#115 R.P.I. Virginia Tech vs. #111 R.P.I. Pittsburgh:

Today’s word of the day is… Decay!

de·cay

/dəˈkā/

Origin: late Middle English: from Old French decair, based on Latin decidere ‘fall down or off’, from de- ‘from’ + cadere ‘fall’.

verb.

1. (of organic matter) rot or decompose through the action of bacteria and fungi.

noun.

1. the state or process of rotting or decomposition.
2. PHYSICS:
   (of a radioactive substance, particle, etc.) undergo change to a different form by emitting radiation.

adjective.

1. VeeTee menz football come Saturday nite come midnite, itself?
2. What my hometown just did to Mt.Lebo? LOL!

Pitt Head Coach: Patrick Regan Narduzzi: age=57, (57–42 at Pitt and overall); has a rep’ for defense, willingness to take risks, stubbornness, and as a quote-machine!
And for being a peaking Mr. November coach.
$3,213,000.oo base with an additional $450,000 in incentives.
AND a shiny new 2o3o contract extension, on top of all dat!

Baller Narduzzi was a nepotistic collegiate Linebacker his ownself at Youngstown State and then he later transferred to Rhode Island. He holds a Master’s from Miami Ohio after his playing days were finished; .edu props on that.

Coach Narduzzi began his career at Miami University in 1990 where he was a graduate assistant in 199o and 1991 and where he tutored the Wr’s in 1992. From 1993 to 1999 Narduzzi coached back at the University of Rhode Island coaching the Rams Lb’s from 1993 to 1997 and as the defensive coordinator from 1998 to 1999. From 2ooo to 2oo2, he served as the Lb’s coach at Northern Illinois University. He was the defensive coordinator at Miami University in 2oo3 before joining the University of Cincinnati staff as defensive coordinator in 2oo4

At that point… and so the story goes, coach Duz’ tried to leverage Cincy into giving him the head job, and instead wound up at Michigan State as D-coordinator. From 2o11-2o14, Michigan State was the only team to rank in the D-1 Top-10 in total defense and rushing defense alike. I would say that counts; as does being the coveted 2o13 Broyles Award winner as top assistant coach accordingly. Father (Bill) was the big whistle at Youngstown State, so coaching is in his blood.

Poppa bear Narduzzi and his wife, Donna, have four children:
Arianna, Christina, Patrick, and Isabella.

2022 record: 9 up 4 down and 5-3 in the A.c.c.

Pitt Portaling:

• Qb Phil Jurkovec (from Boston College)
• Qb Christian Veilleux (from Penn State)
• Wr Daejon Reynolds (from Florida)
• Te Malcolm Epps (from USC)
• OLine Jackson Brown (from California)
• Lb Todd Hill (from Duquesne)
• S Donovan McMillon (from Florida)
• Db/RB Derrick Davis (from LSU)
• P Jeff Yurk (from Elon)

 Pittsburgh Defense: (starters back=5, some say ‘6’)

• 12th in Total D!!!
• 4oth vs. the run!
• 11th vs. the throw!!!
• 1o9th in Passing Efficiency D.
• 65th in zone-D.
• 8.5 in 1o in dLine Havoc. No2 in America’s D-1 in sacks inflicted last year never sucks. And A.c.c. Defensive Player of the Year and D-line disruptor Calijah Kancey did not suck at all. He’s a pro’ (now) and this is not jus’ a hole; might be a frontline… void. De1/Dt3 ‘tweener: Dayon Hayes (4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks) and roly-poly bug looking: Dt1. David Green (3.5 sacks); could be the next men up on the D-line. Haynes in particular does not look his listed 265 lbs. to me. Almost looks mo’ OLb. Still yet, De1/hybrid: Dayon Hayes, Sr. The 6′3″, 265-pounder looks the part. Pitt is fantastic at recruiting to a type for the defensive front, getting terrific fusion-type prospects who know how to rip into the backfield. With so many changes on the D-line, Hayes is the Next Pass Rusher Up who should go from good to amazing after steadily amassing nine sacks and 16 tackles for loss in his first three years – at least that’s what the Panthers are hoping for here. The rest are okay; trying to get to good, though unspectacular. As the interior needs new options to emerge around veteran Dt1, Devin Danielson. While the new-look Dline will lean on veteran Dt1a, David Green. This is a good-enuff Pitt front wall, not quite as good as it used to be Pitt front-wall just the same. Fortunately, head coach Pat Narduzzi annually reloads down-low-up front— as evidenced by Pittsburgh’s NCAA-best 199 sacks since 2o19! wowow.
  Haynes is the ’23 bell cow here. He Qb1-ruff. Right-sized dLine.
  19 seasons worth of seasoning upfront on the dLine 1’s alone! wowow.
  2.4 decades worth of seasoning upfront in their Top-4 Dt’s alone! wowowow.
• 7.5 of 1o in Linebacking Havoc. ex-Linebacker-One: SirVocea Dennis was about as sideline-to-sideline legit as it got. He too is at least a sizey hole to fill. Shayne Simon (46 tackles, 5.5 TFL) and Bangally Kamara (49 tackles, 3 TFL) are linebackers who will dig in in spades. Bangally Kamara, final year is pretty close to a Top-5 or so Panther team-wide; though there is a drop-off of sorts here beyond these two. Solomon DeShields can get behind the line and Shayne Simon should be the team’s top tackler -or close to it- in the middle. Bangally Kamara needs to get into the backfield more, though he can get all over the field horizontally and he can and he will… hit.
  Very solid 2nd-layer and maybe even mo’ deep than they are solid?
  All seniors less one. Right-sized.
  Simon says he is 2nd-layer 1st-best, here.
• 6 outta 1o in Secondary Havoc. XXL-sized play-maker and Cb1, M.J. Devonshire is a second-string All-A.c.c. baller who only returned 67.7% of his picks last year to the… house. That’s all. He sucks. Cut him right now.  Honorable mention as all-A.c.c. Punt Returner to boot; (1 P.R. was housed here, the rest are nice Monopoly apartments). As yah; I’d have to say that Cb1 counts. Kinda their very own ‘macho’ Harris if you will. As Gilligan sniffing up on M.-Ann and ‘lovie’ and Ginger goes… Duz’ enjoys the ’23 services of three, that’s (3) former starting islander style Cb’s. As Devonshire is joined by Marquis Williams and A.J. Woods and that kinda depth on edge can only help where things get Fs-helpless or downright edgy in a hurry. FYI: most of the Pro scouting sites rate: Cb1, MJ Devonshire, Sr., and co-Cb1, Marquis Williams, Sr. as either Top-2 or Top-3 for the whole entire Pittsburgh Panther team! (i.e., not just at Cb itself, TEAM-wide). That’s about as good as it 1-2 Top-2 Cb1’s gets folks. In the mid-field, we see that the Safety net situation is counting on some new starting parts to rise up, including the duo of returning Javon McIntyre and Florida transfer Donovan McMillon. Pitt is clearly mo’ Edgy than Middie here.
  Though McMillon is your alpha.
  All upperclassmen less one Sophomore.
  One Cb1 (#9) and the 5¢-back are the ones to pick on’s, here.

• D overall: (film-study): Pitt still has plenty of crowding pressy tight-azz man on Edges. Release techniques will be at a premium as will motioning to create a ‘runny-go’ start this week. Saw me some wild-azz 10-men in 2-point stancing looks in obvious passing downs. Still a base forty or 4o. With halves and a newer arrowhead looking 2nd-layer this year. Pitt will elevator basically anyone not named the isle-Cb’s up/down in/out of whatever in the hind-7. DLine seemed to do mo’ occupying and read-n-react in the base package on normal down-n-distance plays. D is very occupying here, with no vacancies when you try to check-in. They swarm/rally to the ball well. Pretty decent pursuit pilots in WW2 terms. Pitt also shifts into a 3o on more obvious passing downs. Lb’s have great eyes; see/diagnose things real well and are cat-quick; (pardon the mascot, punny). D will safety blitz and they plum git after the Qb on Lo.FM’s. Same as O, may not be as physical as before; though quicker and they do not make many misQ’s either. U.n.c. did break the edge(s) at times as Pitt will launch northward (inside Ot-box) in run-max’ support at times. D does submarine and tackle low; watch your knees here. They are handsy downfield in passing and can be ‘whistled’ for the same. That really did speak to getting pinballed by U.n.c. on less physical tackles downfield. Saw some Dts/Ngs shaken up a bit too. (Coach God bless).
  The one haunting caveat as we draw neigh upon October was… secondary was a bit loosey-goosey in coverage at times. This would favor g.Wells, make n0 Pivotal mistake about it.
• ∑ (summary): returning D production=49% (1o6th most!). De(s) are your conflict defender here. For anyone else, exiting Lb1, SirVocea Dennis, Dt1, Calijah Kancey, and stud-Des Habakkuk Baldonado and Deslin Alexandre would be close to devastating However, the Pitt D has cranked up 46 sacks or more in each of the last four years. This time around it’ll take some understudies to turn into superstars. IF not, this D will regress a bit; maybe all the way back to batting eyes or flirting with B— best or so.
  Nearly the entire Pitt D is 6′1″ or better. Really tall overall D.

Defensive letter-grade:

Pitt Offense: (returning starters=)

• Closer to a yesteryear under-C Pro-Style O.
• 114th in Total O!!
• 89th in ground O.
• 1o7th in aerial O!
• 12oth in Passing Efficiency O!!
• 121st in zone-O!!
• Qb1a: as much as the Wr1 departure hurts, the former So.Cal Qb1 (Team Captain) Kedon Slovis’ (6′3″, 2o6 lb., true-Sr.) arrival does help succor and stanch some of these splinters in the Panthers’, paw(s). As this was a pretty dang big pick-me-up for Coach Duz’ and the Pittsburgh O. Slovis enrolled in classes for January with two years of immediate eligibility remaining. This after a really ‘lower-leg’ dinged-n-dented (St.Nikon bless) and a neck hurt (St.DeClan help) therefore struggling/frustrating 2o21 out in the Lakers’ backyard. Slovis is a Pro-Style Qb1 in the traditional deeper drop deeper routing Pittsburgh paradigm. in 2019, Slovis elevated his profile quickly at U.s.c.-West, after JT Daniels suffered a season-ending injury in the first game of the season. Slovis threw for 3,502 yards with 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Some even say chasing w.V.u’s Qb1 outta town. Still, yet, an incoming 7.5K careerist passing yards+, to go with an incoming 6o+ TD chucks does not suck. Kedon was rated the nation’s No. 16 pro-style quarterback prospect by Rivals. And he has a really tight coaching (the verb) tree behind him. So, you would think development/betterment shoulda gone hand-in-hand here. 4.77 forty is okay, does have a quick 2o-yard shuttle (4.38). His offer list was Western P5’s all over the place, a few PAC-10’s a few midrange teams too. Had good scholastic numbers, not great, good. Ditto his passing completion percentage; it has been just good everywhere. Never great, and never average (or bad). Did net his bachelor’s in 3-years at So.Cal (Communication major), so that’s .edu tight. Most unusually, has a bookend better look to him, as his 1Q and 4Q metrics are about ~11% ahead of his 2Q and 3Q digits alike. Go fig’ on dat?!? And his name is pronounced: KEE-den SLOH-vis. However, it remains to be seen if he is a king cat in this system or merely a crafty pig-Latin Pivot? Eye say this… because… he has a touch, timing, and anticipation passer rep’ in tow. With limited arm strength and mobility, Slovis is comfortable when working inside the framework of the offense. He thrives off of taking advantage of the underneath areas, and that truncates all things Pitt a bit. As frankly, he seems a bit stuck or possibly ceilinged to me. (Additionally… there are coaching-sewing-circle ‘whispers’ that Qb2 or one Nick Patti has looked practice-field better than Qb1 Slovis at times; mind the chemistry store on that one if you will…) Although Patti is coming off a bowl game clavicle ‘snap’, (St.Christopher bless). Finally, spies say that Slovis is a little bit mo’ accurate than Pickett with a deep ball that is a bit ahead of even that. wow, if true… Tho’ he is also ‘upper-body’ dinged up a the moment having missed about 6Q’s of play this season; (St.Christopher bless).
  UPDATE1: Slovis was concussed in week#2. St.Demos bless. Tho’ hopefully that is not what’s lingering here when he just looked off to me upon breaking tape.
  UPDATE2: Qb2 Nick Patti (ankle) went through the early pregame warmups with the team, yet did not return to the field for fully padded warmups about an hour before Georgia Tech game time. St.Philip bless.
  UPDATE3: Now getting cougared by: Brigham, Young! Dang…
• Now (replacement) Qb1 cue: BeeCee’s Phil Jurkovec… dang… Qb1 musical chairs here we Lawrence Welk go again.
  N.Dame transfer and immediately post-BeeCee eligible Qb Phil Jurkovec takes the Pittsburgh reins. Jurkovec (grate western-Pa. All the Right Moves surname) was Selected to participate in the 2018 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. He was one of four finalists for the Felix “Doc” Blanchard Award, which recognizes a player on the U.S. Army All-American Bowl East roster “who exhibits prowess in the classroom and the field”. That does not student-athlete suck. And neither did finishing his Pine-Richland H.S. career stats up with: 11,144 total yards, 8,202 passing yards, 71 TD passes, and a 68.4 percent completion percentage! Great for 3rd place in western-Pa (en Fuego hotbed for Qb talent historically) total yards passing all-time. That’s an 11.1K careerist passing mind yah on only 9 handheld healthy digits as he missed over half a year with a ripped-up thumb. (St.Julia bless). As I and Fonzie are wondering where Jurkovec is in Pa. history on two good thumbs. Because as a wingman Top Gun Sr. year went? He only went for a state single-season record of 5,180 total yards, with 63 total TDs. Which led Pine-Richland High School to a 16-0 record and the 2017 Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association AAAAAA state championship. That’s all. Hence Phil’s mere 66th overall national ranking and 4th best dual-threat Qb tab per 247Sports. Phil’s is only the fourth or so bio’ I’ve studied with NO family information. Addition via subtraction I fear, Godspeed on whatever that is code for here. Phil goes: 6′6″ with a whopping 37″ can dunk vertical at 228 lb. metrics on 4.84 serviceable pigskin speed. In the film, Phil looks like a deceptively good athlete given his size. He enjoys the arm strength to make all the throws and flashes touch on the deep ball. Big ass long-limbed/wingspan helps put his receivers in a good position after the catch. Can make things happen when the play breaks down. Phil however does court a quirky arm action, not a smooth release; wasted motion does lurk here. As this kid brings a nearly 67% passing acumen in collegiate terms overall; and yet at BeeCee his passing has cooled every week from an apex of 74% to start to a nadir of 54%. Go fig’ on that? And go fig’ on being nearly 10% better @Away than @Home with a stellar +68 visiting Qb1 or road-warrior bump! Phil also throws historically better by +6% after intermission. So, there are some competitive/gamer-type signs here. And the same as Viagra, you gotta wonder what this F’n Irish then F’n Eagle Qb1 now Panther-Pivot1 could do if he could only remain upright and, erect? (mo’: below). ’cause 65.1% good for 1,181 yards, with a shiny 4:1 passing ratio and no real Rb help— as this is quasi-Atlas world on your back territory indeed. Though a throwing-hand fracture is seldom -if ever- a beneficent passing fancy thang. (St.Julia bless on dat). i.e., how healthy will he ’23 be???
  Overall: p.Jurk’ tossed: 5,184 yards, 35 major (TD’s), and 17 INT’s in three years of getting beat up as Qb1 for the F’n Eagles.
  Additionally in the Qb1b or so queue would be: talented Penn State transfer hurler Christian Veilleux. Veileuz is also pushing for the alpha spot and is likely to start getting some ’23 work to be the main man come: 2024.
  UPDATE: Po’ Phill took a big one on the chin last week that resulted in a targeting ejection and his very own locker room inspection. From which he was NOT cleared to return. St.Demos bless.

• Qb2: Christian Veilleux, (pronounced VAY-air), and his cool-Modine blow-out Jersey Shore look may be your Qb1 Come 7 PM Saturday nite. Veilleux is a 6′4″, 22o lb. third-year Qb1a kid who has stayed in Keystone State. In that, he started @Penn.State and then slid over westerly to Pittsburgh itself. CeeVee is a C.f.l.’er or Great White North Qb1, ‘eh’. By way of: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Chris’ vends a: IAC championship game bling from ’19. He was the Bob-n-Doug #1 pocket passer which worked out/converted to being right at the lowercase 20-something USofA pocket passer as recruiting border rankings went. He can move and run just a bit; tho; a Pro Style Qb1 way more so than a dual-threat or ‘bone Qb1. So, you know where to look for him on passing downs. He is s sophomore eligibility-wise. He did put up good Qb2 numbers and ratings in mop-up duty from the P.s.u. bullpen too. His 155-RTG is none too shabby. That said he has a history of knee dents that scared some peeps off. Full sleeve under a full hardware hinged brace is a lot. He blew this @unHappy Valley. It is out-front as an orthodox passer right in Otto Preminger’s Harm’s Way too, (St.Culbreth help). Does g/f1 roll this as Qb2.

• Clearly, he likes ‘fast’ girls as she is a P.s.u. sprintHer1. No joke, 100m, 2oom and power-lifting girl-power dynamo. Film study: on what Eye could last-sec’ find says… Pocket passer with mobility. His Release is usually compact, especially on short throws. Accurate, particularly on short throws to edge and intermediate routes. Does hurl a catchable ‘ball with a deft touch. Good footwork and base work in unison with his arm. Gets through progressions. Plays composed. Drags the ball a little at the start of his throwing motion. Improving arm strength will help on long throws; which he appears to have hung right-mass of about 2o-odd-lbs. since N.A.F.T.A., done. Sometimes relies more on touch than fully committing to throw. He has to learn to play under center in the States is one of the few nags I found. Chrissy did come up, up north in their version of IMG or: Bullis School. So, he was surrounded by high-level H.S. talents and coaching the scholastic verb. Is still a home-court hurler (~7o% vs. 45% on the road; tho’ he was thrown into the fire last week and that burned his SPLITS spark up).
  Which is to say, this seems a pretty nice prospect who could grow into a P5 legit Qb1 contendHER… and ‘yes‘, all fingers point to that.

• Rb1a: Pitt will miss now ny.Jet Rb1a Israel Abanikanda mo’ than a little bit(s). In lieu of him we see: Rodney Hammond is a Norfolk, Va., Booker T. Washington H.S. escapee. He and his very mothy gesturing(s) are not dull. Hommie is not found wanting for confidence itself. Rod’ has game-splitting abilities, he is also one of the few Rb’s you will see who proverbially: ‘gets hot’. And he had multi-tricentennial H.S. contests to show for that as well. (Really good scholastic Db, nose for the intercepting ball to boot). 20th Rb in America from ESPN.com to show for all of that. And… other than Daniel Carter, the Panther ground-rounds are not really beefy at all; a buncha of them are ~175 lbs. give/take. That said, the ‘whispers’ say DeeCee currently has been making a contusing camping and practice-field move. Tho’ talent here exceeds production, at least so trenching far. mid-script M.S. Pitt does dump off a lotta short check-down looks at the last sec’ to their Rb(s).  Vincent Davis Rb1b and C’Bo Flemister R1c are in this convo’ somewheres or anothers too. Cee-Bo is ex-of-Notre Dame. So, you know he was a VHT (very highly touted) chip recruit. Ga. H.S. Player of the Year (’17) might speak to this. 40th Rb in America from Rivals. Prof. Indy Jones’ fave Rb, per having earned his bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Notre Dame. Does have a history of dings/dents both on-field and off— Coach God bless. 4.61 forty is not exactly burning it, mo’ parts footwork/quickie guy with a dunkable 33″ vert’ than a pure sprinter. Has never quite got there as his career goes though. Vincent Davis Rb1b is no longer listed on the Pitt Roster; apparently rebelling out to U.N.L.V. This leaves seldom used tho’ weight-room enthused 5′1o″, 233 lb. r-Sr., Daniel Carter as the inheritance Beta-‘back here. No. 19 running back by Rivals, does have a Septa or AAAAAAA FLA H.S. bling. Is strong, has found a whopping ~40 lbs. since Sunshine State high school ball; reinventing himself as a power-hitter Rb2. Downhill back with just a smidgeon of: ‘burst’. Said to have good hands to boot.
  Rodney Hammond was solid over the last few years when he got his chances, and LSU transfer Derrick Davis should turn into an interesting option with more work and lends depth here.
• Wr(s)/Te1: Lotta departures in play here as well as ’22’s Rb1. Konata Mumpfield is prolly your de facto Wr1 of sorts now… although Bub Means means to do Wr1 work as well. Te1 Gavin Bartholomew is back. Pitt’s catch Crops is pretty sophomores by the bye, and they will be pretty dang tight come ’25 for it. File that one away for future use. Pitt Rb’s only get about 1 snag/game, as they throw deep than release routing from Rb’s mo’ often than not. Third-year Konata is a: 6′1″, 185 glider of a Wideout who went for a nifty looking:  63 snags good for 751 yards and 9 majors as a debut Akron Zip two years back. Not bad…  punt-returner, Db in scholastic terms that can play both ways in a pinch. Kinda an enhanced possession+++ guy, though not quite a vertical stretcher via trade. Bub Means is a r-Sr., 6′2″, 215 lb., transfer from La.Tech. He does keep ½ of his head orange/yellow; (right-side, not sure I wanna Urban Diction that), so, there is that. There is also his rep’ for timely or ‘clutch catches’ when most needed. Does have a little northward-bound stretch to his game. Does have size and some strength to work with; though was only a ** or 2-star guy who was only the 215th Ga.H.S. baller. So, there may not be a metric ton of headroom left here. Though good on him, he’s getting a lot outta what Coach God Gave him.
  Grab-gang is all 6′2″ or mo’ less one guy in the rotation. wow.
  Te1 is your de facto Wr1 here.
• Oline: 60% of the ’22 starters off of a very quality run-shape unit do return even if the all-conference Rb1 did not. The ’22 Pitt offense was amazing at controlling the clock, and that partly came from the production from the line that was great at keeping defenses out of the backfield (34th best in: TFL allowed) and that was very good for the northward-bound Panther ground game. In ’23 there will be some movement: Ot1, Matt Goncalves will be an all-star no matter which side he works; and C1, Jake Kradel will continue to be a rock at Center. Down-low in ’23 Pitt returns a combined 84 starts. The Panthers are better than average here; the only calculus is… just how much?
  UPDATE: Matty Lyte is OUT; as in fo’ the duration. Dangnation… St.Nikon bless. S.Nikon bless: G1/Te3, Ryan Jacoby, who blew his A.c.l. in August Camp. Pitt is now at 6o% medicine on their blocking 1’s upfront. Pitt’s offensive line was also without sixth-year senior Jake Kradel last week. Tho’ he could get ’23 back (at some point). Coach God help^3. Branson Taylor will move from right tackle to left tackle to replace Goncalves. And Pitt is juggling (depth-chart) chainsaws after that.
  This is a better run-shape oLine than passing-V-cup; which may or may not be sayin’ much.
  All starters less the mere 3oo-lb. C1 are 33o+ lbs.!!!
  Really lumpy oLine here.
• O overall: (Film-Study): So, I did bother to try to study both Qb’s here. And frankly, Eye kinda views the Qb2 (Veilleux) as the smoother one here. He may have the higher passing ceiling; eventually… down the ’25 road.
  In theory; and unless the full week toggle this that much… Pitt still blocks/rides down the L.O.S. (line-of-scrummage) at their signature 45’s. (As in forty-five°). Old-school jab-step and Gap-over. Which does create some downhill angular advantages built in. Pitt was okay here— though not as dominant as before. Odd or left-side was a little stronger; though are they now? As Pitt did have the BeeCee retred ridding the Hb-belly look on a wannabe R.P.O. Do, they do that now, though?
  Pitt will go under-C and just try to muscle you off the L.O.S. Pitt still with a lotta crossing angular thingys and 3-level passing in triangular terms. They will counter-crossbuck and scissor their Qb1 and Hb1. (Wonder how our court vision/Gap-fills do vs. that?) Pitt has a jumbo/bunch formation from a Qb-under-D deep-I look. All Rb’s look kind small; for Pitt. Less the dan.Carter kid who is part jughead or ‘ironhead’ and you gotta wonder if they will uber-physical dump him right in our ill-fit-Gap(s), laps?
  Pitt has a pent-wide look that motions or sweeps right in front of the Qb1 mesh point. They were a bit mo’ physical with Jurkovec hard-charging northward. They were a bit mo’ Philly’s afterward to boot. Still very narrow on splits; can be “hip-pocket” beaten down the L.O.S. for it too. Pitt has a little Fu’fense in it, with the sweeps and very narrow flat/quick passing looks. Wr’s have to hold their blocks longer; as they are only so-so at best/most here. This is a succinct short-to-midrange O; it may be a bit quicker/speedier this year; though it is surely less physical as well.
  The new Qb2 (Chrissy) is just not a dedicated or just not a fast-starter on R.P.O.’s. Either hesitant or un-quick. Threw bit latent or behind at times— maybe full week Qb1 work(s) fix that, maybe they don’t? Seemed a bit frazzled and yet the mo’ fluid pure passer to boot. Pitt did work trickerations with him. Finally, Chrissy reminds of corporeal harris of w.v.u. fame, in that he sure is in love with the long ball. His; chick, digs… dat.
• ∑ (summary): Jake McConnachie is your secret sauce offender here. They say he kan’t catch (as well) though he can jet/sprint when he does handle the rock.
  The rest of the Pitt O did not do much to impress me or Coach Shania Twain, much. They just do not have the horses; they are also a po’ fit or scheme juxtaposed. And now these kitty-cat warhorses upfront are training room geldings. You do the maths…
• returning O production=52% (1o6th most!). 55% run:pass 45% mix. Completion%: Pitt No. 132! WowoW. Or, one could dare to type that Pitt will not be winging their way to victory Saturday; the percentages seem to favor that. Though as said at the top; I am kinda wondering if they have to playbook even more so Pro’ downshift with this no less pocketed kid here?

Offensive letter-grade:

BONUS: the Pitt-O does have some b.Simpson butterfingers as ball security goes and has fumbled
39 times in the last 1.5 seasons of ball!

Panther Special Teams: (return)

Pitt was 118th in Net Punting last year; Pitt is now 91st in Net Punting this year and so is Sam Vander Haar. An Australian rules football player from his youth, Vander Haar went on to work with the renowned Prokick Australia program that has produced many successful collegiate and NFL punters alike. As ‘aye’, they do seem to have some footsie working down under to be true.

Sam is the first ‘married’ P1 I’ve ever studied to be true as well. As he tied the knot with his best girl: Hallie, a Duquesne University graduate, in June 2o22 A.D. Married Saint’s blessings on that.

As the occupation of punting itself goes… Sam only has booted one punt beyond 42 yards so far in his Panther career. (5′12″, 2o5 lbs., t-Fresh.). As you can see from his National ranking digits… he’s not off to a booming Ray Guy kinda start just yet, and it is early on in his career as well… still yet, more was expected of ESPN’s 27th-ranked P nationally here. So, time=tell per always itself.

• 1o7 in Punt Returns |  2oth in KO returns! (pretty suspect ¦ pretty prospect).
• 122th in punt coverage | 41st and in suicide-squad.
• Pitt has blocked 2 kicks!!! And allowed o kicks to be blocked! wowow!
• Pitt has blocked 2 punts!!! And allowed o punts to be blocked! wowow!
  (Who has thirty-one? As #31 (Rasheem Biles’) has both punt blocks for Pitt)
• Offensive field-position  | Defensive field-position; 2′ separate them here; basically, a spot-the-ball, draw.

Sam Scarton is your K1 for Pittsburgh. And he is one hard K1 to grade. As he has not got much use at all during his debut college Place-Kicking season.

Or, at least the pre-season forecasted was until Ben Sauls (lefty or Koufax K1) beat him unexpectedly out.

Bennie is a: r-Soph., 5′1o″, 185 lb., K1.

Ben is 6 of 9 so far on his FGA’s or a modest-looking 67%. Ben has been perfect on Point After Tries going 21 for 21 as P.A.T.’s go. Ben has one make beyond 42 yards and it is his long so far of 48 yards itself. With no FGAs beyond that barrier. Prior to this year, Ben was one of one on P.A.T.’s and that is all the résumé he brought to the ’22 incoming table. That being said, Ben did kick-off for Pitt last year, so that should be a solid enough leg-strength sign. 4-tackles would seem to indicate a willingness to mix it up a bit to boot. No. 12 kicker by 247Sports with a career-long at any level of 55 yards back in high school. b.Sauls does enjoy an Ohio State Championship bling; albeit in futball or soccer itself. So, there is that and that typically hints at some leg-swing prowess in one football or another. Some of the scouting services even went so far as to gloss’ Ben’ as: “terrific”. I’d have to say that’s pretty special teams, specialist; special, itself.

So far in ’23 terms and medium-Ben is keeping it P.A.T. one-hundred (at: 11 for 11) and 67% on his ’23 F.G.A.’s. Seems to have range out to the mid-40; maybe a scosche mo’, which does bring a short punt into play. As K2, Samuel Carpenter is your logo-3 specialist here.

bonus: Devonshire led the ’22 A.c.c. at 9.7 yards per punt return.

Special Teams letter-grade: A freakin’ BLOCK-part Silo cups optional. As Pitt cannot cover a punt; much, though how much does that matter when you be swatting them down? This is a uneven ST’s unit; tho’ the BIG-plays push it to a B scaling here.

Unit Rankings:

1. Pitt D.
2. …gap…
3. VT D.
4. …’nother gap…
5. Pitt O & VT O. (tied).

X-factor(s):

• motive: Who knows? Home team? Pry and Co. fighting for their Termination at Will lives? Pitt *right now* due to a tougher scheduling looksee at latent ’23 success? EDGE=???
• weather: tough to say it don’t favor the O’s here. Though their next ’23 upvote may be their 1st upvote combined, too. EDGE=a long-sleeve shirt or Lt.Jacket.
• health/off-field: Pitt’s (official) injury report is a good deal shorter than ours. Though theirs are in such critical spots (oLine/Qb) that it evens out. EDGE=4o77th.
• penalties: EDGE=VT. Though do understand; we are slipping here, becoming more undisciplined. Pitt has been bad under Duz’ for years here too; although, VeeTee is cutting into this; in particularly at inopportune times and big ones too.
• intangibles: Pitt wins TOP (time of possession) and yet VeeTee wins Turnover Margin by not very disparate amounts too. EDGE=push.
• fatigue: Both on the very same R&R interval so far. EDGE=push.

Lord Haw-Haw …or… Tokyo Rose?
…inpowerHERment 1o1.

Guys… Pitt and Virginia Tech have split 22 games in the all-time series, though the Panthers have won the last three meetings. The Hokies have won seven of 10 matchups in Blacksburg.

As these pussy-cat-girls are coming to put girl-power on our Spice, Boyz.

   🏋️‍♀️

Illation, conclusion(s) and OPT digits:

Number of  Panthers who could claw @Tech=12’ish.

the takeaway:

…the takeaway is… that the The A.c.c. has been multi-national Champion Clemson’s sandbox taken. As it is them and everyone else for a little while now, That credibly said… whose No. 2?

---

---

Not counting Notre Dame -who continues to enjoy the friends-with-benefits relationship with the conference- Pitt and its 34 victories since 2o19 has the second-best A.c.c football program going.

With 2o wins and an All-Conference Championship in the last two seasons, you have to go back to the superpower era of the mid-1970s to 1982 for a better two-year Tony Dorset, Hugh Green, and Isotoner Dan Marino Steel City J.V. run.

That’s pretty tall and that is where the Pitt Panthers currently prowl and that is where Pry and Co. are hoping to eventually leverage VeeTee back to be.

***

xxx’s & ooo’s

It is coming up on midway ’23 and now we’ll see just how good Pitt is at plugging and playing.

Head coach Pat Narduzzi has the Learning and the Experience checkmarks and that tips this one here.

Game Ball or mag·num o·pus:

Peeps who hate O and love D?

People who do not, watch?

permutations:

1. Δ1=55% Eye guess Pitt is a little better; sorta, semi… maybe?
2. Δ2=4o% though just how much better and Eye doubt many have an objective clue.
3. Δ3=5% of extra innings, sudden-death, bonus-levels… as these two are so bad they may prove hard to Regulation separate; literally.

#ChallangeA.c.c.epted… there are 1,440 minutes in a day and yet again we needs to be 6o-minute men.

formulae here favors…

Last year’s Panther team passed 17o rushing yards six times – 6-o. Then went 7-1 when getting past 15o yards. Since 2o19 Pitt is 26-1 when getting to 143 rushing yards.

143 MB’s (mili-bars) of Mercury as your (other/better) in-game barometer goes.

BONUS: Pitt enjoys a whopping +252% mo’ Sacks than their opponent do since we faced ’em last!

the skinny…

…this is the team we used to (Big East) be.

Check it… just once in the last 15 years has Pitt not won ≥6 games. And while the Panthers only have two 1o-win seasons during that time, they’ve arguably been the second-best program in the A.c.c. in recent years to Clemson. In the last eight campaigns, Pitt’s 41-25 record in Conference-callings is the second-best mark in intra-league work. Wild; ain’t it?

WWI: “The Great War”…

Trench Warfare favors…

Lo.FM (Long-field Management©)

• VeeTee is a blotchy 1o2nd best in 1st-down O | whereas Pitt is a salty 17th best in 1st-down D allowed!!
• Pitt is a suspect-looking 85th best in 1st-down O | whereas VeeTee is a near C+ 58th best in 1st-down D allowed.
• VeeTee is an inert-looking 6th from last best in 3rd-down O | whereas Pitt is a starchy 23rd best in 3rd-down D allowed!!
• Pitt is a centrist 66th best in 3rd-down O | whereas VeeTee is a user-friendly 1o3rd best in 3rd-down D allowed.

Lo.FM Analysis:
Well, as you can see… Pittsburgh is pretty dang Steely on D here. The Panther O does get just a mite better as the chain gang rolls along on O; surprisingly in fact. Although the F’n Gobblers O is pretty well effed itself. Did Eye mention the nearly nasty Panther stop-unit here, yet? EDGE=Pitt and pretty large at that. They start to pop even average clean on 1st-down and this could be one long-azz New River Valley niite.

TTT (Time To Throw©)

• The Hokies are a holey 91st best in sacks allowed O | whilst the Panthers are a Curtaining 11th best in sacks inflicted D!!
• The Panthers are a marginal 75th best in sacks allowed O | whilst the Hokies are a barely above average 58th best in sacks inflicted D.
• The Hokies are a middleocore 62nd best in TFL (tackles for a loss) allowed O | whilst the Panthers are a virtual matching middle-aisle 63rd best in TFL inflicted D.
• The Panthers are a moderate 55th best in TFL allowed O | whilst the Hokies are trying to be a bit sprite 4oth best in TFL inflicted D.

TTT analysis:
Well, as you can see… this one tightened up a bit more than the Lo.FM did. Thanks to the Marve D just getting a bit upfield. The curious part was that the Pittsburgh oLine won by just a little bit. Not Mike Webster or ‘the ranger” Ray Mansfield C1’s won, mo’ like Gordon Gravelle or Jon Clack won. Though they did win. Or at least they had won… although, where are their oLine 1’s now? EDGE=push. Or you could pick the D’s to win here, plural.

3-game splits:
Here we see that Pitt’s O is cutting about –3o ypg to the bad in both pass and run terms alike of late. Clearly, their injuries are hurting them here. While the Hokies D is symmetrical less their pass-defense which is softening by nearly –25 ypg to the worse.  We also see that the Hokies O is missing about two 1st-downs or –2o yards thru the airwaves (with rushing virtual identical). Pitt’s D is just slightly worse of late in aerial terms though a noticeable –4o ypg to the ‘rong as stopping the run goes! EDGE=nearly nobody, as both are worse of late nearly everywhere. Tho’ VeeTee is a little less bad if that means anything here.

H/A splits:
Here we see that Pitt’s visiting passing freefall by nearly –100 ypg less; (rushing is nearly the same, tho’). While the VeeTee pass-D drops by –4o ypg to the worse as the host. We also see that the Hokie O is passing better at home though rushing even worse than Wells was hurling. Pitt’s D however constricts by nearly –6o less ypg allowed as road warriors (more so stiffer vs. the pass).  EDGE=Pitt‘s D. Simple as that.

Our handy dandy friend, the so-called: Forum Guide of Graham Houston fame is merely calling for a later on in-conference calling round-robin oblong spheroid ask, back. We gettin’ closer here…

Triangle Theory says that… we should ask back in a fortnight or so as well…

the sportlight…

…here in the sportlight, we find it most strange that this game was chosen fo’ the Alpha Conference Coverage Network limelight?

LOL… do we have Stanford, Cali or So.Methodist telly rights, yet?

Pitt Projected S&P+: 36th.
Panther Projected S&P wins: 8.8 W’s.

–oOo–

So, from above; you’d have to clinically think these Panthers think they can abscond with our lunch money and get away with it.

As in… how long has it been since they did not?
How long since we punched first -or even punched, back- in this series?

♥  ♣  ♦ ∪

Firstly, hometown returnee Philip Stephen Jurkovec (Pine-Richland High School) would seem to give the Panthers the edge all by his ownself here. In Pittsburgh, Jurkovec reunites with offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr., who held the same position for the Eagles when Jurkovec’s aerial assault took wing. And you could argue that was true until he got dumped by U.n.c.

IF he is healthy he gives the Panthers another checkmark of some measurement.

Secondly, Coach Duz’ his ownself is predicting a doozy of a game:
“We’ll be back and go down to Virginia Tech and get it done.”

Thirdly, Coach Pry his ownself is saying that…
“They don’t do a whole lot. They are pretty simple.”
(Their defense is what he means FYI).

You do with ^that(s)^ as you may…

the call...

…so, who should you R.A.T.T. call for to win here?

Eye say that… ’cause the seasonal splits Eye ran recommended 1.5 play Panther win or nearly precisely 9-points. However, the most recent 3-game splits narrowed that all the way down to a mere Safety or 2-point Panther prowl.

So, we do have a shot here; even if that has mo’ to do with Pitt’s training room.

As this game is all about Pittsburgh gentlemen— don’t kid yourself on that.
Either they have enuff left or they do not. As legit Pitt prolly inches into a double-digit VomiT.

Though offensive available -if not illegit’ Pitt- is pretty dang close to us…

The VerdicT:

Observe a few thingys above…

• IF not’ fo bad luck these two would have no 4-leaf-clovers at all.
• Though Pitt is the quicker starter in 1st-half terms. Wild ain’t it? That could be big here with two teams (possibly) looking to find an early/convenient way out.
• Pitt has also faced tougher teams and the hawtest wimminz make the strongest, steel?

Or in final words... if this Pitt D comes to play?

That may be the end of our day; or, “badnight” on the hang-up here.

As the Pitt D (still) ranks a starchy 28th best in: βeta-D and all of their national defensive rankings are all in the 20’s less one (34th in: effective pass-D). Or, to put it another way, do you really like the ≅12% downfield passer {sic: Cobra-Ky’} to put in (enuff) aerial work vs. their Jam-Man here?

As the Pitt stop-unit is 7th best in 4Q scoring D allowed!
A.K.A. we gotta beat-’em prior to that.

As this may just be the Drones Duz is looking for…

These kitty-cags put the Hokiebird in the downward dawgg… and same as Yogi Bera… déjà fu… all over again. Or mo’ robbing Peter to p(l)ay, ball, Paul.

Sphacelate, necrotize; name it as you deign…nonetheless, the decay may not delay with another L here.

(In particular on a fugly one).

Tho’ those line-of-scrummage checkmarks give us our shot; and Eye am taking mine, here.

🙏>>>🏈

upset Index=38%

#wimps!

Virginia Tech=22, Pittsburgh=16

“LETS GO!“

Please support the VT F.C.A.!

“HOKIES!“

bourbonstreet**