First let me say, thanks to the Pitt football team and the people in the stadium that made the game enjoyable. I didn't really have any people that made me sit and I was up the entire game for the most part.
One thing that was nice about this game is that I got to record it, plus ESPN did a sky cam feature so I was able to watch that on WATCHESPN and got some decent clips for you guys. Also -- a good write up on Cardiac Hill by Alex Kirby (Link) on a version of RPO that Canada used quite frequently on Saturday. He's a good X's and O's guy, so some of you might enjoy that.
As for the offense, Pitt started the game as hot as you can really get. On 5 offensive possessions they came away with 4 touchdowns and 221 Yards of Offense. The bad part is that on the next 6 possessions (minus the one going into the half) they managed just 156 yards and recorded just 1 touchdown. Pitt finished the game going 2 for 9 on possessions that ended in points and in the final 4 offensive possessions, only took 5:03 off of the clock. It kind of reminded me of the issues @Iowa under Todd Graham, but that's a story for a different day.
In any event, here's my opinion of what happened in the 2nd half. The first drive of the second half was pretty important to me for 2 reasons: I wanted to see how aggressive Canada was going to be and I also wanted to see if Penn State made any adjustments to the tons of jet motion they were getting. The first answer -- not that aggressive and the second is they made some pretty drastic moves and tried to add their safety in for support with the motion.
The drive started out successful, but penalties on 3rd and 1 in which they converted and then again on 3rd and 6 caused Canada to have to dial up a play on 3rd and 11. I don't care where you coach or who you're playing, 3rd and 11 is not an ideal situation. I probably would have been more aggressive, but up 2 scores I can understand the call to run the ball and let your defense work. Which up until that point, the defense had been playing extremely well.
On the next offensive series, Canada went more aggressive. They went PA on first down and screen on 2nd to pick up the first down. Then back to outside zone off of jet action and back to play action on 2nd down. On 1st down they shifted in the I and between Bisnowaty and Aston, they sealed the cutback lane on split zone for a nice run down to the 35. Ollison gets another carry on 1st down and picks up 8 yards on a pin and pull scheme — great block by Orndoff.
The next play of the drive see’s Conner on IZ again, but BO/Bookser have issues on their double (really BO pushed Bookser off but lost his balance and the PSU DL recovered to stack up James). Hall enters the game and makes a great spin move in the hole and breaks off a nice run. Once again PSU was over rotating to the jet sweep and when Hall made his guy miss, he was in a foot race. They go hurry up and out number PSU on the edge for toss sweep into boundary and Hall is just inches short for the TD. Enter Conner for the TD.
My opinion: Good execution and aggressive drive that used a number of different things like PA, a Screen, and a great play by the #3 running back on the roster.
The next drive Pitt does a lot of good things again, but is cut down when Blewitt missed a field goal. However, that never happens if the offense executes on 3rd down. Above you can see Pitt run the shovel option to Scott Orndoff with power blocking. The play is designed well with jet motion holding the backside and the threat of speed option with the back is holding the DE. The shovel however is stopped short of the first down. Now below you can see if the pulling guard (Dorian Johnson) blocks the LB, Orndoff will get the first down. Now I can't say for certain the rule for Dorian here and he's more than likely looking for backside flow, it just so happens that if he blocks the first defender he sees, this drive could have continued.
Above is a clip of what Alex Kirby was talking about. They are using a sprint out scheme where the #1 receiver is running a burst corner, the #2 is running a spot/hitch route and #3 is running a quick out or arrow. The DE in this instance plays the QB on the sprint out which allows the shovel to Conner and he has a ton of OL ready to take him into the end zone.
They go back to the same play here, but the DE stays at home. Peterman does not like the look he’s getting from the arrow route and decides to put his foot in the ground and get what he can.
Overall, I think the offense had a good day and I think it made some nice plays in the first half in order to build a lead. However, they made some mistakes and the play calling became less aggressive -- especially the use of Henderson -- and the defense made enough plays to get a victory. I would have liked to see more from the passing game, but when you rush for 341 yards why pass. I also wanted to see Pitt finish the half on a high note to prevent any type of momentum, but instead Pitt had a turnover, a punt, and gave up a long drive TD by Penn State to end the half. That's the type of things I would like to see changed.
This offense is going to get better in my opinion, but I think they'll need to open up the passing game a little more for the run game to continue to blossom. I love the way they used Ollison, Aston, Conner, and Hall all in a number of ways.. I mean I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was surprised to see Aston run a jet sweep.
Hope everyone enjoyed and have a good week!
One thing that was nice about this game is that I got to record it, plus ESPN did a sky cam feature so I was able to watch that on WATCHESPN and got some decent clips for you guys. Also -- a good write up on Cardiac Hill by Alex Kirby (Link) on a version of RPO that Canada used quite frequently on Saturday. He's a good X's and O's guy, so some of you might enjoy that.
As for the offense, Pitt started the game as hot as you can really get. On 5 offensive possessions they came away with 4 touchdowns and 221 Yards of Offense. The bad part is that on the next 6 possessions (minus the one going into the half) they managed just 156 yards and recorded just 1 touchdown. Pitt finished the game going 2 for 9 on possessions that ended in points and in the final 4 offensive possessions, only took 5:03 off of the clock. It kind of reminded me of the issues @Iowa under Todd Graham, but that's a story for a different day.
In any event, here's my opinion of what happened in the 2nd half. The first drive of the second half was pretty important to me for 2 reasons: I wanted to see how aggressive Canada was going to be and I also wanted to see if Penn State made any adjustments to the tons of jet motion they were getting. The first answer -- not that aggressive and the second is they made some pretty drastic moves and tried to add their safety in for support with the motion.
The drive started out successful, but penalties on 3rd and 1 in which they converted and then again on 3rd and 6 caused Canada to have to dial up a play on 3rd and 11. I don't care where you coach or who you're playing, 3rd and 11 is not an ideal situation. I probably would have been more aggressive, but up 2 scores I can understand the call to run the ball and let your defense work. Which up until that point, the defense had been playing extremely well.
On the next offensive series, Canada went more aggressive. They went PA on first down and screen on 2nd to pick up the first down. Then back to outside zone off of jet action and back to play action on 2nd down. On 1st down they shifted in the I and between Bisnowaty and Aston, they sealed the cutback lane on split zone for a nice run down to the 35. Ollison gets another carry on 1st down and picks up 8 yards on a pin and pull scheme — great block by Orndoff.
The next play of the drive see’s Conner on IZ again, but BO/Bookser have issues on their double (really BO pushed Bookser off but lost his balance and the PSU DL recovered to stack up James). Hall enters the game and makes a great spin move in the hole and breaks off a nice run. Once again PSU was over rotating to the jet sweep and when Hall made his guy miss, he was in a foot race. They go hurry up and out number PSU on the edge for toss sweep into boundary and Hall is just inches short for the TD. Enter Conner for the TD.
My opinion: Good execution and aggressive drive that used a number of different things like PA, a Screen, and a great play by the #3 running back on the roster.
The next drive Pitt does a lot of good things again, but is cut down when Blewitt missed a field goal. However, that never happens if the offense executes on 3rd down. Above you can see Pitt run the shovel option to Scott Orndoff with power blocking. The play is designed well with jet motion holding the backside and the threat of speed option with the back is holding the DE. The shovel however is stopped short of the first down. Now below you can see if the pulling guard (Dorian Johnson) blocks the LB, Orndoff will get the first down. Now I can't say for certain the rule for Dorian here and he's more than likely looking for backside flow, it just so happens that if he blocks the first defender he sees, this drive could have continued.
Above is a clip of what Alex Kirby was talking about. They are using a sprint out scheme where the #1 receiver is running a burst corner, the #2 is running a spot/hitch route and #3 is running a quick out or arrow. The DE in this instance plays the QB on the sprint out which allows the shovel to Conner and he has a ton of OL ready to take him into the end zone.
They go back to the same play here, but the DE stays at home. Peterman does not like the look he’s getting from the arrow route and decides to put his foot in the ground and get what he can.
Overall, I think the offense had a good day and I think it made some nice plays in the first half in order to build a lead. However, they made some mistakes and the play calling became less aggressive -- especially the use of Henderson -- and the defense made enough plays to get a victory. I would have liked to see more from the passing game, but when you rush for 341 yards why pass. I also wanted to see Pitt finish the half on a high note to prevent any type of momentum, but instead Pitt had a turnover, a punt, and gave up a long drive TD by Penn State to end the half. That's the type of things I would like to see changed.
This offense is going to get better in my opinion, but I think they'll need to open up the passing game a little more for the run game to continue to blossom. I love the way they used Ollison, Aston, Conner, and Hall all in a number of ways.. I mean I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was surprised to see Aston run a jet sweep.
Hope everyone enjoyed and have a good week!
