16In16: #13 – “O, Canada”
Our #13 moment of 2016 goes to Offensive Coordinator Matt Canada. When Day 1 of the Matt Canada era began, it was safe to say many PITT fans did not know what direction the offense was going to go after Jim Chaney left after one year. And I say the Matt Canada era because I didn’t see another one and down offensive coordinator, but I will get into that later.
Coming into the 2016 season, the offense was returning their starting Quarterback and had the backup who played a fair share of snaps transferring out in Chad Voytik. They were losing their clear #1 Wide Receiver and play-maker in Tyler Boyd and weren’t sure what they had at Running Back with James Conner coming back from a knee injury and hodgkin’s disease.
The offensive line was a plus coming into preseason practice and continued to get stronger as each practice passed. And they did had depth at the Running Back position, but just didn’t know how the carries would be split this season.
Well, Game 1 of the 2016 season came against Villanova and the offense only put up 28 points in the 28-7 victory at Heinz Field. And I say only because little did we know that would be the lowest point total the offense would score during the regular season. The next week against Penn State, the offense put up 42 points and made the big plays when necessary to lead the team to the rivalry week victory, 42-39.
Even in losses the next two weeks against Oklahoma St. and North Carolina, the offense put up 38 and 36 points in each of those two games. The offense returned home against Marshall and put up 43 points to get the team back into the win column and then came the next week when Matt Canada looked into his bag of tricks and pulled out the reverse field pass back to a lineman against Georgia Tech:
With that play against Georgia Tech, it was safe to say that Matt Canada was willing to call whatever play(s), no matter how bizarre, to give PITT the best chance to win. And that is easier to do when Pat Narduzzi gives you basically free reign with play calling with the one rule of just getting the ball in the end zone.
After the Georgia Tech homecoming victory, the PITT offense put up 45 in a victory at Virginia and put up 36 in what could be called one of the most disappointing losses in PITT history against Virginia Tech because, well we know the reason and I really don’t want to get into it here.
After the loss to Virginia Tech, one of the more bizarre games, and that is the only way I can describe it, happened in Miami. The offense only put up 28 points matching their lowest point total of the season against a team that doesn’t have the strongest defense in the nation. And they had Clemson up next.
Well, the offense responded and gave PITT the lead early and kept it close or tied throughout the game against Clemson and put the team in position for Chris Blewitt to hit the game winning field goal for the 43-42 victory. And they didn’t get too high after that game because they put up 56 and 76 points the next two weeks in victories against Duke and Syracuse to close out the regular season at 8-4 (5-3 in the ACC).
The PITT offense scored 508 points during the regular season (42.3 PPG) and that ranks them 11th in the country. They averaged 217 yards passing and 2 passing touchdowns per game and 229 yards rushing and 2 rushing touchdowns per game as well.
Now onto the shock of the off-season and it’s not the shock of other teams taking a look at Canada and interviewing him for a job. It’s the shock of him leaving after one year with the program and I just didn’t see it coming because of his long time friendship with Narduzzi. Once Indiana filled their head coaching position, I was like alright, we’re good and Matt Canada will still be the offensive coordinator next season.
Well, could I have been more wrong? Probably not. Alabama Offensive Coordinator Lane Kiffin makes the shocking decision to take the Head Coach position at FAU and then LSU came calling for Matt Canada’s services. And looking at LSU from afar, I was like there is no way that Matt Canada will take this job, unless the money was right. And the money is the only thing that LSU has over PITT right now. The LSU and PITT football programs seem to be going in opposite directions right now when you compare both.
The next reason why I thought Matt Canada would stay at PITT has to do with the fans. What was the one phrase that you did not hear from fans this season? The phrase would be, Why didn’t the PITT offense do this or try this in the game? You didn’t hear that question because fans enjoyed watching this PITT offense and look forward to watching it continue to grow next season.
With all that being said, I wish Matt Canada lots of success at LSU and I can’t blame him for leaving because he needs to do what he needs to do to give his family financial stability. We know what PITT offered him (and it was a fair price), but LSU didn’t want to lose another offensive coordinator candidate and might of overpaid for him. So, I really don’t blame Canada for taking the deal. So, Good Luck Canada and let’s close out the season with a great performance in the Pinstripe Bowl.
But again, with all of this being said, PITT will be fine on offense. Pat Narduzzi, Tim Salem, Andre Powell and the rest of the offensive coaches saw what worked this season and I can guarantee you that whoever gets the offensive coordinator job will call a very similar offense to what PITT ran this season. And they will probably add a little twist of their own.
*All Videos Courtesy of PITT LiveWire
*Stats courtesy of Sports Reference College Football
