Yes it was Marshall, but 2 things to realize

[pittpitt]

1) The last time Marshall had the ball with a chance to tie or lead was with 8:45 left in the first quarter, so about 6 minutes into the game.

2) Our offense in the second-half had the following 3 drives:
a) 73 yards on 8 plays, including a long pass to Weah, a sweep with Henderson, a 10-yard QB scramble, and a very near TD ... result = FG
b) 40 yards on 10 plays, including a sweep with Tre, completions to 3 different players (Peterman was 4/5 for 24 yards), and a fake FG on 4th down ... result = missed fake
c) 75 yards on 6 plays, including a "play to win" bomb to Weah on 3rd-and-3, 5 different players not named Peterman touching the ball ... result = back-breaking TD with 1:15 left

Please don't say our O went conservative in the second half. They were about as varied and gutsy as they could be.

 

[PhPanther1]

If Pitt plays the onside kick correctly, they probably march the ball down Marshall's throat and it's never even a game. Great call by the Marshall special teams unit there.

The Pitt secondary sucks worse than any secondary I have ever seen in my lifetime. Pitt has to score 35 plus to win against good teams. How many times can you beat this horse week after week?

 

[PittMan 72]

1) The last time Marshall had the ball with a chance to tie or lead was with 8:45 left in the first quarter, so about 6 minutes into the game.

2) Our offense in the second-half had the following 3 drives:
a) 73 yards on 8 plays, including a long pass to Weah, a sweep with Henderson, a 10-yard QB scramble, and a very near TD ... result = FG
b) 40 yards on 10 plays, including a sweep with Tre, completions to 3 different players (Peterman was 4/5 for 24 yards), and a fake FG on 4th down ... result = missed fake
c) 75 yards on 6 plays, including a "play to win" bomb to Weah on 3rd-and-3, 5 different players not named Peterman touching the ball ... result = back-breaking TD with 1:15 left

Please don't say our O went conservative in the second half. They were about as varied and gutsy as they could be.

Agree with you thoughts on that. 2 pivotal things that appeared to have had a major effect on the game:

1. Pitt failing to score from the 1. Could've (probably should've) gone up 34 -0 at the half.
2. Pitt falling asleep on the beautifully executed pop up kick. Allowed Marshall to control the ball for virtually the entire 3rd Q. Pitt didn't run an offensive play for approx. 10 minutes of game time to begin the 3rd Q and Pitt's D appeared to be very fatigued after that.

 

[pittpitt]

The Pitt secondary sucks worse than any secondary I have ever seen in my lifetime. Pitt has to score 35 plus to win against good teams. How many times can you beat this horse week after week?

I'm not a sophisticated enough fan to do true comparisons of the secondaries from era to era, but when I was at Pitt in the mid-90's during Majors2, I remember us getting bombed on all the time. We at least have 1 really good DB in Whitehead (has he ever been burned at Pitt, even once?), so those other 3 must be absolutely horrific to make the entire unit our worst ever. That's looking to be the case so far, but I do remember a million long pass plays against Pitt when I was a student 20 years ago. That being said, any comparison between Pitt now and Majors2--no matter how vague--is pretty damning.

 

[MajorMajors]

Agree with you thoughts on that. 2 pivotal things that appeared to have had a major effect on the game:

1. Pitt failing to score from the 1. Could've (probably should've) gone up 34 -0 at the half.
2. Pitt falling asleep on the beautifully executed pop up kick. Allowed Marshall to control the ball for virtually the entire 3rd Q. Pitt didn't run an offensive play for approx. 10 minutes of game time to begin the 3rd Q and Pitt's D appeared to be very fatigued after that.

Even after the successful onside kick, Pitt didn't change it's kick return alignment, which surprised me some. There was still a lot of room to that some side, with the next line of Panthers still pretty deep.

That said, you can't blame the Pitt player for not fielding that kick. He came toward the ball after it was kicked toward him but then the ball took that big bounce way over his head. It really was perfectly executed (of perhaps they just got the best possible bounce -- but I was glad they didn't try it again)...

Go Pitt.

 

[pittpitt]

That said, you can't blame the Pitt player for not fielding that kick. He came toward the ball after it was kicked toward him but then the ball took that big bounce way over his head. It really was perfectly executed (of perhaps they just got the best possible bounce -- but I was glad they didn't try it again)...

Agreed. The Pitt player moved toward the onside kick, so he had good recognition of what was happening and was immediately reacting to what he recognized. The ball took a perfect bounce, and although that may have been the intention, absolutely perfect bounces of a kicked ball are never assumed ... it's more like "we're down 3 TD's and have a little momentum, what the hell, let's see what happens." Hardly a sustainable model that predicts doom for our special teams (please don't mention the Houston game - there's a reason that ending set all sorts of records).

 

[thebadby2]

I'm not a sophisticated enough fan to do true comparisons of the secondaries from era to era, but when I was at Pitt in the mid-90's during Majors2, I remember us getting bombed on all the time. We at least have 1 really good DB in Whitehead (has he ever been burned at Pitt, even once?), so those other 3 must be absolutely horrific to make the entire unit our worst ever. That's looking to be the case so far, but I do remember a million long pass plays against Pitt when I was a student 20 years ago. That being said, any comparison between Pitt now and Majors2--no matter how vague--is pretty damning.

Whitehead has not been involved much in pass coverage until we played OkSU, where he appeared to struggle mightily in terms of picking up the right man. Again, it isn't that I've seen him struggle to cover a man one on one, but he has rarely been asked to do that. His usual roll as strong safety in Duzzi ball is as a 4th LB. Against OkSU, we tried to get him more involved in coverage out of necessity, and he struggled to say the least-because he was out of position all day.

it doesn't help that Terrish Webb can't do his job at FS.

Remember, Whitehead came to Pitt as a corner, but we had veterans at both spots, and we had a big hole at SS. I think if Whitehead switched to corner tomorrow it would be a huge upgrade over whichever guy he replaces. But we don't have that luxury. The next time we play a throwing team, it would be nice to see Whitehead more involved in coverage, and actually knowing what he;s doing.

We need to get Hamlin and someone else ready to take reps at CB ASAP. Having a physical 6'2 guy out there in press coverage right now would sure help.

 

[PHATWOOD]

There were some poor coaching decisions yesterday, but most of them come with the risk/reward tag that means if they work out you're a ballsy genius, and if they don't you're a dope.

I utterly HATED the play call on the fourth down at the goal line. Pitt wasn't gashing them by lining up a jumbo package and trying to sneak over center. I would have liked to see them stay in their conventional alignment and at least force Marshall to respect the edge.

I disliked the fake field goal only because I feel like at that point, if you're going to go for it just run a real play. I have no problem with a no punt mindset at that place on the field at all but your chances of a conversion are far higher against that team if you line up and just run a real play. At 51 yards, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Pitt's kicker is shaky at best.

I was very disappointed that they weren't a little more prepared for the onside kick at that point in the game. I literally expected Marshall to fake a punt from their first possession, and I felt it was a 50/50 shot at that point they'd try an onside and said so before the kick. That one play changed the entire game and that's on the coaches. Don't worry about the return there - you're killing them on the ground and just running a three play clock drive with a punt makes this a non-game. A long drive if they kick it deep even without points makes it game over. Instead, Marshall swung all the momentum.

On the flip side, the staff clearly realized they needed to throw the damn ball, they didn't turtle, and the offense won the game as they absolutely must do the rest of the way. So I give the staff credit, although I still feel like once the scripted plays run out after three possessions they struggle a bit. The emergence of some semblance of a deep threat and the game experience for Moss, Ffrench, Tipton etc. will be a help the rest of the way.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

I'm not a sophisticated enough fan to do true comparisons of the secondaries from era to era, but when I was at Pitt in the mid-90's during Majors2, I remember us getting bombed on all the time. We at least have 1 really good DB in Whitehead (has he ever been burned at Pitt, even once?), so those other 3 must be absolutely horrific to make the entire unit our worst ever. That's looking to be the case so far, but I do remember a million long pass plays against Pitt when I was a student 20 years ago. That being said, any comparison between Pitt now and Majors2--no matter how vague--is pretty damning.

Our CB's need to learn to turn their heads and play the ball instead of watching the receiver the whole time. When they do that two things happen the receiver controls the ball reaches over the CB and makes the catch or the refs throw a flag as the PITT DB runs threw the receiver.
ESPN showed highlights of the LU vs Clemson game and twice commented how the Clemson CB's cover the WR and turn their heads at the right time to play the ball!

 

[PHATWOOD]

Our CB's need to learn to turn their heads and play the ball instead of watching the receiver the whole time. When they do that two things happen the receiver controls the ball reaches over the CB and makes the catch or the refs throw a flag as the PITT DB runs threw the receiver.
ESPN showed highlights of the LU vs Clemson game and twice commented how the Clemson CB's cover the WR and turn their heads at the right time to play the ball!

You just compared Clemson's DB's to Pitt's DB's.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

You just compared Clemson's DB's to Pitt's DB's.

Yes I did!
Sorry about that!

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

That said, you can't blame the Pitt player for not fielding that kick. He came toward the ball after it was kicked toward him but then the ball took that big bounce way over his head. It really was perfectly executed (of perhaps they just got the best possible bounce -- but I was glad they didn't try it again)...

I am not sure which game some of you were watching, but the onside kick absolutely did not bounce at all. The guy pooched the ball into the air over the head of the Pitt player. The Pitt player just stood there flat-footed until the ball was over his head. And the worst part of it was that Marshall came out in that goofy kick formation to begin with, so there was absolutely no excuse for anyone not to be thinking about an onside kick.

 

[MajorMajors]

I am not sure which game some of you were watching, but the onside kick absolutely did not bounce at all. The guy pooched the ball into the air over the head of the Pitt player. The Pitt player just stood there flat-footed until the ball was over his head. And the worst part of it was that Marshall came out in that goofy kick formation to begin with, so there was absolutely no excuse for anyone not to be thinking about an onside kick.

From my vantage point in the first row of the upper deck, it appeared that the kick took a big bounce. And it seemed to me that Marshal used that "goofy kick formation" the whole game.

 

[Pitt-Chains]

1) The last time Marshall had the ball with a chance to tie or lead was with 8:45 left in the first quarter, so about 6 minutes into the game.

2) Our offense in the second-half had the following 3 drives:
a) 73 yards on 8 plays, including a long pass to Weah, a sweep with Henderson, a 10-yard QB scramble, and a very near TD ... result = FG
b) 40 yards on 10 plays, including a sweep with Tre, completions to 3 different players (Peterman was 4/5 for 24 yards), and a fake FG on 4th down ... result = missed fake
c) 75 yards on 6 plays, including a "play to win" bomb to Weah on 3rd-and-3, 5 different players not named Peterman touching the ball ... result = back-breaking TD with 1:15 left

Please don't say our O went conservative in the second half. They were about as varied and gutsy as they could be.

Too me, two things.. Good QB and RB.

 

[Pitt-Chains]

Our CB's need to learn to turn their heads and play the ball instead of watching the receiver the whole time. When they do that two things happen the receiver controls the ball reaches over the CB and makes the catch or the refs throw a flag as the PITT DB runs threw the receiver.
ESPN showed highlights of the LU vs Clemson game and twice commented how the Clemson CB's cover the WR and turn their heads at the right time to play the ball!

Sideline needs some help screaming out pass and/or run...

 

[Piranha]

The rule used to be that the ball had to touch the ground before you could recover it. That is why you always saw kickers kick the ball into the ground on an onsides kick. Has that rule changed?

If that happens again, then our guy should be calling for a fair catch. The kick team has to give the receiver the opportunity to catch the ball.

 

[JD1976]

The onside kick did not bounce for sure. The kicker popped it up perfectly, almost like in soccer when a player plays the ball into space to an on-running player. Honestly, it was beautifully executed. One of the nicer onside kicks I've seen.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

The rule used to be that the ball had to touch the ground before you could recover it. That is why you always saw kickers kick the ball into the ground on an onsides kick. Has that rule changed?

If that happens again, then our guy should be calling for a fair catch. The kick team has to give the receiver the opportunity to catch the ball.

I don't know if that used to be the rule, but if it was they changed it a long, long time ago. You've actually hit on the reason why most teams don't try it the way that Marshall did. If the Pitt player hadn't frozen and had gone back for the ball he could have called for a fair catch. But if you do call for a fair catch and you are no where close to catching the ball the opponent can still catch it. Just like Marshall did on one of their punts last night.

 

[Jpripper88]

1) The last time Marshall had the ball with a chance to tie or lead was with 8:45 left in the first quarter, so about 6 minutes into the game.

2) Our offense in the second-half had the following 3 drives:
a) 73 yards on 8 plays, including a long pass to Weah, a sweep with Henderson, a 10-yard QB scramble, and a very near TD ... result = FG
b) 40 yards on 10 plays, including a sweep with Tre, completions to 3 different players (Peterman was 4/5 for 24 yards), and a fake FG on 4th down ... result = missed fake
c) 75 yards on 6 plays, including a "play to win" bomb to Weah on 3rd-and-3, 5 different players not named Peterman touching the ball ... result = back-breaking TD with 1:15 left

Please don't say our O went conservative in the second half. They were about as varied and gutsy as they could be.

Definitely reason to say they weren't conservative, but us running jet sweeps is being conservative. Those are staples of our offense, not a trick or risk taking.

 

[Pantherman43]

The Pitt secondary sucks worse than any secondary I have ever seen in my lifetime.

Notre Dame and Syracuse would beg to differ. Their secondaries are worse.