Miami Hurricanes 2015 Opponent Preview
Week 13
At Pittsburgh (November 27th – Friday)
The 2015 Miami Hurricanes Opponent Preview concludes
with the preview of the Pittsburgh Panthers who hosts the U on November 27th,
the day after Thanksgiving up in Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
In
the Steel city, out is Paul Chryst, who left to run the show in Madison, Wisconsin
and coming in is former Michigan State defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. He’s
the 4th head coach there in the last ten seasons. If you include
Mike Haywood, that’s five. There’s a new beginning up in the Steel City. When
you look back on Chryst’s time there, if you speak to their fans up there, it’s
like a few weeks they were world-beaters, and the next few weeks, they were
terrible. Simply put there was a lack of consistency there.
Pat Narduzzi
Their
opponents weren’t on their level, OK. Still, that team was very good and
consistent early. They had the nation’s leading rusher for a while in RB James
Conner. Everything was going pretty well, until the Iowa game. From that loss
on, and for the next three weeks afterward, there were despair and another
disappointing season was soon to come.
After
gagging, and it was a gag job in Fort Worth vs Houston in the Armed Forces
bowl, in which they blew a 25-point lead, they cleaned house. On the same day
Chryst left for Madison, AD Steve
Pederson was shown the door, and soon after, all of Chryst’s staff were canned.
They believe they have a winner in the making in Narduzzi, who won the 2013
Broyles Award for nation’s best assistant coach.
Even
though he hasn’t coached a game yet, the fanbase up there is jacked for big
things going forward. What he has done was have a strong presence on Social
Media (i.e., Facebook and Twitter), a strong recruiting class, and bring back a
defense that Pittsburgh is known for. He wants to bring the type of D that made
Michigan State very successful and a National power.
Let’s talk about Pittsburgh’s Defense.
This
is Narduzzi’s baby right here. With Narduzzi really running the show with the
Defense, you won’t see the gag job again like you saw in Fort Worth vs Houston.
They didn’t have many stars and whatever was there is gone. They lost to graduation,
their two leading tacklers in Anthony Gonzalez (had a rookie tryout with the
Pittsburgh Steelers) and Todd Thomas (UFA to Jacksonville) as well as backs
leader Ray Vinopal (UFA to Dallas). There are many questions in Narduzzi’s
first season as the boss in Pittsburgh.
Yes,
they have a New DC coming in with Josh Conklin, coming over from FIU. He’s
going to learn from one of the best in the business there, make no mistake;
Narduzzi calls the shots with the D. While Conklin might not have the
experience, he’ll make up for it with talent and good coaching While in
University Park (Miami), his defense there led the nation in fumble
recoveries (19), as well as second in defensive touchdowns (6) and fourth
in turnovers gained (33). Consider this, that defense at FIU was 36th in
yards allowed, and 4th in red zone defense, and he got a Broyles Award
nomination, which is the same title Narduzzi won in 2013, running the defense
in East Lansing.
Its
going to all depend on how quick Narduzzi and Conklin can maximize the effort
from their personnel, because there’s not a lot of experience there and lack of
stars there. In fact, the only experience coming back is seniors Lafayette
Pitts and Darryl Render.
Where
they lack in experience, they make up for it in talent from the 2015 recruiting
class, This includes CB Jordan Whitehead, who was ranked 13th
in the nation at that position according to the folks at 247 Sports. Add to
the mix fellow enrollees CB Malik Henderson, S Jay Stocker, S Dane Jackson, and
others, and Narduzzi will have a defense that will be a force to be dealt with
not this year, but really from next year on. If
you’re going to get to their defense, you better do it this year because come
2017, that defense is going to be very dangerous and good, once Narduzzi’s has
his system in place there.
Let’s talk about Pittsburgh’s Offense
Yes,
Narduzzi thinks defense first, the offense will be run by Jim Chaney, who comes
over from Arkansas, and he’ll have plenty of weapons at his disposal. Their two
biggest weapons coming back are RB James Conner and WR Tyler Boyd.
Conner,
as stated earlier, led the nation in rushing for a while before tailing off,
and was even talked about in the Heisman. He would up 7th in the nation in
rushing yards (1765) and 3rd in rushing touchdowns (26). He was the ACC Player
of the Year in 2014, and was a first team All-American. The question is with
Conner, what could he do for a encore? They
believe that he could have another monster year.
On
the receiving corp, their leader is clearly Boyd (provided he stays out of
trouble off the field). He reminds their
fans of Larry Fitzgerald. Other than Fitzgerald, he’s the other Pitt WR to have
two 1,000 yard seasons in their careers.
That’s amazing.
While
Conner got the pub and well-deserved too, Boyd had a solid season, and more
impressive when you consider that he played with QB Tom Savage, who was known
for the big play pass.
After all that, all he did was rank second in
the ACC in receiving yards (1261), yards per game (97.0), and touchdowns
(8). Oh, and being a first team All-ACC player. Outside
of Boyd, there’s really nothing else there. Though they have back TE J.P. Holtz
and WR Ronald Jones. While they are nice players who can fill roles (combining
for 440 yards in 2014), they are nowhere near the talent that Boyd is. As for
the 2015 recruiting class here, they have in Tre Tipton and Gentry Ivery. Simply
put, the leader is Boyd, again, provided, he stays out of trouble off the
field. He had a DUI arrest in June and was suspended briefly. This
is the leader of the WRs here, and a overall team leader.
As
good as Conner and Boyd are, the biggest question mark on O, is at QB. Chad
Voytik had a nice season. He was 4th in the ACC in QBR and 3rd in passer
efficiency rating (140.2). He’s a slow starter, but finishes strong late. With
Conner and Boyd, they’re not going to ask him to do too much. He could get
better, and they’ll want him to manage the game and not make the big mistake.
Voytik’s
can get even better here and Chaney will work with him to see that he gets
better. Cheney’s experience will really come into play here, when you consider
the resume of this man. He’s coached big time football at major place and even
a short stint in St Louis, coaching the offensive line and tight ends.
While
at Purdue for nine years, he coached a certain Super Bowl QB by the name of
Drew Brees. His experience will work wonders for that offense in the Steel City.
What to expect from Pittsburgh
Looking at them on tape, you
can see why the excitement in the Steel City is high. Narduzzi is bringing the enthusiasm
and a toughness that Pittsburgh is known for.
If you’re going to get Pitt, get them this year because no one is going
to want to face them in the coming years having to game plan for that defense. They have a tough schedule to be sure with GT,
Notre Dame, Duke, and Louisville. They could surprise some people in Year 1 of
the Narduzzi era.
From their Spring Game
The Gag job in Fort Worth by Pitt vs Houston
From last year at Sun Life when Conner had a big night vs The U
In this game, it’s the regular
season finale on a short week (day after Thanksgiving). It’s likely to be very
cold up there. It’s going to be a White Knuckle type of game, but I have to
believe in the end, our experience, and making enough plays late will be the
difference. The U, I predict will survive and leave Heinz Field with a very
hard fought win.
This is the final part of this series for this season.
