Oct 28 2009
Former Pitt star DeJuan Blair, who left school with two years of eligibility remaining to enter the NBA Draft in June, played in his first NBA game tonight with the San Antonio Spurs and was quite impressive. Picking up where he left off after a stellar preseason, Blair did what he did at Pitt with regularity, posting a double-double in San Antonio's blowout victory against New Orleans.
Blair was 7 for 10 from the field for 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in 23 minutes. He had five offensive rebounds.
Some scouts question whether Blair's game would translate to the NBA, but he is doing the same things he did at Pitt with the Spurs. He played hard, got good position and used his superior hands to produce points and rebounds.
Listening to the telecast on ESPN, Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson believe the Spurs can challenge the Lakers for supremacy in the Western Conference. I'm not a big fan of the NBA, but I think I'll be tuning in to Spurs games this season to check up on Blair and the Spurs.
Wouldn't it be fun to watch the Big Fella beat Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the conference finals and then LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA finals.
Oct 27 2009
Game over
Blue 56 Gold 53
Chase Adams led all scorers with 21 points. Brad Wanamaker had 19, Ashton Gibbs 17, Travon Woodall 11, Nasir Robinson 11 and Lamar Patterson 10.
Halftime update
It's 29-29 at halftime. Chase Adams leads with 13 points. This guy appears to be the real deal. I reported on media day that one program insider thought he might be a better shooter than Ashton Gibbs. I don't know how it's going to turn out, but he has a nice stroke.
Brad Wanamaker had a nice half as well. He has nine points. Gibbs is doing a nice job of running the point for his team.
The freshmen haven't had many opportunities to shine. Dante Taylor has had some trouble finishing around the basket. He has two points. Zanna has two points. Lamar patterson made a 3-pointer. JJ Richardson is scoreless.
First media timeout
Talib Zanna just dunked to give the Blue team 12-7. The first three baskets were 3-point field goals by Chase Adams, Ashton Gibbs and Travon Woodall. A litte more than five minutes in, Gibbs and Adams each have five points apiece. Zanna is the only freshman to score. Dante Taylor is 0 for 1 from the field.
Still in a boot
Jermaine Dixon, who is rehabilitating from September foot surgery, is still in a walking boot. He's out with his teammates taking warm-ups shooting around. In fact, he just made a shot from half-court before the team went back to the locker room. It appears his shot is in form. Now the only thing is getting that fifth matatarsal to heal.
Some pre game notes
This is a dress rehearsal for the team, and sports information director Greg Hotchkiss is treating it the same way. He produced some gameday notes. Everyone knows how much productivity the Panthers lost from last season with the graduation of three senior starters and the early departure of DeJuan Blair to the NBA, but Hotchkiss broke it down by the numbers:
Category Percent returning
Last year's starters 20 percent
Last year's total starts 21 percent
Team's top 10 in minutes played 60 percent
Total minutes played 42 percent
Points scored 34 percent
Field goals made 32 percent
Field goal attempts 35 percent
3-point field goals made 47 percent
3-point field goal attempts 48 percent
Offenisve rebounds 22 percent
Defensive rebounds 39 percent
Total rebounds 33 percent
Personal fouls 52 percent
Assists 40 percent
Turnovers 45 percent
Blocked shots 40 percent
Steals 47 percent
OK, folks, first post of the night. For those hoping to see the new and improved Dwight Miller you'll be disappointed. He is sick and will not play in the scrimmage. Also walk-on Tim Frye has an injury and is not expected to play. And of course, Jermaine Dixon (foot injury) will not dress.
There will be two 16-minute halves with a five-minute intermission, and players will switch teams throughout the game, so don't be concerned with a final score. This is more to see how every player plays with and against each other. It's what the coaches see every day in practice. We get to see it with the lights on tonight. Here is how they're breaking up the teams to start: Blue: Travon Woodall, Chase Adams, Lamar Patterson, Talib Zanna and Gary GcGhee. Gold: Ashton Gibbs, Nick Rivers (new walk-on), Brad Wanamaker, Nasir Robinson, Dante Taylor and JJ Richardson. More later.
I'll be blogging live from the Blue-Gold scrimmage tonight, the first chance for Pitt's young freshmen to show what they have. I'll let you know what's going on and how everyone looks. The opening tip is 7 p.m. from the Petersen Events Center.
Oct 24 2009
South Florida coach Jim Leavitt summed it up pretty good – "They just whooped us," he said today after the Panthers pounded his Bulls 41-14.
Frankly, I’m not sure what else can be added. We’ve all said – if this team could ever play a complete game it could be pretty good and that’s what we got today – a complete game in which the Panthers dominated from start to finish.
It was a great win, probably the most dominant win the Panthers have had – over a reasonably talented team (so I don’t count beating UCF by a zillion points a couple of years ago) – probably since the 2001 season when the Panthers pounded Virginia Tech into the Heinz Field turf, 38-7.
At any rate, here are some notes from the game…..
** Elijah Fields started the game but not at safety. Instead he was that bandit linebacker type player and that’s mostly because the Panthers were in their nickel package for most of the game. Fields is better at coverage than Greg Williams and thus he will help them more against the spread offense teams – but don’t be surprised if we see this look even against some more traditional teams because Fields played extremely well against the run and pass – and let’s face it Williams has struggled. At any rate the Panthers will face spread teams in three of their last four games and the way Notre Dame throws the ball, I’d expect Fields and Holley to be on the field at the same time a lot.
** Tight end Mike Cruz had his first reception – and it went for a touchdown – of his career and that was nice development. Cruz, you might remember, left camp for a few days while he contemplated his future in football but returned and has slowly but surely worked his way into the lineup. He was asked about leaving camp and he said it was just "stress" and he thanked his coaches and teammates sticking by his side. Cruz is the future for this position as both Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham graduate.
** As if the Panthers didn’t have enough weapons – receiver Mike Shanahan made his first career start and had three catches – two of the diving variety to make first downs – for 21 yards. He’s a guy who is reliable and as Bill Stull said "just an excellent football player."
** Dion Lewis rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns and he did that in three quarters. He now has more than 1,000 for the season and he tied Larry Fitzgerald for the third highest point total for a Pitt freshman (72). I’m thinking that LeSean McCoy’s record of 90 is in serious danger of falling.
** Jonathan Baldwin had a career high 144 yards receiving on six receptions but he also gave the crowd and his teammates and coaches the biggest scare of the day – perhaps season – when he dove for a catch and stayed on the ground injured. He got up and returned but it was pretty quiet for those few minutes.
** Tino Sunseri got some work and threw a touchdown pass to Dorin Dickerson but he also missed Shanahan on a couple of wide open passes and showed he is still a work in progress and not yet ready. It was good for him to get some work (sorry, couldn’t resist) though….
** Pitt is now 7-1 for the first time since 1982 and 4-0 in the Big East for the first time since the 2003 season. Of course, we all know there are some tougher games coming up as the best three teams the Panthers will play – West Virginia, Notre Dame and Cincinnati – are the final three games on the schedule.
** Pitt didn’t punt for the entire game – the first time the Panthers have done that since that destruction of Central Florida in 2006.
Quotable:
South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt: "Pitt deserves credit, they did a great job. Their line of scrimmage was much better than ours and they are a very good football team. We haven’t played any defense lately and that’s the first thing we need to take care of."
South Florida linebacker Kion Wilson: "They didn’t punt one time today and that just can’t happen."
Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt: "Our offensive line was just unbelievable. To protect Bill Stull like they did [he was not sacked] throughout the game might have been the difference."
"Those two field goals Daniel Hutchins made were important – not just for the points, but also for his psyche. Any time a kicker has missed some kicks, the only way to get it back is to go out there and perform. I was pleased with our field goal unit and our kick off coverage. We kicked the ball well and covered well."
Tight end Dorin Dickerson: "
Tailback Dion Lewis:
The difference from this team and last year’s team is that this year we have a lot more playmakers. Last year, Shady was a great player but he was our offense really. This year we have Oderick Turner, Jonathan Baldwin, Mike Shanahan, Dion Lewis and Ray Graham – a lot of guys that can make plays. We also have a great offensive line, a veteran line. It is a good feeling right now.""We’re pretty balanced. A lot of teams know that we’re going to try and run the ball but we also have a great quarterback, receivers and tight ends that will make plays in the passing game. We’re getting better every week but we still have some work to do in order to get where we want to be. When we get there it is going to be a lot of fun."
Oct 24 2009
Well, this is about as good of a half of football as the Panthers have played this season. The troublesome thing about them is this - they've only played one half of football in a lot of games so it will be interesting to see how they come out in the second half. They get the ball first and they can put this game away early with an impressive - say seven to ten -- play drive and stick it in for the touchdown.
Last week after the Rutgers game Bill Stull said "I'd hate to be the team that has to play us when we put it all together and play our best football. It will be scary." Well so far, South Florida is seeing what it looks like when the Panthers do put it all together as they are getting thumped.
Perhaps the biggest development of today's game - as we wrote about and discussed in some Q&A's --- it looks like the transformation of Elijah Fields from safety to hybrid/linebacker type player is complete. But it was taken even a step further -- he not only played bandit linebacker in some passing situations, he started at strongside linebacker ahead of Greg Williams and played most of the snaps there. His speed has a nice boost to the defense, which outside of one drive, has really contained B.J. Daniels.
Here are some other things to look for in the second half....
* The crowd, which is very embarrassingly small given the magnitude of this game - except for the students which are out in force and putting on a great show - and everyone watching the game and everyone the sidelines stopped breathing for a moment when Jonathan Baldwin went down but he got back up and he was back in the game for the rest of the half. He's putting on a show -- he has four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown and he'd have another touchdown and about 40 or 50 more yards if Bill Stull would have been about one yard shorter on that throw. This team can't cover Baldwin, but as we've seen - who really can?
* Bill Stull is 13 for 17 - he is a fifth-year senior - it will be interesting if Dave Wannstedt trusts him enough to put the ball in his hands to win the game with some throws in the second half because they are going to need to sustain some drives.
* Dion Lewis is ridiculous. He already has 86 yards rushing and he's now over 1,000 for the season. And he also has 12 touchdowns (11 rushing) and that is 72 points - which ties Larry Fitzgerald for the third highest total of points by a freshman.
* The defense has played well - outside of one big throw Daniels has done little in the passing game.
* South Florida is a dumb and undisciplined team and until that changes the Bulls will never win the Big East or anything else of significance. They are far too talented to be down like this but eight penalties for 56 yards in a half is awful.
* Buddy Jackson and Dan Mason both have made some big special teams plays today - this is a good glimpse of the future for Pitt as they two young guys have a lot of natural ability.
* Um, the "Little Jovi" thing at Rutgers is mildly amusing but do we really need to see a bad imitation of it at Pitt? Could we at least pick a song by someone with Pittsburgh ties, like say, Donny Iris. On second thought, let's not.....
Oct 23 2009
On the eve of one of the biggest home games in recent Pitt history, the Redshirt Diaries wanted to do something a little bit different so we decided to bring to you a Q&A we had with Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson about several subjects including the “turn it blue” promotion (fans encouraged to wear blue to the game Saturday), a ninth football member for the Big East, the state of the football program and of course, kick-off times for games.
Pederson is approaching two years on the job now (well two years since he returned after a rough tenure at Nebraska) and whether you like everything he does or you don’t there are a few things which are undeniable about his approach to this job –
1) Few people love their job more than this guy does and frankly, few people -- outside of perhaps Chancellor Nordenberg and Sports Information Director E.J. Borghetti -- are a more perfect fit for his or her job over there at Pitt given what the college needs at this point in time.
2) He cares deeply about Pitt fans and about Pitt – and I say that knowing that the “Script or bust” crowd will never forgive him.
3) He has pushed a lot of the right buttons and has really pushed his staff to work extremely hard to improve the atmosphere at Heinz Field and it has paid off. This year has had the best game-day atmosphere of any since I’ve covered the team in 2002 – and that includes in 2002, 2003 and 2004 when Pitt was filling up the stadium and winning big games. If you walk around the stadium before the game it actually feels like a college football atmosphere and there is a lot going on both in and outside of the stadium.
Pederson may not be the best athletic director in the country – I don’t know how you could quantify that anyway – but I can honestly say that in my two years of observing his act up close and personal, he’s the right guy for this job because Pitt has so many special and unique challenges that a lot of other schools don’t face and he understands them and is trying to take them on one at a time.
And know this – while he gets a lot of credit for his work, he’s got a great staff working for him as well. And while we here at the Redshirt Diaries like to poke fun at Pitt's marketing gurus, their minions and Marcus Bowman (hey we’ve tried hard to work him into one of these entries and haven’t been able too yet, so why not), the truth is it is hard to argue with the success they’ve had in boosting ticket sales and making Heinz Field a better place to watch football games for the fans.
And so, without further adieu, here is what Steve Pederson had to say earlier this week on a day when it wasn’t perfectly Pittsburgh or sun-splashed nor did he have to walk with a certain briskness to prove to us he was a man on the move …….
RSD: You are encouraging all fans to wear blue this Saturday for the South Florida game at Heinz Field, but we understand this was an idea that actually came to you from the students. You’ve often said your motto is to put Pitt fans first so can you expand on your feelings on these fan initiatives and why they are so important to you and your staff?
PEDERSON: Our fans have made great suggestions. And when it comes to these fan initiatives – think about it, these are people that come to the games, they know what is going on, they have great ideas and a lot of the ideas they have given us we’ve been able to implement and often times, it is something we haven’t thought of or, for instance, we don’t park in a certain parking lot so we don’t know what’s going on or what’s needed. And with the students there were just certain things that we just didn’t know that they would prefer and they were pretty easy to fix to some extent. Some were a little harder than others but I’ve always thought that if we don’t listen to the people who are most important to us, which is our fans, we are making a big mistake. That doesn’t mean we can do everything people suggest but we have gotten great suggestions that we’ve been able to implement and this [turn it blue promotion] is case in point something that was sort of a fun thing to do.
RSD: So what about this initiative, as opposed to others which have been suggested, made it something you wanted to pursue?
PEDERSON: I thought this [Turn it Blue promotion] was a neat idea. We’ve listened to the student initiatives on a lot of things and I thought when some of the students said let’s do this, I said ‘it is a good idea, let’s do it’ so I think people will respond to it and participate in it.
RSD: You are going to hand out blue Pitt T-shirts to all of the students who come to the game – what else will you do to down at Heinz Field and on campus in order to try and add to the atmosphere in keeping with the theme of the day?
PEDERSON: We decided that we’d do T-shirts for the students and make it fun for them and then just ask everyone else who is coming to wear whatever they have which is blue. We’re going to do some things across campus too – we are going to do as many places as we can around campus. We’re asking merchants to make things blue, we’re doing some things blue on campus and Justin Acierno and a bunch of our marketing people are implementing a lot of different ideas and are even talking about things in the residence halls and in the dining halls so it will be a fun day.
RSD: I know ticket sales have been very good for this game – are you guys expecting a big crowd, say 55,000 or more?
PEDERSON: We expect to have a great crowd for the game Saturday and it will be a fun day. We have a great opponent coming in, it is homecoming – there are a lot of things going on that day and we haven’t been home for a couple of weeks, either, so it is a good time to play at home. And then we are off for two weeks and play again at home, so we have some good momentum building.
RSD: You guys have done a great job selling tickets even though the team has been down for a few years. Now that it is coming off a winning season and off to a fast start – do you expect the ticket sales for the final two Big East games after Saturday at home field to really pick up? [Obviously, there are three remaining home games but it goes without saying that the Notre Dame ticket sells itself]
PEDERSON: I think we have some real opportunities here in the second half of the season. The most important thing we did was drive our season ticket base up and now, with the team winning and the excitement surrounding it, I think it gives us an opportunity to take it to another level. And what I like is our people are having fun. They are having fun at the games, people are getting energized by it and Heinz Field is a fun place to be. Here this weekend, now, we have us and the Steelers playing back to back days – I don’t know that there is a city in the country where it gets better than that.
RSD: A number of fans have e-mailed me and wanted to voice their displeasure for the noon kick-off and there main gripe is that you said you wanted later kick-offs. How much of the kick-off time is in your control, and how much is based on outside factors, like TV or working with the Pirates?
PEDERSON: It is all TV. That has been controlling the times of our kick-offs. When we’ve been able to choose the kick times, we’ve chosen ideally to do them later in the day if we can. Of course, then we get some people who say ‘hey, why can’t we play at noon, I love the noon games’ so I don’t think there is a general consensus of what people want. I think everybody has different ideas. But it is not ideal and every school in the country goes through this right now, this business of waiting until two weeks before to find out when the kick time is and I think in college football that has become a part of the norm. I hope we can find a better way to do this at some point, I really do, we are not there right now and certainly the game times are being dictated to us and not vice versa. But certainly you want the exposure from being on television and every conference is doing some of the same things but like I said, at some point I hope we can get better control of this so we can give our fans more advance notice on when games are going to be. I wish we could do that but right now – and I’m not any different than any athletic director in the country – we just can’t do that right now.
RSD: Your first game back as Pitt’s A.D. was that famous 13-9 game [any real Pitt fan doesn’t need to be reminded what game that score is from as it is one of Pitt’s biggest upset wins]and you’ve watched this team go 16-5 since (and counting) that game. Given that record, do you think that, from what you see, this program is indeed headed on the right path and are you excited about its future?
PEDERSON: I think there are a lot of good things and a lot of very encouraging signs and a lot to be excited about. Certainly we have a very talented team. If you look at our team we have talented people and I think we have an excellent coaching staff. I think the fact that we are able to win games like we did against Connecticut, where we fought back and got things done at the end of the game. Then we had some bad things happen against Rutgers but we withstood it – those things give us a good indication that we are building a good program, not just a good team. And when I watch this program grow, I feel like we are getting on real solid footing and our opportunities ahead are terrific.
RSD: Finally, can you add some clarity to this one – a newspaper report a few weeks ago said that the Big East was having serious discussions about adding a ninth football playing member but that is contrary to everything officials from the Big East has said over the past three years. Is there indeed a movement towards a ninth member?
PEDERSON: We haven’t had much of any discussions about that and I think the reason that we haven’t – other than having to respond to the whole ‘well there is a media report that said this’ or sometimes our commissioner will report that there was a story about this school or that school – is that there just hasn’t been an institution emerge that seems to be the right fit for this conference. I think that the only growth we will every see in this conference if there was an institution that all of the sudden just made absolute sense to everybody. There are a lot of great schools out there and they are in their conferences and doing fine, but just in terms of something that makes a difference in our conference or someone who is a great fit for us, there just hasn’t been anybody out there that makes sense that is available for us right now. So of all the things we talk about in the Big East, that is just one we don’t talk about much, if at all.
Oct 21 2009
NEW YORK -- Big East media day was held this morning at Madison Square Garden. No big news to report, but there was some good discussion material. Most of it centers on the preseason coaches’ poll. This is a season where there is a lot of parity and things can be very close, but I found myself disagreeing with the coaches on a few teams by a couple of spots in the standings.
The results are as follows:
- Villanova
- West Virginia
- Connecticut
- Louisville
- Georgetown
- Syracuse
- Cincinnati
- Notre Dame
- Pitt
- Seton Hall
- St. John’s
- Marquette
- Providence
- South Florida
- Rutgers
- DePaul
Here are my thoughts:
How about Syracuse being picked sixth? I had the Orange pegged for No. 9 behind Pitt. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim lost three players early to the NBA, including point guard Jonny Flynn, the player who made the team go last season. He also lost Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf. Maybe I’m underestimating the players Boeheim brought in to replace those guys. One Big East official told me today that Wesley Johnson, the transfer from Iowa State who practiced with the Orange last season, is capable of being first-team all-Big East at the end of the season. At least Boeheim believes that. That could change things, Boeheim still has a very inexperienced squad.
I also think Cincinnati is kind of underrated at No. 7. Mick Cronin returns his point guard Deonta Vaughn (preseason all-conference) and forward Yancy Gates (all-rookie team after last season). Plus, he signed Lance Stephenson, the preseason rookie of the year and one of the highest-rated recruits in the country. I might be in the minority, but I have Cincinnati finishing in the top five. I know the Bearcats are a newcomer to the Big East hierarchy, so they have to prove it, but I think they can make some noise if Cronin can manage all of the egos on his team.
My dark horse is a lot of other people’s dark horse: Seton Hall. The Pirates were picked to finish 10th, but they might have the best offensive talent in the conference. Coach Bobby Gonzalez returns Jeremy Hazell, who averaged 22.7 points per game, and added a couple of transfers who should make an immediate impact. One of them is former Aliquippa star Herb Pope, who came east after one season at New Mexico State. As is the case with Cronin at Cincinnati, Gonzalez must be able to get enough shots for all of his stars. That’s not always easy and can cause problems if not handled right. But if he does find the right chemistry, the Pirates will be a team to be reckon with.
Your thoughts?
Oct 20 2009
OK, sorry it is a day late but yesterday I had my hands full with a lot of catching up to do. So here you go, the recap of the Pitt-Rutgers game --- won 24-17 by the Panthers -- in terms of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly......
The Good
Well, a win over Rutgers. It was extremely important for the Panthers to get that monkey off their back because the longer a losing streak like that goes, the more it starts to weigh on a team’s mind. Pitt under Dave Wannstedt has not beaten every team in the Big East and that’s a good start.
Building on the win – Pitt is now 16-5 in its last 21 games. At some point this is more than just a lucky team playing weak opponents – the Panthers are a good team and they are a program on the rise. Of course, four of the next five games are against tough opponents so we’ll find out just how good.
Dion Lewis. I remember reading an article about Michael Jordan where the writer wrote something like it was tough to write about him because "how many different ways can you say ‘the guy is great.’" I’m obviously not comparing Lewis to Jordan – but I am indeed running out of ways to say this guy is great. He had 31 carries for 180 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball like a man on a mission in the second half when it counted most. He is a guy who seems to get better as the game rolls on and he gets more carries.
Henry Hynoski – a reader (Jonathan Stem from Shadyside) suggested the nickname Hynoceros for Henry. I’d say that is appropriate given his running style – averaged 5.8 yards per carry on five carries and is the perfect complement to Lewis and Graham. Those little fullback dives/blasts/belly plays (call them whatever you want) are perfect to keep defenses off-balance and a little on their heels and when he gets into the secondary he is lowering the boom. He’s also a physical blocker and he really enjoys and has embraced being a fullback.
Jonathan Baldwin made only one catch – see below for details on that – but boy, that one catch was spectacular – a 17-yard reception on third-and-9 that kept a fourth quarter drive alive. Pitt ended up running 6:53 off the clock and even though Dan Hutchins missed a field goal, really changed the field position. None of it happens if Baldwin doesn’t go up and make this ridiculous grab in the middle of the field. It was clear that Bill Stull was just throwing it up on a wing and a prayer and Baldwin did what great receivers do – he made a play and bailed out the quarterback and offense.
Bill Stull wasn’t perfect but he made some big-time throws under a lot of pressure and he made enough plays to give the Panthers a chance to win the game. This wasn’t his best game, but the one thing he did well was scramble for a couple of first downs and if he can mix that in a little bit here and there it will make the Panthers an even more dangerous offense. He did miss Baldwin and Dorin Dickerson, however, on what should have been long touchdown passes but he’s still making far more throws than he is missing and that’s what you need from your quarterback.
Jarred Holley. I think it is safe to say he’s ready to play safety and ready to be the starter. Holley did give up the 19-yard touchdown pass late in the game but to his credit came to the sidelines and told the coaches he knew exactly the mistake he made. That is impressive for a redshirt freshman, to know a mental mistake and one can assume he’ll correct it. I also think using Holley in that role enables the coaches to use Elijah Fields in what I think is his best role – as the nickel back/bandit linebacker player who comes in on passing downs and in those subpackages. He seems to thrive in that role and he is much better at it than any of the alternatives so Pitt is probably better off with Holley starting anyway.
Dom DeCicco had an unfortunate mishap early – the punt bouncing off his foot and leading to a Rutgers touchdown – but he was named the defensive player of the game by the coaches after recording a team-high 10 tackles, one for loss and an interception. It was clearly DeCicco’s best game of this season and a good sign because if he continues to play like that, the secondary suddenly comes together a little bit.
Max Gruder had ten tackles and seemed to be in position for the most part the entire night. Gruder has steadily improved each week and like DeCicco is a guy that they are counting on to get better and help solidfy the defense.
The two defensive ends attract a lot of attention but frankly, the three defensive tackles – Mick Williams, Gus Mustakas and Myles Caragein – are playing at a very high level this year. Those three make their presence felt in a big way every single week and this week think about this – they combined for three sacks and five tackles for loss. Those are big numbers for defensive tackles because it means they are not only plugging holes, they are making big plays.
Pitt’s fans who made the trip were very loud and made their presence felt – which wasn’t hard considering it looked like the stadium was a little more than half full (I guess a lot of Rutgers fans had Yankees tickets that night) – and some of the players commented about it. In fact one player said there were times in the third and fourth quarter when they swore they were at Heinz Field because they could hear the "Let’s Go Pitt" chant as they were driving or whatever. Hopefully for Pitt’s sake the fans can have a repeat performance this week when the Panthers are actually at Heinz Field.
The Bad
- You are not going to win many games when your middle linebacker makes only one solo tackle and to Adam Gunn’s credit, he was the first to say "I didn’t play well at all and I expect and the team expects a lot more from me" after the game. Gunn wasn’t as bad as he made out to be but he did get lost on a few passing plays and he didn’t make nearly as many tackles and plays as he needs to as the leader of the defense. I’d expect him to rebound in a big way this week against South Florida because he’s one of the most determined players on the team and he’ll do what it takes to get some things sorted out so he doesn’t have another game like that.
- Speaking of being invisible – Pitt’s two defensive ends Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard combined for zero sacks and zero tackles for loss and a total of three tackles between them. That’s not good enough, especially since the defense is predicated on those guys making big plays and pressuring the passer. To their credit, they did knock down a couple of passes but both guys need to turn the heat up a few notches to give this defense a chance to be really good.
- Gruder is one of our favorites in the Redshirt Diaries but man he missed two easy sacks the few times the Panthers actually blitzed. Gruder both times rushed in without being touched had the quarterback dead to rights and then missed the tackle. He’s young and improving so hopefully he’ll make those plays in the future.
- Aaron Smith returning punts has yielded very little other than "he catches the ball", which too his credit he does. But more often than not that is all he does and one he fair caught he had a lot of room to run and another he tripped and fell. Obviously when Cam Saddler returns there will be some competition at this spot but Smith is a better player than he’s showed thus far and needs to get in gear.
THE UGLY
- Bill Stull’s fumble late in the game was a bad decision on his part but I don’t put it one him – I put it on the playcall there. Pitt had just run the ball three times in a row for more than eight yards each time and had gone from its own 19 to the 48. At that point, with a 14-point lead and a defense clearly on its heels – that is when it is time to impose your will as an offense. Pitt had mixed in Hynoski and Lewis and the offensive line was gashing holes in the defense. Keep the train moving forward, keep it rolling. There are times when conservative play calling is going to get you beat – but that’s not conservative when the other team is powerless to stop you – that’s just finishing a game.
- Like Stull’s fumble, a lot of people blamed DeCicco for the punt that hit his foot. But Dave Wannstedt said it yesterday and it is true – when the punt returner is on the 10 and the ball hits on the 12 – that’s on him and Aaron Smith needed to fair catch that thing as he’s the only one on the field from Pitt who can see where it is coming down.
- I’m not sure what is worse – the fact that Pitt had a punt blocked or the fact that the head coach – who is also the special teams coordinator – admitted that the Panthers weren’t expecting Rutgers to try and block it and thus didn’t call an appropriate protection scheme. Um, the score was 24-10 and it was late in the third quarter why would you expect anything differently? At any rate, the Panthers survived the blocked punt and while I get the whole rugby punt thing that every team seems to do now, you have to be far more careful in these situations late in a game with a lead.
- Dan Hutchins was the hero the week before with the game-winning field goal but he would have been a huge goat had the Panthers lost this game in overtime. The first field goal was a 42-yarder from the hash – one he can make but certainly not automatic. Missing that one is forgiveable. The second one, however, to seal the win was not forgiveable. Pitt ran almost seven minutes off the clock and even ran the ball into the middle of the field setting up a 30-yarder to give the Panthers a 10-point lead with two minutes and change to play – you have to make it 100 times out of 100. Hutchins has been good as a punter and for the most part reliable as a kicker but a lot of these next five games are going to be close, tough, hard fought games and he’s going to be asked to make some big kicks in tougher spots so he needs to regroup and get it together quickly. The defense bailed him out this time but next time might not be able too.
- Jovanni Chappel dropped an easy pick six, which would have ended the game. Those are plays you have to make – you don’t get those touchdowns handed to you on a platter like that very often so when you do, you need to make the other team pay.
- He picked up the fumble so that was a start, but what in the world was Antwuan Reed thinking in trying to pick up the fumble and run with it in that situation? My goodness, it is fourth down and one stop wins the game – jump on the ball and be sure about it. I give him credit for holding on because he took a big shot when he picked it up, but that play was a lot scarier than it needed to be had he just pounced on the ball on the ground.
Oct 19 2009
Dallas Mavericks owner and Mt. Lebanon native Mark Cuban will speak to Pitt students at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday at the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.
The talk will center around his life and business ventures, including the Mavericks, 2929 Entertainment, HDNet and Broadcast.com. An avid basketball fan, Cuban has attended several Pitt home games at the Petersen Events Center and once donned an Oakland Zoo T-shirt.
The event is free for all Pitt undergraduates. Tickets are available at the Pitt Program Council window of the William Pitt Union Ticket Office. For more information, visit www.pitt.edu/ppc or call 412-648-7900 or email ppc@pitt.edu.
Cuban will be in town with the Mavericks, who play LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in an exhibition game Tuesday night at the Petersen Events Center.
Oct 17 2009
It was the victory that Dave Wannstedt and Pitt’s players and fans have waited for since 2004.
We all know the storyline going into the game – Rutgers had owned Pitt over the past four years – and the Panthers put that streak to rest with a 24-17 win at Rutgers Stadium on Friday night.
It wasn’t pretty, the Panthers leave a lot to be desired and it was far closer than it needed to be but then again – should we expect anything less.
The Panthers need to quit squandering so many opportunities, quit leaving so many points on the field and need to do a better job of putting teams away than they did tonight.
But it was a victory, nonetheless, and the Panthers (6-1, 3-0) now are poised to play host to South Florida (5-1, 1-1) Saturday in one of the biggest games to played at Heinz Field in quite some time.
At any rate, here are some notes in the aftermath of this game, about the Panthers.
** I think seven games in it is time to stop saying "well, it is early" and just say, this kid Dion Lewis can play. All you need to know about how good this guy really has been is this – Dave Wannstedt who almost never says anything complimentary – or at least over the top complimentary --- about freshman finally gave in after the game and said in short "yeah, he’s something special." The kid carried the Panthers in this game as he rushed 31 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns. His 58-yard run which turned out to be the deciding points was a big-time run in a big-time spot. Incidentally, he now has 60 points on this season – 12 less than Larry Fitzgerald had as a freshman (Fitzgerald scored 72 points, the third highest total in school history for a freshman) and 30 less than the school record of 90 held by LeSean McCoy. There are five games left plus the bowl game – you think he might score at least six more touchdowns to break that record? I know where my money is on that one. This was Lewis’s third 150-yard (or more) rushing game.
** Dorin Dickerson has really become an important player for this offense. I know, "thanks captain obvious" but he made a couple of big plays in this game, including a touchdown reception to cap Pitt’s first drive. It his eighth touchdown reception, the most for a Panthers player since Oderick Turner in 2006 and the most for a Pitt tight end since 2003 when Kris Wilson had nine. Something tells me that, with six games remaining (five plus the bowl) Dickerson will get at least one more.
** He was the hero of last week’s game, but kicker Dan Hutchins was almost the goat this week. He missed a field goal attempt of 30 yards with 2:31 remaining which would have put Pitt up 27-17 and sealed the win. Instead, the Panthers had to sweat out the victory as they relied on the defense to make a play to stop Rutgers potential game-tying scoring drive. Hutchins also missed a 42-yarder earlier in the game and that was his first miss of the season so chalk it up to a bad day at the office. He did, however, kick a career-long 45-yarder and that kick was actually Pitt’s longest field goal since Conor Lee hit a 48-yarder in the upset of West Virginia at the end of the 2007 season.
** Pitt’s defense missed some plays but did a nice job of shutting down the Scarlet Knights when it mattered most. The Panthers also held Rutgers to only 38 yards rushing on 20 carries, which is the third time this season they have limited an opposing offense to less than 100 yards (Youngstown State had 46 yards, Buffalo had 67 yards). They also held Louisville to 101 yards and Connecticut 106 yards. So the defense has some work to do but it appears as if the Panthers are pretty good at stopping the run right now and that is a good start.
** Safety Dom DeCicco had a gaffe early – he failed to get away from a punt (you know the whole "poison, poison" thing kids learn in Pee Wee football and relearn it at every level up to the NFL…..) and it led to Rutgers first touchdown. But he rebounded with an excellent game – ten tackles and he had his sixth career interception.
** Bill Stull finished the Connecticut with nine consecutive completions and began this one with seven consecutive completions. Add that up – he completed 16 consecutive passes.
** Pitt made too many mistakes to beat a good team, something Rutgers right now is not. The Panthers had five penalties, lost two fumbles, missed two field goals, there were at least four potential sacks the Panthers failed to complete, Pitt had a punt blocked and Jovanni Chappel dropped an easy pick six. Those are the kinds of mistakes that stand between Pitt being a really good team and Pitt winning by the skin of its teeth against teams like Connecticut and Rutgers, which are both likely to struggle this year because they have some youth at key positions.
** Cornerback Aaron Berry did not play due to a shoulder injury and Ricky Gary filled in and played well for the most part. Gary did get a pass interference call and gave up a couple of passes but he didn't get beat over the top. Also, safety Elijah Fields returned from his ankle injury and while he didn't start, he did make some plays. Jarred Holley started in his place and played well enough that perhaps it might be time to think about making him the full-time starter. He did get beat on the 19-yard touchdown pass by Tim Brown late in the game but he made a mental mistake and told coaches after the play that he knew what he did wrong -- which means he gets it. Here is the other thought about that -- if he starts, it enables Fields to move to that hybrid/bandit linebacker type position and I think that suits his skill set perfectly because he can cover like a corner and he is the size of a linebacker. He did a good job in those subpackages in this game.
** Mick Williams said after the game that two items which added a little something extra for the defense was a pre-game speech by Gus Mustakas in which he talked about selling out on every play and the fact that linebacker’s coach Joe Tumpkin coached with a heavy heart because his grandmother died. "We wanted to give a shout out to him and his family because they are going through some stuff," Williams said.
Quotable:
Max Gruder: "There were some sleepless nights [thinking about getting torched last year for 54 points]. We knew we wanted to come here and really pull this one out because they won four in a row on us. We knew we had to come in here and play well."
Dave Wannstedt: "It has been a long time coming and I am very happy for our seniors. These kids have worked extremely hard over the past four years to try and build this program up and make it a program that not only they would be proud of but the University would be proud of and the city. But I say this from a coaching standpoint – we have not played our best football. We can play a lot better."
"I think our guys were pretty confident. Really to be honest with you, I sensed that after the Louisville game. The Louisville game in the locker room was probably about as emotional as I have seen it in this football team. We’re down to Louisville at the half and came back and won. These kids expect to win and they know they have enough talent to win."
Dorin Dickerson: "
Greg Schiano:
Mick Williams: "
I think the key for us is this – when you can win a game and not play your best or have to fight through as many mistakes as we did to do it and still win, it shows that you are a good team. We’re a good football team when we play well, the key is playing well all the time."
"[Struggling to stop Pitt on third down] is not like us. I thought [Pitt] did a very good job. Protection-wise they did a good job. We got to [Bill Stull] a few times and hit him but he was still able to get the ball off."
[The last drive] We wanted to seal the deal. We haven’t beat this team in, I don’t know how long. We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here. We did what we wanted to do and we brought this win back home."
Oct 16 2009
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- The first half was, well, it was interesting to say the least. It was also a clinic in bad, or more accurately, dumb, football by both teams.
Dumb penalties, mental mistakes, turnovers and an officiating crew that seems to have no idea what they are doing as every penalty flag thrown seems to bring out a Keystone Kops like moment in them as they huddle, then huddle some more…..
It has not been the finest moment for Big East football. The good news for Pitt is that the Panthers are leading the game. But missed opportunities – like a missed field goal and a ball overthrown to Dorin Dickerson for a touchdown – could come back to haunt the Panthers in the second half.
Things to watch for in the second half….
- Pitt is running a lot on first down and that is leaving the Panthers in second and long and playing right into the hands of Rutgers defense. The Panthers need to start throwing on first some in order to set up some shorter yardage situations on second and third down. They did it a little bit on the scoring drive that put them ahead 17-7 and it helped slow down the blitz a little bit.
- Rutgers didn’t blitz as much early in the game but started to and it clearly gave the Panthers some problems. That begs the question – where are all the screen passes Frank Cignetti talked about in the preseason?
- Mistakes obviously always change games, but the Panthers need to avoid the killer ones that allow quick, easy scores – like Rutgers first touchdown of the game.
- Pitt is getting absolutely no pressure on Tom Savage and it has allowed him to make some plays throwing the football. If the Panthers don’t do a better job of it in the second half I think the Scarlet Knights will make some big plays in the passing game against the Panthers secondary.
- Dan Hutchins missed one field goal but came right back and made a 45-yarder and that is a good thing because it seems like they’ll need him in the second half to make some big kicks under pressure.
- Rutgers has had three different guys take direct snaps and Pitt has for the most part not been fooled. The first time the Scarlet Knights went to the Wildcat, however, it went for a touchdown but that had as much to do with Mohamed Sanu making a great play and just being a ridiculous athlete as it did anything with the formation.
- Max Gruder has had a chance to get two sacks and missed them both. This defense needs to make big plays when it has a chance and it has instead made a lot of mistakes and really dumb penalties. The Panthers better clean this up or it is going to be a long second half.
- Pitt better get Rutgers this year because the next few could be tough sledding as it looks to me like the Scarlet Knights have some extremely talented young players who, with a little experience, will become dangerous players.
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