5AF's 2018-19 Premier Pittsburgh Super Panthers Football Thread (and Basketball)

[slappybrown]

I think Millin has been pretty good.

Hargrove has played a lot of snaps at guard (and is going to wind up starting three games, the U, ACCCG, and the bowl game), so they are really looking at blooding three new guys.

Van Lynn has played the most snaps as an extra tackle, so it seems like he is penciled in as one of the tackles for next year.

Van Lynn -- Ford -- Morrissey -- Hargrove -- Drake Jr./Huoy

Drake is listed at 6'5", 315, and had offers from Oklahoma and a bunch of other blue blood programs. He needs to come through at one of those tackle spots. He'll be in his third year in the program.

[Freddy Rumsen]

I agree with you both, I am just noting what will happen, imho.

[willeyeam]

I don't think the line will be as big of a problem as some think. Besides a 4 game stretch of run game dominance, they've sucked out loud all year. There are some decent recruits behind this year's starters that should at worst also suck out loud.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Van Lynn is way, way too skinny to play OL at this point.

[Dickie Dunn]

I don't know when it happened but Van Lynn is actually listed as a TE now on the official roster.

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Another reason I stopped listening to my dad about football. He told me on Thursday that Pitt will beat Clemson.

[slappybrown]

I don't know when it happened but Van Lynn is actually listed as a TE now on the official roster.

Probably when Sear Jesse James'd it.

[willeyeam]

Another reason I stopped listening to my dad about football. He told me on Thursday that Pitt will beat Clemson.

your dad is a wise man and should consider joining 5af

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Another reason I stopped listening to my dad about football. He told me on Thursday that Pitt will beat Clemson.

your dad is a wise man and should consider joining 5af

He said years ago that he'd take Romo over Roethlisberger in a playoff game. He posted on LGP, he still might...

[meow]

Can we trade LBL for LBL's dad?

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Better ban him from the politics thread if you do. He's nobody level

[meow]

I've never set foot in there so idc

[willeyeam]

motion to send LBL to LGP in exchange for LBL Sr.

[slappybrown]

Better ban him from the politics thread if you do. He's nobody level

Is he Humperdink?

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

Better ban him from the politics thread if you do. He's nobody level

Is he Humperdink?

His user name is/was jf

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

motion to send LBL to LGP in exchange for LBL Sr.

Does that mean I have to go back to iliketurtles?

[meow]

motion to send LBL to LGP in exchange for LBL Sr.

Does that mean I have to go back to iliketurtles?

don't care

[DigitalGypsy66]

Dabo is doing is weekly lathering up the opponent:

"Pittsburgh is a tough, physical team. It's just who they are. They come right at you. It's 3 runs to every pass and you've got to stop it." Panthers have two RBs over 925 yards this season.

https://twitter.com/ericjboynton/status ... 1503745025

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Pitt all conference players:

2nd team:
RB Qadree Ollison Sr. Pitt
OT Stefano Millin Sr. Pitt

3rd team:
RB Darrin Hall Sr. Pitt
OG Mike Herndon Sr. Pitt 59
C Jimmy Morrissey So. Pitt 47
PK Alex Kessman So. Pitt 30

Honorable mention:
TE George Aston Sr. Pitt 25
AP Maurice Ffrench Jr. Pitt 35
OT Alex Bookser Sr. Pitt 45
OG Connor Dintino Sr. Pitt 58
CB Dane Jackson Jr. Pitt 57
S Damar Hamlin Jr. Pitt 32
SP Maurice Ffrench Jr. Pitt 53

[Dickie Dunn]

Good lord. How does a bad offensive line get every starting player as at least an HM?

[slappybrown]

Dabo is doing is weekly lathering up the opponent:

"Pittsburgh is a tough, physical team. It's just who they are. They come right at you. It's 3 runs to every pass and you've got to stop it." Panthers have two RBs over 925 yards this season.

https://twitter.com/ericjboynton/status ... 1503745025

Its a pretty accurate take.

The unsaid part is that Clemson has the best D-line in the country, and its not gonna go well as a result.

[Stoosh]

Echoing the same thoughts as everyone else about the Miami game.

The ND game and the subsequent run up until the Miami game salvaged some of the faith that I previously lost in Narduzzi and his ability to lead the program. It's largely a testament to the mediocrity of the program, but if we go back to 1991 when Pitt joined the Big East, this season counts among three of their best modern-era seasons, joining 2004 when they backed into the Big East title/Fiesta Bowl, and 2009, when they won 10 and finished 15th but defined the season with a loss because they kicked it to f'ing Gilyard.

There may be a few individual exceptions (Sear) this year, but Narduzzi never seemed to lose the team as evidenced by the way they played down the stretch. They controlled their own destiny with the Division title and while it IS just a division title, the fact that they rose up and took it is an achievement for a program that has become defined by always falling a bit short. It's progress in a relatively modest sense, but it's progress and I'm hoping that it translates into more success on the recruiting trail. Quite frankly, it needs to because...

Unfortunately, the Miami game reinforced what this team is - a flawed team that does a few things very well and is not so good at the rest. In games against similar teams, they were able to overcome that. In games where the roster talent and/or coaching was considerably better, well, not so much. The offensive line's pass blocking issues, Pickett's struggles with consistency, the receivers' struggles with getting separation and Shawn Watson's struggles with creativity all resurfaced in a big way against Miami.

I'll start with the latter. Unless he completely changes my mind in the ACCCG and bowl game, I see no reason to retain Shawn Watson, though I know they likely will. The effectiveness of the running game most of the year masked gameplans that tended to be as creative as the playbooks in the original Tecmo Bowl game. In 20+ years of Pitt fandom, I've NEVER seen a passing game this limited by design and that includes the Majors II era and 2007 when Stull got hurt & they had to go with Kevan Smith, true freshman Pat Bostick and Shady out of the wildcat.

Looking beyond this year, I have no idea what to expect. I think the defense is in relatively good shape. It's not a lockdown defense by any means, but they've gotten noticeably better as a unit since the first half of the season and I'm comfortable with everything coming back. To be honest, I think there are opportunities to get better as some of the coaching staff's favorite veterans are moving on.

The offense is a huge issue, it starts up front and I don't know how they fix it. What scares me about the depth is stuff like this - they didn't have an adequate RT to start the season, so they moved Bookser from RG to RT despite the fact that he clearly struggled with a pass rush at RT. Hargrove never got better than Bookser was at RT, so Herndon-Bookser at RG-RT was always a better option to the coaches than Bookser at his best position (RG) and Hargrove at the position he's expected to play.

That said, it's tough to say what to expect going forward because we've seen relatively little of the underclassmen. OL development and projections are tricky because there's often such a huge disparity between an FBS-caliber OL recruit and the kids he's playing against in high school. A few years ago, Pitt had a three-star TE whose only other FBS offer was from Tulane; they turned Brian O'Neill into a two-time all-ACC tackle and a 2nd round NFL draft pick. They have other players on the current roster that could make a similar move, something I like to see because their footwork may be better than some of the traditional OL recruits. This is where I wish CFB allowed for spring/preseason scrimmages against other teams.

At the skill positions, again, who knows. The RB situation with Hall, Ollison and Aston all moving on is honestly concerning but only from a familiarity standpoint. Salahuddin looked good in the very limited time he got. I was hoping to see Davis more this year, but he made some mistakes with blitz pickups earlier so it sounds like the coaches don't have much confidence in him just yet. Powell is a good RB coach so I'm not too worried here.

The passing game has to get better and this is where I still hope they make a change. Some of the struggles there were probably the result of shoddy pass blocking but this is something that hasn't gotten better over nearly two full seasons. Watson appears to be completely allergic to routes over the middle, despite having a few receivers who appear capable of doing damage on short-to-medium crosses. Maybe they don't trust Pickett with those and if so, that's a huge problem. If the receivers still aren't getting open, that's a coaching problem and maybe it's time to move on from Sherman.

It's frustrating because you see what most other teams do across the college football landscape, and then you see Pitt being forced in some cases to win games by literally running the ball on almost every play of an entire quarter because they just don't trust their passing game. It's the flip side of what happened in 2016...where they could have potentially won 10 or even 11 games if the defense was just AVERAGE It's even more frustrating this season because the gaping hole that was the defense earlier in the season actually did get better.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

imo at this point the "wr creating separation" concept is not a thing. mack ffrench and rara all have been able to get open. to a lesser extent shocky and Mathews have gotten open. its not a wr problem.

[Dickie Dunn]

Some actual depth chart changes this week.

WR: Mack, Mathews, Shocky (who I wish they would have redshirted)
WR: Ffrench, Butler-Jenkins, Smith
TE: Van Lynn, Carrigan
LT: Millin, Houy
LG: Hargrove, Ford
RG: Herndon, Ford
RT: Bookser, Drake Jr.

That TE two-deep is hilarious. I'm sure this is just what Gragg expected when he transferred from Arkansas.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

gragg leads the tight ends in both receptions and receiving yards. I don't know why he wouldn't be happy with that.