Pitt-ND Halftime Thoughts
November 1st, 2008 | by The Prowler |Pitt looks bad, and only stayed in the game because of how bad ND looks. It is sad how 2 plays can change the whole game. Pitt went from having a chance to take the lead, to having to punt from ND’s 40. Then they give up a first on 3rd and long on a fluke play. All of a sudden it went from a shot at being 10-3 or 6-3 to ND up 10-3. Then a terrible interception with under a minute and all of a sudden it is 17-3.
That said, there are a couple of big issues here. First, Pitt needs to pick a QB and stick with him. Bostick and Smith are both substandard, but neither will have any rhythm if they keep getting changed out. Leave someone in at QB and let them try to get something going.
Second, it sucks having ND homer announcers and refs. On back to back plays there were pass interference calls on ND that went uncalled. On the interception, it was only made possible by the handful of jersey being held by the ND defender on Pitt’s receiver. Then on ND’s first play on offense, they try a fade route to the top corner and when the ND receiver saw that he couldn’t get to it, he put two hands on our defender and shoved him off balance so there couldn’t be an interception. Of course, ND is famous for having homer refs who think that the greatest honor in the world is being a ref for the Irish, so there shouldn’t be any surprise.
All of that said, Pitt’s defense has played fairly well. The 14 points to end the half weren’t really their fault. The offense needs to get something going. McCoy has had some good flashes and Baldwin made a circus catch. Other than that, it has just been stagnation on offense.
This game is still winnable, but Pitt has to play above the officiating and a QB needs to step up and take charge of the offense. Otherwise, the second half is going to be uglier than the first.