Comments on: The good, the bad, the ugly: Pitt

By: StephenOfTroy

StephenOfTroy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:11:19 +0000

Patrick, I’m not sure you understood my point. The 2-point conversion attempt in that situation is universally acknowledged as poor sportsmanship, like sticking a thumb in the other team’s eye. You don’t need to do it. Scoring another TD is another issue.
For example, when USC gets up by a large margin against a team that cannot stop it, Pete Carroll commonly goes to two zone running plays, over and over. Those are the simplest, most basic plays in the book. If you score using one, so be it, but you’re not trying to use razzle-dazzle. And if you do score, you kick the extra point.
Going for two just shows that Harbaugh was trying to stick it to USC. And I’m certain the players and coaches understood it as such. It would be easy to say “and we’ll kick the sh&t out of them for doing so” but talk is cheap. The only thing that counts is what happens on the field. But watch what happens when USC goes to Stanford Stadium next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pete goes for 2, or leaves Barkley in for an extra possession, when we are ahead by an insurmountable amount late in the game.

By: Vincentspop

Vincentspop — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:13:24 +0000

Weis is the problem…..period

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:09:20 +0000

you may have stopped the 2 point conversion…but they ended up scoring another TD making that irrelevant

By: StephenOfTroy

StephenOfTroy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:39:53 +0000

Bill, remember when then-Senator Obama said “a President needs to be able to do more than one thing at a time?” A Trojan fan can do more than one thing at a time. By the way, we got our cardinal-and-gold a&ses kicked by Stanford. No question. But “blasted off the planet?” No. That’s something that happens when you go 3-9 like ND, or when you get shut out 38-0 like ND, or when you lose 2 games in a row at home to a service academy, like ND. Spare me the hyperbole. We just got badly outplayed by a great team. They did the same thing to Oregon the week prior. Talk to me in a couple of weeks, after Harbaugh auditions for a contract extension with Stanford by rolling it up on ND and trying to go for a 2 point conversion when he’s up by 20+, like he did to us. Of course, we stopped the 2 point conversion. Not sure you’ll be able to say the same thing.

By: bill in shanghai

bill in shanghai — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:15:42 +0000

uh, maybe you should concentrate on your beloved and troubled trojans? or did it make you sick to see them get blasted off the planet last weekend?

By: StephenOfTroy

StephenOfTroy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:27:23 +0000

Keith Arnold wasted a lot of space talking about punting when what was actually both bad and UGLY was ND’s baffling inability either to protect Jimmy Clausen in the pocket or roll him out.
I’ve seen Clausen get sacked too many times in critical situations. USC sacked Clausen or pressured him intensely early, causing ND to get out of its game plan and get down by 20. Back-to-back sacks at the end of the Navy game — NAVY, for crying out loud! — the second for a safety. And then the Pitt game. Sack to make it 3rd-and-16 on the last drive. Then pressure gets to Clausen and he either fumbled or intentionally grounded the ball. (Let the whining about the vast zebra conspiracy begin. What do you think was going to happen on 4th and 16? Gimme an S! Gimme an A! Gimme a…never mind, we’re not playing what-if.)
You have a senior O-line. Opposing teams know that Clausen is going to drop back 40 to 50 times a game. How does Weis, the alleged offensive genius, not come up with a pass-blocking scheme that will protect his golden boy and allow said golden boy to throw it to Tate unmolested?
You’re not running the ball. Why not put a double tight-end formation in for the last drive? Why not bring a fullback off the bench to pass-block? Let’s get wild and crazy. Why not COACH your players about how to block?

By: PittRools

PittRools — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:48:25 +0000

FAIL