[BostonCard]

IIRC, Wilson had to break a jersey tackle on his way back to the LOS, so does that mean that Pitt's defense had him accounted for?  If so, then that means the playcall was bad but that Wilson was good enough to make a play and salvage the situation.

I felt that was the case many times during the game -- terrible playcalling salvaged by player athleticism and skill.

Not much of downside of that.  If the play was blown up for a loss of 6 yards, no big deal.  We proceed to run up the middle with the next play, and punt into the end zone on fourth down with only seconds left on the clock.  Pitt then has time for at most one play from their own 20 yard line.

There were only two bad things that could have happened on that play, and being stopped in the backfield was not really one of them.  One is a fumble, and that risk is there for anything other than taking a knee.  The other would have been Wilson going or being pushed out of bounds short of the line to gain, stopping the clock, and (if we didn't convert on third down) giving Pitt the ball back with about 30 - 40 seconds on the clock. A first down sealed the win, but not getting a first down would still have left Pitt needing a miracle to win.

BC

[BostonCard]

IIRC, Wilson had to break a jersey tackle on his way back to the LOS, so does that mean that Pitt's defense had him accounted for?  If so, then that means the playcall was bad but that Wilson was good enough to make a play and salvage the situation.

I felt that was the case many times during the game -- terrible playcalling salvaged by player athleticism and skill.

Not much of downside of that.  If the play was blown up for a loss of 6 yards, no big deal.  We proceed to run up the middle with the next play, and punt into the end zone on fourth down with only seconds left on the clock.  Pitt then has time for at most one play from their own 20 yard line.

There were only two bad things that could have happened on that play, and being stopped in the backfield was not really one of them.  One is a fumble, and that risk is there for anything other than taking a knee.  The other would have been Wilson going or being pushed out of bounds short of the line to gain, stopping the clock, and (if we didn't convert on third down) giving Pitt the ball back with about 30 - 40 seconds on the clock. A first down sealed the win, but not getting a first down would still have left Pitt needing a miracle to win.

BC