There’s a veteran presence at Pitt, across the roster and in the coaching staff, but that doesn’t much if all 11 players on the football field are not dialed in as a unit on any given snap on Saturdays.
With players like Carter Warren, Jared Wayne, Habakkuk Baldonado and SirVocea Dennis — to name just a few — leading Pitt’s position groups this season, it’s not as if Pitt has struggled to find capable leadership and production. But if film room sessions, practices and any and every on-and off-the-field work doesn’t generate the right knowledge and enforce the correct details, that’s a problem.
“If I had to pull it up there, attitude takes no talent,” Pat Narduzzi said Monday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “Effort takes no talent. Toughness takes no talent. Knowledge takes some talent. You’ve still got new guys out there, whether it’s at the linebacker position, new defensive ends out there, a new quarterback, new wideouts. You’ve got a new offensive coordinator as well.
“There’s growing pains that go with that, how you want it done, what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, transitioning from different styles of games based on who you’re playing. You’ve got a quarterback out for a game, game and a half, whatever it is. Okay, what do we have to do this week? You mold in what you need to win that week, getting out of the mold, doing what you do.”
Following Saturday’s 26-21 loss to Georgia Tech, the second loss of the season, Narduzzi said that Pitt’s knowledge and detail have to be better. The details aren’t what may be normally seen when simply watching a game on television, but when watching re-watching the GT loss, the missed details stood out. If one player isn’t doing things the right way, that leaves 10 guys “busting their tails” for no reason. And that’s on offense, defense and special teams.
There hasn’t been a lot of consistency — especially on offense this season — but it’s also come about as injuries have left Pitt without key starters and reserves for games at a time offensively and defensively. There isn’t a true identity, a true sense of who Pitt is just yet, but Narduzzi doesn’t see a lack of confidence anywhere.
“I think you better be confident in what you’re doing in your jobs, our jobs,” Narduzzi said. “You better be confident in what you’re doing. I like confidence. If you don’t have confidence, you have bigger issues than anything. There’s got to be reality too. I think we got a good balance of that.”
Pitt can’t linger on the Georgia Tech loss for too long, no matter how crushing it is, with conference play getting into full swing. Virginia Tech is up next at Acrisure Stadium this Saturday, and it’s a chance for the knowledge and detail learned from the loss to be applied — to be learned from in the long run.
“We closed a chapter last night,” Narduzzi said. “We’re moving on. I think we’ve got a team that’s getting better every week: Virginia Tech. … Be another good challenge for our guys to bounce back and find out what we got.”
Please tell your assistants about this weeks emphasis on focus and ask them to help you hold the team accountable. Emphasize that we are not punishing the team for lack of focus, rather we are setting a higher expectation! H2P
Attendance 2022
70,000 for WVU.
60,000 for UTK.
55,000 for URI.
50,000 for GaTech.
…
Any guesses for VaTech? Weather is looking fair, SOP.
also guess what it will be like next year, long removed from the Pickett ACC championship. Lot’s of talent leaving this year. back to the 20k and covered seats.
Don’t really care. I know I’ll be there and I will be watching the players on the field, not staring at the fans (or lack of fans, so no need for snarky replys) in the stands. Honestly don’t understand the obsession with attendance. Pitt crowds no different than a lot of schools their size.