Running QB carves Pitt D again

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Scrambling quarterbacks and shifty running backs have caused the… EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Scrambling quarterbacks and shifty running backs have caused the Pitt Panthers much trouble throughout the course of the 2006 season.

Saturday offered yet another lesson in how not to tackle.

As Pitt squandered leads of 11 in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth, one couldn’t help but notice the inability of the Panthers’ defense to get outside and bring down Connecticut’s two-headed monster. Redshirt sophomore quarterback D.J. Hernandez, who started just his fifth game at Connecticut, and redshirt freshman running back Donald Brown, who made his second career start, torched the Panthers on the ground.

“It seemed like [Hernandez] had a clock ticking in his head,” Pitt linebacker H.B. Blades said. “As soon as he felt any pressure, he left the pocket.”

Scrambling quarterbacks have grayed Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt’s mustache all season, starting with Michigan State’s Drew Stanton, who ran for 105 yards at Heinz Field on Sept. 16, and continuing through Saturday, as Hernandez took off 17 times for 130 yards.

The inability to stop the Huskies gave Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall enough confidence to go for the 2-point conversion at the end of the second overtime for the win.

Down 45-44, Connecticut had two options — tie the game with an extra point and force a third overtime or win it with a 2-point conversion. Edsall chose the latter.

Hernandez and the Huskies lined up in the shotgun formation, but when the play began, the quarterback sensed a broken play. He stepped to his left, curled out to the right flank, escaped one Panther and coasted untouched into the end zone.

“We just couldn’t make a tackle,” Wannstedt said. “[Hernandez] killed us. We blitzed three, four guys, rushed from the inside and outside, and just couldn’t get him on the ground.”

When the Panthers filled the gaps between the tackles, Hernandez and Brown took the outside flanks. When Pitt contained the outside and cut off the corners, Hernandez and Brown found a way between the hashes.

The question remains: Why were the Panthers missing so many tackles?

“Our guys are working as hard as they can on tackling in practice,” Wannstedt said. “We just have to work harder. It’s certainly not an effort thing with these guys.”

Brown forced the Panthers’ defense to keep guessing, toting the bulk of the offensive load. His 205 yards came on 43 carries, and his escapes from numerous Panthers’ grasps prompted several breakout runs.

“As a linebacker and defensive back, you have to trust the guys up front,” Blades said. “But if they don’t get to the quarterback or running back, then it’s on the rest of us to get them, and we didn’t.”

In a game with multiple momentum shifts, Pitt found its defensive problems spotlighted. Leading 31-17 in the fourth quarter, the Panthers’ Adam Graessle dropped a high-arching punt inside the 10-yard line and his teammates downed the ball at the 2.

Ninety-eight yards later, it was 31-24. And a big part of the touchdown drive was third-down efficiency, as the Huskies managed 12 first downs in 20 third-down situations in the contest.

“Third downs just killed us,” Wannstedt said. “I wish I could give you guys some Xs and Os, but [Hernandez] made plays and got things done, something we just didn’t do.”

Saturday’s game provided the third loss in a row for the Panthers and the fourth overall, and in each of those losses, Pitt’s opponents ran for 190 team yards or more. Connecticut tallied 340.

With West Virginia and Louisville, two of the top-10 rushing attacks in the nation, on tap over the next two weeks, Blades believes the Pitt defense needs to make big improvements.

“Getting ready for [the nation’s fifth-best rusher] Steve Slaton, we’re going to have to do something new,” Blades said. “At this point, the records don’t matter in those games, and we have to be ready.”