Pitt Vs. Iowa: #BeatingIowa=EpicFail

I went to the Iowa-Pitt game today and in some strange way it wouldn’t have hurt my feelings to see Pitt win. It sure looked like they were going to, and it would have somehow given a little more cred to the Big East. I guess that is now moot considering you are bailing out on our conference.
Anyhow, Pitt had Iowa on the ropes and clearly looked like the faster and better team. Iowa is big, Pitt is fast. I thought the turning point was when the Hawkeyes went to a hurry-up offense. Pitt was gassed by then and Iowa overpowered them to come back. I don’t recall Iowa using a hurry-up/no huddle often at all, so maybe they are on to something.
Good luck the rest of the way (except the BB).

there were two turning points in the game from my vantage point. One, going for it on 4th down instead of pooch punting it. Iowa does not like to be close their own goal line. Had you pooched it there and downed it inside the 20 I think you limit Iowa somewhat. Also, the emotional swing of not getting a first down only boosted the Iowa confidence. Also, the dropped snap earlier by Sunseri on third down and goal was bigger than I thought at the time. I thought any score closes the game out, but I was wrong. If you score a TD there it’s clearly over.

Vandenberg is actually a passing QB that most Hawkeye fans believe is a better pure passer than last year’s QB, Stanzi (who is backing up Cassel in KC now). However, we also believe that our OC and HC prefer a run first style of offense, which will open up the play action passing game. Vandenberg really struggled with play action. Once in the shotgun (which he was in most of the Ohio State game two years ago when he burst on to the scene and is what he played in HS) he showed exactly what we believe we will see all year….assuming he is allowed to be in shotgun more often.

I thought you D-line really did a great job against our O-line and that is one of our strengths. You shut down the run and you got to the QB. But, your DBs need work. But to be fair, one of our WRs is a lock to be in the NFL next year (#7, McNutt) and the other might also. We have talented, tall, sure handed WRs, who are not especially fast but can often outmuscle most DBs for the ball. Which we saw all game. The two TD passes our slot receiver beat a LB for you. I thought you should have been in a dime package but you may not have the personnel.

I think you are a better team than I thought you would be. Your wideouts are slick. Your running game is pretty good (although not best running back in the nation good) and your D-line is very capable. Your QB though is not very dangerous. He makes too many mistakes for a second year starter (although the new offense might be the issue) and is not fast or a run threat which limits this style of offense. OUr DE ignored him as a run threat and then when he quit ignoring him he sacked him twice. If you get a running QB with decent passing skills, this offense will be a nightmare…at least for us it would have been.

Good game and good luck the rest of the way. I see you improving and taking some people out if you get good QB play and can manage time, down and distance better on offense. The issue with fast offensive philosophy is you better have a deep and well conditioned defense because they are going to play a lot of snaps.

I watched your game because I was interested in your backup QB. I was also interested in Iowa since Iowa State beat them and MY team (Texas) plays Iowa State.

I’ll start with this - Iowa was HUGE compared to your lines - both D and O. They wore your team down, simple as that.

Your defense played out of it’s mind, in the first half and your offense had Iowa totally confused. You have a very good team, but you only have one explosion threat and that is your excellent running back. Iowa knew this and focused on the run - or so it appeared. I thought your QB managed his offense very well - particularly in the first half.

However, once Iowa figured out they could bulldoze you the game became a slow bleed for Pitt.

Your skill players are very good and your line is only adequate - Graham needs to hit the recruiting trail and bring in the beef - you will love your future then (particularly in the ACC). I was VERY impressed with Pitt and I think your coaches did a good job - Pitt just appeared to finally be overpowered on this day. Your year will be very good and you should go bowling, in my opinion.

There is an old adage about football:

“If the team loses by a narrow margin, it is coaching. If the teams loses by a large margin, it is the players”

Even though this game was a loss by a close margin, there were far too many easy touchdowns given up in the fourth quarter. I suspect your coaches main failure was not doing liberal substitutions during the game to keep their players as fresh as possible - because they were OUT of gas in the fourth qtr.