Pitt Faced With Tennessee's Scientific, Optimum Speed Offense

Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge broke down what the Pitt Panthers are up against when they meet Tennessee.

PITTSBURGH -- "SEC speed" - a trope used frequently to talk about how athletic college football teams from the south tend to be - is not just an empty cliche for the Pitt Panthers. This weekend, they'll play host to the Tennessee Volunteers and a fast-paced offense that is only getting faster.  

Tennesee was one of the quickest-moving units in America last season. They ranked 130th in average time of possession, holding the ball for just 24:24 per game, but still ranked among the leaders in plays per game at 76.2, tied for 20th nationally with Western Michigan. Pitt defensive line coach Charlie Partridge said that preparing for the talented players that Tennesee has is hard enough and the fact that they run the most efficient offense in the country only makes it more difficult. 

“In some ways you have to marvel at how they do it," Partridge said. "It’s impressive. They’ve got a talented offensive line, two really good quarterbacks - we faced both of them last year - speed at the receiver spot, a stable of running backs and they operate well.”

The Volunteers ran roughly 3.12 plays per minute last season. Against Ball State, that figure declined to just 2.91 plays per one minute of game time, but Patridge said that their film study shows that Tennessee is actually moving markedly faster than they were last season and as fast as is feasible within the confines of the rules. 

"If you watch their players during a game, you may have one referee on the sideline that’s begging for the ball but he’s being ignored as that player throws it to the umpire so they can get set that much faster," Partridge said. "They truly have it down to a science. When you’re getting that thing off at 12 seconds, you’re operating at a level that really can’t get much faster within the rules.”

The nature of this opponent makes cleaning up a major shortcoming of the Pitt defense from the season opener against West Virginia - communication - paramount. Partridge said that against the Mountaineers, who ran for more yards than any Panthers opponent of the last three years, his unit was often out of place and unable to get the proper calls in.

“Biggest thing was some communication issues on the touchdown drive at the end of the first half. We had some communication issues where we weren’t on the same page," Partridge said. "And you got to tip your hat to West Virginia. They did some good things as far as pre-snap things that we did a good job of getting cleaned up in the last 72 hours so I feel good that we have those things cleaned up."

The Volunteers will pose a similar, but more difficult challenge than the Mountaineers. They are more experienced and move quickly and under control, so if the Panthers can't match their pace, it will be a long afternoon. 

Pitt rolled out 23 different combinations of defensive linemen last weekend and if they want to rotate that often, they'll need their talented reserves to be in tune with scheme and calls, not just their technique. And becuase the Volunteers can move up and down the field with better pace than anyone in the country, replicating their attack in practice is difficult.

But Pitt has faced hurry-up offenses led by current Tennessee and former UCF head coach Josh Heupel and been burned by his swift attacks before. The Panthers lost 45-14 on the road to the then No. 11 Knights in 2018 before getting revenge on Heupel in 2019 and 2020. 

By now, Partridge thinks he has a pretty good idea of how to defend the relentless pressure that offense puts on you. The key will be to keep things as simple and organized as possible.

"Thankfully we face these guys, at least in our minds, for the fourth time now going back with Heupel to Central Florida," he said. "Whatever your plan is, you better make sure it is tight and concise and that you don’t get too cute with what you’re trying to do schematically so the kids can operate and communicate extremely quickly."

Head coach Pat Narduzzi publicly called out his defense after they were gashed in Week 1. He expects them to rise to the occasion this weekend, even if the quality of the opponent takes a step up. Partridge expects that too from his veterans and underclassmen alike. 

"We have some experienced defensive linemen but we also have some young guys working in there," Partridge said. "We have some linebackers that were in their first game action so we’ll be better this week, I feel confident about that.”

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