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Pitt’s defense, particularly the secondary, didn’t have a good game yesterday against Oklahoma State. But how bad was it? In doing my routine post-game stuff today, there was this nugget from Chris Peak:
#Pitt's defense gave up 640 yards today. Single-game record is 675 (VT in 1993). Most recent 600-yard game was GT in 2014 (612)
— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) September 18, 2016
To be honest, I hadn’t given much thought to just how bad the defense performed from a historical standpoint. But that they were only 35 yards from an all-time Pitt record is obviously a little more proof that those guys struggled almost beyond any reasonable comprehension.
Fortunately, they did tighten things up a little in the second half and at least keep the Cowboys out of the end zone less often. But 640 yards still shows they had a pretty rough day overall.
Ironically, while there were problems with the offense, too, that unit had their best day in terms of yardage in three years:
#Pitts's 527 yards of total offense tonight were the Panthers' most in a regulation game since they had 598 vs. Duke in 2013.
— Chris Peak (@PantherLair) September 18, 2016
As I said before, I thought some of the playcalling was sort of bland and things could have been better to be sure. But they also had their moments and did a few things out there. Watching the postgame press conference this morning, even Pat Narduzzi basically said what a lot of us have been thinking - you score 38 points and it should be enough in most instances.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case yesterday. Pitt has plenty to clean up on both sides of the ball if they’re going to beat North Carolina next weekend.
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