Pitt beat UConn 24-21 in dramatic fashion Saturday and while the Panthers struggled in the first half, they showed a lot of resolve in the second half and it could be the kind of win that the Panthers draw on late in the season when they get in another tight situation in the fourth quarter.
That being said, let's take a look at The Good, Bad and Ugly from the Connecticut game.....
The Good
** Coming from down 15 points against a good defensive team and doing it the way the Panthers did it was impressive. As I’ve written before – the Panthers needed three drives (and a two-point conversion) and also needed the defense to pitch a fourth-quarter shut-out and they got it done. It is one thing to come from behind when the other team hands you a turnover or makes a mistake and allows a long touchdown. But when you drive 68 yards or more three times in a row – well, that’s when the other team needs to tip its hat and say “you won because you deserved to.” Good teams find a way when they don’t play their best and the Panthers certainly can play a lot better than they did Saturday – but they won despite that.
** Dan Hutchins. Like I wrote before – I think he answered any lingering questions about his ability to kick under pressure with his game winner. He had a total of ten points and as important as the game winner, he showed he has a little bit of range with the 42-yard field goal earlier in the game. And it goes without saying that his punting has been tremendous this year as he really is good at kicking directionally and pinning teams. Hutchins doesn’t have the strongest leg we’ve seen but he is accurate and dependable and consistent and those things are far more important.
** Bill Stull became the leader of this team in the third quarter after he threw the pick six and then watched the Huskies take a 21-6 lead. Consider this – On the final three drives, Stull was 10-for-10, 143 yards and two touchdowns and he also completed the two-point conversion to Cedric McGee. That is championship-level quarterback play.
** I’m out of words to describe how good Ray Graham and Dion Lewis are and have been. For those two kids, freshman less than halfway through their first season, to perform at such a high level with so much at stake on Saturday was impressive. These two are special players and frankly Pitt fans should be excited at the prospects of watching them for the next three or four years. I think the thing that is most impressive is their toughness, how hard they run and how hard they play. A lot of times freshman are still learning how to play physical and play consistently tough but these two haven’t had a problem with that transition at all.
** Nate Byham and Mike Shanahan showed that on top of the known weapons like Jonathan Baldwin and Dorin Dickerson, this team can beat defenses in a lot of ways. Byham and Shanahan both had clutch catches and big runs after the catch. This is the best complete set of skill position players – receivers, tight ends, backs – that Pitt has had since I started covering them in 2002.
** Jarred Holley and Myles Caragein showed up and made some very big plays. The stars – Mick Williams, Gus Mustakas, Jabaal Sheard, Greg Romeus and Adam Gunn – on defense also showed up in a big way but the two young kids played very, very important roles filling in for injuries and both played extremely well.
** Pitt’s offensive line. I know there are two great defensive fronts on the horizon for this group but the line has played consistently well. John Malecki and Joe Thomas have been rock solid on this unit and Jason Pinkston has performed at an all-conference level so far. Lucas Nix has a big upside and continues to improve and Robb Houser has been consistent, which is what they need from him. This unit should get better each week and if it stays healthy should be one of the best in the conference by the end of the season.
** Dave Wannstedt – Say whatever want to about him – and judging from my e-mails some of you have a lot to say – but he seems to have finally got this thing rolling. And I think the six come-from-behind wins over the past two seasons says a lot about the toughness of this team and it also says something about the fact that he hasn’t panicked. Pitt is 15-5 in its last 20 games and there are a lot of good wins in there. He deserves credit for a lot of that and for recruiting a lot of the players. I think he’s done a good job of building a good foundation for the program to become a consistent Big East contender.
The Bad
** Falling behind a team like Connecticut by 15 points when the game should have been over by the middle of the second quarter. Pitt dropped a touchdown pass (Dion Lewis) on the first drive, missed a touchdown pass on the second drive (Bill Stull missed a wide open Jonathan Baldwin in the endzone) and missed a touchdown pass on the third drive (Stull overthrew Nate Byham in the endzone on the third drive then didn’t see him wide open in the endzone when he threw the interception in the endzone). Pitt should have been ahead 21-0 at that point – and the game would have been over given Connecticut’s limitations – but instead led only 3-0.
** Ricky Gary got beat on the Huskies long touchdown pass and unfortunately that continues a trend in which Pitt is giving up big plays in the passing game far too often this season. I don’t know if Gary thought he had help or not, but Connecticut’s receiver ran right past him and it was an easy throw and catch.
** They had three tries from inside the 2 down on the goal line at the end of the game and had to settle for a field goal. The unintended good part of that was they ran out the clock and kicked a field goal as time expired but punching it in is something this team needs to do better at. Twice earlier in the game the Panthers had first-and-goals – a first-and-goal at the 3 in the first half and a first-and-goal from the 8 in the third quarter – and they couldn’t punch it in those two times either. So the goal-to-go package, whatever it is (and again, the fact that Jonathan Baldwin isn’t on the field for most of it is mind boggling) needs some definite tweaking.
** Pitt’s defense got the stops it needed late in the game. But that doesn’t forgive this – trailing 14-6 in the third quarter and needing a stop, the Panthers allowed Connecticut to march 61 yards on eight plays – seven of those eight for 40 of those 61 yards were running plays – and score to go up 21-6. The fact that Connecticut was able to run right at the Panthers and have this kind of success is a little bit alarming because that is not supposed to happen.
The Ugly
** Pitt has cleaned up the penalties significantly but still took a few really dumb ones – none worse than Nate Byham’s 15-yard penalty that erased about half of Dion Lewis’s 60+ yard run late in the third quarter. The penalty was bad on several levels, specifically that it took place BEHIND the play and thus there was no reason for Byham to “block” (he said he just blocked the guy and the guy fell down). Pitt eventually scored on that drive but that’s the kind of penalty you absolutely cannot take in a close game.
** The fade pattern to Jonathan Baldwin was poorly thrown. I also didn’t like it being called on third down in that situation. Despite that, Baldwin probably should have drawn a pass interference penalty – the ref explained to Pitt’s sideline that the ball was “uncatchable” which was a little strange considering Baldwin did catch the ball with one hand but was pushed out of bounds. This is a play that Pitt needs to continue to develop, particularly since the Panthers have failed in these short yardage goal line situations – even when they give the ball to Henry Hynoski.
** I know that there are a lot of great Pitt fans who are loyal to their team and root for them and support them and stick by them. This is not about that group and you know who you are. And frankly, they were the ones who remained at Heinz Field even after Bill Stull threw his pick six and frankly, the stadium was electric in the fourth quarter because the crowd was really into the game.
But here is the shocking reality – the Panthers were 4-1 coming into this game (so the, “Pitt isn’t very good” excuse doesn’t fly), it was at 3:30 (not noon so the ‘we were hung over’ or ‘we had youth sports in the morning’ excuses don’t fly), it was a beautiful day (so the “bad weather” was not an excuse), Matt Cavanaugh works for the Jets now (so the “this offense is boring and unimaginative” excuse doesn’t fly) and the Panthers were playing their Big East home opener against a solid team that always gives them fits (so the “we didn’t want to pay money for a bad game” excuse is bunk as well) – yet there were only 44,000 and some change in attendance.
That is embarrassing for a program of this level.
And just to put that into perspective, Rutgers…Rutgers for crying out loud…..drew 51,000 and some change Saturday for their home game against the Texas-Pan American Southern El Paso West Canaan Coyotes or whoever the heck they played. Oh I know, but, but, but – “that was their homecoming game.” Give me a break. There is no good reason there shouldn’t have been 55,000 to 60,000 at Heinz Field on Saturday. That was a shame to see because this team deserves better (and the quarterback at this point deserves better than he got from a few – and it was only a few but a few too many -- of you as well). The team is 15-5 in its last 20 games – that isn’t too shabby by any standard and it is amazing that more fans are interested in watching it play.
** Of course, worse than that was the number of people (stop sending me e-mails that I must be making things up because I work for a “paper with a Penn State agenda” because you just sound silly and you know who you are) who hit the exits as soon as the Panthers fell two touchdowns behind. The ones who stayed behind were loud and into the game but you’d hope more people would stay around to watch a team that has made a habit of coming from behind and winning these days.
** The N.C. State loss looks worse and worse every week. As we said leading up to the game and even after it – N.C. State is mediocre team, at best, and now we’re starting to think we were even too generous in that assessment. The reality of that situation is this – N.C. State has played four Division I-A opponents – South Carolina, Pitt, Wake Forest and Duke and well, lost to three of those four. Saturday they got blown out, at home, by Duke – the same Duke which lost to Richmond……
Posted
Oct 13 2009, 01:36 PM
by
Paul Zeise
Filed under: paul zeise, pitt football, dave wannstedt, Bill Stull, Panthers, Pitt, good bad & ugly, John Malecki, Pitt football, Dion Lewis, Pitt Panthers Football