Pittsburgh Football: Report Card Grades for the Panthers' Second Game

Todd Graham's second game is in the books as head coach of the Pitt Panthers and is off to a 2-0 start.

Pitt is 2-0, but a very shaky 2-0.

Implementing three new schemes, the Panthers basically had to treat games against Buffalo and Maine as preseason games, before their first test of the season next week at Iowa.

If the season's first two games weren't who they were against, Pitt would likely be sitting at 0-2 at the moment instead of 2-0.

Here is a look around the field at how the Panthers graded out in Week 2.

Quarterback

Grade: D

Tino Sunseri got off to a slow start against the Black Bears and never settled in comfortably. He made uncharacteristically bad decisions throughout and made no big plays.

His stat line read 21 of 34 for 224 yards and two interceptions and was sacked seven times.

Four or five of the sacks have to be put on the back of Sunseri, who couldn't get rid of the football. In Todd Graham's system, the ball must come out quickly. He can't hold it for six or seven seconds.

Sunseri was replaced by backup Trey Anderson in the fourth quarter, and while Graham said afterwards that Anderson was going to play, the timing was peculiar—right after Sunseri's second interception.

Anderson ended up leading the Panthers on an 11-play, 52-yard scoring drive and completed five of seven passes for 33 yards.

Despite limited reps, he showed decent command of the offense and is athletic enough to run the football.

Running Backs

Grade: A

For the second straight week, Ray Graham had an outstanding game and was the only real bright spot on the day for the Panthers.

Graham finished the day with 117 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

Zack Brown also added a touchdown, as the rushing game continues to be the backbone of the Panthers.

Wide Receivers

Grade: C

They didn't play bad as a unit, but Sunseri really isn't giving them a chance to make plays down the field.

Eight different Pitt players caught a pass, led by Devin Street, who was a non-factor the week prior.

Street caught six passes for 74 yards and both tight end Hubie Graham and Mike Shanahan each caught four passes.

It was good that the tight end was involved in the offense for the second straight week, but Cam Saddler was invisible in the offense for a second consecutive week.

Offensive Line

Grade: D

Many more breakdowns this week than in Week 1, but the guys upfront clearly took a step back.

Now, part of the low grade is Sunseri holding onto the football, but as a unit you can't allow seven sacks to FCS Maine.

The Panthers were able to run for 124 yards on the day, but overall, the performance of the offensive line could have been a whole lot better.

Defensive Line

Grade: B-

The Pitt defensive line was very disappointing against Buffalo, but they rebounded to play a decent game against Maine.

The guys upfront held Maine to only 35 yards on the ground and a mere 1.5 yards per carry.

They blocked better and filled gaps nicely. It was a good sign to see them step their game up.

Linebackers

Grade: C-

I really wanted to see the linebacking core have a big game, but that wasn't the case.

They did play the run very well, but lacked big time in coverage, looking confused on assignments on multiple occasions.

The tackling also has to improve in a hurry. There is way too many missed tackles from what used to be a pretty good tackling team.

Defensive Backs

Grade: F

The play of the defensive backs right now sticks out like a sore thumb. It's very disappointing that they can't cover anyone.

Maine quarterback Warren Smith had a field day throwing for 334 yards, mostly to wide open receivers.

With Pitt up 35-15 with just a little over eight minutes on the clock, you would think the game would be close to being wrapped up. Not with the way this secondary has played through two games, though.

It can't be all blamed on a new scheme. Tackling and coverage are part of every scheme, and right now Pitt isn't doing either very well.

If there is one area that needs fixing the quickest, it's the play of the the Panthers secondary.

Special Teams

Grade: D

Where have you gone Dan Hutchins?

Kevin Harper missed another field goal and an extra point on Saturday, but he did make two field goals, which turned out to be big.

The return game didn't do much, and Sunseri had as many punts as the Panthers regular punter Matt Yoklic.

Through two games, Sunseri has more punts than touchdown passes. Not a very good sign.

Coaching

Grade: C

It's hard to really analyze Graham at the moment.

Pitt has played two games against sub par competition that they should have beaten and did.

Graham is still using Dave Wannstedt's players in his fast paced system, which will likely produce some ugly results at times.

At the end of the day, though, Pitt is still 2-0.

It could be much worse.