Pitt is favored

[Augusta_Jacket]

FWIW, UMASS might as well still be FCS. Cant believe it's almost been a decade for them back in FBS.

I cant tell you about all these fancy stats but watching both of Pitt's games vs Tenn and WMI I can tell you what i saw. It was undersized DBs getting burned by WRs. Milton for Tenn stinks and missed a bunch of wide open big throws...funny enough he's not their starting QB anymore

I've got respect for Pitt and don't take any matchup for granted. It will come down to whether our defense can stop Pickett and their offense. It also may come down to special teams. I don't know what the Pitt fans are saying on their board but Im sure theyre hoping that Pitt can drop 40+ again otherwise they're in trouble.

You need to be careful when judging anyone who plays Tennessee. UT is 19th in the nation in 247s talent composite. The Volunteers aren't well coached but there is some serious talent on that team.

 

[UgaBlows]

You need to be careful when judging anyone who plays Tennessee. UT is 19th in the nation in 247s talent composite. The Volunteers aren't well coached but there is some serious talent on that team.

Didn’t they hire UCF’s coach, I though he was supposed to be pretty decent?

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Didn’t they hire UCF’s coach, I though he was supposed to be pretty decent?

Probably should have worded that differently. They haven't BEEN well coached. Heupel may well bring that program back to respectability, but he's only in his first season with them. They have some major culture issues similar to FSU than need resolving. He has a lot of talent to work with though.

 

[85Escape]

I also think there is a huge difference in getting beat on a gutsy call by a G5 team for the first game of the season and losing to one in the second game while they hang 44 on you.

I'm not saying that there is any excuse for it, but I felt that NIU practiced for us for a long time this summer while we probably have overlooked them (as a coaching staff) and held back on our playbook too much.

I'm doubting that Pitt was doing that vs WMU and all of the rust should have been shaken off by then.

Either way, I hope we boatrace'm.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

I also think there is a huge difference in getting beat on a gutsy call by a G5 team for the first game of the season and losing to one in the second game while they hang 44 on you.

I'm not saying that there is any excuse for it, but I felt that NIU practiced for us for a long time this summer while we probably have overlooked them (as a coaching staff) and held back on our playbook too much.

I'm doubting that Pitt was doing that vs WMU and all of the rust should have been shaken off by then.

Either way, I hope we boatrace'm.

Pitt turning the ball over 3 times killed 'em. That being said, there was almost no defense played in that game by either team, which gives me hope we can run at will against them.

 

[CPJacket]

Pitt blew out 2 FCS teams so who cares. they did their job. Pitts defense is B A D. If Milton from Tenn didn't miss a bunch of wide open receivers in the first half of their game, Tenn would have run away with it. Their DBs are very undersized. Malachi and Kyric should tear them up. We should not have to worry about scoring. If they commit to stop the run, Jeff and the WRs will have a field day.

The only concern is our defense. They played their best game of the CGC era last week. Pitt will air it out on us with their 8th (?) year QB. Can we stop it? Only if we get the pressure we saw last week. Also Pickett has some sneaky wheels so we'll see what factor that plays. I suspect we also may be playing against the refs again this week.

You have it backwards. Our pressure was created by the db's coverage. Howell had nowhere to go with the ball, and their line couldn't block us forever.

 

[TromboneJacket]

Honestly, this year I really can’t tell who’s good or not based on game results. I know that we need to give Pitt our best shot if we want to win. Pickett is a 5th-year senior. He may not be as talented as Howell, but he’s far less likely to make mistakes. The good news is that we just showed that we’re capable of playing pretty disciplined too. With Pitt’s OL looking better than UNC’s, Thacker will need to get creative in getting into the backfield. Having Clayton or White ready to go would be a big help in this game. Their offensive strength is definitely their passing game, but we don’t want to get caught napping against the run. The 3-3-5 should be a good personnel package to use in this game, especially if we can be unpredictable with it.

On offense, the name of the game will be completing passes. That’s how Western Michigan beat them. Their DBs are small, so it’s a good game to get Malachi and PeJe some targets, along with the TEs. If we can do that, the run game should open up.

 

[ramblineck]

You have it backwards. Our pressure was created by the db's coverage. Howell had nowhere to go with the ball, and their line couldn't block us forever.

I will admit I had a few too many beers at the Benz so I'm not entirely sure what I saw. I do know that Howell got hit A LOT

 

[Jacket05]

I also think there is a huge difference in getting beat on a gutsy call by a G5 team for the first game of the season and losing to one in the second game while they hang 44 on you.

I'm not saying that there is any excuse for it, but I felt that NIU practiced for us for a long time this summer while we probably have overlooked them (as a coaching staff) and held back on our playbook too much.

I'm doubting that Pitt was doing that vs WMU and all of the rust should have been shaken off by then.

Either way, I hope we boatrace'm.

We didn't get beat on a gutsy call, we got beat on a BS call by the ref! It was clearly not a catch and I will still not let it go!

I mean we should not have been in that situation in the first place but my point still stands.

 

[danny daniel]

You have it backwards. Our pressure was created by the db's coverage. Howell had nowhere to go with the ball, and their line couldn't block us forever.

That certainly seemed the case most of the time, especially after the first quarter. He had time on many plays but some of that time was after we moved him out of the pocket and he missed finding some targets after the pressure got him uncomfortable. We got a good push on a lot of plays forcing him to move. He seemed to not be able to relocate his receivers after we got him moving. For the most part our coverage was very good.

 

[wesgt123]

I will admit I had a few too many beers at the Benz so I'm not entirely sure what I saw. I do know that Howell got hit A LOT

He did get pummeled all night. At one point, the cameras focused in on Howell, he had red marks all over his body from being hit. Poor kid took a beating that night.

He also looked crazy rattled going into the locker room at the half. Looked like he just spent a night in a haunted house or something

 

[augustabuzz]

Honestly, this year I really can’t tell who’s good or not based on game results. I know that we need to give Pitt our best shot if we want to win. Pickett is a 5th-year senior. He may not be as talented as Howell, but he’s far less likely to make mistakes. The good news is that we just showed that we’re capable of playing pretty disciplined too. With Pitt’s OL looking better than UNC’s, Thacker will need to get creative in getting into the backfield. Having Clayton or White ready to go would be a big help in this game. Their offensive strength is definitely their passing game, but we don’t want to get caught napping against the run. The 3-3-5 should be a good personnel package to use in this game, especially if we can be unpredictable with it.

On offense, the name of the game will be completing passes. That’s how Western Michigan beat them. Their DBs are small, so it’s a good game to get Malachi and PeJe some targets, along with the TEs. If we can do that, the run game should open up.

5th year senior? Don't you remember that he is the reason that Tom Brady gave up his first choice, Pitt, and committed to Michigan?

 

[UgaBlows]

5th year senior? Don't you remember that he is the reason that Tom Brady gave up his first choice, Pitt, and committed to Michigan?

Man i hope we can pound him into the dirt mercilessly, so sick of that guy beating us and running his mouth at our players

 

[85Escape]

Man i hope we can pound him into the dirt mercilessly, so sick of that guy beating us and running his mouth at our players

I like the "repeated legal hard hits" that Thack talked about for the UNC game.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

I also think there is a huge difference in getting beat on a gutsy call by a G5 team for the first game of the season and losing to one in the second game while they hang 44 on you.

I'm not saying that there is any excuse for it, but I felt that NIU practiced for us for a long time this summer while we probably have overlooked them (as a coaching staff) and held back on our playbook too much.

I'm doubting that Pitt was doing that vs WMU and all of the rust should have been shaken off by then.

Either way, I hope we boatrace'm.

Watching that Western Michigan game was like a tutorial in the RPO. Their quarterback was on the money time and again on throws over the middle into coverage that was not bad. He put the ball right where it needed to be in traffic. When Pitt closed off the middle he went outside with his throws and connected time and again. He could not run that well and once, he simply fell down and no one touched him. Didn't matter. It was their day and Pitt just did not have it in them to muster one last scoring drive down 44-41.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Man i hope we can pound him into the dirt mercilessly, so sick of that guy beating us and running his mouth at our players

I don't care much for his yapping either but like Dizzy Dean once said: "If you can do it, it ain't bragging" and for the most part Pickett has been able to do it. One last chance to shut him up for good.

 

[bobongo]

I don't care much for his yapping either but like Dizzy Dean once said: "If you can do it, it ain't bragging" and for the most part Pickett has been able to do it. One last chance to shut him up for good.

This will be the best Tech defense he's faced.

 

[Yaller Jacket]

I go through the same routine every year with these guys. I look at them and say, "hmm, this is a so-so team. Not very athletic. We should get a win this week." And sure enough, when we play them, they don't look athletic. But they do seem solid. They play pretty good on offense and pretty good on defense. They don't make many mistakes. And it turns out to be good enough to beat us, over and over. I'll start to feel better about playing Pitt after we've beat 'em a couple of times.

 

[goldfella]

I really covet this win because Pitt is a team we should consistently beat, but yet we don't. The same is true of Duke, whom we managed to lose to even during our best season since 1990. These are games GT needs to win four out of five times, but the opposite has been true as of late. That needs to change.

I'm going to add an addendum to the loss in 2014. There is a video of a Duke player tackling JT at the boundary and rolling with JT's ankle in his arms. The only reason they won that game is because they hurt our best player *on a dirty play* and it took our staff too long to figure out how badly he was hurt.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I will admit I had a few too many beers at the Benz so I'm not entirely sure what I saw. I do know that Howell got hit A LOT

Yes, these were primarily coverage sacks. Many times Howell held the ball too long trying to find an open receiver.