My takes:
#1. QB. Collins is the guy for Pitt. The reason why Collins gets the start for Pitt, for me, is that he showed a lot more decisiveness in the 4th quarter against SMU. Sure, SMU was playing softer. Angeli was 5 minutes away from us being 0-2 after Tennessee and UConn. Angeli turned the ball over against Tennessee to take us out of that game too, if you recall. For most of that game, it was never really in doubt that we were losing after Q1. And then UConn kind of went conservative on offense/defense in the 4th quarter too. But then Angeli seemed to really get it right those last 5 minutes. And then Colgate really refined his confidence. Rickie looked better the last 10 minutes against SMU.. .kind of parallel. The difference is that we were down 31-3 when that started against SMU, not down 17-6. I just thought he looked much more decisive. Forget about the results of the play. When he ran, he looked like a guy that knew it was right and proper to run. Gaining some confidence. Unlike Angeli, he does not get Colgate to really improve his confidence. But he does get a bye week. And then the pressure cooker that is Pitt. But I think he deserves a fair chance at start #3.
#2. OC. The offensive coordinator has to start doing things to help Rickie. And I think that is taking advantage of his mobility. I think his running game may help his passing game. If he becomes the type of QB that can extend drives with his legs, then so be it. Call plays that will take advantage of that. Let's face it. Rickie is in danger of losing his job... the NFL is not on the horizon. If we could call plays for Angeli to run and suffer a season-ending injury... given that Rickie is plainly faster and not as good at passing, I think we have to. Rickie's career needs to have Rickie winning some games... QUICKLY. If the backups are similar, then it makes sense to start morphing the offense in that direction anyway. As for passing plays, you cannot keep running the same plays that Angeli and McCord were running. We need to reinvent the wheel during this bye week to tailor it to what we have right now. Maybe more 2 WR sets than we would ever expect given our depth there.
3. Fran Brown. Really starting to question game/score management. I hate when coaches punt from the opponents 40 yard line. But there is a point where being aggressive is hurting a growing team. Against UConn, you had an Angeli that was still settling into his position as QB1 and we let the team fall behind and stay behind most of the game by not kicking FGs. I thought that maybe we just did not have a good kicker, but that does not seem to be the case. Against SMU, you had a Collins that was even farther behind Angeli at the same point, and we took points off the board AGAIN. We have taken 15+ points off the board this year and the only gain was that we made it up for it against UConn. We were closer to losing against UConn than we were winning against SMU. A TD would have been nice each time. It always is preferable. But, in the first half, I think you take the points every time. Especially with an offense that is struggling. Better to be up 3-0 and 6-0... than tied at 0-0. Next year, if Angeli is back and we are clicking on offense right out of the gate... fine. But when Angeli was struggling and Collins is struggling, I think we need to take the points to improve the team confidence.
My other criticizm is that I am very tired of seeing us down 24-3 and we make a first down... and our guys quickly jump to their feet to do some sort of demonstrative pointing and gesturing. That is bad enough when you are a really good team and winning. It has no place on a team that is being blown out. I see absolutely no DART in it at all, unless a few guys celebrate together. Obviously... the players are not robots and unemotional. I am not against celebrating. I am glad that they allow it in college now. But, if Fran is at all serious about turning this team into champions, I think he should be teaching/coaching to celebrate TDs and good plays as a team... not with individuals calling attention to themselves. And, by all means... if a first down is in a game where you are down by 28 points... there is no "team-based" reason to celebrate. You should still be so embarassed by the current status of the game that no one good play can make up for it. Does this make sense? When we were upsetting Clemson, celebrating seemed right. When we are being blown out by Duke and SMU, there is nothing to celebrate at all. No good play is celebration worthy. "Who cares if we are losing, I just made a big play!!!"
