Special teams praised by Wannstedt

The Pitt football team’s loss to Michigan State Saturday left head coach Dave Wannstedt with… The Pitt football team’s loss to Michigan State Saturday left head coach Dave Wannstedt with few words.

On a number of occasions, “we didn’t make a play” was his response to a question. The same sentiment was also mentioned by a few of the players, including H.B. Blades, Clint Session and Darrelle Revis.

With The Citadel making a trip to Heinz Field this Saturday, Wannstedt reassured everyone that his team knows its mistakes and has already begun to work on correcting them.

“So we’ll regroup,” Wannstedt said. “We got out of the [Michigan State] game fairly healthy, there weren’t any major consequences from an injury standpoint, so I would expect our guys to be out there and we’re focusing now on The Citadel.”

“They’re a high-energy team.”

Absent rushing

Wannstedt accredited the offense’s inability to do much in the second half for the team’s lack of a rushing attack.

The Panthers, as a team, rushed the ball only 20 times in the loss for a total of 92 yards. LaRod Stephens-Howling saw eight of those carries, while fullback Conredge Collins tallied five attempts.

Collins, however, showed the most with his opportunity, rushing for 35 yards on his five carries for an average of 6.6 yards per carry.

“Because we weren’t sure if LaRod was 100 percent leading up to the game, we had Conredge get a lot more work than what he normally might, just as in insurance policy,” Wannstedt said.

“Conredge is one guy, other than LaRod, that has some experience. Even though he’s just a sophomore, he’s the most experienced [fullback] we’ve got from a playing time standpoint.”

So, do Collins’ efforts mean he’ll see the ball a bit more in the upcoming weeks?

“In certain situations he’s the guy we want to give the football to,” Wannstedt said. “Yes, we expect to try to get him some more carries. That will be a week-to-week thing depending on what we’re trying to do.”

Extra-special teams

One area where Wannstedt and the coaching staff have been pleased with thus far in the season is the special teams.

After watching film of the loss to Michigan State, Wannstedt felt as if the special teams play was the main, lone bright spot on the Panthers’ side.

“The film reaffirmed everything that I thought initially when I talked to the press right after the game,” he said. “After looking at it, the bright spot was our special teams.”

T.J. Porter picked up 101 yards on three kick returns, including a 53-yarder before the end of the first half, while Lowell Robinson also produced 84 yards returning on three attempts.

“Both T.J. Porter and Lowell Robinson showed that they have big-time ability to break one,” Wannstedt said. “So I’m pleased where we’re at with special teams, but obviously we need to keep getting better.”

Punter Adam Graessle placed three of his five punts inside the Michigan State 20-yard line with an average of 44 yards per punt. Kicker Conor Lee was good on his only field goal attempt.

“Our kickers are kicking the ball well, Graessle as far as his punting, and Conor Lee hasn’t had many opportunities, but he’s been consistent,” Wannstedt said.

Growing pains

Two wins in Pitt’s first two games had its young players on a high early in the season. The Panthers’ loss to the Spartans will be the first bit of adversity the young team will have to face.

Behind leaders Tyler Palko, Blades, Session, Revis, Joe Villani and John Simonitis, however, Wannstedt believes the team won’t resort to the ways of last season but instead will pick each other up.

“I think sometimes it works the opposite with young kids,” he said. “They’re just excited about playing, and they’re trying to figure it all out. I like the response from what I’ve seen initially.”

The team took things into its own hands to get off to an early start for preparation against The Citadel.

“All those guys,” Wannstedt said of the aforementioned leaders, “were calling and wanting to see not necessarily what went wrong, but what can we do to make it right.”