The numbers are damning over the last 3 games.
— 1552 total yards surrendered.
— 140 points given up by the defense (We won’t count the 7 given up by special teams).
— 1 takeaway by the defense.
As the offense has improved and progressed over the course of the season, the defense has made no progress from the start of the season. It was masked by the competition, but there is no hiding from this mess.
But this has been coming a while. When Matt House was hired as the defensive coordinator, no one could actually defend the hiring from a football standpoint. He was unqualified. He had very limited experience even as a position coach. He was Chryst’s comfortable hire because it promoted staff continuity. The defense of House essentially came down to either trying to shift the blame on the AD or to say that we have to trust Head Coach Paul Chryst’s judgment on his own staff.
This is a staff that is supposed to develop talent. We see plenty of that on the offensive side, but not so much from the defense. We are told not to worry about star/recruiting rankings. But, funny thing, the offense just happens to have a bunch of 4- and high 3-star players while the defense lacks those. This was why the verbal of Isiah Whitehead took on such an outsized level of importance.
And there are flashes of some players that look like they will be good players — at some point. But as a whole, the defense has not gotten better. And consider that some of Pitt’s best and most consistent defensive players — Ray Vinopal, Anthony Gonzalez, Todd Thomas and Dave Durham — are seniors.
As I watched the Pitt-UNC game I was struck by how little confidence I had in the defense. And just how much pressure it felt like there was on the offense. Justin may have summed it up best.
The complete lack of faith in the defense is creating both anxiety and fatalism. As Pitt jumped out to a 14-0 lead, all I could think 0f was the Iowa game. Where Pitt looked so strong and certain, and then the defense started to wobble. And wobble. And unlike a Weeble, fall down.
And there was little explanation given other than cliches.
There were no answers for North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams, who slipped through poor tackle attempts, outran defenders and threw for 276 yards and a touchdown. Walk-on running back Charles Brunson, who hadn’t been handed the ball since the opener, scored on a 17-yard run in the third quarter, only 86 seconds after Conner’s third touchdown gave Pitt a 28-19 lead.
North Carolina’s six touchdown drives covered 72, 80, 75, 92, 81 and 75 yards. After a scoreless first quarter in which Pitt built a 14-0 lead, the Tar Heels (5-5, 3-3) scored almost at will on six of eight possessions.
“We had some missed tackles, overran a couple things, and they executed a little bit better,” coach Paul Chryst said.
There was more to it, however.
Oh, was there. Marquise Williams started the game horribly. He was 4-16 midway through the second quarter. He then rattled off 16 straight completions, and carried the Tar Heels. It wasn’t just the secondary. The inability to reach the quarterback in time made the pass rush useless. It was painful, oh so predictable and I couldn’t look away from the mess.
Not that the Pitt players had much of an answer. They seemed genuinely shell-shocked after this game. Somehow more so than after the gut-punch of a loss two weeks ago against Duke. And all Chryst could offer was something that is not simply hard to swallow, but engaging the gag reflex.
“It stings,” Chryst said. “There’s a sting right now, but they’ll be resilient and we’ll come back.”
Still waiting for that bounce back after the GT game. And the Duke. And now UNC.
Now the reality. Chryst isn’t getting fired this year. I don’t think he should. But he has no choice in shaking up the staff. He didn’t have a ton of goodwill built up before this season, but given the schedule and the way the games have been lost Chryst has put himself in a position with no margin of error for 2015.
Not simply that, his decisions on who he hired for the defensive staff make it his responsibility to change what isn’t working. And whether he wants to or not, that means making changes to the defensive coaching staff because the “process” and the status quo are not working. And it does start with Matt House as the primary sacrifice.
Maybe someday House becomes a good DC and vindicates what Chryst saw in him when he was promoted. The problem is he got promoted way too soon and has not been up to the job at this time. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Inoke Breckterfield and/or Chris Haering pursuing other opportunities after this season.
Changes will be coming this off season. They have to.