Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

[CatFan88]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Good point, and true.

This team appears to have some real potential. Hopefully they can get it all put together by te time they run the gauntlet:
NSU- Probably the last chance to play bad and win for a while.
UNK- Looks much better than people expected (Physical Option team)
Elwood- Improved team (Becoming more physical each season)
NW- Been stomping nards and punching throats for so long they just call those thing "northwesting"
Hays- Taken a step back, but still a sound, physical team.
UCM- Looks like the D has improved, and probably the best O in the conference, even with a BU QB.
MW- Fast and physical
WU- Fast and physical Perhaps offensively, certainly not defensively. Not impressed with their defensive front when they give up 276 rushing to NW. WU defensive front not as big and physical as people might think or remember from typical WU teams.
Southern- Finish it off with a game Pitt should win.

Tough Row to Hoe.

MW clearly different team and FHSU not as good as advertised? Guessing return of the MIAA "norm"

[GorillaBred]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Grey pants. Still it just doesn't go with the unis. Why that color? I don't get it.

I don't mind the grey pants on the road, but my historical favorite PSU unis were the yellow pants, white shirt, red helmet road unis that we had always used from when I first started watching Pitt State in 1990 (I'd actually been to games before that, but was too young to remember) until about 2008 or so.

Uniforms are strangely tough. As much as us long-timers may think of PSU's unis from the 1990s as classics, the reality is that they aren't classics on the level that Alabama, Notre Dame, Michigan or Penn State unis are classics. And in this day and age, anything short of that level of classic doesn't really count as classic. The kids want more variability and finding a way to give it to them while keeping the fans happy with our conceptions of tradition is a pretty tough balance.

I think the program has decided that the home unis are where we're going to go with tradition, since that's where more PSU fans will see us--hence the return of the yellow pants. The road is where we'll go with the variability, because the kids want it and it doesn't bother as many fans on the road. I like the grey pants better than white pants for the road, but would prefer yellow pants everywhere.

[GorillaBred]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

I hope Nate watches some old interviews of Chuck Broyles and takes a lesson. When Pitt came out in that 3 man front with 1 or 2 LBs, ESU was able to double Sima and create some big holes between the guards. Why? It's like we predetermined that ESU was going to come out and throw the ball all over the field. In the pregame interview Coach Higgins wanted to come out and establish a run game, and we come out ready for 5 wide and hail marys. Now, back to the Broyles comment. I remember when Broyles would be interviewed about how he was going to defense a certain offense and what changes he was going to make and his comment would basically be this, "We do what we do and don't worry so much about what other teams do. We will work on what we do and see what happens." I like that attitude. Pretty much saying what we do is better than what you do, no matter what you do if we do what we do right.

When Pitt switched after the half back to the 4 man front and 3 backers, ESU was pretty much done for the night and was shut out in the second half. The only threat they had came after the WR pass interception. ESU got the ball around our 40 and made it to the 2 and elected to try a fg on 4th instead of going for it and missed. After that, nothing. If we would have gone with what we do the entire game ESU may not have seen the endzone. Pitt held them to 72 passing yards and 181 rush which the vast majority of that was the first quarter, and for sure first half. That 3 man front made Nault look like a superstar. I think he had like 70 yards on the first drive. I hope we go with what we do from here on out. That 3 man front worked late in the 4th when ESU had to pass, but that is how we should be. Have a adjustment when called for but don't try and revamp your defense week to week for the team you're going to play. Do what you do and do it well, then adjust as the game dictates.

But back to the game itself...

The only issue I would take with this post is that in week one, what worked really well was the three DL front with tons of DBs out there. So after one week, if we were thinking of who we were as a defense, it might've been that three man front. If Dreiling had decided that was our identity and stuck with it last night as the groove we found to start the season, we may have been down 28-10 at the half. I think he'll do a good job of figuring out which defensive approaches will work as the games go one each week, the issue will be that hopefully we aren't behind the 8 ball before he figures it out each week.

[GorillaBred]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

MW clearly different team and FHSU not as good as advertised? Guessing return of the MIAA "norm"

So is the MIAA "norm" the following situation: no one other than Pitt State stands a chance of beating NWMSU and Pitt State only stands about a 30% chance; in addition to the 70% chance of losing that game, Pitt State will lose 1-2 games from among: WU, UCM, MW, Hays and ESU; those 5 teams will all lose to NW and 3-4 of them will lose to PSU and then they'll all go 2-2 against each other; the bottom 5 teams in the league will just stack up with MoSo and NSU at the bottom and UNK, Lindenwood and UCO fighting for 8th.

Which part of the MIAA "norm" did I miss?

FWIW, I don't think that's an entirely unlikely scenario. Maybe give Pitt a 40% chance against NW this year and this seems like a year where Pitt State goes 4-1 against the other 5, not 3-2 or 2-3. NW goes into POs as the 1 or 2 seed depending on how the region shakes out, Pitt is the 5 seed and whichever of the next tier beats Pitt is in a tight race for the 7 seed as a three loss team and we spend the last 4 weeks of the year debating SOS and silo scheduling as this eventual outcome seems unavoidable.

[PSR]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

But back to the game itself...

The only issue I would take with this post is that in week one, what worked really well was the three DL front with tons of DBs out there. So after one week, if we were thinking of who we were as a defense, it might've been that three man front. If Dreiling had decided that was our identity and stuck with it last night as the groove we found to start the season, we may have been down 28-10 at the half. I think he'll do a good job of figuring out which defensive approaches will work as the games go one each week, the issue will be that hopefully we aren't behind the 8 ball before he figures it out each week.

I don't remember the 3 man front that much against UCO? I know we were in it some, but thought we came out 4 man and was in it most of first half. We did bring much more pressure but I think that goes to the UCO Oline not being that good.

[psudoc]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

I don't remember the 3 man front that much against UCO? I know we were in it some, but thought we came out 4 man and was in it most of first half. We did bring much more pressure but I think that goes to the UCO Oline not being that good.

The 3 man fronts came out once they were up 21-0 and everyone knew they were going to pass

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

The 3 man fronts came out once they were up 21-0 and everyone knew they were going to pass

That's what I thought, too.

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

It was 3 man fronts with their ears pinned back to pass rush no matter what that got them gouged so hard on the ground. At least that's what it looked like to me.

[Gorilla Guy]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Nice thing about going to Tallequah for the third game is it's like a practice with contact and full pads. Great time on the schedule to work out the kinks on high snaps, 3-man vs.4-man fronts, ball-handling, what plays to run on first down, etc. Hopefully Pitt does not approach this game like they are a well-oiled machine at this point.

[Bytor]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Nice thing about going to Tallequah for the third game is it's like a practice with contact and full pads. Great time on the schedule to work out the kinks on high snaps, 3-man vs.4-man fronts, ball-handling, what plays to run on first down, etc. Hopefully Pitt does not approach this game like they are a well-oiled machine at this point.

Or start your second string team to rest the actual starters. Limits the 40 point blowout to a 20 point game...

I don't think you will learn much as most anything that is tried will be successful most of the time in Tahlequah.

[GorillaBred]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Or start your second string team to rest the actual starters. Limits the 40 point blowout to a 20 point game...

I don't think you will learn much as most anything that is tried will be successful most of the time in Tahlequah.

Pitt State needs to work on: having the center's snaps go straight to the QB, having the punt returner run up and fair catch punts rather than letting it bounce and give away 20ish yards of field position every time, getting RS-Fr backup QB some game experience, not overstretching ourselves on D to leave the middle wide open to a completely vanilla RB draw play, offensive playcalling that reasonably considers down and distance without being predictable.

Assuming NSU is as bad as the first two games make them appear, this should be a perfect opportunity to make progress on all of these items (except maybe the overstretched defense, addressing that is too dependent on the offense being able to capitalize on it when we do screw it up).

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Pitt State needs to work on: having the center's snaps go straight to the QB, having the punt returner run up and fair catch punts rather than letting it bounce and give away 20ish yards of field position every time, getting RS-Fr backup QB some game experience, not overstretching ourselves on D to leave the middle wide open to a completely vanilla RB draw play, offensive playcalling that reasonably considers down and distance without being predictable.

Assuming NSU is as bad as the first two games make them appear, this should be a perfect opportunity to make progress on all of these items (except maybe the overstretched defense, addressing that is too dependent on the offense being able to capitalize on it when we do screw it up).

NSU actually looks more talented than last year. They just don't really appear to be a team..

[Bytor]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

NSU actually looks more talented than last year. They just don't really appear to be a team..

Really? More talented? Please enlighten me...

[Bytor]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Pitt State needs to work on: having the center's snaps go straight to the QB, having the punt returner run up and fair catch punts rather than letting it bounce and give away 20ish yards of field position every time, getting RS-Fr backup QB some game experience, not overstretching ourselves on D to leave the middle wide open to a completely vanilla RB draw play, offensive playcalling that reasonably considers down and distance without being predictable.

Assuming NSU is as bad as the first two games make them appear, this should be a perfect opportunity to make progress on all of these items (except maybe the overstretched defense, addressing that is too dependent on the offense being able to capitalize on it when we do screw it up).

Well, NSU can help you with the punt return game... I believe they are averaging 9 a game. Decent kicker, but he was only a field goal kicker in high school, but a really good kid.

Offensive play calling probably won't matter, nor the overstretching D. Hopefully, the backup QB will get the majority of the snaps and gain some confidence as UCM's QB's did.

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Pitt at Emporia Game Day thread

Really? More talented? Please enlighten me...

Early in games, they had the talent, though only 1 deep, to move the ball on both teams I have seen them play. They were also able to give teams a little trouble on D early in games.

Makes me think they actually have the players in places to play at this level. I haven't thought that about them is some of the past years.