Appreciate the info Spudda. Have to say I always enjoy playing Pitt. Solid program and a really good fanbase to chat with.
If I had to guess, you may be on to something with Pitts (what a great name for a Pitt recruit). If there's one thing Tevaun Smith does well, it's draw PI. Smith is our best pure talent at WR. Has good but not great speed and excellent hands. He tends to draw a lot of attention from opposing D and without great speed he hasn't been open much. If Davis can find a way to get him lined up across from Pitts, that could be a nice exploitation.
Would love to hear a little more about the passing game. I like our secondary but am always concerned with teams that could find a way to exploit our use of LBs in pass coverage. Sounds like you guys might like to get your RBs out on the edge to catch some balls which would be a big issue for us imo (see Johnson, David of UNI last year for what happens when our LBs are covering capable RBs).
Yeah man definitely, I enjoyed the convo with the 247 Iowa fans and you guys are just as great.
It's weird, man. Going into the season, everyone was so high on the offense and the D was the big question mark, but so far the D has played pretty well and it's been a semi-bumpy transition to Jim Chaney's offense. We are basically living a QB controversy, which is never a good thing to have during the season. As of the entire second half of the Akron game, it seems Nate Peterman has taken the job from Chad Voytik. What's weird is Voytik was the starter and would start, play one series, then Peterman would come in for 2 series (Narduzzi said it was to get him reps that were actually meaningful and not in garbage time, which seems reasonablle), but the second game Voytik played one series after that and then never came back in. I will say personally Peterman probably does look better and I don't think this is a case where Peterman is Chaney's guy and he's trying to force him in. For background, Peterman is a transfer from Tennessee. What's interesting is that the class he was from is the same as Voytik. This is interesting because while Chaney was OC at Tennessee, he recruited Peterman from Florida over in-state Voytik (who was an Elite 11 QB in his backyard).
So we will say the guess is Peterman starts and plays the entire game barring unforeseen injury or terrible play. That takes away the running threat, as Voytik has some wheels on him and makes you respect that. The upgrade, however, is arm strength, as Peterman has a pretty good arm and has showed it with some pretty nice big time passes last week. Like I mentioned, to me, this new offense of Chaney's really likes to get the RBs to catch in space a lot more than our last OC. I don't know how well it's going to work yet, but like you said, there is a chance we can get mismatches with linebackers or corners on the edge against our big backs. We do have a really shifty slot guy that is a freshman that hasn't been utilitzed too much just yet but he might be in the bag of tricks and he will be one of the fastest guys on the field so if he gets a linebacker it's going to be a pretty decent gain.
In a lot of offenses, QBs use their running back or tight end as their security blanket. At Pitt, Tyler Boyd is the security blanket. Although my opinion is biased, I really think he may be the best WR in the country, there is no ball that is uncatchable for him. Both Voytik and Peterman have already targeted him more than anyone else and he only played in week 2. Tyler is going to get his so Iowa really just needs to make sure they don't give him more than necessary and almost play a little conservative. Voytik was very guilty of looking only at Boyd for several plays at a time and not even surveying, and the jury is still out on Peterman. Personally, I think Peterman is a little better at going through progressions and spreading the ball around to keep everyone on their toes.
Tight ends have had limited use previously but have two touchdowns on the year so maybe they are going to be a little more involved here. JP Holtz is a senior and Scott Orndoff is a junior and both are really solid tight ends and can block or catch. They are weapons and I think Coach Chaney realizes that and will give them a couple of looks against you, but nothing too crazy.
Here's the big question mark: receivers not named Tyler Boyd. Dontez Ford is the definite number two, but he had 2 catches total last year. What's worse is that he is the leading receiver returner as far as production beyond Boyd from last year. He's looked decent but nothing spectacular, and Pitt is probably going to play 4 or 5 different receivers in and see if someone steps up to take the load off of Boyd. Week 1 while he was suspended was the big chance and no one really went out and seized the opportunity. A lot of the kids are young and may come along as the season progresses though. This has gotten very lengthy so I will finish it with a point about what you said with the mismatches. There was a series in the last game Tyler was doubled on one play, and the next they shifted him to the slot. This brought a matchup with a linebacker like you were saying, and you can imagine how that went. I think we're going to get creative moving him around to give you different looks, so your DC needs to be ready to find him and make sure he gets a DB at all times. He will be playing on Sundays next year, a LB simply can't come close to keeping up with him, it's going to be a good gain every single time.
PS I hope they can keep Maddox on Smith at most times. What is his size? Like I said, Maddox is a very small guy but can really make plays.
