5 Questions With Pitt Blather

The Virginia football team opens ACC play Saturday with a trip to Pittsburgh, the newest member of the Coastal Division. The Panthers, meanwhile, have played two conference games already with a loss to Florida State and a win against Duke. The two teams seem to be evenly matched on paper so what will unfold at Heinz Field this weekend?

TheSabre.com swapped questions with Panther blog Pitt Blather and Chas Rich to help pin down some storylines for the game. You can read my answers for their questions here.

1. The Pitt offense is averaging nearly 300 yards per game passing with Devin Street and Tyler Boyd posting big numbers in receiving. What makes the air attack click?

Pitt Blather/Chas Rich: A quarterback with an arm. No really. Tom Savage throws one of the nicest deep balls you will see. My POV may be a bit skewed because of the QB the previous 3 years who had limited arm strength, but Savage has a very strong arm and is quite accurate on the deep passes.
Where Savage struggles more is actually in the short-to-mid-range throws. Coming into this season, we expected the tight ends to be a huge part of the offense because of the talent there with [Manasseh] Garner, [J.P.] Holtz and [Scott] Orndoff. But in the first 3 games, the TEs have only caught 9 passes. They’ve been open, but Savage is not as accurate on those throws.

Of course some of not throwing to them has been that the deeper routes have been open. (There’s also the factor that Pitt has used the TE’s to block more to this point. The O-Line is improved, but not great so extra blockers seem prudent.) To that extent, [Devin] Street and [Tyler] Boyd deserve a lot of credit. Street has become an incredibly disciplined route runner. He knows where he is going, and Savage can be confident that he will be at the right spot at the right time. Boyd is an amazing athlete. He has great speed and has shocked everyone with how sure-handed he has been as a freshman who really didn’t play WR in high school. He always seems on the verge of making a big play.

Until teams roll more coverage on both Boyd and Street, the downfield passing will be something Pitt takes advantage of. Simply put, it plays to the strengths of the receivers and the QB.

Can Eli Harold and the UVa defense slow down the run and pressure the pass at Pitt?

2. What’s one match-up for Pitt’s offense that you’re watching closely this week?

Pitt Blather/Chas Rich: The line. Always the offensive line. As much deserved attention the passing attack is getting, the running game has been just as vital. Pitt has actually had more running plays than passing plays. Part of that stems from the fact that the passing plays have generated large chunks of yards so that produces less passing plays. That said, the O-Line has been looking good – except against FSU – in opening holes for the running backs to take advantage. Virginia has better defensive ends than Pitt has seen in the past two games, so it will be very interesting to see what happens at the edges.

3. Pitt has posted 23 tackles for loss this season (tied for 47th nationally), but allows 194 yards rushing per game (95th) too. Is this a feast or famine sort of deal for the Panthers in terms of stopping the run or is the run defense finding its stride?

Pitt Blather/Chas Rich: Pitt’s biggest problem with rushing defense has been handling the quarterback. Of the 582 rushing yards Pitt has yielded, 260 (44.7%) came from the opposing QB either on an option or Pitt losing contain. So, um, how mobile is David Watford ?

Pitt – especially with the linebackers – has been very, very inconsistent in handling a mobile quarterback. A very telling – and related – ranking to the number of rushing yards produced by opposing QBs is 108. That is Pitt’s national rank on third down conversion defense.

Pitt’s linebackers are the weak spot in the defense. And on obvious passing downs – like 3rd-and-long – when they drop to help in coverage, the opposing teams have been able to take advantage of that. The only QB who didn’t run wild on Pitt was FSU’s Jameis Winston … mainly because he didn’t have to with the protection he had and the way he picked Pitt apart with his passing.

I like to tell myself that the numbers aren’t particularly useful or necessarily accurate with the run defense since they are skewed by the Tecmo Bowl type numbers put up in the Duke game and facing a triple-option team in New Mexico. So this game could help a lot in either dispelling or proving that notion.

DreQuan Hoskey blocked a punt last week against VMI. Pitt’s special teams have struggled a bit so far in 2013. That could be a key area to watch this week.

4. What’s one match-up for Pitt’s defense that you’re watching closely this week?

Pitt Blather/Chas Rich: How Pitt defends the short- to medium-passes. About half the receptions on Virginia have been by tight ends or running backs. That means the linebackers and safeties in coverage. Or it means spreading out the defense to give a running back some room to run outside. It’s a recurring theme in my answers, but the linebackers have struggled badly. They miss tackles and don’t stay with their assignments consistently. How they respond this week will be a big key.

5. Special teams didn’t go so well last week – something UVa fans have seen a time or two over the past few years so we feel your pain – but is that a recurring problem or a one-game hiccup? Any long-term concerns for you there?

Pitt Blather/Chas Rich: Recurring problem. Definitely a long-term concern.

The week before, Pitt had a turnover on special teams because the ball hit the leg of a player on the punt. No communication or warning of the ball bouncing at him. Sloppy and disjointed have been their calling cards. Pitt has one coach kind of responsible for the drills, but all the coaches seem to have some role in coaching the special teams. That might explain the problems with communications and how disjointed they look. No one coach they really answer to. Responsibility is too diffused among the coaches.