Film review: What happened against UNC
Each week, Panther-Lair.com contributor Josh Hammack looks at film from the previous game. Here's his review of what happened in Pitt's 34-31 loss to North Carolina.
Darrin Hall paced the Pitt offense with four touchdowns and more than 100 yards rushing, but the Panthers fell short against UNC on Thursday. Pitt controlled the ball for more than 30 minutes on Thursday and was able to gain 265 yards on the ground, but a costly turnover and special teams haunted the Panthers in the first half, allowing the Tar Heels to capitalize and gain their first victory in the ACC this season.
Opening offensive struggles
The Panthers offense moved the football on their first drive allowing them to get into field goal range rather quickly on the ground. On 2nd-and-10 the Panthers ran their power read-shovel concept where the offensive line will run a power concept for the shovel pass and the perimeter will block a perimeter run for Hall. Here’s the clip below.
Hall slips on the play, but the Panthers would have struggled to gain positive yardage regardless because UNC had two defenders unblocked tracking Hall to the sideline. UNC’s defensive end crashed down , forcing Ben Dinucci to give the ball as that is his read, but UNC’s inside linebacker is unblocked because Alex Bookser fails to get to the second level on his pull. Even if Hall keeps his feet, he still won’t have the blocking in front of him to gain positive yardage. That put the Panthers in a third-and-long situation that makes it harder on a play-caller and the offense.
On the next drive the Panthers get a decent gain on first down on an inside zone scheme where Dinucci pulls the ball, creating a second-and-short situation. The Panthers go to play-action on second-and-1 and attempt to take a shot down the field.
Dinucci has plenty of time, but fails to take the check-down throw and instead takes a bad sack. That forces Pitt into a third-and-long and they fail to convert. Here’s the clip below.
The last drive in which the offense sputtered in the first half came from a third-and-1. Pitt used a zone scheme with Tyler Sear leading up on the backside linebacker. The numbers to the play side are favorable for the offense as the Panthers should have a “hat for a hat”, but on the backside the outside linebacker could be an issue.
Hall cuts back instead of staying play-side (without knowing the call, that could have been the play design) and the inside linebacker stuffs Sear in the hole, allowing for the outside linebacker to make a play for no gain. That play forced a second consecutive punt for the offense and three straight drives without seeing the end zone. Here’s the clip below.
Defensive Inconsistency
Pitt’s defense played well in spurts on Thursday. On UNC’s first four drives, the Panthers held UNC, in check forcing the Tar Heels to punt the ball three times. On those three drives, the Panthers surrendered just 12 yards on 11 plays.
On the Tar Heels' first touchdown drive, the Pitt defense allowed a big play once again, but this time Jordan Whitehead was in position and the UNC receiver made a great play on a tipped ball. The Panthers then gave up a touchdown two plays later on a similar scheme that the Panthers have had trouble with all season. Take a look at the clip below.
Here the Tar Heels are in 11 personnel – 1 running back, 1 tight end and 3 receivers – and they run a play-action off of their split zone concept. Pitt is in its base defensive package, which pulls the outside linebacker (Seun Idowu) up to play the split zone run but doesn’t allow a collision of the No. 2 receiver. This allows the No. 2 receiver to get a free release on Damar Hamlin. The No. 2 receiver runs a post and Hamlin is unable to get there in time for an easy UNC touchdown.
The defense got progressively worse throughout the game, including the last two UNC drives where Pitt was unable to get a stop or the final touchdown drive where UNC was able to avoid any third down attempts. Consistency still eludes this Pitt defense.
Overall, the Panthers made too many mistakes to get a win. The special teams error to open the game is one that hurts, as it is usually Pitt that strikes on special teams. The Panthers' fumble at the goal line ultimately led to a 10-point swing right before the half. And the costly sacks taken by Dinucci that otherwise could have led to solid drives were cut short by big yardage sacks. The Panthers are a young team, but by Week 10, the being young excuse does not excuse costly mistakes that could have resulted in a win and not a loss.