Texas upset Pittsburgh in the biggest surprise of the tournament so far
May 23, 2015 by Preston Thompson in Coverage with 2 comments
Texas 13 – 12 Pittsburgh
The tournament favorites have been taken down by the 13 seed, Texas.
The game began with easy offensive holds. Texas came down in a cup zone, and Max Thorne put up a big crossfield hammer to Tyler Kunsa. Kunsa catches it easily, not knowing that he’s out of bounds. The Texas D-line converted, as they often do, and Pitt was trailing.
For the rest of the half Pittsburgh would have more than enough chances to get the break back. Four turns by the Texas O-line didn’t matter when the Pittsburgh defense rushed their decisions and couldn’t catch up. Texas took half 8-7.
The story continued into the second half: Pittsburgh’s D-line couldn’t take advantage of chances. After a short time out from injury, Max Thorne returned to both the O and D lines. However, at 12-10, Pittsburgh had converted none of their eight break chances.
Suddenly, Pitt got a break back. And on the next pull, Earles covers the reset handler perfectly and got a quick bookends. Double game point. Making matters worse, Texas got their third TMF for a dangerous bid, meaning they had to begin their offense in the middle of their own endzone. Texas rushed their first offense possession with a big huck that led Dillon Larberg too far. But the same story repeated itself when Pitt couldn’t convert on defense for the break. Texas held, finishing 2/4 on break chances, while Pitt finished 2/11. Texas will now take the pool.
Georgia 15 – 13 Wisconsin
The Hodags faced off against Georgia in a late day elimination contest. Georgia took advantage of characteristic offensive mistakes for Wisconsin, getting up three breaks early. Wisconsin forced the issue and got plenty of chances to break, but reset struggles made it impossible to grind upwind for breaks. All that led to a 12-8 lead for two seed Georgia.
After a quick hold from the Hodags, the Wisconsin D finally showed up. Brian Novotny helped administer two straight breaks for the tenacious man to man defense. The third break came after a Wisconsin TMF put Georgia on the attacking brick, giving them a short field. Even shortening the field couldn’t stop the roll that the Hodags were on. While tied at 12’s, Georgia was forced into a stall nine hammer that fell into the hands of Parker Bray for the score. Wisconsin would hold upwind to tie, but UGA got the last break they needed to end the game 15-13.
