SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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- This game was what it was because of Pat Narduzzi’s defense and Kyle McCord. McCord’s mantra is “take what the defense gives you” and Pat’s defense gave us nothing. Wherever Kyle looked, there were defenders right on his receivers. Pitt’s pass rush was not overwhelming, (I thought our line did fairly well in protecting him) but they hurried the plays enough that Kyle had less time to check all his receivers, the receivers had less time to get open, (and weren’t doing so anyway).
- Having said that, I felt we got “Bad Kyle” most of the game. It was like the first quarter vs. Ohio U, the second quarter of the Holy Cross game, most of the game vs. Stanford, etc. Kyle’s throws, often amazingly accurate, were off target. He looked like a pitcher that just didn’t have his best stuff. He also showed amazingly bad judgement, throwing into coverage. He never saw the DB in the first pick six. The next three picks were to receivers surrounded by defenders. The fifth one was described as going off the hand of an SU receiver but it looked to me as if it was off the hands of one defender and to another. All five picks produced points – three pick sixes and short drives for a field goal and a TD: 31 points. The rest of the game was SU 13-10. Even the Gadsden “drop” was over-thrown.
- Having said that, our receivers didn’t help Kyle much. There were some bad routes, some broken off too soon and some drops. A quarterback’s job is to get you a ball that can be caught. He can’t catch it for you.
- We seem to have nothing but ‘possession’ receivers. We have to try to drive down the field in increments. We can’t afford to “get off schedule” with a penalties, losses, sacks, drops, etc. We had drives of 13, 13, 18, 11 and 11 yards that produced two touchdowns, a missed field goal, a punt and a surrender on downs. I hope Zeed Haynes’ personal problems are resolved soon.
- Our running backs had 38 yards in 20 carries. 1.9 yards per carry. We may never be 'balanced' but that's totally one-dimensional.
- It is embarrassing to play a team with a kicker who is 12 for 12 on field goals with 4 from 50+, including a 57 yarder tonight and we are 5 for 11 with our longest 33 yards. WE ARE KICKER U!!! At least we were.
- The penalties that plagued Dino Baber’s teams have mostly been absent this year but we had 8 of them for 70 yards tonight. One negated our only takeover. Several of the others were false starts and one offsetting was an exchange of punches.
- Possibly as bad as the loss was the injuries to Oronde Gadsden and Yasim Willis. Willis’ injury came when it was 13-41 with 4:44 left. It could have been McCord. It brought up memories of Eric Dungy getting injured, (and out for the season) in a game vs. Louisville that was 10-41 with 7 minutes to go. Scott Shafer said that he was “hoping for a comeback”. I think probably sealed Shafer’s fate. Fran is in his first year here so he’s fine but it was as bad a decision.
- Now our goals are to get bowl eligible, get a winning record and hope there aren’t too many opt outs for the bowl game.
- Having said that, I felt we got “Bad Kyle” most of the game. It was like the first quarter vs. Ohio U, the second quarter of the Holy Cross game, most of the game vs. Stanford, etc. Kyle’s throws, often amazingly accurate, were off target. He looked like a pitcher that just didn’t have his best stuff. He also showed amazingly bad judgement, throwing into coverage. He never saw the DB in the first pick six. The next three picks were to receivers surrounded by defenders. The fifth one was described as going off the hand of an SU receiver but it looked to me as if it was off the hands of one defender and to another. All five picks produced points – three pick sixes and short drives for a field goal and a TD: 31 points. The rest of the game was SU 13-10. Even the Gadsden “drop” was over-thrown.
- Having said that, our receivers didn’t help Kyle much. There were some bad routes, some broken off too soon and some drops. A quarterback’s job is to get you a ball that can be caught. He can’t catch it for you.
- We seem to have nothing but ‘possession’ receivers. We have to try to drive down the field in increments. We can’t afford to “get off schedule” with a penalties, losses, sacks, drops, etc. We had drives of 13, 13, 18, 11 and 11 yards that produced two touchdowns, a missed field goal, a punt and a surrender on downs. I hope Zeed Haynes’ personal problems are resolved soon.
- Our running backs had 38 yards in 20 carries. 1.9 yards per carry. We may never be 'balanced' but that's totally one-dimensional.
- It is embarrassing to play a team with a kicker who is 12 for 12 on field goals with 4 from 50+, including a 57 yarder tonight and we are 5 for 11 with our longest 33 yards. WE ARE KICKER U!!! At least we were.
- The penalties that plagued Dino Baber’s teams have mostly been absent this year but we had 8 of them for 70 yards tonight. One negated our only takeover. Several of the others were false starts and one offsetting was an exchange of punches.
- Possibly as bad as the loss was the injuries to Oronde Gadsden and Yasim Willis. Willis’ injury came when it was 13-41 with 4:44 left. It could have been McCord. It brought up memories of Eric Dungy getting injured, (and out for the season) in a game vs. Louisville that was 10-41 with 7 minutes to go. Scott Shafer said that he was “hoping for a comeback”. I think probably sealed Shafer’s fate. Fran is in his first year here so he’s fine but it was as bad a decision.
- Now our goals are to get bowl eligible, get a winning record and hope there aren’t too many opt outs for the bowl game.
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