Reunited assistants’ goal: Spark Pitt offense
to 434, scored 12 more offensive touchdowns and increased their scoring average from 22.9 to 31.7.
At Nebraska in 2008, the Cornhuskers’ improvements weren’t as drastic, but they scored four more offensive touchdowns and had slight increases across the board in yards per play, pass attempt, and carry, in addition to quarterback rating and points per game (33.4 to 35.4) for an offense that was potent thetwo previous seasons.
And at Louisville in 2012, his first full season as coordinator after taking over for Mike Sanford midway through 2011, the Cardinals averaged 86 more yards per game (419), had fewer turnovers (1.7 to 1.0), scored 23 more touchdowns (50) and put up 9.3 more points per game (31.2).
Most important, however, is that each of those teams improved in the win-loss column. Louisville went from 76 to 11-2, Nebraska from 5-7 to 9-4, and, Colorado from 3-8 to 10-3 and Big 12 Conference champions.
“Shawn did a great job managing it and calling it to what was needed,” recalled John Wristen, current head coach at Colorado State-Pueblo, who coached running backs and tight ends for those Colorado teams under Watson.
“These days, people wanna know how many plays you’re getting in, how many yards you’re getting, but the bottom line is Shawn does a great job managing the game to figure out how you can win by one point. That’s the key to success.”
That ingredient was missing last year for Pitt in Year 1 of Watson’s reign over the offense. Seven times out of 12, to be exact, as the Panthers followed their record-setting 2016 campaign with a 17point dip in scoring average (40.9 to 23.9). Even when you adjust for Pitt’s eight non-offensive touchdowns in 2016 compared to two a year ago, Pitt went from 64 offensive touchdowns to 31, saw its total offense go from 446.8 to 366.2 yards per game and went from 6.7 to 5.3 yards per play.
So how will Watson get the Panthers to bounce back? One of the first steps might have come Feb. 12 when Pitt hired Watson’s longtime offensive line guru of choice.
“Borbs is very detail-oriented, and he has an answer for everything that shows up,” Pitt center Jimmy Morrissey said. “You can’t really stump him. He wants his ways done the right way, and he’s a good teacher of that.”
That’s what Will Stein observed back when those two coaches were tied at the hip at Louisville,
Borbely was the run game coordinator. Stein was a fouryear quarterback and the starterearly in 2011, but eventually he became No. 2 behind Teddy Bridgewater, who helped make a name for himself and Watson as he lit upthe Big East.
“Wats is best when he trusts his offensive line coach. Now that Dave Borbely is there, I mean, I think the sky’s the limit for Pitt in terms of offensive production,” said Stein, now offensive coordinator at Texas powerhouse Lake Travis HighSchool.
“Because they are best friends, they understand each other and they work unbelievably together. … Now that he has his O-line guy, his right-hand man, I think they’llbe much improved.”
In the small world of college coaching, Wristen saw the same thing with Borbely and himself in 2014. After Strong and Watson moved fromLouisville to Texas, Borbely went to a lower level for the first time in his career and helped his old friend at Colorado State-Pueblo for a season, as offensive line coach and run game coordinator. All they did together was win the Division II national title.
“We wouldn’t have been able to win the 2014 national championship without him here,” Wristen said Wednesday. “Dave Borbely took five offensive linemen who had no business playing in that game and molded them, got a game plan that was constructed to each one of their abilities to put them in the right spot.”
If Borbely can develop Pitt’s offensive line and Watson can develop quarterback Kenny Pickett, that would be thebest way they can complementeach other in 2018.
It could be a season of redemption, of sorts, for both.
Borbely, who has bounced around since that Louisville runand most recently was removed from his on-field role at Maryland, and Watson, who technically wasn’t offensive coordinator his two years at Texas, was assistant head coach for offense in a situation that went poorly for all involved.
“It wasn’t a great situation at UT for a lot of people,” said Stein, the quarterback who followed Watson to Texas as a quality control coach. “That has zero representation of him as a coach and as a person, in my opinion. I think he’s one of the elite quarterback coaches in the country and one of the elite game-planners.”
That didn’t show very often a year ago for the Panthers, but with a more seasoned Pickett and two battletested senior tailbacks, perhaps Watson and Borbely can rekindle some of their old magic.
Brian Batko: bbatko@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BrianBatko.