non sequitur
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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At long last, a real opponent. That was a ridiculous wait after such a frustrating loss to South Carolina. I thought we could discuss some of the threats that Pitt poses, and generally how everyone feels that we match up against them as difficult as that may be to surmise without more knowledge of the status of injured players.
One of my primary concerns in regard to Pitt is the undeniable power of their coach's mustache. A friend of mine and I were just discussing this, and one way to approach the matter would be to distribute thousands upon thousands of novelty mustaches to State fans in hopes of collectively negating the sheer awesomeness of Wannstedt's stache and thereby diminshing its effect on the game. Any thoughts? Is it too late to organize such a tactic?
VaWolf82
Administrator
Posted 10 months ago
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Pitt hasn't played anyone of note, so it's difficult to know what to expect.
The only data point that I found worth mentioning is that they held Navy to 129 yds rushing. If State is going to win, it is going to have be through the air...or scrambles by Wilson.
JasonP
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Wilson having time to read and throw in the pocket will be the key. Pitt could play Navy close to the line of scrimmage due to having confidence that their DB's could cover Navy's WR's sufficiently. If State can extend them a little with passing, then the running lanes could open up. State's D is going to have to tackle well b/c their RB is legitimate.
Alpha Wolf
Administrator
Posted 10 months ago
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A friend of mine is a Pitt fan and he tells me that they have their own problems - namely OL - this year. It is a winnable game and of course will come down to kicking and turnovers, like most good matchups seem to do.
JasonP
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Apparantly their QB has confidence problems as well. If the D line can get some pressure on him early that could influence some TO's.
BJD95
Administrator
Posted 10 months ago
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It's a much, much better matchup for us than South Carolina. Night and day different. Not saying that Pitt is a BAD team, hell, they might even be better than the Chickens. But not the same matchup problems.
With Spencer, I'm confident that we win. Without him, it will be challenging, but I'm still cautiously optimistic.
PackToTheFuture
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Spencer's out, along with Vermiglio and Eugene according to WRAL
http://www.wralsportsfan.com/ncsu/story/6045703/
non sequitur
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Stumbled across this at Pantherlair.com. Due to media darling Ohio State being perennially overrated I'm not sure what conclusions can be drawn from it, but interesting nonetheless.
Comparisons of Pitt vs Navy with Ohio St vs Navy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both games played at home with mostly intact rosters by all teams.
Points scored vs Navy:
Ohio St 31
Pitt 27
Points allowed vs Navy:
Ohio St 27
Pitt 14
Offensive yards vs Navy:
Ohio St 363
Pitt 369
Defensive yards allowed vs Navy:
Ohio St 342
Pitt 218
Passing yards vs Navy:
Ohio St 210
Pitt 243
Rushing yards vs Navy:
Ohio St 153
Pitt 126
Passing yards allowed vs Navy:
Ohio St 156
Pitt 89
Rushing yards allowed vs Navy:
Ohio St 186
Pitt 129
Turnovers margin:
Ohio St +2
Pitt -1
Conclusions:
- Pitt's offense is every bit as good as Ohio State's.
- Pitt's defense is superior in every way to Ohio State's.
- Without a +2 turnover margin (including the crucial 2-pt conversion by Navy that would've tied the game), Ohio State would've lost to Navy.
- Despite a -1 turnover margin, Pitt was never seriously threatened by Navy.
"...always interesting."
Also interesting is the underlying debate on which is more formidable, mustache power or sweater vest power. Just as I feared, it seems that mustache power is superior.
^ Great info. And, always interesting. Of course, Ohio State may have been looking forward a bit to USC.
Mike
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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We have not fared well against the Big East in recent years. The Big East from top to bottom is far worse than the ACC, but right now the pressure is on us to step up and play well.
phillypacker
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Eleven freshmen or RS freshmen on the two deep. Four are starters. One freshman not starting due to injury (Smith). Let the youth movement begin.
LKNpackfan
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Dr. Saturday had a good blurb on the Pitt/Buffalo game.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Life-on-the-Margins-Gamecocks-go-down-unfathom?urn=ncaaf,189753
The two biggest points made were about their unsustainable turnover margin (although it continued against Navy) and the weak secondary:
Pittsburgh's +28 in the "Swing Points" category is the highest such number in the brief history of "Life on the Margins."
...
The Panthers clearly have their own issues, though -- the Big East is not exactly a "high-octane" league, but any secondary that allows a 400-yard, four-touchdown passing day to an obscure MAC quarterback (in this case, Zach Maynard) in his second career start is in for a long year regardless of who it's playing.
With that said, if the OL can give him time, I think Wilson slices up their D.
LKNpackfan
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Looks like Steven caught this too
http://www.backingthepack.com/2009/9/16/1033630/id-have-to-check-but-theres-a-good
^ I absolutely love his tag line: "Cheering for anyone else is for quitters."
That's funny... only because it's true.
tvp1
Member
Posted 10 months ago
#
I have a really bad feeling about this one.
Probably a good thing, considering that I was absolutely confident that we'd beat little carolina.
Then again, I also think that we will start the ACC slate 3-0.
non sequitur
Member
Posted 10 months ago
#
"I absolutely love his tag line: "Cheering for anyone else is for quitters.""
Witty guy. Also very impressive with statistical analysis, and hosts an excellent basketball liveblog.
We love his stuff. We've tried to get him to join us here, but he likes to do his own thing.
Eleven freshmen or RS freshmen on the two deep. Four are starters. One freshman not starting due to injury (Smith). Let the youth movement begin.
We can't be young. It wouldn't fit with the media's obsession with Carolina.
LKNpackfan
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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It probably helps that SB Nation is giving him a paycheck (as a 1099 contracter I think is how it works), but one true drawback is that SB Nation owns his content (same with blogspot).
JasonP
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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ESPN's Pat Forde has weighed in on his pick for the game:
"Pittsburgh (30). Record: 3-0, with victories over Youngstown State, Buffalo and Navy. Sagarin ranking: 27. When the first loss will come: Oct. 2 at Louisville. Verdict: Contender for second-best in the Big East behind Cincinnati. The Panthers have taken care of business three weeks in a row, including handling a Navy team last week that took Ohio State to the wire. Quarterback Bill Stull has been significantly improved so far and freshman running back Dion Lewis has established himself as a suitable successor to LeSean McCoy. But Pitt probably isn't good enough to avoid dropping a couple of league games on the road."
FWIW, Herbstreit was on Pacman's show yesterday and predicted a State win.
SeaWolf
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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That Forde guy is a moron, but that's for another post.
I heard Herbstreit yesterday. He barely had time to talk about the game, but said that he expected more from us than what he's seen thus far.
Why are we talking so much about Pitt when the game of the week is definitely Duke/NCCU?
RW4H22
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Good news! Eugene, Vermiglio, and Johnson all are cleared to play.
McPete
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Can you also believe that Javon Walker is practicing again and should be back on the field soon? Between Walker, Baker, and Bowens coming back, in addition to Vermiglio, Johnson, and Eugene, we have some good injury news for once.
There is some wacko on pp that swears Nate Irving is coming back this season. But I think John Wall plays for us this year before Irving does.
BJD95
Administrator
Posted 10 months ago
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Herbstreit has always talked us up. Definitely the best friend we have in the national media.
Agreed, BJD. Herbie gives us more than the benefit of the doubt and has for many years.
BassPacker
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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I don't take substance in the picks the College Game Day stooges pick. Ole Lee picked BYU to beat FSU by 3 touchdowns. He said "FSU has speed on defense but overrated."
Forecast for Saturday nite is heavy rain, does this help us or hurt us? I sat thru the same conditions with UCF, it was ugly.
coppertop
Member
Posted 10 months ago
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Saw this online earlier...
Obvious this guy has read too many heather dinich articles.
Pitt beat writer for the Post Gazette, Paul Ziese says in an article today...
"when has anyone ever taled about N.C. State being one of the tough or most hostile road venues around?
I don't think the crowd will be that much of a factor, no more than a normal road game."
doomsday2008
Member
Posted 10 months ago
#
I really think this season of success if its to happen will have to be
starting on Saturday not when the ACC arrives. Going to WF with a big win
is so important that we need to understand that. I'm hearing a whole lot of
people say as long as it starts in game 5(WRONG). I don't think there was
much confidence gained by the players from the previous two games. These
guys know how they felt after week one.
I think the team watching the South Carolina Ole Miss game tonight gave them more
confidence than the games they just played the prior two weeks. Beating Pitt
will start big things that just may carry over into next year. Thats how big
this game is,IMO.
choppack1
Member
Posted 10 months ago
#
doomsday - I'll be interested to see how we come out. The last 2 weeks, we've played pretty angry...I hope we keep that anger. My concern is that they may have seen this game and said, "You see, losing to USC wasn't THAT bad. We hung w/ 'em." They need to keep that hunger and anger going. Tomorrow is the perfect chance at redemption and some positive national pub.
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