Pitt Football
What’s Going On With Pitt Wideout Bub Means?
If not for Gavin Bartholomew, and Rodney Hammond Jr. at times, the Pitt offense would be a black hole this season. 88th in scoring offense, 114th in total offense, 107th in passing offense, 89th in rushing offense.
And that’s bolstered by 45 points and 491 yards of offense against Wofford. Pitt is averaging 17 points and 259 total yards per game against Power Five opponents this season, which would be 122nd and 128th, respectively, in the NCAA.
Frank Cignetti Jr. has been uninspiring in his play-calling, offensive scheme and personnel decisions, Phil Jurkovec has been a detriment to his team and the offensive line has taken far too long to get rolling. And maybe the biggest breakout candidate of the summer has been a complete no-show through four games.
Bub Means — who the coaching staff pointed to as a dynamic playmaker in the summer — has just six receptions for 71 yards this season. He hasn’t stretched the field, he hasn’t scored a touchdown and he’s been struggling to make any sort of impact this season.
“I think we have to find more ways to get it to Bub and Konata and Gavin and Karter and all of those guys, but it ends up being, who are they covering? It’s a bad decision by the quarterback if he throws it to a guy because he likes him or thinks he’s gonna be open,” Narduzzi said Thursday at his weekly press conference. “You can’t think he’s going to be open, he’s either open or he’s not, and you have to go through your progressions as a quarterback.”
It would be unfair to pin Means’ struggles solely on his own play, the quarterback play between Jurkovec and Christian Veilleux has left little be desired, but Means hasn’t been able to be the difference-maker that Pitt needed.
Means has played just about every offensive snap this season, logging 235 offensive snaps (128 passing snaps), according to PFF. That’s 88% of offensive snaps this season.
Pittsburgh Panthers wide receiver Bub Means (0) September 9, 2023 David Hague/PSN
And he’s turned all those snaps into just six receptions on 22 targets — 71 yards and no touchdowns. It’s a small sample size, but that 27.3 reception percentage is easily the lowest amongst Pitt receivers with at least 20 targets over the last decade.
Pitt has used Means almost solely as a deep option this season, with an average depth of target sitting at 20.6 yards, but it’s resulted in just one catch in 12 targets 20 yards or more downfield. He has just 20 yards after the catch, and he hasn’t hauled in any of his seven contested catch opportunities.
Narduzzi said it’s a little bit of everything when it comes to Means’ struggles this season.
“He starts off against Cincinnati and has a great catch on the sideline,” Narduzzi said. “Unfortunately, he’s out of bounds. That’s where it started.”
Means was targeted 11 times in a loss to Cincinnati earlier this month, and he wasn’t able to haul in a single catch. There were some passes behind him, sailed out of bounds or otherwise in a tough position, but Means couldn’t come up with anything. He wasn’t credited with a drop, but he didn’t make life easier for his quarterback.
“But Bub is such a great kid,” Narduzzi said. “He’s so enthusiastic. He’s positive all the time. He loses 10 pounds a day. I looked at him yesterday and he just had sweat rolling down his legs. He’s the only one like that. This guy works his tail off and I want to see better results for him.
“But sometimes he rushes his work. He’ll just, ‘I’m fast, so I’m going to get there,’ instead of doing it with technique, so that will help him. It’s also some of the coverages they run have taken him out of it as well. So, it depends on what they’re doing back there, but we have to get Bub going because he’s a big-play threat.”
Means has all the tools in the world. He’s big, fast and by all account, he’s someone who cares. But it just hasn’t translated to success on the field. It would be easy to point to the lack of synergy across the entire offense as to why he’s struggled, but Bartholomew and Konata Mumpfield have both been solid — if not great — at times.
Means had three targets against West Virginia, hauling in two passes for 25 yards. He had four targets against North Carolina, hauling in two passes for seven yards. If the albatross against Cincy is removed, he’s caught six passes on 11 targets for 71 yards. Not good but not nearly as bad.
It’s time to accept that Means is what he is. A big, fast wide receiver who — should — be good for a deep ball every game or so. No more, no less.
as long as he’s a nice guy. Duzz the clown show continues
Bring in a new OC and WR coach.
Well as they say you can fool the fans but not the players. I have harped on this may times – You Play to Win the Game. At the power 5 level its about production. If I am not producing then there should be someone ready to take that spot. If not, then you have missed on recruiting, missed on coaching or both. Coach Underwood seems like a nice guy and I believe he’s a pretty good recruiter but his main job is to coach. Now we don’t get to see the film that they see but from my vantage… Read more »
Liked the comment about King’s shirts…never heard that one before.
I can tell you what’s going on with him. He’s not an ACC receiver
True. He is not good enough. You could see that last year, too.
He is what they call a “combine player”. He has all the tolls, but he can’t put it together on game day. It was very apparent last year, and more so this year, that he doesn’t have what it takes to go and get the ball. Good receivers just make a play on the ball, and great ones do it against the best.
H2P!
Play Kenny Johnson until Means figures things out.
He sweats the most on the team and he’s a great kid…..start him! There’s no accountability at Pitt. Bench him and whomever else isn’t playing well. Quit worrying about dumb stuff like if they’re a senior or whatever. Try actually winning!
“Left little to be desired”? Ok.
Have you seen some of the footballs thrown his way? He catches the ones that are catchable. Other ones are thrown short out of his reach and in contested situations. When he has been open he has not had any gaffes like Konata, C’Bo, Daniel Carter have. And he does not look like a bumbling clown like Gavin Bartholomew does on occasion getting turned around or over extended in his foot planting. The route running may be questionable, it does not suggest there is very creative pass schemes. And use of all three thirds of the field looks horrid. Middle… Read more »
If Bartholomew is a bumbling clown, I wish the rest of the team were bumbling clowns too. Balls thrown his way are no more catchable than the ones throw to Means, but at least he comes down with most of them…even if he doesn’t look like a ballerina while doing so.
Your fascinated with his big catch outcomes and that is understood as he is very capable in that regard. He was turned around backwards falling over on his back with that second long catch he made against UNC near the end zone. A wheel route is not that sophisticated. Instead of releasing off the line on a 9 route chip the defensive end and curl across the middle is what we need from him. That or the inside shovel pass they use to run with Scott Orndoff almost like a inside counter made for him. It’s not a knock on… Read more »
No sense in contributing technical, football analysis to these readers my friend. As a group, they have very little knowledge. You were absolutely correct though.