It's available online via Watch ESPN. Nothing earth-shattering, but here are a few first-half observations:
** Albany had no trouble moving the ball on offense (put up 4.2 YPC and 150 passing yards in the half) but did have trouble converting drives into points. Pitt really didn't stand out anywhere defensively which probably sounds strange to somebody who didn't watch the game because they DID hold the Danes to 7 points. I guess you could say there weren't any players jumping out of the screen.
** DBs looked suspect against Vinny Testaverde's kid. Pitt's lack of a dominating pass rush (yep, same issue we have) could leave their DBs on an island tomorrow against Trace and Co..
** Pitt's QB (Pickett) looks pretty good. What they showed against Albany was more of a "dink and dunk", horizontal passing game (5-7 yards per completion). Kid plays with confidence and completes almost all of his short passes. He doesn't have a big arm but he's accurate and can scramble.
** Pitt's Captain and starting RT (Booker?) went out with an injury in the first half. Not sure what his status is for tomorrow, but worth noting his replacement was a freshman.
** Good depth and skill at RB. They're in good shape here.
** I would rate the Pitt OL as "TBD" at this point. They did their job but it was pretty obvious Albany's FCS DL was totally outclassed as you would expect from an opponent with only 63 scholarship players. I don't think there's anything you can take away from the OL play other than they dominated Albany.
** In the first quarter, Albany surrendered a kickoff return TD (-7) and an 80-yard interception return that Pitt drove in for a short 20 yard TD (-14). In addition, Pitt was gifted a TD on a 3rd and goal bobbled pass (receiver was out of bounds) that really should have been a chip shot FG, at best (-18).
** All of the scoring took place in the first half. I'm going to just assume Pitt took their foot off the throttle in the second half.
** Albany is nowhere near as talented as App State. I mean, it isn't even close. This is obvious to anyone who bothered to watch both games.
** I feel better about tomorrow after watching Pitt / Albany. I feel like our offense matches up very well against this Pitt defense. Our sloppy-ass defense should at least be capable of limiting the damage against the Pitt offense, IMO. We'll see.
** Albany had no trouble moving the ball on offense (put up 4.2 YPC and 150 passing yards in the half) but did have trouble converting drives into points. Pitt really didn't stand out anywhere defensively which probably sounds strange to somebody who didn't watch the game because they DID hold the Danes to 7 points. I guess you could say there weren't any players jumping out of the screen.
** DBs looked suspect against Vinny Testaverde's kid. Pitt's lack of a dominating pass rush (yep, same issue we have) could leave their DBs on an island tomorrow against Trace and Co..
** Pitt's QB (Pickett) looks pretty good. What they showed against Albany was more of a "dink and dunk", horizontal passing game (5-7 yards per completion). Kid plays with confidence and completes almost all of his short passes. He doesn't have a big arm but he's accurate and can scramble.
** Pitt's Captain and starting RT (Booker?) went out with an injury in the first half. Not sure what his status is for tomorrow, but worth noting his replacement was a freshman.
** Good depth and skill at RB. They're in good shape here.
** I would rate the Pitt OL as "TBD" at this point. They did their job but it was pretty obvious Albany's FCS DL was totally outclassed as you would expect from an opponent with only 63 scholarship players. I don't think there's anything you can take away from the OL play other than they dominated Albany.
** In the first quarter, Albany surrendered a kickoff return TD (-7) and an 80-yard interception return that Pitt drove in for a short 20 yard TD (-14). In addition, Pitt was gifted a TD on a 3rd and goal bobbled pass (receiver was out of bounds) that really should have been a chip shot FG, at best (-18).
** All of the scoring took place in the first half. I'm going to just assume Pitt took their foot off the throttle in the second half.
** Albany is nowhere near as talented as App State. I mean, it isn't even close. This is obvious to anyone who bothered to watch both games.
** I feel better about tomorrow after watching Pitt / Albany. I feel like our offense matches up very well against this Pitt defense. Our sloppy-ass defense should at least be capable of limiting the damage against the Pitt offense, IMO. We'll see.
Last edited: