Pitt released its latest two-deep on Monday. Here’s a look at what stood out.
- There were no changes on offense, but there are some things to note. The most notable is at offensive tackle, where Matt Goncalves and Gabe Houy are the listed starters at left tackle and right tackle, respectively.
That was the listing last week, too, but in something of a surprise move, Houy did not travel to Virginia for Saturday’s game. Instead, Goncalves started at right tackle and Branson Taylor started at left tackle.
Taylor started the Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech games at left tackle, but went to the bench when Houy returned to the starting lineup. Houy started at right tackle and Goncalves started at left tackle in the losses to Louisville and North Carolina and the win over Syracuse.
- While Goncalves and Houy started those three games, the coaches did use some rotation, bringing Taylor off the bench at left tackle and sliding Goncalves to right tackle. But at Virginia on Saturday, Taylor and Goncalves played all of the offensive snaps until the final drive of the game.
- On that final drive - three plays - the coaches subbed out the offensive line (as well as most of the players on offense). The resulting line looked like this:
Left tackle - Ryan Baer
Left guard - Terrence Enos
Center - Terrence Moore
Right guard - Blake Zubovic
Right tackle - Jason Collier
- Pitt did rotate Zubovic in with starting right guard Jake Kradel at Virginia. Kradel played 56 snaps on offense, per Pro Football Focus, while Zubovic played 19 (including the final three-play drive).
- Saturday also saw the return of senior center Owen Drexel, who played all 72 snaps prior to that final drive. It was Drexel’s first action since the Tennessee game in Week Two.
The Pitt coaches didn’t change the defensive two-deep either. The most notable item there is the continued absence of junior defensive end Dayon Hayes. Hayes was removed from the two-deep after his arrest two weeks ago for misdemeanor assault. He was not announced as suspended from the team and practiced last week, but he did not travel with the team to Virginia and remains off the depth chart this week.
