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Friday, 03 September 2010 11:05

Written by Paul Zeise

Pitt must have lost by 100 points at home last night to Florida International's JV squad judging from my e-mails, which range from everything from "this team won't win six games" to "the defensive line is pedestrian" to "Pitt's overrated and lost to a bad team".....

Now, the good news is many of the most over the top slobbering rants came from Penn State fans, you know the group of people who work very hard to try and convince themselves and everyone else who will listen to them that "they don't care about Pitt" yet fill up their message boards with rants about Pitt and send nasty e-mails by the dozens to anyone who writes anything positive regarding Pitt.

I've come to expect that from Penn State fans as they and their favorite program are sort of the Walter Mitty of college football and I suppose I should expect the reactionary responses many from the Pitt fan base based on experience but this has been even more extreme than usual especially since here is the bottom line of all of it - Pitt lost by a field goal in overtime on the road to a ranked team who is likely to win at least ten games this year.

It isn't Ohio, it isn't Bowling Green, it isn't N.C. State, it isn't Connecticut 2006 - Utah was one of the best 30 teams in the country in their home stadium where they haven't lost since 2007.

That's reality.

Now, we can - and will -- analyze why they lost and what it means but these knee-jerk "Pitt stinks" reactionary responses to this loss is ridiculous because I don't know anybody I talked to who expected Pitt to win every game and most had the Panthers losing two or three.

If there are two criticisms which are absolutely legitimate they are these:

1.) Dave Wannstedt absolutely played not to lose and played for the tie and that is almost always how you lose games on the road. The draw to Dion Lewis to set up the game-tying field goal was a very, very conservative call and the rationale I received when I asked the question of “we didn’t want to lose yards [if Sunseri took a sack]” is ridiculous because it was a 30-yard field goal and even if you take a sack (which if you call the right play you don’t) which means you were well within Dan Hutchins range. Once again the fear of what negative could happen trumped the idea of trying to win the game. Hutchins missed a field goal early he needs to make - it was a 42-yarder -- but overall he kicked the ball fairly well both as a kicker and punter.

2.) Pitt had 17 plays in the redzone according to my count going through the play-by-play. Out of 17 plays in the redzone, how many times do you think Pitt threw the ball into the endzone? Once, to Mike Shanahan in the back of the endzone and one other time. But worse than that how many times did they throw the ball to Jon Baldwin? How about zero. Yep, that’s right not one pass into the endzone to Jon Baldwin, who is only 6-foot-5 and has like a 42-inch vertical. That’s ridiculous. And after the game we were given the standard lines about “not having the right coverage” to throw the fade but again, playmakers make plays, unless you don’t give them the chance to. It is also telling that when we asked Baldwin about the “coverages” he said he wasn’t double teamed and had mostly man coverage, which begs the question – to sort of quote Vince Lombardi – What the heck is going on down there? And to sort of quote Keyshawn Johnson – throw him the darn ball. Look, I once watched Larry Fitzgerald catch 22 touchdown passes in a season and more than half of them were just “put it up there and let him make a play” and everyone in the stadium new it was coming, defenses were lined up to stop it and guess what, they still couldn’t. And they couldn’t because great players make big plays. Baldwin is bigger, faster, stronger, jumps higher and has better hands than just about every single player who will be asked to cover him this year. I know this, if you throw a ball up in the air to Baldwin even in traffic, I like his chances of coming down with it more often than not and the times he doesn’t, he’ll at least knock it down. Give the guy a chance to be a star, that is football 101.

Those two criticisms are absolutely valid but my overall message to Pitt fan is this - take a deep breath and relax and let the season play out before we fire all the coaches, bench Tino Sunseri, run Jon Baldwin out of town and declare this to be the worst Panthers team ever.

Now, onto last night's game:

** As we expected, only two freshmen - cornerback K'Wuan Williams and defensive tackle Aaron Donald -- played and both played well, though Williams saw limited snaps on defense. He did play a lot on special teams, though, and I'd expect if the injury to Dom DeCicco (his hamstring, which we will get too later) is going to keep him out for any extended period of time that Williams will have to play a greater role because it would mean Jason Hendricks - who I thought played an excellent game all things considered – would have to assume the safety role and he is currently their nickleback. Presumably Andrew Taglianetti, who didn’t play on defense but did on special teams, would become the nickleback but Williams would become more valuable in some of the subpackages. As for Donald, as I wrote here a few days ago, he clearly has passed Tyrone Ezell, who didn’t play on defense last night. Pitt also rotated only one – Brandon Lindsey – defensive end into the game.

** Dom DeCicco should not have been on the field last night as he has been slowed by a hamstring injury late in camp and it never really healed. He was a step slow and on the 24-yard pass which set up the Utes second touchdown – he reinjured it and pulled up lame and that was it for him for the night. The play was a simple crossing pattern and DeCicco saw it but couldn’t run with the receiver which is why he was wide open. The secondary as a whole actually played pretty well contrary to popular belief. There was that play, the first touchdown which was a blown coverage and the 61-yard touchdown in which Pitt blitzed but Antwuan Reed apparently didn’t hear the call and adjust to it and thus that was a blown coverage as well. Obviously you can’t give up touchdowns like that but both of those were a result of inexperience. Overall Reed played well, Ricky Gary played well, Hendricks played well and Jarred Holley played well. They will get better and they did get better in the game. Really, Utah made one big play in the passing game in the second half – the long touchdown – but for the most part the Panthers tightened some things up and did some good things in coverage.

** The linebackers are a disaster and I’m not sure there is an answer right now. Dan Mason was lost in pass coverage and really got spun around several times on those short crossing routes which turned into big plays. He also didn’t take great angles when he blitzed. You hope it is inexperience and he’ll get better as the season wears on and he’s going to have to because they are going to see these spread teams more often than not. Mason has shown he can be force against traditional offenses but there aren’t many of those around. Greg Williams, like Mason, looked lost in pass coverage and Tristan Roberts missed a big tackle while Max Gruder played just OK. It is a long season but this unit has a long, long way to go. We knew that to some extent before the season but nobody could have expected they’d be back to performing at the N.C. State-game level of last year.

** The offensive and defensive lines both had mixed performances. The offensive line got a little better as the game wore on and really did some good things late in the game. That was a very tough spot for the offensive line – their inexperience, not just individually but playing collectively, showed up as Utah did a lot of things to confuse them and also took advantage of conservative play-calling in the first half by stacking the line and attacking the run game without fear. Of the five, Greg Gaskins had the toughest night but again, this is a unit which should get better as the season wears on. As for the defensive line – it certainly didn’t distinguish itself but that is not an offensive scheme in which the “rush four and cover with seven” philosophy is going to work against. In fact, the Utes took advantage of the Panthers agressiveness several times with little screens and counter plays. That’s why it isn’t fair to judge the defensive line based on what happened last night – that offense is a bad matchup schematically for what the Panthers want to do. Greg Romeus and Jabaal Sheard both need to and will make bigger plays than they did but Pitt didn’t start slowing down that offense until it threw in some blitzes. Jordan Wynn was 0-for-6 with an interception when Pitt blitzed until he hit the 61-yard touchdown pass, which was just a miscommunication and a blown coverage.

** The offense was too conservative early – and late -- and while it is admirable to want to run the powers to death, it also makes the Panthers very easy to defend for a team with athletic linebackers and speed in the secondary.  I don’t care how good Dion Lewis is, he isn’t going to carry the load against stacked defensive fronts and Utah was begging Pitt to try and beat them via the pass. I understand it was Tino Sunseri’s first start but he showed late in the game that if you take the handcuffs off him a little bit he’ll be good enough to make throws and make plays. Was he great? No. He got better as the game wore on and made some big throws in the final quarter. He will continue to improve as he gets more experience so as I said before the season, he’ll be fine.

** The receivers made some great catches last night – particularly Mike Shanahan and Cam Saddler. Shanahan is a big target and has a great set of hands and Saddler made both a diving catch and a really tough catch on third downs when Pitt absolutely had to have them. This is a good unit – they need to be given a lot more work than they got last night.

** Here are some Pitt notes: Buddy Jackson and Antwuan Reed both recovered fumbles and in Jackson’s case it was the first of his career. Reed also blocked a punt, his first career blocked punt. Jarred Holley had his fourth career interception. Pitt has blocked 23 kicks under Dave Wannstedt. Sunseri hit Baldwin with a two-point conversion, the Panthers first since Bill Stull hit Cedric McGee against UConn on Oct. 10th, 2009. Pitt is now 6-7 in overtime games.

** Here are some Utah notes: The Utes have now won 18 games in a row at home. It is the second-longest home winning streak in school history. Utah is now 5-4 in overtime games. Utah now has 20 wins against BCS conference opponents since the BCS began in 1998 – that is the most by any non-BCS Conference team. Last night was Utah’s first win in an opener over a ranked opponent (1-5 all-time). Utah is 8-0 against teams from the Big East.

Quotable:

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham – “I think everyone got their money’s worth. I’m proud of how our defense played in some bad situations. This team has a “never say die” attitude. That’s just the personality of this team. We made one more play than a good Pittsburgh team, who is ranked 15th in the nation and is still a top-25 program in my opinion.”

Utah quarterback Jordan Wynn, of Poinsetta Bowl fame – “The defense bailed us out. Hopefully, we can help them out next time.”

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt – “We struggled early to throw. We knew we’d have to find some balance. Every week they make it tough on Dion (Lewis). We need some balance. We only had 43 yards passing in the first half, that’s tough.”

Pitt cornerback Antwuan Reed on his blocked punt and fumble recovery – “None of that matters because we lost the game. Winning is all that matters.”

Pitt wide receiver Jon Baldwin – “The coaches make the calls, I don’t question them. Frank Cignetti is a great offensive coordinator and will find ways to get me the ball.”

Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri on the redzone strategy – “What we were hoping to do is try to establish the run in the redzone.”

Comments (16)

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written by OttoGraf, September 03, 2010 - 02:53 PM

What is the point of saying Penn State fans e-mailed you? I don't care what any of them said. All I care about is what is going on the field and in the locker room. You are a "beat" reporter; not a fan.

And for another thing, I read earlier about how you didn't ask Dave Wannstedt about Ray Graham's injury because you didn't want to upset him. Well, last time I checked you weren't employed by Pitt. You are paid to ask the tough questions so ask them.

Again for this psu talk, no one cares. Let's evaluate Pitt...not what psu fans think about Pitt.

It really is getting old.

ZEISE: No, what is getting old, however, is Penn State fans posing as Pitt fans and filling up my inbox. That is what is getting old. But that isn't why I responded to this post - cheap shots like calling me a fan are par for the course and frankly don't bother me. And if you stick around here long enough you'll see I have no problem ripping Dave Wannstedt or Pitt when they deserve it.

What I will never let slide -- and why I responded to this post -- is the blatant lies about what I wrote or said about how I do my job. I never said I wouldn't ask questions about injuries, we as reporters, do that every day several times a day. I asked Dave Wannstedt about Ray Graham pretty much every day he missed practice. That is what we do. However, when a coach, any coach, says "let's move on" or "I'm done talking about it" when it comes to something as simple as an injury, you move on because you can get the information you need elsewhere when the time is right. And that is the key to this job - knowing when you are likely to get good information and knowing when you are not. In a news conference setting, any good reporter will tell you that you aren't likely to get good information but if you can pull the coach aside after, you can. And asking about injuries, contrary to the belief of fans, is not "asking tough questions" because injuries are very routine questions asked every single day in every single locker room to coaches and players all across the nation.And there is a very fine line between a tough and aggressive reporter and guy who just is out to p**s people off and get a rise out of people so as to be seen. You can ask a zillion "tough questions" but if you don't know when or how to ask them, you'll never get good or honest answers. That is what we do here. So again, if you want to take cheap shots at me, I'm fine with that, but I've worked too hard to allow anyone to get away with trying to create fiction in order to question my character and integrity in doing this job.

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written by curtismartinfan, September 03, 2010 - 03:01 PM

Paul
Why does Wanny continue to play slow / bad angle LBers against slot receivers? Its been 5 years of this, why can't he adjust just once?


ZEISE: Yes, the linebacker play was not very good but some of that is credit to the brilliant schemes put together by Utah's coaches. They really did their homework and exploited some of Pitt's weaknesses.

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written by profpmg21, September 03, 2010 - 03:31 PM

Help I have been duped. Throughout the preseason I read that Pitt had a good team and they were voted to win the big east. This team is mediocre at best. Please don't rely on Pitt PR people to talk up the talent, it's all smoke and mirrors.

ZEISE: Yes, how dare they lose in overtime by three points to a ranked team (in one poll and on the cusp in the other) in their opener. Like I said, knee-jerk reactions are not usually a good way to judge what is going on in any walk of life. I think you should wait a few weeks before you declare the season lost. Relax, take a breath and enjoy life for a while.

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written by TonyC, September 03, 2010 - 04:24 PM

I think that a lot of us Pitt fans are just upset that the program is still not at the level where it can enter a season in a hostile environment and play a great game. Looking back on it now, I shouldn't have been surprised that we struggled for most of the game but it is still frustrating nonetheless. I have little reason to say this but I think we will play a great game against Miami. Tino grew up a lot in the 4th quarter and overtime and got some much needed experience being just a sophomore in his first career start.

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written by pittnick, September 03, 2010 - 04:33 PM

Paul,

Good stuff.

And while I agree that the run play on third down was somewhat conservative, I dont think it was a terrible call. Hutchins looked shakey all game. He hooked the first field goal and almost missed another. Given that, yes DW wasnt playing to win but given that backdrop its not unreasonable to call a draw play to perhaps catch the Utes off guard and set ensure good field posiiton for the kick. I dont know if I'd have thrown the ball in the end znoe but I do think at least getting the ball to Dion in space on a pass may have been a better call.

As far as JB goes, its hard to tell from the tube if he was simply covered well or they were not going to him. It looked like the UTE CB had him blanketed. If so do you think the fact that Tino is pretty green and not as confident as he will be later in the season had anything to do with him not going to JB more? It seems like it does take a bit more confidence for a QB to force the ball to a guy who is not open, even one as good as JB. THoughts?

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written by OttoGraf, September 03, 2010 - 04:33 PM

I don't want to get on your bad side, but the way things were presented it came across as not asking the tough questions when there was a big story out there about playing time/injury for the opener. I'm not the only one who has mentioned this, but I am the first to point this out on the blog(I think).

The reason why all of this is coming out is because of your comment about not wanting to upset Wannstedt. That's all. I don't think I'm wrong in an interpreting those comments the way I did. Obviously I am not there and I totally agree that are a time and place for tough questions and I will defer to you on this one. But, I think you will have to agree with me that you aren't out there to be friends with anyone; you are out there to break stories and get information so that casual fan/reader(like me) can get the information. If that means you have to hurt someone's feelings; then you hurt them.
As for the game though, the knee-jerk reactions are absurd. That was in fact a good team. Not a great team, but a good one. That team is nothing approaching the Boise team from last year that beat Oregon handidly(not in terms of score, but if that game went another 4 quarter, Oregon would still have had 8 points). I think the comparisons that some are making in that regard are wrong. This pitt team isn't approaching anything close to that Oregon team.

That said, I had a few problems with what happened last night. And let me know if I'm wrong in this evaluation.

1 - I thought Tino did in fact get better as the game went on. He looked shaky early on but settled in ok. I expect that to be the case in most road games this year. He is a first year starter. No one is above making a mistake.

2 - The inability to stop the utah pass was largely a coaching thing. You can't cover WR with LBs. It's time to just adjust to that.

3 - Lewis played great?; didn't play great? Who knows? This is going to be an occurring theme all year for this team. Others will line up to stop him and he won't be able to get his yardage and they'll force sunseri to throw more. That doesn't mean Lewis stinks. No one could run through some of the non-holes last night.

4 - Everyone wants to see Wannstedt take this program to that "next" level but aren't we running into the same sort of thing that happened with Walt Harris where mediocrity is becoming the norm? I know people hated Walt but he is doing basically the same thing Dave is doing except in reverse. Wannstedt is a good recruiter, but quite frankly his in-game coaching is awful. While walt wasn't a great coach, he at least knew to throw the ball to his studs.

5 - Just like you are telling people to not over-react to this loss to a good team, don't act as if they blew out Florida after the New Hampshire Game. You gada put things into perspective and the NH will tell us absolutely nothing about this team.

6 - I've had to hear all day about how the NH game should have been first and the Utah game second. Well, Utah would have done the same thing so I'm not buying into that theory. And, when you have more time to prepare and have recent game film, the decided edge does not go to wannstedt.

7 - Losing to Miami won't affect the Big East picture, but I cant believe you want to head into the conference season losing your 2 biggest and toughest games to that point. And I know the goal isn't to win the NC realistically, but winning the big east is the goal. However, beating Miami could add confidence, where a blow out loss could be crippling to the team and the rest of the season.

Thoughts?...Anyone???

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written by pfim, September 03, 2010 - 04:36 PM

Paul, please don't infer that if something worked for Larry Fitzgerald, it should work for Baldwin. The players aren't close to the same, Baldwin does not have the hands and body control that Fitzgerald has. Baldwin has his own positive attributes but from the evidence I've seen, relies far too much on his height in those situations.

I think there are a lot of positives to take out of the game but the red zone offense needs a ton of work.

ZEISE: You misunderstand me -- Jon Baldwin is not Larry Fitzgerald but he does have similar ball skills. I've watched him during training camp and they throw the jump ball up to him and he almost always comes down with it. The two or three balls thrown to him earlier in the game were UNDER THROWN he had no chance of jumping up to get them - and the one he almost made a Lynn Swann-like catch down the sideline to pull in. To not throw the ball up to him - and let him go up and get it, is not giving your team the best chance to win. I am not saying he is Larry Fitzgerald, because, he isn't. I am saying he has some of the same qualities as Larry - as well as strong hands to pull the ball in -- and he is very good in the air. The fade patterns/jump balls - whatever you want to call them -- could work, I've seen them work plenty of times with Baldwin. And more importantly, you have to give him a chance to make a play in the back of the endzone before you kick the field goal.

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written by FLATJ, September 03, 2010 - 06:39 PM

I realize it's only the first game but I've reduced my expectations ... even after the deep breath you recommended .. this team may improve but it is not a Top 10 team .. too many weaknesses at the skill positions. Utah was not that good of a team and the score would have been worse if they didn't repeatedly leave the door open for us. Unfortunately, we couldn't walk through it. Even though this game doesn't impact the BE rankings .. every game counts for something, even if just psychologically .. we need to win the big ones, little ones and meaningless ones. If we don't figure it out now, a 7-5 campaign awaits.

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written by rkohberger, September 03, 2010 - 07:16 PM

Well - PITT did exactly what a lot of us figured they would do... go into a tough game in a tough place and lose by a few points. I know I'm not the only PITT fan who thought this would happen two days ago, yet I might be one of the only fans who isn't outraged that it happened.

But it did, we've seen it before and we've seen PITT deal well with the results. Time to turn and look forward to New Hampshire and Miami.

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written by PittFanSteve, September 03, 2010 - 07:35 PM

The end of regulation run call was ridiculous as was the explanation. If don't think your field goal kicker can kick a 30+ yard field goal, how do you going to win in overtime? You have to make a play to win the game sometime, better to try in regulation when you have the advantage. Pitt had 3 valuable chances to get a first down there and just gave 1 away cause the first two didn't work.

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written by curtismartinfan, September 03, 2010 - 07:55 PM

Paul
I think you misunderstood my post. What I meant was why does Wanny continue to even use LBers against slot receivers in a spread attack? Just stop doing it period. I would use 6 defensive backs, 3 down lineman and 2 FAST backers - not guys like Gruder against Utah.

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written by pittnick, September 03, 2010 - 08:19 PM

CFM

Utah would have run for 800 yards against that defense. Heck they did pretty well against the 4-3 which was pretty dissappointing.

Paul,

The Ute DB was really giving JB a tough time coming off the LOS. He also was pretty tall and seemed like he was with JB most of the nite. I dont think that was a high percentage play from the ten. Now the guy covering Shanny was quite a bit shorter so that play may have worked to him.

Do you know who they were looking for on those first two pass plays at the 10 before the draw play? Can you find out and let us know?

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written by WesleysEyebrows, September 03, 2010 - 11:20 PM

The loss didn't really bother me. Didn't really surprise me. Not that Utah is that great, but they outschemed Pitt in their offensive play calling. The Versus announcers made the comment that it seems like Pitt's "D" is built more to play against an offense such as Pitt's. And Utah did a great job on the mis-direction calls. Will the defense learn? Hopefully they will as they gain more experience and are able to recognize what's happening to them. But the fact that Pitt still came back to tie it was very heartening. They didn't give up, and Tino made some plays in the 4th quarter. While the pick in OT was mostly his fault, Tino will only learn from the playing experience and things like that will happen to a kid that hasn't played much. But at least you can't say that the play call didn't try to surprise Utah. Or was too conservative(Lewis into the pile).

What it comes down to is unfortunately Tino doesn't have the luxury of learning to play behind an experienced offensive line. And their season will come down to whether that line will get better or not.

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written by ehackwelder, September 04, 2010 - 12:29 AM

I think all of these naysayers need to relax. This was a game against a very good team on the road. Remember, just two yers ago Utah spanked Alabama. I know the players were different, but the program is the same. Pitt had chances to win this game and came up just short. You also must remember that sunseri was making his first start and the O-line has three new starters. This team may not be a top ten team, but could be by the end of the year. Its the first game of a long season folks. A lot can and does happen during the course of a season. I would rather them play top opponents than a Bowling Green or Youngstown State any time. They did and darn near won. This is a program on the rise and to say that they are mediocre and always will be is absurd. They have been getting nice recruiting classes ever since Wanny got here. Would you rather them go back to the Walt Harris days. Thats when they were doomed for mediocrity. The point is poeple, it far too early to bail on this team. They will only get better. What will you all be saying if they beat Miami in a few weeks?

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written by profpmg21, September 04, 2010 - 11:03 AM

Paul,

I don't think after 6 years of DW it is unreasonable for PITT fans to think that this would be the year that the "excellent recruiting" classes would take the team to the top ten level. Instead it looks like the same old mediocre play. No wonder the big ten sees Pitt as an academic fit but not an athletic fit.

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written by Tony77019, September 05, 2010 - 11:15 AM

Walter Mitty of college football - great observation! You do a great job, Paul. I think any readers who check out the blogs will discover that Penn State fans comment more/show more interest in Pitt than vice versa. You provide great analysis of Pitt-Utah. To the casual fan, though, is it just another under-performance by a mediocre coach. Sorry.

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