Pitt Scheduling Philosophy Must Change

After Pitt was humiliated at home Saturday against Penn State, I saw a tweet that caught my attention.

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1038624820689285121

Pitt’s loss to Penn State means the Panthers have been in a conference the last 28 years & have never gone unbeaten in non-conference play

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 9, 2018

My 1^st instinct after reading this was to get defensive and point out that Pitt always plays a challenging non-conference schedule.  However I quickly thought about that, and asked, “why?”

Prior to the season, almost every media outlet ranked Pitt as having the toughest non-conference schedule in the country.  This year will be the 4^th straight season that they play two non-conference games against high-ranking Power 5 teams.  Again, this had me asking the simple question, “why?”

Why is Pitt scheduling like they are USC? 

Why is Pitt playing these games?

Pitt struggles enough to get bowl eligible most years, why are they challenging themselves so much in the non-conference?

Pitt needs a major adjustment to their scheduling philosophy.

Why not just schedule wins?

Look at both the 2019 & 2020 schedules.

2019
vs Delaware
vs Ohio
@ Penn State
vs Central Florida

2020
vs Miami (OH)
vs Richmond
@ Marshall
vs Notre Dame

These are the types of non-conference schedules Pitt should have every year. 

*3 home games and 1 road game.

*1 Power 5 team (or Notre Dame).

*Minimum 2 games that are almost guarantee wins.

A few years back, someone in the Pitt athletic department said that they would no longer schedule Group of 5 teams on the road.  I ask again, “why?”    If you can’t beat a MAC or C-USA team on the road, good luck in the ACC.  Plus, it is much more likely you beat those types of teams on the road as opposed to Iowa, Oklahoma State, or Penn State, all of whom Pitt have lost to in recent years.  The main goal should be winning football games.  Who cares if you play games against big-time programs if you can’t beat them?

Looking ahead at future schedules for Pitt, it should not be all that difficult to adjust the scheduling philosophy to help the program get more wins.  From 2021 to 2028 Pitt has already scheduled at least 1 Power 5 opponent (again, I am including Notre Dame in this group).  That means that Pitt should not be looking to add any more Power 5 opponents until 2029.  In some years they already have 2 games against Power 5 opponents.  The goal in those seasons is to schedule the other 2 non-conference games with the easiest possible opponent.  There is no sense in giving yourself a non-conference schedule that you could lose more games than you win.  Here are what the next 8 seasons look like as of now, with notes on how I would schedule the remaining games.

2021
@ Tennessee
With a road game and a Power 5 opponent already accounted for with this one game against Tennessee, Pitt should focus on scheduling three winnable home games.  I don’t love playing FCS teams, but I realize that it is a trend that isn’t going away any time soon, so I’d add one to the 2021 season.  With 2 spots remaining, I’d look to the MAC, AAC, C-USA or some of the lesser Independent teams for opponents.  You can typically get MAC opponents to play a road game, without a return game at their place, so that would certainly be in play for 2021.  I may also try to get a team like UMASS, Old Dominion, Charlotte, FIU or FAU to agree to a 3-game series with Pitt getting 2 home games out of the deal to just 1 road game.  All those schools, minus UMASS, are in locations in which Pitt has tried to make in-roads with recruiting.  Playing a game in those locations, is never a bad thing for recruiting.

2022
vs WVU
vs Tennessee
With two Power 5 teams already on the schedule, the remaining games should both be nearly guarantee wins.  If you play it right, the road game in 2022 will be part of the 2-1 series starting in 2021.  That would be a road game coming against a C-USA, AAC or an Independent team.  The final game would once again likely be against an FCS opponent.

2023
vs Cincinnati
@ WVU
@ Notre Dame
Only 1 game to schedule remaining for the 2023 season and it must be a home game against a very beatable opponent.  We can pencil in another FCS team for this spot.

2024
@ Cincinnati
vs WVU
With Cincinnati being on the road and WVU checking the Power 5 box, the final 2 games for 2024 should once again be winnable games at Heinz Field.  Ideally, the 3^rd game in the 3-game 2-for-1 series would be played in 2024 after taking a year off.  And yes, they 4^th would once again be an FCS opponent.

2025
@ WVU
vs Notre Dame
Once again, there are already two Power 5 games on the schedule for 2025, one of which is on the road, so the remaining games would both be home games against lesser opponents.  The options here would be a MAC team that would not require a return game (Ball State, Kent State) or possibly the start of a home-and-home series against an old Big East foe like UCONN or Temple, or trying to get another 3-game 2-for-1 series with previously mentioned teams.  And, of course an FCS opponent.

2026
@ Wisconsin
Wisconsin checks two boxes, road game and Power 5 opponent.  The remaining 3 games should all be winnable games at home.  Obviously, an FCS opponent is an easy choice.  A MAC opponent with no return game would make a lot of sense in 2026 as well.  The final game could be Home Game #2 of the 2025 2-for-1 deal or another lower level FBS school that would not require a return game (Liberty, Rice, Marshall).

2027
vs Wisconsin
The return game in the home-and home Wisconsin series gives Pitt a nice Power 5 home game and allows for a return road game in the suggested 2025 series (home-and-home w/UCONN or Temple OR the final game of the 2-for-1 deal).  Games 3 and 4 for 2027 would likely be another FCS opponent and another lesser FBS team that wouldn’t require a return game (MAC or others suggested for 2026).

2028
vs Notre Dame
With no other Power 5 teams on the future schedule after 2028, introducing another one here wouldn’t be an awful idea.  I would avoid upper-echelon teams like what we have seen recently and maybe take a step back in competition and go with teams like Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Rutgers, Cal, Oregon State.  We might still have a road return game you owe depending how 2025-27 played out, which is fine as well.  And as always, an FCS team will find a spot in this non-conference schedule as well.

With this philosophy in scheduling, Pitt fans still get to see some decent teams come to town for the non-conference each year to go along with the regular ACC foes like Miami, Virginia Tech and Syracuse.  The worst home non-conference schedule with this format would be 2021, but in that season, Pitt would get home ACC games against Clemson and Miami to offset the underwhelming non-conference schedule.

Remember, the goal is to win football games.  As a life long Pitt fan, I know I would much rather see them win 8, 9 or 10 games playing a non-conference schedule full of cupcakes as opposed to going 7-5 or 6-6 against a murderer’s row of teams in the non-conference.

The Hire

As anticipated by many, Heather Lyke made her move today and cut ties with now former Pitt Men’s Basketball coach Kevin Stallings.  Now the pressure lays directly on her shoulders to find his replacement.  Hiring Kevin Stallings was a massive blow to the Pitt basketball program.  Firing him now was the right move but making the correct hire for his replacement is just as important if Pitt wants to get back to were they were 7 years ago, when they were the #1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Pitt is a good job.  Pitt is going to be one of the better jobs available this year (the NCAA/FBI thing won’t start bringing down programs for another 1-2 years, if ever).  Pitt, despite what many people say, can pay big bucks for the coach they want.  They showed that by paying big bucks to a coach they didn’t want, in buying out Stallings.  In my mind, Pitt is the 2^nd best job available this offseason, behind only Louisville.  Even with pending NCAA sanctions, Louisville has the history and the money to attract ANY coach they want.  After that, you have teams like Pitt and Mississippi and maybe Georgia (if they fire Mark Fox).  Other than that, there doesn’t look to be many major conference jobs coming open this year, which helps Pitt.

I have already given you my Coaches NOT to Hire.

Here are my Top 5 choices for the next basketball coach at Pitt.

1. DAN HURLEY – Head Coach at Rhode Island
If you haven’t read my previous RANT making a case for Hurley, here it is.  Hurley is in his 6^th year at Rhode Island and has the Rams entering the A-10 Tournament as the #1 seed and regular season champs.  Hurley will NOT be back at Rhode Island next year.  His team currently is loaded with seniors and he has basically maxed out his earning power at Rhode Island with his last contract extension.  Hurley is a proven winner, who has won at both Wagner and Rhode Island after taking them over as rebuild projects.  He is clearly the top mid-major coach this year, that is ready to take the step to the to the next level.  Louisville could also be an option for Hurley, but I think the Cardinals are going to try and make a big push for Xavier head coach Chris Mack.  If they strike out with Mack, Hurley may be their next target.

2. MICK CRONIN – Head Coach at Cincinnati
I’m going to set this at about a .5% chance of happening.  Cronin is the only name on this list that I think might choose to stay at his current job, rather than taking the Pitt job, if offered.  He is in a pretty good spot right now.  Cronin is born and raised in Cincinnati and a graduate of UC.  Cronin makes $2.2M coaching there, but I don’t think money would factor into Cronin’s decision much.  The biggest question is does he want to leave Cincinnati, his alma mater, and try his hand in the ACC?  Cronin has a great background, coaching under Bob Huggins and Rick Pitino before getting his 1^st head coaching job.   Cronin was at Murray State for 3 years before going to Cincinnati, he took Murray State to the NCAA Tournament in 2 of his 3 years there.  He is in his 12^th year at Cincinnati and has the Bearcats ready to return to the NCAA Tournament for the 8^th straight year.   Likely not going to happen, but if Lyke doesn’t give his agent a call, she isn’t doing her job.

3. MICAH SHREWSBERRY – Boston Celtics Assistant Coach
Here is your head-scratcher name, but trust me, he’s candidate and a darn good one at that.  Although Shrewsberry has never been a head coach, he has worked for some good ones.  He has spent 8 of the last 10 years working under Brad Stevens, who in my opinion is one of the best basketball minds in coaching.  He worked with Stevens for 3 years at Butler, including both years Butler made it to the National Championship Game.  Then he went to Purdue and worked with Matt Painter, where he was very instrumental in recruiting.  This year’s Purdue team, which has spent most of the year in the Top 10, is a senior laden team.  Shrewsberry is a big reason those seniors are at Purdue.  In fact, he was invited back to their Senior Night this year because of his ties to that senior class.  Shrewsberry returned to Stevens bench and is in his 5^th year with the Celtics.  He is a defensive minded coach and is credited for the development of two of the Celtics top young players, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, both lottery picks.  Shrewsberry would like to return to the college ranks and do so as a head coach.  I don’t always have inside information, but I can say with 100% certainty that Shrewsberry is interested in the Pitt job.

4. RON SANCHEZ – Assistant Coach at Virginia
Just like any assistant coach, you always look at who they have coached under to try to determine how what type of coach he might be.  Sanchez has spent the last 12 years on the bench of Tony Bennett, arguably the best defensive head coach in college basketball.  Sanchez has established some solid recruiting ties in the ACC as well, which could certainly help Pitt as they look to improve their roster.  Sanchez is one of the hot assistant coaches that will certainly have opportunities this offseason to become a head coach if he wants to make the jump.  One worry that some might have is that he has worked under just 1 coach for his professional coaching career (he did work under Mike Davis at Indiana as a Grad Assistant). 

5. THAD MATTA – Former Head Coach at Ohio State
Matta was actually on my original DO NOT HIRE list, before it was known that he is healthy and wants to get back into coaching.  He is #5 on this list simply because nobody really knows how healthy he really is.  Pitt can’t afford to hire a coach right now that only lasts 2 years before being forced back into retirement from a pre-existing condition.  Matta left Ohio State last June due to lingering foot and back issues that made it difficult for him to do his job.  In his final year at Ohio State the Buckeyes went just 17-15, it was the only time in his 17-year career as a head coach that he did not win 20 or more games.  Matta made 2 Final Fours, including 1 National Championship Game while at Ohio State.  He also won the Big Ten regular season title 5 times and won the Big Ten Tournament 4 times.  If Matta is healthy and wants to give coaching another try, Pitt should 100% call him and gauge his interest.  He has ties to Pitt AD Heather Lyke, from her time at Ohio State.  Pitt also has some similar recruiting areas to what Matta would have been used to at Ohio State. 

Who Is Next At Pitt?

Kevin Stallings has now completed the perfect season, 0-18.  Pitt is just the 2^nd ACC school to ever accomplish this feat.  By the time we wake up tomorrow Stallings could and should be fired.  There is no sense in Athletic Director Heather Lyke delaying the inevitable any longer.  Fire Stallings now and hire the next Pitt Men’s Basketball Coach ASAP (even if it is not announced for another few weeks because the new head coach still has his team playing.)  The key however, is this hire.  After the disastrous Kevin Stallings Experiment, Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and Lyke cannot afford to miss on this hire.

Let me say once again, that I am 100% hitched to the Dan Hurley wagon.  If you missed my Rant a few weeks back making a case for him to be the replacement, here it is.

Obviously, I am not making the hire, so I am sure that others will be considered by the decision makers at Pitt as well.  If they don’t get Hurley from Rhode Island, I don’t really have anyone in particular that I would really pull for to be hired.  I like the idea of a guy like Ron Sanchez, the Associate Head Coach at Virginia under Tony Bennett.  I think Mick Cronin, at Cincinnati, might be someone to talk to and maybe gauge his interest.  Steve Forbes at ETSU was going to be a hot name, but he reportedly just agreed to an extension recently.  Who knows if that holds up.  I’m intrigued by some other names that I have heard mentioned as well, but I am going to keep those names to myself for the time being.

One thing I can say is that I know who I DON’T want Pitt to hire as their next basketball coach.  Being that this has been a hot topic between Pitt fans since roughly mid-January, I have heard tons of suggestions for the next coach.  I have seen them on Twitter, on Pitt message boards, in text conversations with friends.  Some have been good suggestions.  Others have been awful.  Those are the ones that I am going to address here.

(NOTE: I wrote this in Early-February in anticipation of Stallings being fired.  This was BEFORE the Sean Miller information came out late last week.  He was however on my original list of coaches I DID NOT want at Pitt, so I left the original comments and thoughts as to why.  What happened to him last Friday night doesn’t change anything in my mind.  Anyone that was paying close attention to the situation knew that there was another show to drop.  He was a HARD PASS for me before the news came out and he still is today.)

SEAN MILLER: This is the same Sean Miller that just 2 years was running away from this job, and the rumors of being tied to the job, as fast as humanly possible.  It ended with his dad bad mouthing Pitt and basically saying that his son would never coach at Pitt.  If that same Sean Miller, now suddenly wants the Pitt job, then his situation at Arizona with the FBI investigation is WAY worse than any of us think.  As I said before, this is a VERY important hire.  The last thing that Pitt needs is to hire a guy whose top assistant for the last 11 years was in court last week on bribery and fraud charges in connection with the ongoing FBI investigation into the NCAA.  NO THANKS!

BRANDIN KNIGHT:  Remove the name “PITT” from Brandin’s coaching resume and replace it with schools like Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Georgetown, Michigan, or Ohio State.  Would you still want Brandin Knight as the next head coach at Pitt?  I didn’t think so.  I’ll never understand why so much importance is put on whether or not someone is from Pitt (or Pittsburgh).  Being a Pitt guy really isn’t all that important.  Being able to coach and recruit is.  Nobody knew who Ben Howland was before he got to Oakland and he is the guy that turned the whole program around.  Heck, I bet most people reading this now, couldn’t tell me where Howland coached before coming to Pitt.  I know people wanted Knight to get the job when Dixon left and looking back, he probably couldn’t have done much worse than Stallings.  But if he were that good of a coach, don’t you think someone else would have scooped him up and given him a head coaching job?  Don’t you think Dixon would have at least offered him a spot on his staff at TCU?  Knight is currently at Rutgers.  And he isn’t even the top assistant there.  BY THE WAY… Ben Howland coached at Gonzaga, UC Santa Barbara and his only head coaching experience before Pitt hired him was at Northern Arizona.

KEVIN WILLARD:  If Pitt had to hire a “Pitt Guy” I’d rather have Willard over Knight, at least he has head coaching experience.  Still, hiring a Pitt guy is not important and there are much better candidates than Kevin Willard out there, even if he is a Pitt Alum.

ARCHIE MILLER:  See “SEAN MILLER” and re-read the first two sentences.

RICK PITINO:  See “SEAN MILLER” and re-read the last four sentences.

TOM CREAN:  He was a winner at Marquette, as Pitt fans know all too well.  He also took a dumpster fire at Indiana and turned it around.  In 9 years at Indiana he went to 3 Sweet 16’s and won 2 Big Ten Titles, but he also missed the NCAA Tournament completely 5 times.  Maybe most importantly though, the reason I don’t want Tom Crean is because he is an ass.  He had issues with discipling his players and keeping guys on the roster.  There is a reason that Indiana canned him last year at the first hint of a struggle.  He had the Hoosiers at #3 in the country before they fell apart, eventually losing in the 1^st Round of the NIT.

ANDY TOOLE:  I think Toole is a very good basketball coach, but he just doesn’t have the experience needed for the ACC.  He is also another guy that is only getting mentioned because he is in Pittsburgh.  He just finished 7^th in the NEC this year.  If he coached at Mount St. Mary’s or a different school in the NEC other than Robert Morris, nobody would know who he is.  I think Toole could eventually do some nice things at a bigger school, but Pitt can’t afford to take that risk right now.

THAD MATTA:  This name gets brought up a lot because of his connection to Pitt AD Heather Lyke.  He was at Ohio State when she was an assistant AD there.  Matta was very successful at Ohio State, taking them to the postseason in 11 of 13 years there, including two Final Four’s.  He retired after last season at just the age of 49 due to back injuries that made the job too difficult.  I have no idea how he is recovering or if he even wants to get back into coaching.  Due to the questions about his health, and the long-term rebuild that the Pitt program has ahead of itself, Matta doesn’t make any sense right now for the Panthers.

BEN HOWLAND:  After getting fired from UCLA, Howland has found himself rebuilding the Mississippi State program, and has them on the cusp of an NCAA Tournament appearance in just Year 3 in Starkville.  There is no doubt that he can coach, and he would certainly be embraced at Pitt if he were to return, however I have two big draw backs on bringing Howland back to Pitt.  1) He is 60 years old.  I would prefer a younger coach to take over a rebuild, because it will take time.  This isn’t just a 1 or 2 year fix sadly, it will likely take 3 or 4 years.  That’s why Pitt will probably have to offer a 6-year deal with lots of guarantees to whoever they get for the job. That would put Howland at 66.  I don’t think Pitt wants to go through this hiring process again in 5 or 6 years.  Ideally, they get someone younger, like Dixon was, who will be there for a long time, again, like Dixon was.  2) This is pure speculation, but I think Howland is dirty.  His long-standing connection with Adidas and his sudden ability to get top tier talent to play at Mississippi State scares me.  With the recent reports stemming from the FBI investigation talking about there being many, many other schools involved in the corruption case, I just don’t trust him.

Bottom line is that any coach at this point would be an upgrade over Stallings.  However, the guys listed above are not guys that could get Pitt back to prominence, like they were within the last 10 years.

MAKING A CASE FOR DAN HURLEY

The ACC Tournament will conclude exactly one month from tomorrow (March 10^th).  Pitt will likely be back in Pittsburgh by the 2^nd day of the 5-day tournament, possibly putting a cap on an embarrassing 0-19 record vs. the ACC.  Hopefully by this time next month they will have already begun the search process for their next men’s basketball head coach.  The 1^st call they should make in that process is to Dan Hurley.

To be honest, I had hoped that Hurley was a candidate for the opening at Pitt two years ago when Jaime Dixon left Pitt for TCU, but his name was never mentioned during the search.  At that point Hurley, son of one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in history, Bob, Sr. and brother to former Duke star and current Arizona State head coach Bobby, had already made a name for himself in coaching. 

Hurley got into coaching immediately after graduating from Seton Hall, where he was the Pirates starting point guard.  His 1^st job was an assistant to his father at St. Anthony’s in Jersey City, NJ.   After one season at St. Anthony’s he joined the staff at Rutgers for 4 years as an assistant.  Hurley then went back to high school and became the head coach at St. Benedict’s in Newark, NJ.  In 9 years at St. Benedict’s Hurley recorded 223 wins to just 21 losses.  St. Benedict’s finished ranked in the Top 5 nationally 4 times in those 9 years, clearly proving he was more than just Bob Hurley’s son when it came to coaching basketball.

After St. Benedict’s, Hurley took his 1^st college head coaching job at Wagner College in Staten Island.  He inherited a team at Wagner that went 5-26 the year before he arrived.  In his 2^nd year Hurley led the Seahawks to a 25-6 record, good enough for a 2^nd place finish in the NEC.  Pitt fans might remember that team, as they came to the Petersen Event Center and beat the 15^th ranked Panthers, handing Pitt their 1^st ever loss to an NEC opponent.  Hurley then found himself in charge of another rebuild the following year, after taking a step up in competition and leaving Wagner for the Atlantic-10 and Rhode Island.

The Rams were 7-24 the season prior to Hurley arriving.  After taking 2-years to rebuild the URI program, Hurley had a 23-win team playing in the NIT after a 2^nd place A-10 finish in year #3.  He is now in Year 6 at Rhode Island, where he has compiled a record of 105-77 going into tonight’s game between the two top teams in the Atlantic-10.  Over the past 4 seasons he is 83-38 leading the Rams, including a 19-3 record this year, which includes an undefeated 11-0 conference record.  

Hurley clearly has a resume that qualifies him for a promotion into a major conference.  Now the question most ask would be, “Why would he want to walk into the mess at Pitt right now?”

That is a fair question.  Here are my 4 reasons why the Pitt job makes sense for Hurley:

1) MONEY!!!  It is plain and simple.

Before we get into the money conversation, let me put an end to the myth that Pitt doesn’t have any money.  There is a big difference between being smart or even cheap with how you spend money and not having money at all.  The ACC has paid Pitt $55M over the past 2 years and another $30M or so will be coming at the end of this current school year.  Pitt has the money to attract a big coach and to buy out their current one.

Now, back to Hurley.

Hurley signed a contract extension with Rhode Island last March.  Under the new deal he is getting just about $1.1M a year, a figure that is considered to be very near the limit to the basketball budget at Rhode Island.  The details to Kevin Stallings current contract at Pitt aren’t public knowledge, but we do know that he made $2.1M at Vanderbilt in his final season and reports are that his buyout after this season, with 4 years remaining on his deal, would be around $10M.  Without knowing the exact numbers, it is pretty safe to bet that Stallings is currently making at least double the amount that Hurley is. 

2) As good as Hurley has been at Rhode Island, how long does he plan on staying there?  6 years is a long time at a mid-major when you have been as successful as he has.  Is he waiting for a bigger job to open?  Maybe, but Pitt isn’t a terrible job.  It is an ACC school, which you’d think would be a draw for a guy born and raised in the NJ/NY area.  It is a program that has had a ton of success as recently as just a few years ago.  Pitt was ranked in the Top 10 for 11 straight years from 2002 to 2012.  They were in the NCAA Tournament just 3 years ago.  This isn’t Rutgers we are talking about.  You could do a lot worse than Pitt if you were a coach looking to jump into a major conference.

3) Just looking at the coaching landscape this season, there doesn’t seem to be many jobs opening up this year in the major conferences.  As crazy as this seems, Pitt may be one of, if not the best job that becomes available.  Sure, you might have Arizona or Michigan State open depending on what comes out about the 2 different scandals that could possibly be tied to their current coaches, but I don’t think Hurley would get either of those jobs even if they became available.  UCONN might come available if they show Kevin Ollie the door.  Louisville has a decision to make regarding their interim head coach David Padgett.  St. John’s was looking like a team that might come open and would be a great fit for Hurley, but Chris Mullin has just led his team to wins over both #4 Duke and #1 Villanova in back to back games.  I think he is safe too.  After that, Pitt is the best job of the group. 

4)  Something that has been somewhat over looked by the many that have argued that Hurley wouldn’t come to Pitt is the fact that his team at Rhode Island this year is very senior heavy.  This would be his chance to strike while the iron is hot.  As mentioned before, URI is 19-3, with all 3 of those losses coming in the non-conference to teams that will be in the field of 68 next month.  4 of the 5 Rams starters this year are seniors, as is their top player off the bench.  Rhode Island is set to lose 64.5% of their minutes played this season.  They currently only have 1 underclassman that averages over 17 minutes a game.  They also lose 74.9% of their scoring including their top 4 scorers.  They are also set to lose over half (57.9%) of their rebounding from this season.  Their best on ball defender, Stanford Robinson, is also a senior.  He currently ranks 7^th in the nation in steals.  Hurley will be going through a mini rebuild next year one way or the other, why not do it at a more established program, while getting paid a LOT more money?

Dan Hurley is the guy for Pitt.  After Heather Lyke fires Kevin Stallings at roughly 4:30p (15-seed is scheduled to play at 2pm) Tuesday March 6^th, her 1^st call should be to Dan Hurley and she shouldn’t take no for an answer.

College Basketball Rant: Time For Pitt To Quit Stalling

Kevin Stallings needs to go.

There, I said it. 

Pitt AD Heather Lyke needs to rid herself of the awful hire made by her predecessor Scott Barnes. 

That being said, I can think of roughly 6 million reasons why Lyke will not fire Stallings at the end of the season, giving him a 3^rd year to further disgrace a once highly regarded basketball program.  Pitt athletics have never been one to spend extra money.  They have always been known to be rather cheap when compared to their competition, both back in the Big East and still now in the ACC.  So, the roughly $6M difference in the Stallings buyout between March of 2018 and March of 2019 seems like a pretty tall ask for the athletic department and Lyke to take on. 

However, you have to wonder how much money keeping Stallings will cost the basketball program.  Ticket sales have been awful this season at the Pete as it seems like every game sets a new all-time low attendance figure for the building.  Wednesday night, the announced attendance was 2,566, which was the lowest attended conference game in the buildings 16 seasons.  On the year, Pitt is averaging 3,885 per game.  If you factor in that 2 of the games were dominated by fans of the visiting teams (WVU and Duke) and remove those two games from the equation, Pitt is averaging 3,053 per game.  Capacity at the Petersen Event Center is 12,508, meaning that this year, on average Pitt is getting less than a quarter (24.4%) of the buildings capacity for their games.  This is the same building that as recently as 5 years ago was one of the toughest tickets to get into for a Pitt Men’s basketball game.

How much money does the athletic department have to lose from ticket sales and from donations into the program before enough is enough?

As for the product on the court, it is bad.  REALLY BAD!

When Stallings was hired, all anyone could talk about was what a great offensive mind he is and how effective and efficient his offenses are.  It seemed like coaches were going out of their way to praise him and his genius.  So, about that offense…

Pitt is now 8 games into conference play with 21 games on the season and they average 64.4 pointe per game, which ranks 336^th out of 351 in all D1.  The 68 points they scored on Wednesday against NC State was the most they had scored all season in ACC play and the most points in any game since scoring 74 vs Delaware State December 19^th.  They haven’t reached the 70-point mark in ACC play in their last 14 games.  They scored 80 against Florida State on Feb 18^th last season.  (12 of the 15 ACC teams AVERAGE more than 70 ppg this season.)

Looking at more than points per game, shines even a brighter light on just how bad the Panthers have been on offense this season.  Pitt ranks dead last in the ACC, shooting just 42.7% from the field.  They aren’t much better from the foul line or from 3-point range, ranking 12^th in the conference in both categories.  They also average 15 turnovers a game, which is the worst in the league.  Their 315 turnovers on the season is 40 more than the next closest team.  Pitt has more turnovers than assists this year, something you never saw when Jamie Dixon was coaching.  Pitt ranks last in the ACC in Assist/Turnover Ratio and ranks 299^th in the nation (out of 351 teams).

And if you want to get even more analytical, let’s look at KenPom’s Adjusted Offensive Efficiency Ratings (points scored per 100 possessions, adjusted for opponents).  Pitt scores 98.3 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 277^th in the nation and once again dead last in the ACC.  The next closest ACC team is Georgia Tech, which averages 103 pts/100 possessions, ranking 186^th in the nation.  To put those numbers in perspective, Villanova leads the nation scoring at a rate of 128.2 pts/100 possessions.  Coppin State is last, scoring just 84.6 pts/ 100 possessions.

And remember, those stats are from a team being coached by an offensive savant.  We won’t get into the details defensively, just use your imagination for how bad they are on that side of the ball, and it is worse.

Wednesday’s game may have really pushed things over the edge for me.  Pitt, who is in danger of being only the 7^th team in the ACC 65-year history to go winless in conference play, had a chance to win their 1^st ACC game of the season.  Pitt had a 9-point lead at 66-57 with 5:54 left in the game.  The Panthers proceeded to score TWO points the rest of the game, getting outscored by NC State 15-3 in that span.  This is how the game played out for Pitt over the last 5:54…

Kene Chukwuka missed Three Point Jumper.

Kene Chukwuka Offensive foul - Turnover.

Jared Wilson-Frame missed Three Point Jumper.

Jared Wilson-Frame missed Three Point Jumper.

Jared Wilson-Frame Turnover.

Kene Chukwuka missed Jumper.

Pittsburgh Turnover.

Marcus Carr missed Three Point Jumper.

Kene Chukwuka missed Three Point Jumper.

Marcus Carr made Layup.

Marcus Carr missed Three Point Jumper.

Pitt had 11 possessions after going up by 9 with under 6 minutes to play.  They proceeded to go 0-6 from 3-point range, with ZERO offensive rebounds.  They had 3 turnovers.  They missed a 2-point jump shot and made 1 layup.  

Overall in the 2^nd half, while playing with a lead, Pitt went 0-14 from 3-point range.

PITT SHOT 14 THREE POINTERS IN THE 2^ND HALF.

PITT WAS LEADING FOR THE FIRST 17:11 OF THE SECOND HALF AND SHOT 14 3-POINTERS IN THE HALF!

A team that ranks 12^th in the conference, shooting just 32% from 3-point range, shot 14 of them in the 2^nd half of a game they were winning!

In the postgame Stallings made no comment about the bad shot selection down the stretch, instead leaves us with this, “In a stretch of disappointing games, that one was disappointing.” 

YA THINK?!?!

To top things off in his postgame presser, Stallings was asked about removing Jared Wilson-Frame from the game with Pitt down 2 with 2:15 remaining, his response “I don’t really recall.  I don’t recall.  I don’t remember even taking him out then.” 

Wilson-Frame led Pitt with 22 points in the game.  He removed the team’s leading scorer and by far their best player on the offensive end all night, after blowing a 9-point lead and didn’t even realize he did it????

The writing is on the wall.  This cannot continue.  The team is still making fundamental errors.  The team may be improving, but it is by such a small margin that it really doesn’t matter.  There are maybe 2 legit ACC-caliber players on the Pitt roster right now.  That doesn’t speak well about the future.  That doesn’t tell me that this team will be drastically better if Stallings sticks around for Year 3.

Pitt OC Search

Once again, the Pitt football program is in the midst of another coaching search.  This time it is not a head coaching search, but for the 2^nd straight year Pat Narduzzi is looking for an Offensive Coordinator.  I know nothing of the personal ties that Narduzzi has with other coaches in the coaching world that he may be considering, but I decided to put together a list of candidates that I think would be good fits at Pitt and with Coach Narduzzi.

1) Tim Beck, Co-Offensive Coordinator and QB coach at Ohio State -
Beck is from Youngstown, OH, the home of Pat Narduzzi.  That being said, I don’t know of any connections the two have with each other.  I do recall Beck being a name rumored for the position 2 years ago, when Narduzzi got the Pitt job.  However, Beck was hired by Ohio State instead to replace Tom Herman.  He has coached at Kansas where he was the WR coach and Passing Game Coordinator on a Jayhawks team that went 12-1 and ranked 2^nd in the nation in scoring.  From there he went to Nebraska when Bo Pelini (another Youngstown guy) was hired.  He spent 9 years in Lincoln holding various positions including RB coach, QB coach and OC.  He then joined Urban Meyer at Ohio State where he currently coaches the QB’s and shares Offensive Coordinator duties.
2) Mark Helfrich, former Head Coach at Oregon -
This one has next to no chance of happening, but it is an intriguing name that is available, so I’d be remiss to not include him on this list. Helfrich was the understudy to Chip Kelly at Oregon.  He has spent his last 8 years coaching the Ducks.  His 1^st 4 years were as the OC and QB coach and the last 4 were as a head coach.  Like I said, this is very unlikely to happen.  Helfrich has no ties at all to Narduzzi from what I can tell and has never coached anywhere west of Boulder, CO.
3) Alex Van Pelt, QB Coach with the Green Bay Packers -
Former Pitt great that still holds many offensive and passing records at the school.  Van Pelt spent 11 seasons in the NFL, the final 10 with the Buffalo Bills.  He began his coaching career in 2005 as a volunteer assistant at University of Buffalo.  He then moved to the NFL where he has been coaching the past 11 season.  He started with the Buffalo Bills, he eventually was became their offensive coordinator after 3 seasons.  He then was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he spent 2 seasons.  He has been with the Green Bay Packers the past 3 seasons, coaching both their running backs and QB’s.
4) KC Keeler, Head Coach at Sam Houston State -
An Eastern PA guy, Keeler would be an interesting candidate because he is currently a head coach.  Nick Saban says that he loves having other former head coaches on his staff, because they know the demands and responsibilities that a head coach has to go through and they are able to divvy up duties and responsibilities when needed.  Keeler has been somewhat that many people have expected to get a FBS head coaching job, but it just has not happened.  He was even rumored to be a candidate at Temple just last week.  Keeler has won everywhere he has coached, starting at D3 Rowan.  In 9 seasons at Rowan he made 5 National Championship games and made it to the semifinals 2 other times.  That success got him a job at Delaware, where in 11 seasons he made the playoffs 4 times, including 3 National Championship appearances and 1 Title.  He is now at Sam Houston State, where he has made the playoffs in 3 consecutive seasons, with 2 semifinal appearances and losing in the quarterfinals this year.  He has an overall record of 208-83-1 in 23 seasons as a head coach.
5) Kendal Briles, Former Offensive Coordinator at Baylor -
Briles has all types of stink on him because of his last name and because of where he recently coached.  Briles is the son of former Baylor Head Coach Art Briles who was fired over the summer for the misconduct of his players and losing control of the football program, to put it nicely.  Kendal is one of the best young coaches in the country and coaches the same system as his dad, which is the Air Raid Attack.  Briles was a 2015 Broyles Award Finalist (as Matt Canada was this year) which goes out to the best assistant coach in college football.  There is no doubt that Briles can coach, but the question with him, like Tom Bradley after the Sandusky Scandal at Penn State, is what did he know and what did he do about it?  As long as the law suits are being filed and investigations continue, Briles would be a risky hire by any program.  That being said, that doesn’t take away from his ability to coach an offense and develop QB’s.
6) Kevin Wilson, former Head Coach at Indiana -
Like Briles, White is a great offensive mind with a lot of baggage due to recent accusations.  White was let go by Indiana last month from what both parties called “philosophical differences” which many believe relate to the manner in which White coaches and disciplines his players.  White has run high powered offenses for the past 25 starting at Northwestern before moving to Oklahoma, where he spent 9 season with Bob Stoops and the Sooners.  He was the 2008 Broyles Award winner while at OU.  He then took the head coaching job at Indiana in 2011.  After inheriting an 1-11 team White led the Hoosiers to a bowl game in 2015, the schools 10^th all time, and just their 2^nd in 22 seasons.  He coached the Hoosiers again this year to a bowl game, marking the 1^st time since 1990-91 that they went to bowls in back to back seasons.
7) Frank Cignetti, Jr., QB Coach with the New York Giants -
Remember this guy?  Cignetti is a Pittsburgh guy through and through.  Born in Pittsburgh, Cignetti got his start in coaching as a Grad Assistant under Mike Gottfried.  After leaving Pitt, Cignetti spent the next 20 years coaching at all levels, including the NFL.  He then returned to Pitt in 2009 for 2 seasons, working under Dave Wannestedt.  In his 1^st season, he led the Panthers offense to over 32 points per game, while scoring 30+ points in 7 of the 3 games.  The Panthers climbed to as high as 9^th in the national rankings that year and produced the Big East Offensive Player of the Year in Dion Lewis as well as other offensive stars like Jonathan Baldwin, Dorin Dickerson.  That team also produced 8 1^st or 2^nd team All-Big East members on offense.  In 2010, the Pitt team as a whole took a step back, finishing 8-5 and firing their entire coaching staff.  Since then, Cignetti has been with Rutgers, then the Rams and Giants of the NFL.
8) Lonnie Galloway, Co-Offensive Coordinator and WR coach at Louisville - Galloway has spent his entire career working in the ACC footprint on the offensive side of the ball.  As a quarterback, he played his college ball at Western Carolina.  He got into coaching in 2003 at East Carolina where he was a WR coach.  He then moved to Appalachian State for 3 years.  Galloway then jumped back and forth between West Virginia (2008-2010) and Wake Forest (2011-2012) and West Virginia again (2013-2015).  He left West Virginia last year to become the Co-Offensive Coordinator at Louisville this year, while still coaching WR’s.  Galloway is also a strong recruiter and was named ESPN’s Big East Recruiter of the Year in 2010, when he recruited 2 future 1^st round draft picks to WVU in Tavon Austin and Bruce Irvin. (EDIT UPDATE: Since posting this, more information has come out about the Wake Forest Investigating, showing that Lonnie Galloway was directly involved.  I would think that Lonnie won't be getting many looks for promotions any time soon, and I'd assume he loses his current job at Louisville.)
9) Mike Bajakian, QB Coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -
Bajakian is a long-shot candidate that has a nice background with strong recruiting ties.  Bajakain is from NJ and went to school at Bergen Catholic, a school that produces division 1 talent annually. He has coached in both college and the pros.  He got his start as a GA with Rutgers, before then moving to Michigan for the same position.  He then became the QB coach at Central Michigan for 2 seasons before moving to the NFL and the Chicago Bears.  Bajakian returned to Central Michigan with Butch Jones as his offensive coordinator.  He then followed Jones to Cincinnati and to Tennessee before leaving last year to coach the quarterback, specifically the Bucs 1^st round pick, Jameis Winston.
10) John DeFilippo, QB coach with the Philadelphia Eagles -
This is another name that was floated around the past 2 offseasons while Narduzzi has been looking for an offensive coordinator.  DeFilippo, another Youngstown guy, has spent his entire coaching career working with the quarterback position.  Starting as a graduate assistant with Notre Dame, he then spent 5 years in the NFL working with the Giants, Raiders and Jets.  He returned to college as the QB coach at San Jose State in 2010.  The following year he also had the offensive coordinator title.  He then jumped back to the pros, working again with the Raiders for 3 seasons, before being hired by the Browns in 2015 to be their offensive coordinator.  He now is currently working with the Eagles rookie QB Carson Wentz.
11) Kenny Edenfield, Offensive Coordinator at Troy -
Edenfield comes from the south and has lots of recruiting connections in hotbeds like Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and other areas.  Edenfield has worked most recently at Troy, where he has been the offensive coordinator and WR coach.  He has been there since 2008.  After taking over the coordinator job in 2010 he has led Troy to becoming one of the most explosive offenses in the nation.  Edenfield runs a very pass happy offense, in his time at Troy they have led the conference in passing for 4 of the 7 seasons and have ranked in the top 16 nationally in those 4 seasons.  He is known for developing quarterbacks.
12) Mike Denbrock, Assistant HC and WR coach at Notre Dame -
A Michigan man, Denbrock has worked in college for the past 30 years.  He started at Grand Valley State where he played then became a Graduate Assistant.  He has also coached at Stanford and Washington between two stints at Notre Dame, where he currently is.  Denbrock could be the replacement at Notre Dame to the recently departed offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, who is the new head coach at Western Kentucky.  If he doesn’t get that position, he could be someone that is looking around for a fresh start elsewhere.
13) Brian Wright, Offensive Coordinator at Toledo -
Wright, another Youngstown guy, grew up in Wooster, OH, an area Pitt recruits hard.  He is in his 21^st season coaching, 9 of which came at Youngstown State.  He has held the offensive coordinator title at every school he has coached at including YSU, Montana State, Florida Atlantic and now Toledo.  His 4 years coaching at Florida Atlantic couldn’t hurt recruiting in the Sunshine State either.  He has had high powered offenses nearly everywhere he has coached.  He has also worked directly with quarterbacks at each of those schools, specializing with the dual threat type passers.
14) Ryan Day, QB coach with the San Francisco 49ers -
Day is an East Coast guy that moved out west for this season with the 49ers, but had never worked outside the eastern time zone.  Day is a disciple of Chip Kelly’s playing quarterback for him at New Hampshire.  He began coaching at New Hampshire after finishing his playing days.  He then moved to BC, Florida, Temple, back to BC, back to Temple and once again to BC before joining Kelly with the Eagles last season.  He stayed with Kelly this year as they moved out west with the 49ers.  In all likelihood, Day will be looking for a job in the upcoming weeks as it looks more and more likely that the entire 49ers staff will be fired after this season.
15) Matt LeFleur, QB coach with the Atlanta Falcons -
Another Michigan guy, LeFleur could help with the recruiting in and around the Detroit area.  LeFleur has bounced back and forth between the college and pro coaching ranks.  He worked with the Mike and Kyle Shanahan while with the Washington Redskins, and Kyle became somewhat of a mentor to him.  He worked with both Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins while with the Redskins.  After the Shanahan’s were fired from Washington, LeFleur returned to the college game, spending a year working under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame, coaching their quarterbacks.  He has since rejoined Kyle Shanahan on the sidelines, as a quarterback’s coach for the Atlanta Falcons, where Kyle is the OC.
16) Brennan Carroll, OL coach with the Seattle Seahawks -
Another Pitt guy.  Carroll, son of Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, played at Pitt under Walt Harris.  Upon graduating from Pitt, he joined his father at USC where he coached for 8 seasons.  He is known to be an outstanding recruiter.  He was the recruiting coordinator at both USC and Miami, along with holding other on field coaching roles.  At USC, he coached tight ends.  At Miami, he coached both tight ends and wide receivers.  He currently coaches the offensive line in Seattle.
17) Tony Franklin, Offensive Coordinator at Middle Tennessee State -
Franklin has literally coached all over the country.  He began coaching under Hal Mumme, the inventor of the Air Raid Offense and Franklin obviously incorporates that in his offensive systems to this day.  He has been the offensive coordinator at Kentucky and Auburn in the SEC as well as at Cal in the PAC 12.  In that time, he coached Tim Couch and Jared Lorenzen at Kentucky.  He recently coached at Cal for 3 years, developing last year’s #1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, Jared Goff.
18) Frank Ponce, Offensive Coordinator and QB coach at Appalachian State -
I am very intrigued by the possibility, but I don’t think it is very likely.  Ponce has incredible ties in and around the Miami high school football scene, having coached there for the 1^st 15 years of his coaching career, some of which were at some big-time high school football programs.  He has been a college coach since 2007, his 1^st 6 years at FIU, followed by 4 years at Appalachian State. While at App State, Ponce has been the QB coach and co-offensive coordinator, overseeing the passing game for the 1^st 3 years, before becoming the primary offensive coordinator this season.  He has also had great success developing QB’s at App State.
19) Brian Schottenheimer, QB coach with the Indianapolis Colts -
Son of a former Pitt Panther, Marty, Schottenheimer doesn’t have any direct ties to Pitt, but has coaching in his blood.  He “played” QB under Steve Spurrier at Florida.  After graduating from Florida, he jumped into coaching in the NFL, beginning with a year each with the Rams and Chiefs before going back to college where he was a WR coach at Syracuse, and a TE coach at USC.  He then spent the next 6 seasons as a QB coach under his father, coaching 1 season with the Washington Redskins and 5 in San Diego with the Chargers.  He then moved up to Offensive Coordinator with the Jets, spending 6 seasons there, before joining the Rams in the same role for 3 years.  Last year he went back to college and was the OC & QB coach at Georgia under Mark Richt.  This year he is currently working with Andrew Luck in Indianapolis as their QB coach.
20) Scott Turner, QB coach with the Minnesota Vikings -
Another Pitt guy, kinda.  Turner coached at Pitt with previously mentioned Frank Cignetti, Jr.  Turner is from Virginia, but went to school at UNLV.  He was a high school coach in Virginia when Dave Wannestedt hired him to his staff.  He spent his 1^st two seasons at Pitt as an offensive assistant, before being promoted to WR coach for his 3^rd and final year in 2010.  He then moved on to the NFL, working 2 years in Carolina, 1 with the Cleveland Browns and he is in his 3^rd year with the Minnesota Vikings.  He has worked directly with Vikings young QB Teddy Bridgewater in his time in Minnesota.

There is a distinct possibility that Pat Narduzzi hires NONE of these candidates.  Trying to predict head coaching searches is extremely difficult, trying to predict assistant coaching jobs is nearly impossible.  That said, hopefully this gives you some insight on some of the candidates that COULD be out there.

Pitt Panthers Mid Season Report

We are now at the mid-way point in the college football season, so I wanted to go back and take a look at the 1^st 6 games for the Pitt Panthers.

OVERVIEW:
Pitt is 5-1 for the 1^st time since the 2009 season, when the Panthers started 9-1.  Of those 5 wins for Pitt, 3 of them have come against teams that beat them last year (Akron, Virginia, Georgia Tech).  They also have wins against Youngstown State, who they lost to the last time the two teams played in Paul Chryst’s debut and Virginia Tech, who was considered to be one of the two favorites in the ACC Coastal this season (Georgia Tech the other).  Pitt has played 4 of 6 games on the road, winning 3 of them.  The Panthers only loss has come to an undefeated Iowa team on the road in a game that ended on a 57-yard field goal to give the Hawkeyes a 27-24 victory.

The Panthers are 3-0 to start conference play, something that last happened in 2010 as a member of the Big East.  Pitt still has 5 ACC games remaining on the schedule, to go with a non-conference game against Notre Dame. 

OFFENSE:
The Pitt offense suffered a major loss in the 1^st half of the 1^st game of the season when they saw the reigning ACC Offensive Player of the Year, James Conner, go down with a season ending knee injury.  They have also seen their returning starter at quarterback, Chad Voytik, get replaced by graduate transfer Nate Peterman.  The offense has not been the same without these 2 players on the field.  It currently ranks 105^th in the nation in total offense, averaging 346 yards per game.  Last year the Panthers were 40^th in the country, averaging nearly 100 more yards per game.

Peterman offers a different style of play than Voytik.  Peterman has a bigger and better arm than Voytik, but really seemed to struggle grasping the system early on, making many fans, myself included, wonder why he was the choice over Voytik.  I think the biggest problem with the offense has come in the many differences between the Peterman and Voytik.  The thing that made Voytik so good last year was his running ability.  Last year he had 2 games in which he ran for over 100 yards.  Peterman isn’t that type of player.  He is a pocket passer, which Voytik is not.  Although both quarterbacks are learning a new system under new offensive coordinator Jim Chaney, this system is a much better fit for Peterman than Voytik.  Peterman has gotten better in each of his last 3 games as quarterback, with his 3 touchdown performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday being his best game of the year.

With Conner out for the year and a new quarterback at the helm, a lot of defensives have stacked the box to take the run away, while also trying to shutdown Tyler Boyd, thus forcing Peterman and the inexperienced wide receiving corp to beat them.  To this point nobody has been able to take Boyd out of the game, as he has 41 of the teams 91 receptions, despite being suspended for the season opener.  Also, the trio of Qadree Ollison, Chris James and Darrin Hall have been just good enough at running back to keep the running threat in play.

The play of the offensive line coming into the season was a question mark due to injuries.  Since then, the Panthers have stayed somewhat healthy and the unit as a whole has performed well.  Pitt has allowed just 14 sacks in 6 games this season and have averaged just over 5 negative plays per game on the offensive side of the ball.  Considering some of the more high profile type offenses in the country like, West Virginia, Boise State and Arizona State all average nearly double that, 5 isn’t all that bad.  Nationally that ranks around 50^th out of the 127 teams in college football this season.

Basically, the offense is a work in progress.  It has been just good enough to this point in the season to produce the results necessary for this team.  This is a young and inexperienced unit that will only get better the more they play together as a group.  That is a good thing for this Panther team.

DEFENSE:
When Pat Narduzzi came to Pitt, most people figured he would bring his tough, physical and stingy defense with him, they just didn’t think it would produce so quickly.  With a lot of the same players back from last year, the defensive side of the ball has put up considerably better numbers.  The Panthers are allowing 60 yards and 5 points less per game this season.  In just 6 games, they have also already surpassed their total sack numbers from last year (19 to 22).  Pitt is ranked in the top 20 national in 1^st Downs Allowed (6^th), Passing Yards Allowed (12^th), Sacks (3^rd), Tackles for Losses (19^th), Total Defense (17^th).

Two of the players this season that have helped the defense improve are freshman safety Jordan Whitehead, who leads the team in tackles and senior defensive lineman Ejuan Price, who has been a menace in opposing backfields, leading Pitt tackles for losses and 2^nd on the team in sacks.  Whitehead, a highly touted recruit last year, has come right in and contributed immediately.  Price, has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, but finally seems healthy and playing to his potential.

The Pitt defense has been what has kept the Panthers in games this season while the offense was trying to find its footing.  That is a complete role reversal of the two units from last year, when the Pitt offense had to outscore their opponents because their defense couldn’t stop anyone.

The one area that Pitt could certainly improve at on the defensive side of the ball is in the takeaway department.  Pitt has only forced 8 turnovers this season (2 fumbles, 6 interceptions).  The Panthers only forced 14 turnovers all of last season, so they are ahead of that pace, but that is still well below the national average.

This unit has been a pleasant surprise for the Panthers this season and they have needed it to be with the offense being sluggish at times.  The defense is playing fast and aggressive and the more success they have the more confidence the players will get.  The defense has been very good this season and should get even better as the season progresses.

SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Pitt Special Teams unit hasn’t been all that special this season.  While they have had their moments of greatness, they have been just average for the most part so far.  Pitt has scored 2 touchdowns on PT this year, a kick return for a score in the opener vs Youngstown State and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown at Iowa.  In the kicking game, although Chris Blewitt made a clutch 56-yard FG to win the game against Georgia Tech, he has just been okay overall this season, going just 6 of 9 in field goals.  He has made all 21 extra points, but if you are a scholarship kicker in division 1 football, you should make all your extra points.  The punting of Ryan Winslow has been good, but not great.  He has shown the ability to place the ball and have some touch punting inside the 20, but he hasn’t done it on a consistent basis.  In the return game, Pitt hasn’t been great on returns or on kick coverage.  I guess the best way you can look at it is that they are averaging about 7 yards more per kick return than allowed and almost 3 yards more per punt.  That net yardage can add up and shift field position, which is never a bad thing.  The Panthers have blocked 3 kicks this year, which is tied for 2^nd in the nation.  That is obviously pretty good.

For me the having an excellent Special Teams unit is a bonus.  Special Teams can be a game changer for you if you do things right.  At the same time, it can cost you a game if you do things poorly.  Pitt has done just enough on special teams to impact games for a positive, while not having their special teams cost them any games.

COACHING:
Another season, another coaching staff.  That is just the way things have gone at Pitt in the past 5 years or so.  The excitement that came in with Pat Narduzzi and his staff has certainly not worn off to this point.  One of the things that Narduzzi preached early on and has continued to talk about was changing the mindset of this team.  He wanted them to expect to win and be confident.  I feel that the Panthers have done that in every game this season.  In years past, Pitt would not have been 5-1 at this point.  They have only outscored their opponents by an average of 6 points, yet are still 5-1.  That means that they are winning close games.  They are winning in the 4^th quarter.  That has historically been when Pitt decided to fold.  Not this year.  I think the coaching staff is the reason.

LOOKING FORWARD:
Pitt has 6 games left beginning this Saturday at Syracuse.  After that, the Panthers leave Heinz Field just once, a road game against Duke.  That means Pitt gets 4 of their final 5 games at home.  If Pitt can get past Syracuse this week, they will be 6-1 with 5 of those 7 games on the road.  Coming home for that final stretch could be the difference for this team.  They will get North Carolina at home in a game that should greatly impact the ACC Coastal division.  With both undefeated in ACC play, the winner will be in the driver’s seat going into the final month of the season.  They also get Notre Dame at home.  The Irish have much more talent than Pitt this season, but that hasn’t stopped the Panthers in previous years against Notre Dame.  Pitt has won 2 of the last 3 at Heinz Field between these 2 teams and each of the last 6 meeting have been decided by a touchdown or less.

In the Panthers final 6 games they have 3 games in which they should win (Syracuse, Louisville, Miami), 2 games in which could go either way (UNC, Duke) and 1 in which they will be considered an underdog (Notre Dame).  That said, we know how Pitt works, they could go 1-5 with their lone win being against ND and I don’t know if I would be surprised.  Either way, it should be a fun final 6 games.

Week 1 Review

Some quick thoughts after the 1^st week of the college football season.

Michigan is improved, but Harbaugh still has a lot of work to do.  Last year the Wolverines lost at home to Utah 26-10, with the Utes scoring the final 16 points for the win.  Michigan lost this year, but put up a fight the whole way.  Losing 24-17 on the road and were a recovered onside kick away from making the game REAL interesting.

Utah could be really good if they found some more play makers on the offensive side of the ball.  Devontae Booker is the only threat the Utes have and he is a good one, but they need more.  Booker carried the ball 22 times and scored on the ground.  He also was their leading receiver with 7 catches in week 1 vs Michigan.

TCU got a road win versus a Power 5 team, but they didn’t look very impressive in doing so.  It is just one game, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t finish drives and had to settle for field goals on too many drives.  They certainly didn’t look like what you would expect from the 2^nd best team in the country.

Duke and David Cutcliffe have found their quarterback.  Cutcliffe has been a quarterback guru everywhere he has coached but has yet to find one at Duke, until now.  Thomas Sirk made his debut with the Blue Devils Thursday night against Tulane and the junior QB was 27-40 for 289 and 2 scores.  He also ran the ball 15 times for 68 yards.

New Baylor QB Seth Russell throws a really nice ball; he has great touch on the deep ball.  It is only a 1 game sample, but it looks like the Baylor offense won’t miss much with Russell stepping in for Bryce Petty.  Russell actually adds a little more athleticism to the quarterback position for the Bears.

Hawaii and Colorado was a perfect example of why a preseason game in college football is not a terrible idea.  The two quarterbacks combined to go 42-78 and just 360 yard.  It also had 18 punts, 14 penalties and five turnovers and was utterly unwatchable.

Stop FCS games!  Yes every year you get teams like Washington State and Kansas that lose to the FCS, but you also get games like Georgia Tech beating Alcorn State 69-6 with GT running for 476 yards and Ole Miss beating Tennessee-Martin 76-3 which included a 55-0 lead and Mississippi THROWING a touchdown pass in the 4^th quarter.  Those games need to stop.

Continue playing on the road against Group of 5 teams if you are a Power 5 team.  It creates the chance of upsets and it immediately gives these lower level FBS teams a showcase home game that the players and fans can look forward to.  In the opening week only we saw teams like Temple beat Penn State at home.  Western Michigan playing with in-state foe Michigan State into the 4^th quarter and Central Michigan leading Oklahoma State in the 2^nd half before falling short.  Those games are great for the little guys and a real challenge for the big boys.  A win-win for everybody.

Malik Zaire is fun to watch run Brian Kelly’s offense at Notre Dame.  It seems to be pretty clear why Everett Golson transferred out of Notre Dame, because he was good, but Zaire has the potential to do some special things for the Irish this season.  Zaire went 19-22 for 313 and 3 scores in the opener against Texas.

Notre Dame is either really good or Texas is absolutely awful.  It reality it is probably somewhere in between.  Charlie Strong is in year 2 of a huge rebuild at Texas, so nobody expected a CFB Playoff bid, but I would imagine that the fan-base didn’t expect the worst loss to open the season since 1988 (@BYU 47-6).

I loved watching the aggressive play and play-calling of the Temple defense against Penn State.  Temple is a team that is full of players that didn’t get recruited by Penn State and despite being overmatched at almost every position that didn’t change their style of play and it paid off, limiting Penn State to just 54 yards in their final 12 drives of the game.

The Penn State offensive line is awful.  I really like Christian Hackenberg and I would love to see what he could do if his O-Line could keep him clean, but that doesn’t look like it will happen in his time at Penn State.  Hackenberg was sacked 10 times by Temple on Saturday.  Some are thinking that Hackenberg could be the top QB selected in next year’s NFL draft.  That will only happen if he survives this season.

Oregon lost the Heisman Trophy winner and 2^nd overall pick in quarterback Marcus Mariotta, yet the Ducks didn’t miss a beat in their 61-42 win over Eastern Washington.  Oregon racked up 731 yards and 34 first downs on offense.  That includes running for 485 and 6 touchdowns.  They also didn’t lose their quick score attach either.  All of the Ducks scoring drives were under 3 minutes except their final score in the 4^th quarter, that one lasted 3:20.

Tons of stars lost for the season already in just one week.  Quarterbacks Taysom Hill (BYU) and Terrel Hunt (Syracuse), running backs Tarean Folston (Notre Dame) and James Conner (Pitt) and defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes (UCLA) are all highly regarded players that are done for the season already due to injuries.  We also have All-American linebacker Scooby Wright from Arizona, safety Mike Caputo from Wisconsin, wide receiver Mike Williams from Clemson and Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Brewer out for a considerable amount of time with lesser injuries.

Will Muschamp joining the coaching staff at Auburn is a very good thing.  We all know that Gus Malzahn knows offense and can put up some points, but now he has a defense behind it.  Muschamp, the former Florida head coach has always been a great defensive mind and now he able to focus on just that.  In the opener versus Louisville, Auburn scored 1 defensive touchdown on an 82 yard fumble return in the 1^st half and set up another one with a 35 yard interception return in the 2^nd half.  Auburn jumped out to a 24-0 3^rd quarter lead before Louisville final got on the scoreboard.

Alabama’s running game is crazy good.  The Tide have had guys like Eddie Lacy and Mark Ingram in recent years, but Derrick Henry might be the best of the bunch.  Henry ran for 147 on 13 carries and 3 scores against Wisconsin on Saturday.  His back up Kenyan Drake ran 10 times for 77 yards and a score.  He also had 2 catches for 48 yards.  This 1-2 punch from Alabama is as good as we have seen from the Crimson Tide.

High Octane is illegal in Houston, TX.  Arizona State and the Fighting Todd Graham’s had only 291 yards of offense (3.55 ypp) and two turnovers against Texas A&M Saturday.  Of the Fighting Todd Graham’s 1^st 12 drives, they punted 9 times, fumbled twice and scored just one touchdown.

I still love watching Todd Graham lose.  I don’t think that will change any time soon either.

I love watching Penn State lose.  I know that won’t change any time soon.

Hail Mary conversions are fun. 

West Coast teams should never be forced to play noon EST.  Stanford played Northwestern at Noon.  The players woke up at 4:30 to try to make up for the time difference and prepare for the game, it didn’t help.  The Cardinal looked sluggish from the get go.  They finished the game with just 2 field goals and only 240 yards of total offense.  They also turned the ball over twice.

Baker Mayfield showed why he was named the starter for the Oklahoma Sooners after camp.  Mayfield threw for 388 yards and 3 scores in his collegiate debut.  He also ran for another touchdown.  He unseated Trevor Knight who was the returning starter, who accounted for over 3,100 yards and 30 touchdowns in his 1^st 2 years at OU.

Josh Rosen looks to be the real thing at UCLA.  The #1 rated quarterback out of high school last year won the starting job at UCLA in fall camp and impressed in his debut.  Rosen threw for 351 and 3 touchdowns, going 28 of 35 in a 34-16 win over Virginia.

Ohio State looked pretty impressive in their opener.  After the Buckeyes got things going they looked unstoppable, and remember they were playing without 4 starters that were suspended.  I still am not sure that Cardale Jones is the best option for the Urban Meyer offense, but he also isn’t a bad option to have.  With their toughest game out of the way, if Ohio State loses at any point in the season it would be a huge upset.