PITTSBURGH — Pitt’s ability to upset highly rated opponents over the years has drawn comparison to a super weapon, capable of destroying a team’s chances at a national championship.
On Saturday against No. 3 Notre Dame, the super weapon imploded.
The Panthers were out-played, out-coached and spent more time arguing amongst themselves than they did competing with the Fighting Irish in a 45-3 blowout that wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates.
Pitt backup quarterback Joey Yellen threw three interceptions, which led to 21 Notre Dame points.
The Panthers pass defense was shredded by Notre Dame senior quarterback Ian Book, who threw for 312 yards and three scores on 16 of 30 passing in the first three quarters, before allowing his understudy to take care of business.
On the sideline, things didn’t go any better for Pitt. Offensive coordinator was overheard telling Yellen to “suck it up” and get out of his head by ABC’s Molly McGrath. Star safety Paris Ford was benched in the second half amid a shouting match with some of the Pitt coaches.
And then there’s the sequence at the end of the first half that can only be described as an embarrassment. With the Panthers trialing, 21-3 after Yellen’s first interception had just turned into seven points for Notre Dame, Pitt got the ball back with 1:29 to play.
They ran three straight times and then completed a pass to Vincent Davis for a two-yard loss, attempting to let the clock run out on the half. Notre Dame called time out to try to get the ball back, forcing Pitt to punt.
The punt was blocked by Irish defensive lineman Isaiah Foskey and recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.
Both teams spent most of the second half playing backups, including Pitt third- and fourth-string quarterbacks Davis Beville and Nick Patti, who combined to complete two of six passes for 17 yards.
The Panthers have a bye week before traveling to Florida State on Nov. 7.
Program is out of control with the sideline antics,
Ford is a head case, he has talent but he is not the unique talent he thinks he is,
Whipple should be terminated he is an angry old man who couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag.
FYI we are 4/6 over our last 10 games and we were favored in 7 games.
Time to move on from the Narduzzi experience, this is season 6 and no progress has been made.
Today was an embarrassment when was the last time Pitt put on a performance like this?
No shame in losing to that Notre Dame team. However you can’t lose like that to Notre Dame in year six, even without the starting qb. These are all Narduzzi’s players and all his handpicked staff, regardless of what fault others on the staff(Whipple, Borbely) might bare, it’s on him.
So true newf ,and i keep reading people saying give narduzzi 1 more yr ,and what good is that as they’ll be worse next yr
I think Narduzzi hats at least 1 more year, and probably 2, because of the contract. He has brought stability to the program, which was badly needed, but I think this is what it’s going to be like with him. Somewhere between 5-7 and 7-5 most years, 8-4 in a great year. Maybe that’s what the ceiling of the program is, but given the increased $ outlay on the program, I get the feeling the administration wants a little more than that.
Undisciplined and it looks like he lost the locker room
Cannot continue to make excuses for this Staff time to move on before They run this program into the ground.
Narduzzi needs fired the very second this season ends ,he’s totally lost this team.,whipple is an awful oc ,that’s the guy narduzzi hired so he’s responsibile for this high school offense ,this team has quit and so has narduzzi ,its time for heather to start lining up candidates
Pat Narduzzi is a DC. That is his best self. The HC Experiment is over.
Steal Canada from the Steelers. Wouldn’t that be ironic.
It would be great if they got Canada and demoted Narduzzi to DC. Then Canada could back the bus over Narduzzi until he’s had enough abuse and decides to quit.
I really think he thinks that little of Offense is the reason he’s hiring these OC that just, well, SUCK is the best word to describe THEM with the exception of Canada. And he hated the fact that Canada was getting the praise.
HEAD Coach is a HEAD case himself.
EOS try to keep the best recruiters we have dump everyone else.
Time for Heather to put her signature on the FB Program.