Wannstedt puts ‘Wildcat’ on hold

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September 17, 2007

By DALE GRDNIC The Tribune-Democrat Mon Sep 17, 2007, 11:31 PM EDT

PITTSBURGH — Before everybody starts designing variations to his new “Wildcat” offense with various Panthers in the lead role, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt put a stop to it during his weekly press conference Monday.

And don’t expect the Panthers to use the formation – which puts a running back in the role of quarterback and gives him the option to hand off to a flanker in motion or keep it himself – on a full-time basis, either. The Panthers used it extensively in the second half of Saturday’s 17-13 loss at Michigan State.

“I don’t even know if we’ll use it, to be quite honest with you,” Wannstedt said. “It’ll be a week-to-week decision, and it’ll be a situation each week when we think that there’s something that we might be able to take advantage of.”

Wannstedt assured reporters that the offense was not installed because redshirt freshman Kevan Smith was the quarterback. The entire package was put in after spring drills when offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh and his staff were dispatched to Arkansas to see first hand how the Razorbacks use talented tailback Darren McFadden.

“So, we started up in April, and we’ll continue to have it,” Wannstedt said. “It’ll be part of our offense, but I think it’s a game-plan thing, week-to-week, how we’ll use it, when we’ll use it and what we’ll do out of it.”

It was suggested that maybe freshman Maurice Williams, a former high school quarterback, might be well-suited to the lead role so he could either run the option or pass from there, as well as run or hand off. That’s when Wannstedt felt the need to put on the brakes.

“We’ll talk about it as we get into this week, but I don’t want to open a can of worms for you guys,” Wannstedt said. “Everybody write down their plays that they like out of this thing. ... And we’ll look at it. But that can be the problem. It can become a monster, and I’m not going to let that happen.

“But we’re going to do what we have to do to win a football game, or I wouldn’t have done it Saturday. I felt like we had to do it to generate some offense, because we didn’t have any success throwing the ball. But we have to be careful, because we don’t want to let this thing become a monster.”

Wannstedt also said that he expected Smith to be the starting quarterback again this week, but “we haven’t locked that into stone yet.” Both he and freshman Pat Bostick, who put his helmet on once but never left the bench against Michigan State, will get equal snaps with the first team this week.

Wannstedt said he nearly put Bostick into the Michigan State game to open the second half, but went to the Wildcat offensive package instead.

“Kevan was fine on the sideline,”Wannstedt said. “He knew what we were doing and talking about, good and bad, and what we were trying to do to win the game. If I’d have sensed panic or him totally coming unglued, then I would have made a change. But that wasn’t the case.”

Wannstedt didn’t rule out Bostick starting at quarterback, but wants to see how Smith bounces back in practice this week.

“It was frustrating, because we didn’t make enough plays on our whole offense,” Wannstedt said. “So, let’s not make this just about our quarterback.”

Notes: Even though he had a breakout performance in his first start, freshman McCoy is listed as the backup TB to LaRod Stephens-Howling, who Wannstedt said should practice today. ... The Panthers’ Sept. 29 game at Virginia will start at 7 p.m. and be televised by ESPNU.

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