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John McGonigal's Pitt football chat: 09.23.20
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John McGonigal
2:00
Hey everyone, thanks for joining the weekly Pitt football live chat. Drop your Pitt-Louisville questions below, and we'll get after it.
“Joe T”
2:02
Why is whipple being so conservative gotta trust ken by now !
John McGonigal
2:05
I was wondering the same thing, specifically in the second half. It felt like Pitt had opportunities to push the ball downfield. But I suppose with Syracuse’s offense not doing anything at all, Pitt figured it would go conservative, avoid any more turnovers and make Culpepper or DeVito beat them. Was that Whipple or Narduzzi’s call? Not sure.
H2P
2:07
More TE drops, really?
John McGonigal
2:09
Crazy, right? That was the one thing that couldn’t happen in Lucas Krull’s debut. Maybe it was first-game nerves, and in the end it didn’t keep Pitt from a win. But that fourth-down drop could’ve led to points. Can’t have those mistakes against Louisville, and Krull knows that.
Halvybuckets
2:11
Time to give another kicker a shot?
John McGonigal
2:12
Narduzzi seems confident Alex Kessman can figure it out, so I don’t think so. Not yet at least.
Nat Parduzzi
2:14
I think we have all seen enough of Kirk punting... when do they give freshman Cam Guess a shot back there?
John McGonigal
2:16
Narduzzi actually complimented Kirk Christodoulou last week, and I see why. Against Austin Peay, Christodoulou had a 59-yard punt that was returned only eight yards, a 42-yard punt down at the Governors’ 13-yard line and one that went into the end zone for a touchback. He’s definitely inconsistent; that’s been a hallmark throughout his Pitt career. But if Narduzzi had a better option, you’d think he’d go to him by now.
WILL
2:19
Are the panthers special teams aware that they had 2 players with the same number on the field during punts multiple times during the Austin Peay game? If that's still a penalty  they better get that resolved before it costs them a game. With only so many players dressed for a game why do 2 players have to have the same number anyway?
John McGonigal
2:22
The thing is, it happened three times in the Austin Peay game: Twice with the #3 (Jordan Addison, Damar Hamlin) and once with the #9 (DJ Turner, Brandon Hill). All three times occurred when Pitt had its punt safe unit out there (the defense plus a return man), so it’s a little more understandable. But it’s not excusable. Narduzzi acknowledged the mistakes last week, and I don’t believe it happened against Syracuse.
Guest
2:25
What production do you expect from the defense sack wise? I know they’ll do their best to avoid losing contain while applying pressure against a QB who can clearly run
John McGonigal
2:28
Hmmm, I’ll say four sacks. Miami has a good pass-rush and sacked Cunningham three times last weekend. Pitt will definitely try to contain, but I think the key to getting to Cunningham is forcing third-and-long. If Louisville manages to run it with Javian Hawkins on early downs and get it to third-and-reasonable, they’ve got enough motions and speed to limit Pitt’s pass-rush, get the ball out quickly and move the chains. Put Cunningham in third-and-10 situations or longer, then the Panthers can tee off.
lturk
2:30
What's will all these noon kick offs?
John McGonigal
2:33
I’m not sure to be honest. Last year, Pitt had only four games that kicked off before 3:30 p.m. So far in 2020, three of the first four games are scheduled for noon kicks. It could level out. I doubt the Notre Dame, Clemson, Virginia Tech and Miami games will be noon kicks. But it’s definitely odd.
Matt from LA
2:35
WHY after all of this time is the ACC Network unable to work out a deal with Comcast?????? I thought that Heather Lyke assured us that a deal would be done last year? This is really frustrating for season ticket holders like me who not only can't go to games but can't even watch the games on television!
John McGonigal
2:38
The PG’s Adam Bittner wrote a story on this a few weeks ago, in which Pitt deputy AD Christian Spears explained that Comcast’s distribution agreement with Disney, ESPN’s parent company, expires at the end of next year. And that should give Disney leverage to have the ACC Network included in the next agreement. But in the meantime, Spears switched from Comcast, and he encouraged other Pitt fans to do the same. Personally, I have YouTube TV, and it works for me.
Colby P
2:40
How do you think Pitts defense will handle this high powered louisville offense?
John McGonigal
2:43
I actually have a film room breakdown coming out Thursday morning on this topic, but here are the cliff notes: Cut off Javian Hawkins’ stretch running plays, stay tight to Tutu Atwell from the slot and force Cunningham into early decisions. Pitt’s capable. Just a matter of execution.
“Joe T”
2:46
Bud light lime or mich ultra lime?
John McGonigal
2:46
Oh boy. Neither?
Ricky
2:46
Keys to winning this week?
John McGonigal
2:48
Defense aside, Pitt’s offense needs to finish off drives. This is a matchup between a Pitt offense that was awful in the red zone last year and a Louisville defense that was a turnstile within 20 yards of the end zone. It seems simple, but whichever unit performs better in the red zone probably wins the game.
Halvybuckets
2:50
After going from Ollison, Conner and Hall we haven't had that true feature back, is that a talent level thing or the type of offense Whipple is running?
John McGonigal
2:51
I think it’s both. If you say you have five running backs with different skillsets, then you don’t have one guy who can do it all. Izzy Abanikanda might turn into that guy, but the freshman’s pass blocking isn’t where the coaches want it to be. Whipple’s offense doesn’t need a bell-cow back anyway, considering how much they throw the ball. So you might as well mix in a handful of guys and see who’s hot on game day.
Ryan
2:52
Why isn’t Izzy playing more? Isn’t he the fastest of any RB?
John McGonigal
2:54
Pass blocking is always the big issue with freshmen, and running backs coach Andre Powell said last week that Abanikanda needs to improve in that area. When asked on Monday who he’d like to see a good week of practice from, Narduzzi mentioned Izzy. We’ll see what kind of week he had on Saturday.
V. Fontaine
2:55
A comment. I think it would be interesting to know where Pitt ranks in pre-snap penalties, personal fouls and dead ball fouls in particular. Very frustrating as a fan.
John McGonigal
2:57
I tried finding those stats specifically, and it doesn’t seem like anyone keeps those unfortunately. But since the start of the 2019 season, Pitt has to be up there. The Panthers were undisciplined last year, and they showed signs of the same vs. Syracuse.
Colby P
2:58
what is your prediction for this weeks game?
John McGonigal
2:59
I’ve got Pitt, 31-27. I think Tutu Atwell gets his in the same way North Carolina slot receiver Dazz Newsome got his last year. But Pitt’s defense makes a stop late in the fourth quarter to seal an important win.
3:00
Alright folks, that’s all the time we’ve got today. Thanks for your questions, and we’ll do this again next week.
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