Georgia Tech Football: Previewing the Pittsburgh offense

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PITTSBURGH, PA – SEPTEMBER 08: Kenny Pickett #8 of the Pittsburgh Panthers hands off to Qadree Ollison #30 of the Pittsburgh Panthers against the Penn State Nittany Lions on September 8, 2018 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

The Georgia Tech defense will have a slightly easier task when it comes to facing the Pittsburgh offense but will need to tighten up their run game.

Last week, the Georgia Tech defense played against one of the most explosive offenses in America in the USF Bulls. This week, the task on paper is a little easier as the Yellow Jackets will take on a run first Pitt defense that can struggle when opponents shut down the run.

Play Breakdown 2018:

Passing Plays: 45 (33%)
Rushing Plays: 89 (66%)

As we can see from the play breakdown, Pittsburgh so far this year has focused on the run instead of the passing game. In their week one game against Albany, Pittsburgh passed the ball 23 times while having 37 rushing attempts. Last week against Penn Sate, Pittsburgh attempted to pass the ball 22 times (18 attempts, 4 sacks) and had 52 rushing attempts. From start to finish last week, it was evident that the Panthers were in a situation where they didn’t feel that throwing the ball was their best option either due to a lack of confidence in Pickett against Penn State’s defense, the poor weather conditions (heavy rain and windy) or a combination of both. While it worked well against the Penn State defense in the first half, when the Panthers started to fall behind in the second half it put them in a hole that they couldn’t recover from.

Play Breakdown 2017:

Passing Plays: 391 (46%)
Rushing Plays: 460 (54%)

When comparing Pittsburgh’s 2018 play selection to that of last year’s, it shows that the Panthers are not that far off where they were in 2017. The Pittsburgh offense will probably have an uptick in the amount of passes attempted in the upcoming weeks but the strategy remains the same, the Pittsburgh offense will run the ball about 55-60% of the time week in and week out which in reality is quite the balance.

Now, let’s take a look at the Panthers offense by position…