Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh FREE football preview!

 #44 R.P.I. Virginia Tech @ #59 R.P.I. Pittsburgh:

“Ideals are peaceful … history is violent.”
-Staff Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier

Ergo…

Today’s word of the day is…peaceful.

peace·ful  (psfl)

adj.

  1. Undisturbed by strife, turmoil, or disagreement; tranquil. See Synonyms at calm.
  2. Inclined or disposed to peace; peaceable.
  3. Of or characteristic of a condition of peace.
  4. What We/Virginia Tech do NOT NOT NOT need to be @Pitt!

Some weeks -prolly about 8.5 outta 10 historically- I find just the peg I need upon which to hang my predictive hat. The prognosticator plan comes together. The outcome coalesces in something of a eureka moment right on this very page.

Methinks I have this one pegged, indeed…

Pitt Defense: (starters back=5)

  • staring Tb James Conner to play De vs. Tech!?!
  • (before you trip on moving the A.c.c.’s  leading rusher (w/ 874) to Will side De) Conner is his high school’s all-time career and single season leader in Sacks! Yup.
  • base Forty-Three set and same as the Panther offense, a very basic, fundamental, deliberate no frills set
  • 4-3 overshift wide-side, as the Will is almost head-up on the C at times | Pitt will stand-up 2-point-stance the short-side De
  • Will show a seldom seen east-west stretch 4-3 with wider spacing on the dLine and much wider spacing on the second-layer in obvious passing downs; with Tampa-2 behind all that
  • lottsa read-n-react looks, that do (at times) appear to cheat forward in heavily industrialized run-support (i.e. could be open to some play-action work)
  • Pretty fair amount of politically incorrect Slanting outta this Panther dLine (be that play-killing or crossbuck enabling)
  • Keeps everything in front of it this Pitt D, kinda has a whiff of old-school Boston College vanilla umbrella to it
  • Variable man, from press to tight to medium on edge, though not a lotta off-man looks due to the aforementioned ground-assault or run-stuffing demeanor | typically with the Fs high, or man-free in the back
  • Secondary has a pyramid scheme or triangular look to it at times, as the Fs is truly tasked to cover a lotta ground, and go for the ball not the man at all times
  • NOT an overly blitzy D; least red-dog calls I’ve seen breaking tape in years; plural
  • Surprisingly, for such a rural approach to defense, this is not the best pure form tacklers I’ve studied on film, more so in the middle of the Pitt D as well
  • ZERO pre-season all-A.c.c. nominations should hint you up

Pitt DPanther Offense: (returning starters=5)

  • lotta H-back or Te pre-snap motion, may or may not key the play; tough to read
  • More traditional O, under C sets, Power iso- I (no Fb), Jumbo Te’s,
  • closest thing to Man blocking I’ve seen on screen in a while, not much help-blocking either, John Wayne ma·nos a ma·nos narrow(er)-split football.  Buckle up!
  • Does Trap-block pretty dang well off of each pulling G.
  • massive internal o-Line with 2 guys (C and right-G) both in excess of 335 lbs.!
  • both outweigh poor Chase by 117+!!!
  • Jumbo double-H-back formation is a BEAR.
  • Tb (Conner) has a high 40 time of 4.98! (he’s just not a quick starter acceleration wise on tape)
  • Tb tiptoes a bit at the start, runs a bit high; though more nimble and athletic than I had expected, #24 has a pretty shrewd old-school Chuck Foreman spin-move (even in traffic).
  • A 58% and change passer at Qb… does that scare you now? (1980: “yes”, today: “nah”) Qb is a rushing threat however, more like a wanna be pocket-Pivot who does run than a pure dual-threat or option Qb
  • a youthful, smallish 58% passer who has had 1 game north of 58% all year! (and has been in regression since early September)  SUSCEPTIBLE to deflections or batted throws; will third or two-thirds the field (off hashmark spot) on 1/2 rolls
  • ONLY 1 catch north of 26 yards! Quick, left-coast passing offense, not much in the way of vertical stretch or bombs away
  • One real quality Wideout (we need to mind the #23 Ty.Boyd store)
  • If you are momma Chase Williams, and feel like watching? Don’t. Your boy will be getting pwned. He’s giving up over 117 lbs. right in the middle. YIKES & OUCH!
  • Feeling froggy yet?
  • VT must win a Gap-jumping, stemming, stunting, twisting, looping battle as a Lt.Heavyweight vs. a pure K.Kong Sumo
  • VT MUST win 3rd down and get the hell outta Dodge –quick as they can
  • Coach Wiles really does need his most creative night in years

pitt O 2Pittsburgh Special Teams: (K returns)
Maybe it’s just me, though I’d say 100% on FGA’s counts, as 9 for 9 Pitt K -and Alexander Va. native- Chris Belwitt is having an all-A.c.c. caliber campaign thus far to put it mildly. Think Frank might want this one back? Yah; Roger that, me too …as Chris has made good on 20 of his last 22 FGA’s dating back to last year; making him nearly an auto-3-pointer just waiting for a pass from the Snapper and a spot from the Holder. Chris has range out to at least 55 yards, making the diminutive #12 (5’8”) a real live special-teams weapon. And with 95% of his KO’s being touchbacks in high school, you’d have to surmise that his leg strength is not wanting. At Punter the Panthers deploy the small-forward (6’6”) sized Ryan Winslow –which changes the punt-block release-point, does it not? Ryan was the 3rd ranked P outta high school by Scout, he of the rookie year 39.8 arithmetic mean punt; with a 78th national ranking in net-punting, backed up by a very thrifty looking 13th best national ranking in punt return defense.  Clearly this is a hang-time or coverage punting Panther scheme. Ryan can also double as a K if need be. Pitt is 76th in punt returns and 98th in KO returns in all of D-1 football. Pitt is 64th in KO return defense.

(Panther Special Teams letter-grade: a low B overall, as this ST’s unit may not make a whole lotta plays beyond their all-star Kicker, although they make nearly zero mistakes in addition to that)

X-factor(s): M*A*S*H 24060 or 15241
Those are the respective Blacksburg Va and Upper Saint Clair Pittsburgh Pa. (where I came up) zip-codes if you are keeping score at home. Or in other words, despite the fact that Beamer football team’s typically comeback a bit off from a BYE week, any football team with 8 guys out for the year, 3 out until ~November and at least 4 questionable at best for Thursday night needed at least 11 days off which is less than 1 per their 15 walking wounded.

Pittsburgh is not however without it’s very own dings and dents, in particular along the Panther offensive-line. Gone for the year is starting C (Artie Rowell), ditto back-up Arron Reese. Now comes news that emerging star Ot Adam Bisnowaty has been reinstated after suspension just in time for our game; and one source already has him listed as starting at left-Ot, although photography of this weeks practice showed Bisnowaty getting work at right-Ot.

So either way, both teams needed some R&R and the O&M team needed and (hopefully) benefited from it, all the more. 

In order to upset Pitt up in the Ketchup Bowl, VT must .... ???

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Pitt is a buncha pussy-(cats) on film!

There, the late Russell Ziskey and I just called these Panthers what they truly are; pussy’s, as in pussy-cats. Is this a physically big football team? Yes. Is this pretty hard pitching football team? It is.

Is all of that true?
Yes.
Do we deny this?
No.

However, I just watched uva -of, all, freaking, people- actually man-up and slowly yet surely begin to push Pitt around at the point of attack. That’s not a So.East powerhouse high-voltage football program last time I checked folks. Now, am I guilty of a bit of hyperbole here? Yah; maybe, a little, though there was more than a subtle whiff of finesse coming off these allegedly physical Panthers on film. Maybe more so on defense than on offense and to borrow on boxing –this might just be one of those rarefied times where you wanna hook with a hooker; to mix my sporting metaphor. As I’m just not seeing a set of Panther whiskers that catches as well as they pitch. Ergo, this is not a gridiron contest that should be based upon peace, it should be built upon violence.

***

Paul C pitt
“A picture is worth…”

Or in other words… we need to play leather …and let Pitt play Nerf!


Q. How do you eat an elephant?

A. “One bite at at time.”

The negative Nancy in you will cynically point out to me that our starting Qb led the nation in interceptions entering last weekend of play.

The P.A.T.T. in me will have you observe that my boy Michael Brewer threw zero interceptions last weekend!

That attempt at satire aside, ponder these betterment’s for a moment if you will … Michael Brewer has thrown 1 INT in his last 6+ quarters of pitching, he has seen a mere 2 drops in as many games and he has zero foul-tips (deflections) in over 12 quarters of play. I like that, those are all trends that one could dare say are all trending in the right direction.

Ergo, this one is reminiscent of someones highly upsetting “the” Ohio State pick; whereby someone had the gall to suggest that that game would pivot upon the “superior Qb”. Same drill here gents …unless you believe that Conner and that elephantine internal G-c-G blocking trifecta of Pitt will simply Hannibal a downright lightweight Bud Ultra right at the point of attack?

Well, truth is, that could happen, in point of fact, that is likely too happen. HOWEVER, even if that does happen, does that not by definition make Pitt 1-dimensional, or even outright …predictable? As there is no mystery here folks, Conner must win this game for Pittsburgh every bit as much as Brewer must win it for Virginia Tech. Guess whose averaging 71 and change less per game in his last 3 rushing contest’s? Guess who has to (now) burn calories playing De?

This one, to me? I see two ships passing in the night here folks. Neither ship is a dreadnaught class warship, although neither ship is a harbor tug either. Both teams are post-season bowl teams, it’s just that I’m not so lovestruck with Conner-Fever. He’s a squish’, hit him hard enough and hit him often enough -or just have Bucky crackback on him once enough- in order to find out. Will is correct, we gottta Gap-jump, penetrate, stop him before he gets started and does roll downhill. Nibble, bite, gulp …and wear this pachyderm of a runner slowly down.

Conner will get his yards, make no mistake on that one men, although he will make Pitt uno-dimensional through no fault of his own. Ergo, I’ll be siding with the better Qb and the better (defensive) coach in this one; as my hometown wins the Box Score and Virginia Tech eventually wins the game.

With precipitation now in the adjacent Allegheny River forecast …make it PAIN Hokie defense, make, it, pain!

Virginia Tech=26, Pitt=22

LETS GO!

HOKIES!

bourbonstreet**