sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
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I am not looking forward to making this post. Let’s start there.
Drove over to Pittsburgh Thursday morning. It took me 5 hours and about 50 minutes. My car probably could have made it there on a full tank of gas but I didn’t want to chance it and I stopped twice to try and close a cooler full of water bottles and a big bag of ice that had the cubes all frozen together. Couldn’t get it broken up so I could close the cooler until the first rest stop on I79.
I have always gone the other way driving there. Though Binghamton, Corning, Williamsport and a bunch of small cities. I90 and I79 is a much better way. And I79 is actually pretty scenic. A lot better ride than I81 through PA, which is ugly and boring.
Stayed at the Residence Inn on the North Shore. Right across the street from PNC Park, where the Pirates play. Great location about 3 blocks from Acrisure Stadium (I don’t know what Acrisure is and it might be misspelled and I don’t care). Nice hotel, looks pretty old. I think it was really nice at one time and needs a refresh now but not bad and they serve a good breakfast. Lots of Syracuse fans were staying there too. And you can tailgating in their parking lot.
A subset of the tailgate crew made the trip and joined some expatriots down there. We got the idea to tailgate late and made some missteps. Started tailgating in the wrong parking lot (two had the same address on Google). Actually had to break down out setup and reset up 150 yards away right after 0ur first batch of coneys and dogs/brats were grilled. Good job by everyone to make the move. TexanMark whipped up the tailgate in record time and we pulled it off with a lot of help from the many people who brought stuff we needed. Dave M, Clayton, Consigliere, subarney, PAcuse, pacusewife and corpjet all helped make it happen and I probably missed a few people as well. Good job everyone, including the people who just ate and drank.
We headed to the stadium early. I think it was about 4 blocks from there we tailgated, which for the record was the Graybar lot. This is a stadium where they want you to wand yourself in and that worked fine. I got separated from Consigliere and his wife and headed to my seat on my own. Pitt was giving ot free towels and Pitt hats. Lots of students and me walked up a series of ramps that reminded me of Shea Stadium. Old school. We got tickets in big club area that I think runs the length of the sideline there. It was huge and very impressive. The wall facing the field was high and made of glass (probably plexiglass). Lots of bards, some food stands and lots of tables and TVs. Similar to Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, but I think this one was bigger and the Vegas one had fancier food choices.
You can watch from behin the glass, in the nice comfy heated club area or go to your seat and watch outside. We all opted to do that. I think it started out around 53 but by the end of the game it was down to around 41. Thank God I opted to wear long paints instead of shorts.
I have been here before. It is a very nice stadium. Great sound system. Decent replay scoreboard on one end zone. Another smaller one in an upper corner in the opposite end zone. Didn’t like the auxiliary scoreboards setup; it was hard to find down and distance. The sight lines were good for an NFL stadium but the pith for the seats is pretty flat and you are noticeably further from the field than the Dome. Allegiant had better sight lines as well. I really miss the center hung scoreboard at away games. Was surprised they didn’t have HDTV resolution here. The giant scoreboard with the replay screen was well known for the oversized Heinz ketchup bottle that was made to look like it was lying on top of the scoreboard. When a Pittsburgh team scores, LED lights made it look like ketchup was running out of the bottle and down the side of the scoreboard. That cool feature was apparently removed when the Acrisure people took over the naming rights. What a shame.
The Pitt crowd was big. I think they had over 50K there. We didn’t help much either. Maybe 500 SU fans there. They didn’t make more noise to my ears but it looked like the SU team was botchered by the noise when they were near the end zone the students sat in.
The Pitt band was big and sounded good. 22 tubas. We were outclassed with our band and football team. Gotta get a bigger SUMB soon.
As far as gameday fan experiences go, Pitt did not have a game host. Which I liked. I am not at a football game to have some kid interrupt my conversations constantly for some inane ‘entertainment’. They did the guess which one has the thing video game spiel every school does only for them, they only let kids make the pick. UNLV had their band play as loudly as possible, as long as possible, until SU snapped it, all game long. Pitt did something similar but they never let the band play except for the NA and alma mater, and when they are marching on the field. Instead, they used a combination of a fog horn and loud music and a video imploring the crowd to make noise before every play when SU had the ball. The crowd largely ignored this but it was a contant barrage to to senses and I am thankful we do not have to resort to something like this to get a home field advantage.
The best thing they did was to play ‘Sweet Caroline’ at the start of the fourth quarter. This song is played every game, for every sport, at every sports arena in the Northeast, except for the Dome. We used to do it, and the crowd was into it and sang along, but someone decided to stop it and do that make noise fake decimeter video at the end of the third/start of the fourth instead. The cool thing about what Pitt does with Sweet Caroline is interject some Pitt oriented chants into the song. It is very popular and you can see how it works here. We really should reinstate Sweet Caroline and copy when Pitt has done, substituting Cuse. Please make this happen!
I like the noise decimeter cartoon video thing but save it for when the opposing team has the ball for the most important drive of the fourth quarter. Let’s be smarter about how we run the game day and make it about the fans and the players.
Okay, I guess I have to talk about the game too.
Pitt played the same defensive scheme they have used since Narduzzi arrived. Press coverage from the corners. Safeties crashing in for run support. Various blitzes. Put extreme pressure on the QB and force the opponent to win by beating their corners deep.
To beat this defense, you need a solid OL that can give the QB and WRs the time needed to execute long routes. Or you can fake the short routes that are our bread and butter (with a pump fake) and throw long. You have to be able to run the ball some with a numbers disadvantage too. That requires a mobile QB who is a threat to run. And you require big, tough physical WRs that will fight through the holds bumps and shove that the Pitt corners use to cover receivers.
We didn’t have the OL to do this. We didn’t have the WRs to do this. We didn’t have the mobile QB to do this. And lastly, I don’t think we changed our scheme on offense to account for how Pitt was going to defend us. At all. Is it a surprise they shut us down like they did?
I was expecting Jeff Nixon to be more creative here. I think he will learn from this and do better in future games. VT has a similar scheme with similar athletes that are also very good at rushing the QB. I hope we have a better approach on Saturday.
Also getting concerned about the speed of the play calls. The last couple of games it seems like there has been a consistent slowness in getting the plays in and we have had to rush plays, take a penalty or burn a timeout to get around this. I am not sure what is going on in the box and why the plays are taking so long to get to the field. But it better get addressed soon because it has been a problem for weeks and it seems to be getting worse every week.
I know everyone wants to put this all on McCord. There is no question, he is part of the problem. I think for one or two throws, it was a timing pattern where he throws the ball before the receiver has even cut. It has to be hard to tell in that kind of situation that the receiver has had their route jumped and he needs to throw it elsewhere. Some of the others were tipped or bounced off our players hands or shoulder. And some were just bad throws. He did not throw the ball well on Thursday night, even on some throws were he had time and a man open. It seemed to me the speed on his throws was down some too. He might be banged up some.
But I think that regardless of who the QB is, we need to do a better job of keeping the pocket intact and giving Kyle a chance to see the field and make his throw. We all know he is a lot better throwing from the pocket rather than running around and he was running for his life far too often.
I think Ilaoa played a lot again for Reed, who certainly struggled but who is clearly playing hurt and trying to help the team despite his injury. I respect that and can’t criticize him much for giving his best effort. From my eye (and I haven’t seen a replay of the game yet) Spoon really had a bad day. Not sure he can do better against a speed guy. Props to Pitt for seeing the Holy Cross film and taking advantage of it. It was hard to see the numbers from our seats. Was Wohlabaugh in for Spoon? I would think so and it looked like it on a couple of drives. Wanted to give props to Wax and Pena for also playing while not 100%. They were among our best players even though they were not 100%.
Thought the defense was overall good. We seemed to stop the run well and I think our pass coverage was good overall. Still very considered over our pass rush (or lack thereof). Whatever happened to King Joseph? He looked so promising at applying pressure in the one game he played a lot in. Did he play on Thursday? Is he hurt?
We will know a lot more about what kind of a team we have on Saturday. And what kind of a coaching staff too. I hope we are up to the task. I will watch the GT-VT game today with interest. VT has seemingly improved each passing week after some awful play in the first part of the season. Are they for real? I hope Haynes King can play for GT.
Drove over to Pittsburgh Thursday morning. It took me 5 hours and about 50 minutes. My car probably could have made it there on a full tank of gas but I didn’t want to chance it and I stopped twice to try and close a cooler full of water bottles and a big bag of ice that had the cubes all frozen together. Couldn’t get it broken up so I could close the cooler until the first rest stop on I79.
I have always gone the other way driving there. Though Binghamton, Corning, Williamsport and a bunch of small cities. I90 and I79 is a much better way. And I79 is actually pretty scenic. A lot better ride than I81 through PA, which is ugly and boring.
Stayed at the Residence Inn on the North Shore. Right across the street from PNC Park, where the Pirates play. Great location about 3 blocks from Acrisure Stadium (I don’t know what Acrisure is and it might be misspelled and I don’t care). Nice hotel, looks pretty old. I think it was really nice at one time and needs a refresh now but not bad and they serve a good breakfast. Lots of Syracuse fans were staying there too. And you can tailgating in their parking lot.
A subset of the tailgate crew made the trip and joined some expatriots down there. We got the idea to tailgate late and made some missteps. Started tailgating in the wrong parking lot (two had the same address on Google). Actually had to break down out setup and reset up 150 yards away right after 0ur first batch of coneys and dogs/brats were grilled. Good job by everyone to make the move. TexanMark whipped up the tailgate in record time and we pulled it off with a lot of help from the many people who brought stuff we needed. Dave M, Clayton, Consigliere, subarney, PAcuse, pacusewife and corpjet all helped make it happen and I probably missed a few people as well. Good job everyone, including the people who just ate and drank.
We headed to the stadium early. I think it was about 4 blocks from there we tailgated, which for the record was the Graybar lot. This is a stadium where they want you to wand yourself in and that worked fine. I got separated from Consigliere and his wife and headed to my seat on my own. Pitt was giving ot free towels and Pitt hats. Lots of students and me walked up a series of ramps that reminded me of Shea Stadium. Old school. We got tickets in big club area that I think runs the length of the sideline there. It was huge and very impressive. The wall facing the field was high and made of glass (probably plexiglass). Lots of bards, some food stands and lots of tables and TVs. Similar to Allegiant Stadium in Vegas, but I think this one was bigger and the Vegas one had fancier food choices.
You can watch from behin the glass, in the nice comfy heated club area or go to your seat and watch outside. We all opted to do that. I think it started out around 53 but by the end of the game it was down to around 41. Thank God I opted to wear long paints instead of shorts.
I have been here before. It is a very nice stadium. Great sound system. Decent replay scoreboard on one end zone. Another smaller one in an upper corner in the opposite end zone. Didn’t like the auxiliary scoreboards setup; it was hard to find down and distance. The sight lines were good for an NFL stadium but the pith for the seats is pretty flat and you are noticeably further from the field than the Dome. Allegiant had better sight lines as well. I really miss the center hung scoreboard at away games. Was surprised they didn’t have HDTV resolution here. The giant scoreboard with the replay screen was well known for the oversized Heinz ketchup bottle that was made to look like it was lying on top of the scoreboard. When a Pittsburgh team scores, LED lights made it look like ketchup was running out of the bottle and down the side of the scoreboard. That cool feature was apparently removed when the Acrisure people took over the naming rights. What a shame.
The Pitt crowd was big. I think they had over 50K there. We didn’t help much either. Maybe 500 SU fans there. They didn’t make more noise to my ears but it looked like the SU team was botchered by the noise when they were near the end zone the students sat in.
The Pitt band was big and sounded good. 22 tubas. We were outclassed with our band and football team. Gotta get a bigger SUMB soon.
As far as gameday fan experiences go, Pitt did not have a game host. Which I liked. I am not at a football game to have some kid interrupt my conversations constantly for some inane ‘entertainment’. They did the guess which one has the thing video game spiel every school does only for them, they only let kids make the pick. UNLV had their band play as loudly as possible, as long as possible, until SU snapped it, all game long. Pitt did something similar but they never let the band play except for the NA and alma mater, and when they are marching on the field. Instead, they used a combination of a fog horn and loud music and a video imploring the crowd to make noise before every play when SU had the ball. The crowd largely ignored this but it was a contant barrage to to senses and I am thankful we do not have to resort to something like this to get a home field advantage.
The best thing they did was to play ‘Sweet Caroline’ at the start of the fourth quarter. This song is played every game, for every sport, at every sports arena in the Northeast, except for the Dome. We used to do it, and the crowd was into it and sang along, but someone decided to stop it and do that make noise fake decimeter video at the end of the third/start of the fourth instead. The cool thing about what Pitt does with Sweet Caroline is interject some Pitt oriented chants into the song. It is very popular and you can see how it works here. We really should reinstate Sweet Caroline and copy when Pitt has done, substituting Cuse. Please make this happen!
I like the noise decimeter cartoon video thing but save it for when the opposing team has the ball for the most important drive of the fourth quarter. Let’s be smarter about how we run the game day and make it about the fans and the players.
Okay, I guess I have to talk about the game too.
Pitt played the same defensive scheme they have used since Narduzzi arrived. Press coverage from the corners. Safeties crashing in for run support. Various blitzes. Put extreme pressure on the QB and force the opponent to win by beating their corners deep.
To beat this defense, you need a solid OL that can give the QB and WRs the time needed to execute long routes. Or you can fake the short routes that are our bread and butter (with a pump fake) and throw long. You have to be able to run the ball some with a numbers disadvantage too. That requires a mobile QB who is a threat to run. And you require big, tough physical WRs that will fight through the holds bumps and shove that the Pitt corners use to cover receivers.
We didn’t have the OL to do this. We didn’t have the WRs to do this. We didn’t have the mobile QB to do this. And lastly, I don’t think we changed our scheme on offense to account for how Pitt was going to defend us. At all. Is it a surprise they shut us down like they did?
I was expecting Jeff Nixon to be more creative here. I think he will learn from this and do better in future games. VT has a similar scheme with similar athletes that are also very good at rushing the QB. I hope we have a better approach on Saturday.
Also getting concerned about the speed of the play calls. The last couple of games it seems like there has been a consistent slowness in getting the plays in and we have had to rush plays, take a penalty or burn a timeout to get around this. I am not sure what is going on in the box and why the plays are taking so long to get to the field. But it better get addressed soon because it has been a problem for weeks and it seems to be getting worse every week.
I know everyone wants to put this all on McCord. There is no question, he is part of the problem. I think for one or two throws, it was a timing pattern where he throws the ball before the receiver has even cut. It has to be hard to tell in that kind of situation that the receiver has had their route jumped and he needs to throw it elsewhere. Some of the others were tipped or bounced off our players hands or shoulder. And some were just bad throws. He did not throw the ball well on Thursday night, even on some throws were he had time and a man open. It seemed to me the speed on his throws was down some too. He might be banged up some.
But I think that regardless of who the QB is, we need to do a better job of keeping the pocket intact and giving Kyle a chance to see the field and make his throw. We all know he is a lot better throwing from the pocket rather than running around and he was running for his life far too often.
I think Ilaoa played a lot again for Reed, who certainly struggled but who is clearly playing hurt and trying to help the team despite his injury. I respect that and can’t criticize him much for giving his best effort. From my eye (and I haven’t seen a replay of the game yet) Spoon really had a bad day. Not sure he can do better against a speed guy. Props to Pitt for seeing the Holy Cross film and taking advantage of it. It was hard to see the numbers from our seats. Was Wohlabaugh in for Spoon? I would think so and it looked like it on a couple of drives. Wanted to give props to Wax and Pena for also playing while not 100%. They were among our best players even though they were not 100%.
Thought the defense was overall good. We seemed to stop the run well and I think our pass coverage was good overall. Still very considered over our pass rush (or lack thereof). Whatever happened to King Joseph? He looked so promising at applying pressure in the one game he played a lot in. Did he play on Thursday? Is he hurt?
We will know a lot more about what kind of a team we have on Saturday. And what kind of a coaching staff too. I hope we are up to the task. I will watch the GT-VT game today with interest. VT has seemingly improved each passing week after some awful play in the first part of the season. Are they for real? I hope Haynes King can play for GT.
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