Harris remains optimistic about team’s potential

Pitt’s offense has looked unstoppable at times this season, when it was not pinned inside its… Pitt’s offense has looked unstoppable at times this season, when it was not pinned inside its own 10-yard line.

In five games this season, Pitt has found itself stuck inside the 10-yard line 10 times. That’s not a place any quarterback is comfortable with, especially sophomore Tyler Palko.

“He’s a little inexperienced back there,” head coach Walt Harris said yesterday in his weekly press conference. “I put Tyler under too much pressure.”

Harris was referring to the goal-line incident this past weekend against Temple when Palko was sacked in the end zone for a safety.

“We’ve got to find a way to knock it out,” Harris said of moving the ball away from their end zone.

On both occasions at Temple, when Pitt was stranded within the five-yard line, Harris called quarterback keepers on first down to move the ball forward a few yards. They were, for the most part, unsuccessful. On second down, he called a pass play that led to a safety, and the next time he called a running play to Raymond Kirkley, which gained minimal yards. After another running play, punter Adam Graessle was forced to punt the ball standing in the back of the end zone.

One of the reasons Pitt has been stranded back close to its goal line is because of poor punt returning. Allen Richardson has been in charge of the punt returning for most of the season thus far, and Harris has no plan to remove him.

“I think that he has improved in his catching,” Harris said.

Richardson has dropped the ball many times, including his critical fumble against Nebraska, which led to a Cornhusker touchdown. The other times he’s fumbled the ball, he managed to recover it, but it hampered his ability to move the ball up the field.

“I can attach my first-hand experience; it is very difficult,” Harris said.

The biggest mistake he’s made is attempting to catch the ball within the 10-yard line. The general rule for punt returning is if you are standing on the 10-yard line, let the ball go. A player is supposed to take the chances of it rolling into the end zone for a touchback.

In the game against Temple, Harris did change the scheme on punts. Wideout Joe DelSardo was back deep with Richardson. DelSardo was about 10 yards closer to the line of scrimmage.

Harris said that he was using DelSardo as a safety net to keep the short punts from rolling down to the goal line. The Temple punter, however, booted the ball well and never kicked it short enough for DelSardo to return.

Richardson was removed from kickoffs and replaced by Kirkley, but Harris will stick with Richardson.

“We think the potential is there,” Harris said, explaining how Richardson had a 17-yard punt return against Temple.

Pitt will run out of the tunnels of Heinz Field on Saturday at noon against Boston College.

Game Notes: The Panthers (3-2 overall, 1-1 Big East) are playing at home for the first time since they defeated Furman in overtime on Sept. 25. The game this Saturday will be televised on ESPN 2. Starting left tackle Rob Petitti and fullback Tim Murphy are both questionable for this week’s game against Boston College (4-1, 1-0). Both did not play in the game against Temple. This is the last scheduled meeting between Boston College and Pitt because the Golden Eagles will be leaving the Big East at the conclusion of this season.