2019-2020 Pitt Super Panther Sports Thread (With a New Logo)

[dodint]

Hey, production team, it looks like rain, I'm going to need a hat.

Any hat?

Yeah, sure, whatever, just get me a hat.

Alrighty...

[skullman80]

Haha. That lady does look rediculous.

Also only getting 3 points out of that turnovers is bad.

[slappybrown]

It’s very apparent that the U can’t win this game without significant assistance from Pitt. Which is basically the ideal situation for a Pitt opponent to be in.

[dodint]

Yeah guys, I can't figure out why Pitt isn't ranked either.

[skullman80]

This defense is real good.

[Faubert5]

How many times can you have backs running into each other in your own backfield?

[shafnutz05]

This Miami offense is absolutely putrid

[dodint]

Oh, Pitt, honey...

Also, shaf, lulz.

[shafnutz05]

Ffrench may have had a touchdown had he caught that... And then Pickett takes a sack. Brutal.

[dodint]

Press F for Fffffffffrench.

[Faubert5]

Heinz Field - where bad teams come to beat average to good home teams.

[skullman80]

There is the Pitt I know.

[willeyeam]

Got way too conservative on the next to last possession. Take a shot.. worst case on an incompletion Miami is getting it back with 2:10 and 3 TOs instead of 2, which really doesn't matter. That was an okay possession of you're up 4, or if they don't have TOs, or if there's a minute left. Not the case... Really bad possession

[Dickie Dunn]

Narduzzi is a **** loser.

[willeyeam]

My WR and TE grades have been revised to F------

[willeyeam]

On top of it all, Pitt wins if they don't call that BS block in the back. **** that

[willeyeam]

Louisville is beating UVA too god damnit

[Stoosh]

I'd be angry about the loss today if I hadn't already been half-expecting it. 22 years of watching this team lose games like this almost year after year will do that. Even the best teams have a game or maybe even two every year where things just don't come together and they play like complete crap. Some teams can overcome it; Pitt just doesn't. If it's not Miami this year, it's UNC in any year, or Akron in 2014, or just about any game against UConn, or Mike Teel Career Day against Rutgers.

It's especially frustrating because Pitt beat itself today. There's really not much more to it. Miami has good players, but they're not a particularly good team. Pitt's defense is terrific; it honestly may be one of the best 15 defenses from top to bottom in FBS college football this year. But your margin for error can't possibly be "don't surrender any splash plays...like, at all" against a team with athletes like Miami and expect to win. You can't get inside the 20 three times, come away with just nine points, and expect to win.

This team hasn't scored a f'ing touchdown in six quarters. For the record, I think Whipple is mostly fine as offensive coordinator. I just don't believe he has a ton to work with. AJ Davis seems too slow to get to the hole too often and to this point he hasn't showcased any sort of breakaway speed. V'Lique Carter (and Vincent Davis, at least for this year) isn't strong enough to run consistently between the tackles and this team doesn't run block well enough to give him the time to run stretch plays effectively. Todd Sibley breaks off a 33-yard run today on his first carry, then inexplicably doesn't see a carry for a quarter and a half and now he's hurt.

Taysir Mack & Maurice Ffrench are the only remotely established wideouts that this team has. Eight games into the season, not one of the other 13 other rostered wideouts that I know aren't hurt (Tipton, Gipson) have emerged as even an occasional threat, let alone consistent contributors unless you count Aaron Mathews. I'm starting to wonder if any of them even exist. Unlike last year, this team has been throwing the ball.

And that leaves Pickett. I think he's a gutsy quarterback, but he made some bad reads, bad decisions, and bad throws today. He's all over the place with his footwork. He throws behind his receivers on crossing/slant routes more than any Pitt QB I've seen in a long time. Unfortunately today, when he did throw some of his receivers open, they flat-out dropped the ball on several big occasions.

With a lot of these pieces coming back next year, maybe there's still room for growth but man, I just really hoped to see more of it by now this season. Speaking of next year...

Whatever metrics were used to evaluate previous coaches like John Peterson, Kevin Sherman, Josh Conklin, and Shawn Watson better be used to evaluate Tim Salem this offseason, because the tight end position has been an absolute black hole of suck since Scott Orndoff graduated. I know Watson didn't even realize the position existed and they're paying the price now for that on the field and in recruiting, but this is ridiculous. Will Gragg being the best of the bunch over the last three years speaks volumes. Nakia Griffin-Stewart would drop the ball if you handed it to him at this point. There are four games left so if Kyi Wright is remotely ready, I wouldn't mind seeing him at some point because he honestly cannot be any worse.

Oh well. On to Georgia Tech. At least we don't have to watch the f'ing triple option this year.

[LeopardLetang]

I can't follow that great content but my quick thoughts are: F.

Miami's oline was excellent really. And Pitt's was poor. Instead of a strength the line play was a wash. Pitt still had great dline play and the D was great but Miami's D was better, relatively. There is very little to speak of with Pitt's offense. They're in big need of a #1 Pitt like receiver and #1 running back and agreed a TE. This was a bummer

Like ulf said... wanted a pass or roll scramble on that 3rd down.

[willeyeam]

Pitt outgained Miami 322-208. Pitts defense was much better. Pitt beat them in pretty much every aspect of the game except turnovers and getting points on the board

[genoscoif]

Got way too conservative on the next to last possession. Take a shot.. worst case on an incompletion Miami is getting it back with 2:10 and 3 TOs instead of 2, which really doesn't matter. That was an okay possession of you're up 4, or if they don't have TOs, or if there's a minute left. Not the case... Really bad possession

Brutal. Absolutely played not to lose when they had chance to slam the door on the game. With Miami having their TOs, you needed to play for the first down. The time left wasn't the factor...the posession was. Keep posession and win the game. Nard dog coaches as if he has no confidence in the unit on the field. The word gutless comes to mind.

Having said that...can a Pitt WR, TE, or RB actually catch a ball that hits them in the hands?!? Ffrench might still be running if he makes that catch on their last ditch effort.

Oh, and Paris Ford is an absolute stud.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Got way too conservative on the next to last possession. Take a shot.. worst case on an incompletion Miami is getting it back with 2:10 and 3 TOs instead of 2, which really doesn't matter. That was an okay possession of you're up 4, or if they don't have TOs, or if there's a minute left. Not the case... Really bad possession

Brutal. Absolutely played not to lose when they had chance to slam the door on the game. With Miami having their TOs, you needed to play for the first down. The time left wasn't the factor...the posession was. Keep posession and win the game. Nard dog coaches as if he has no confidence in the unit on the field. The word gutless comes to mind.

Having said that...can a Pitt WR, TE, or RB actually catch a ball that hits them in the hands?!? Ffrench might still be running if he makes that catch on their last ditch effort.

Oh, and Paris Ford is an absolute stud.

Consider that pitt was 9/20 on the day on third down conversions. Most of those conversions were in similar situations i.e. 3rd and midrange. At no point earlier in the game did they try to run in that third and midrange situation. I know that there were multiple drops in recent possessions but honestly, why would anyone rely on AJ Davis to get a 5 yard conversion on 3rd down in that situation?

THat being said it was a team loss and there isnt a group that wasn’t culpable. Even the defensive line deserves some blame. They needed to come up with a big play on that last drive and they produced no stops.

[Stoosh]

Brutal. Absolutely played not to lose when they had chance to slam the door on the game. With Miami having their TOs, you needed to play for the first down. The time left wasn't the factor...the posession was. Keep posession and win the game. Nard dog coaches as if he has no confidence in the unit on the field. The word gutless comes to mind.

Having said that...can a Pitt WR, TE, or RB actually catch a ball that hits them in the hands?!? Ffrench might still be running if he makes that catch on their last ditch effort.

Oh, and Paris Ford is an absolute stud.

The coaching staff's annoying tendency over the last few years of coaching not to lose instead of coaching to win was discussed quite a bit on the post-game shows.

Something else I wondered about. The FG to make it 12-10 came at the end of a 15-play drive. Excluding the two penalties and the FG, it included 12 running plays and just 1 pass play. When they got the ball to try to kill the clock, their 3-and-out was three run plays.

They completely took the ball out of Pickett's hands. They didn't give him any sort of run-pass option. There was no attempt to even run play-action and catch Miami off-guard. I know Pickett struggled for much of the game and the running game was there to at least some degree, but it makes me wonder how much confidence Whipple and Narduzzi really have in Pickett.

Peak has said since the Delaware game that this team has been living dangerously all year...that they can't expect to keep playing these teams close and getting favorable result after favorable result. This team does some things very, very well - especially on defense - but they are awful when it comes to taking control of a game early and maintaining control of it throughout.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

That is correct

[willeyeam]

I immediately regret thinking about this but uh, how do we look with the Coastal tiebreakers?