The particulars are not important; how could they be at this point? You’ve seen, you’ve heard, you know.
NC State’s defense was so bad on Saturday that it’s hard to actually see that secondary and the Pittsburgh offense play at the same level. Losing is the worst, but being embarrassed in the process is doubly so—this was an obvious ending point for Dave Doeren here, and it was a rough one.
State put itself in a bad spot right from the coin toss by taking the ball instead of deferring—the result of this decision was a quick three-and-out, a punt, and a quick Pittsburgh touchdown drive. But this kind of decision was irrelevant because NC State was not competitive. We could quibble about coaching decisions in a close game, but this was not that.
NC State did, believe it or not, have the ball with a chance to take the lead in the second quarter. That was as close as State ever got to entertaining a thought of winning the game. It was short-lived.
Two second-quarter touchdowns, the first a 65-yard Hollywood strike, the second a 59-yard Justin Joly reception on a trick play, were not enough to render even the slightest amount of doubt about the outcome.
Pittsburgh never played like it was under any pressure—because it wasn’t—and that lack of game pressure from NC State allowed Pitt to maintain the initiative. Football is a simple game, and if you can’t win at the point of attack, then you’re in trouble. It did not matter that Pitt couldn’t run the ball, because it didn’t need to.
We can do with this stuff whatever we want at this point—you can choose to be furious about this if you want, that’s your business. I’d probably just go outside instead. I’m just bummed Dave’s going out like this.