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.
Posted
Oct 20 2009, 01:57 PM
by
Paul Zeise
Filed under: paul zeise, pitt football, dave wannstedt, pitt panthers, Bill Stull, Pitt, Jonathan Baldwin, Big East football, good bad & ugly, Pittsburgh Panthers, Pitt Panthers, Pitt Panthers football, Dave Wannstedt, Pitt football, Adam Gunn, Elijah Fields, Dion Lewis, Pitt Panther, Elijah Fields, Greg Romeus, Pitt Panthers Football, Adam Gunn'