it feels like you're either part of the show (CFP) or you're not. At least the divisional format gave us a mini marker to strive for in winning the Coastal. Now, 6-6... 7-5... 8-4... I'm starting to cares less about the difference between them, and I see no path where Pitt gets over that hump. Next year's schedule is tough.

1. Agree
2. Agree
3. Disagree-there is a huge disparity in practice reps and attention between QB1 and QB2. Even if Nate got the starter reps this week, 1 week is not enough to get up to speed and he comfortable with timing, tempo etc.
4. Agree
5. Partial agreement-as McElroy pointed out, Narduzzi and Bates want those safeties to play downhill and be extra LBs to stop the run. Because of how they are schemed and how Batesduzzi plays them, unless they are anticipating pass like in a 3rd and long they have almost no chance when isolated against a skinny post-m/seam type deep route if the throw is good. They aren’t good enough and athletic enough to play downhill but still be able to recover and stay with that WR running the deep post route. Not many safeties are.
6. Slight disagreement. It’s not just the FCS guys, the WR group is weak across the board. Mump and Kenny Johnson are no better. They have inconsistent hands, run crappy routes, and don’t block well. And if Johnson is supposed to be some kind of athletic prodigy with elite speed, I don’t see that in him at all. He needs a lot of work on his route running as well.
7. OL is awful. Guessing it would only be marginally better if it was at 100% health.
8. Understandable. The sport is hurtling in the wrong direction.

 

[thebadby2]

Because despite being great recruiters and having a great culture they are very poor coaches, especially on game day. The game plans are terrible and they are constantly outcoached. Playcalling is attrocius and the team is sloppy and self implodes. The top talent doesn't always win when it matters the most. Look at PSU. I didn't say Pitt had the best talent but they certainly have enough to win the ACC. Any team with enough talent to be considered in the top half of the league should be able to win the conference in any given year if they play with disclipine and coaches have them prepared and a good game plan. We don't have that. We almost always win despite the coaching. Either the other team makes more plays or a couple of players make outstanding plays when it matters the most.

Great recruiters? C’mon now.

As for the culture, that can mean a lot of things in this context. It’s good that players like Dooz and stick around for 4 years. But I’d prefer Saban’s culture of discipline, preparation, seriousness, repetition and focus on the process all day over what Duzz has going.

 

[Cmart2004]

I actually thought Pitt played pretty well, thought they’d get steamrolled. Crappy way to lose for sure, because they probably should have won the game. But there’s a pretty big talent discrepancy between the teams. It is what it is. We probably won at least one game we should have lost, things even out eventually. There is a definite possibility that Pitt wins 8 or 9 games, most would have happily taken that after last year’s trainwreck. The biggest bummer is that the offensive line is, well, offensive.

H2P

 

[TD_6082]

Because despite being great recruiters and having a great culture they are very poor coaches, especially on game day. The game plans are terrible and they are constantly outcoached. Playcalling is attrocius and the team is sloppy and self implodes. The top talent doesn't always win when it matters the most. Look at PSU. I didn't say Pitt had the best talent but they certainly have enough to win the ACC. Any team with enough talent to be considered in the top half of the league should be able to win the conference in any given year if they play with disclipine and coaches have them prepared and a good game plan. We don't have that. We almost always win despite the coaching. Either the other team makes more plays or a couple of players make outstanding plays when it matters the most.

No. Pitt doesn’t have the talent to win the ACC. That’s absurd.

Everyone has an opinion on play calling. And there was more than enough to be critical of with the clusterf*** near the goal line. However, Pitt moved the ball really well today given talent level of the team they put on the field today.

What do you mean by "Look at PSU"?