2020-2021 Pittsburgh Super Panthers Sports Thread

[Freddy Rumsen]

I watch through the ESPN App on my tv.

[LeopardLetang]

Can you watch them after the game is played or only live

[Freddy Rumsen]

You can watch later.

[slappybrown]

Whipple is not good imo

[willeyeam]

He's somewhat handcuffed at QB imo, I give him an incomplete. Pickett is average

[Dickie Dunn]

I think Pickett is better than they let him be, Whipple just doesn’t trust him. I want more offense, but also agree with your sentiment from the last page that if they were winning 60-53 everyone would be on their nuts like Mike Leach. I legitimately believe that this is a top five defense in college football and 28 points a game will be more than enough for them to win most games (they’re obviously going undefeated).

If they stop the negative plays like the ridiculous wildcat calls, bubble screens, and slow developing stretch plays the offense will be immediately improved. I would try to build the offense around running and quick slants to Shocky and Addison, forcing the defense to stack the box and opening up one on one coverage downfield for Mack, Wayne, etc. as the game progresses. With this defense I have no issues with four yards per play as long as those four yards aren’t because of a 12 yard gain followed by a four yard loss.

[slappybrown]

They light 10 plays on fire before they even take the field. They are not talented enough to overcome being at a decided schematic disadvantage (who gets that reference) of that size if they want to make real noise (e.g., going into that Clemson game at 8-2 or 9-1). Instead of maximizing what they have they’re actually playing worse than their potential on offense imo (and that’s not only play calling but also who they play, like giving AJ Davis the ball at any time for any reason under any circumstances).

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

I look forward to playing clemson on back to back weeks, once in the regular season and once in the acc championship

Maybe even a third time in the CFP

[willeyeam]

Figure it out

[Stoosh]

Unreal Charlie Weis reference, slappy.

I think Pickett is mostly fine for what they need to do on offense. That said, there are some things I thought he'd develop by now that he really hasn't and at this point, it's probably not going to get much better. Pickett's got some Tyler Palko to his game - gutsy, not afraid to run, team seems to legitimately love him - but doesn't really have and never really developed the more consistent touch that Palko had on the ball. He seems to be fine on sideline throws, but Pickett struggles with vision/accuracy on those short/intermediate crossing routes and unfortunately, this is a route that higher-powered offenses exploit to death. Pickett also a tendency to channel Brett Favre and rifle some of those throws.

As far as the receivers go, The Return of the Mack obviously helps wakka wakka wakka *honks bike horn*

(Also, is that song in like every 3rd commercial now?)

I think a top four of Addison, Mack, Turner, and Shocky will produce some good results. The biggest thing I worry about with the wideouts is whether they struggle getting open further downfield. This is something that's easier to see at the game, and if the ACCN crews weren't so busy sticking to their Established Narrative flash cards, they'd actually spend time looking for this kind of stuff on replay instead of just regurgitating WHAT A FANTASTIC JOB LOUISVILLE'S DEFENSE WAS DOING KEEPING THEM IN THIS GAME, TED. Both Peak and Bostick mentioned over the last week or two that receivers were struggling to get open, and there were at least two plays where Pickett was running around because no one was able to get open. Since Pitt doesn't throw to the middle as much, I hope this doesn't become a problem against better defenses.

At TE, Krull isn't worth discussing until he's healthy. Moraga impressed me against Louisville. I know he didn't put up big numbers at all, but he worked himself open a number of times and Pickett either didn't see him or he overlooked him (again, see correctable issues above). If Wright is healthy, and he & Moraga can continue to find those openings, AND Whipple can get Pickett to look for those options AND make those throws, that changes the offense quite a bit. I realize what I'm asking here.

Finally, the RBs. KtK hit the nail on the head with V. Davis being a feature back. Against Louisville, he was strictly feast or famine. In 14 carries, three of them were for 14+ yards and six of them went for 4 or more yards. In the other eight, he gained no more than 1 yard and he lost yardage on five of those eight carries. If the goal is consistent production from the RBs, that may not work so well. Abanikanda was more consistent. His longest gain was 8 yards, but six of his nine carries went for 5-8 yards. He was held to no gain just once and lost yardage just once.

I think this goes to slappy's comments about maximizing their offense. Good Davis handles contact incredibly well for a player of his size. He's deceptively strong and can occasionally turn an inside run into something, but sheer physics dictate that he's still going to lose more of those battles than he'll win. I did like seeing Whipple use some of Louisville's own schemes against them - zone block to one side and let the RB cut back against the surge. Hell, even AJ Davis turned one of these into a 17-yard run. Do more of that with a guy like Good Davis so you can maximize his abilities in space, and less of the running him like he's Mike Alstott into the middle of the defense. If Daniel Carter is close to returning, I'd like to see the rotation center around Good Davis, Carter, and Abanikanda. Give the latter two the lion's share of the interior carries.

[NAN]

Figure it out

They 100% need to figure this out.

But man is pantherlair miserable. To some on there, the only way to fix this is to turn to an airraid offense.

[willeyeam]

Pantherlair sucks unless it's recruiting news szn

[willeyeam]

Interesting

[Dickie Dunn]

12? I didn’t realize Krull was thrown to that much.

[willeyeam]

lol

[NAN]

On a separate note, our super panther mens and women soccer teams are #2 and #14 in the country respectively and 1-0 and 6-0. I know there aren't a lot of teams playing, but that's pretty impressive from where they were just 5 years ago.

And then on the bad side, our powerhouse volleyball team lost both matches to Syracuse last weekend, the second match getting swept for the first time in over 3 years.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

Super panthers vs the wolfpack Saturday at noon. Pitt is a hearty favorite. Will the offense figure things out? How many sacks will it take for NC state to quote Duke from Rocky IV and scream THROW THE DAMN TOWEL?

[willeyeam]

41-3 H2P

[slappybrown]

Pitt 30 NCSU 16

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

How do you jabronis figure that pitt scores 30 or 41 points? Does kessman kick 10 field goals after 10 drives are stalled in the red zone?

[willeyeam]

How do you jabronis figure that pitt scores 30 or 41 points? Does kessman kick 10 field goals after 10 drives are stalled in the red zone?

14 points coming from the defense. BOOK IT

[Dickie Dunn]

28-10 Pitt

[Freddy Rumsen]

15-7 Pitt

[Stoosh]

According to Panther Lair, Narduzzi said he expects Daniel Carter to be back tomorrow, so that's a good thing. If he takes carries from Bad Davis, even better.

Unlike some of PL, I don't want to see an air raid offense or anything. I just want to see them convert some of these drives that get deeper into NC State territory into touchdowns. I'd like to see the offense do more in the second half than chew up clock and kick a FG or two.

I think the defense will again be fine tomorrow. One thing that really stuck out to me against Louisville is the LB speed. Wendell Davis and even Chase Pine are noticeable upgrades from Brightwell in terms of speed and quickness. Cam Bright has been outstanding, and SirVocea Dennis has forced a rotation with he and Campbell, through no real fault of Campbell's.

[willeyeam]

Pass the SirVocea