Pitt football still has plenty of work to do

The Panthers’ defense performed very well on Saturday night, but they were playing Ohio.

The… The Panthers’ defense performed very well on Saturday night, but they were playing Ohio.

The Panthers’ offense was awful on Saturday night, and the worst thing was, they were playing Ohio.

Tyler Palko, Pitt’s new starting quarterback, had fans booing by the middle of the second quarter and mock cheering when he finally completed two passes at the end of the first half. The only pass he completed in the second half was a touchdown pass to Greg Lee, and that really shouldn’t count because it was like throwing a touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald — it was a given.

Lee was lined up wide to the left and no defender was covering him, so all Palko had to do was toss it out to him. Even Ryan Leaf could have managed that touchdown pass.

After the game, Palko personally took the blame for some of the offensive mistakes, saying that he was too anxious throughout the entire game.

There were several instances where wide outs Joe DelSardo and Lee were running wide open down the field and Palko just did not see them. He’d either keep the ball and run or he’d throw the ball away.

The only positive thing that happened on offense was the reemergence of running back Raymond Kirkley, who ran for 100 yards in the game.

The scoreboard read 24-3 at the end, but the Panthers were fortunate that they were playing an Ohio team that placed the game in a box, tied a bow around it and handed it to Pitt.

This opening win was a gift.

Next week Pitt is going to have to actually play football to win. Pitt made so many mistakes, went two-for-15 on third downs, and still escaped with a convincing 24-3 win.

This team was not ready for football. Not at all.

Special teams made some key plays — like the blocked punt that led to a Panther touchdown — but they made several mistakes of their own. Pitt had one of its own punts partially blocked and several other punts that were extremely short. At one point, Pitt had nine players in on a punt return, and finally sent in players No. 10 and No. 11 just as the ball was being snapped. The very next punt return, Pitt had only 10 players on the field and no one even noticed.

The Pitt Shop will feature the “11th Man” shirts starting next week.

The fact is, mistakes were everywhere.

At one point, Palko was being chased out of the pocket, and he, in a last-second effort, flipped the ball downfield. After the game, he said he was aiming for out-of-bounds, but he missed.

He missed!

A skinny post pattern is tough to hit, a 40-yard field goal is tough to hit, but out of bounds? It’s the vast area that surrounds the football field. How do you miss it?

On the other side of the ball, Pitt’s defense had a great game. Interceptions, fumbles and sacks headlined the Panther defense. Pitt forced two fumbles and recovered one. Linebackers Clint Session, Brian Bennett and Malcolm Postell all made impacts on the game. If it weren’t for their big plays, Pitt would not have covered the spread for all of the betters out there.

Session and Postell both had interceptions, and Bennett returned a blocked punt to the two-yard line, which led to Tim Murphy’s one-yard touchdown run. Postell returned his interception 42 yards for a touchdown.

The defense as a whole held Ohio’s running attack to 88 yards, which, compared to last year’s display, is like throwing a no-hitter. They also held the Bobcats to 202 yards passing, which is respectable considering the type of offense that Ohio was running. Harris, on several occasions, stuck with the base 4-3 offense when Ohio would line up with five wideouts.

That meant Pitt’s linebackers were covering Ohio wideouts, but it worked for the most part. There were a few big pass plays that Ohio quarterback Ryan Hawk completed, but he did not put together a touchdown drive all night.

Looking at this game as a whole, I was not impressed. This team has a chance to win next week against Nebraska. Actually, there is a great chance, but there’s only one stipulation: They cannot make the mistakes they did this week.

So break out the game tapes and get back to the drawing board. This team needs to practice.

Jimmy Johnson is the assistant sports editor of The Pitt News, and he was running wide open down the field as well. Throw your worst at him at Jimmysjargon@yahoo.com.