| 20 September 2011
The goal was to do these every Sunday. Monday at the latest. But the news of the weekend and the dread of rewatching the complete and utter chock job that was Pitt vs. Iowa kept me away. So here I am, Tuesday night, trying to go back and figure out just what went wrong.
The answer: everything.
Todd Graham said he didn't coach well enough.
Quarterback Tino Sunseri said he didn't throw like he should, leaving big-play opportunities on the field and -- get this -- going too fast.
No one hit the target, however, quite like senior defensive tackle Chas Alecxih.
Asked how Pitt allowed a 24-3 third-quarter lead to disappear like footballs in a cornfield, Alecxih offered this stinging indictment.
"We took our foot off their throats," he said. "(Iowa) fought to the very end, and we gave it away.
Denny Green's epic Monday Night Football meltdown is maybe the only thing that adequately describe what happened to Pitt in the fields of Iowa. To say Pitt "let 'em off the hook," is about right. With the offense kinda-sorta clicking, Pitt surrendered a 21 point lead late on the road to fall to Iowa 31-27.
The worst part is the realization that Iowa isn't even a good football team. For nearly three quarters, Pitt dominated them. Dominated might be strong, but Pitt was finally rolling. Tino Sunseri was making enough throws. Ray Graham was Ray Graham. Devin Street was having a career game. The defense was generating pressure and making stops.
Until they weren't. At some point, the wheels just came off. The offense couldn't sustain drives. The defense couldn't get off the field. Pitt looked like, well, the Pitt of the first two games.
Tino Sunseri spoke to the media this week and, well, you know when you can just tell a quote is going to haunt someone forever? It's kind of like that:
“I would say it was my greatest game I played yet,” he said. “I was very pleased with all my reads. Even the interceptions were the right reads. I just have to put more air on the ball.”
I haven't been listening to any talk radio, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say that probably didn't go over well. I understand what he was trying to say, but using the adjective "greatest" to describe a three turnover loss is, er, in-artful. Yes, for spurts, the offense looked "High Octane." But then it came crashing back down to the Model-T Era.
But if any unit is to take a larger share of the blame, it's the defense, a unit which once again struggled against the pedestrian passing game. Once again the linebackers looked lost in coverage, even with first-year start Shane Gordon on the bench in favor of Tristan Roberts. The secondary was similarly poor, especially in the fourth quarter, when they were again completely exhausted and playing several yards off of Iowa's receivers.
After outings against a MAC team, an FBS team, one BCS school, Pitt ranks 119th in passing defense. Out of 120. Only lowly UNLV - who had the misfortune of going up against Russell Wilson to open the season - is worse. And even then, only by one yard. Wrap your head around that: Pitt is only one measly yard away from being the absolute WORST passing defense in all of FBS college football.
I could go on, but I'm just burned-out thinking about this game.
A win against Notre Dame - as unlikely as that seems right now - would do a whole lot to turn things around.
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