Go Play Ball: The Balancing Act of Pitt’s Offensive Approach This Season

If there’s one thing that was proven in the first half of the 2022 season, it’s that Pitt is a run-first offense. Jake Kradel confirmed as much after the Virginia Tech win — if Israel Abanikanda’s record-breaking performance didn’t show it.

Abanikanda ran over, around and past the Virginia Tech defense to rack up 320 yards and six touchdowns — breaking Tony Dorsett’s record for rushing yards in a game.

Abanikanda also leads the ACC in rushing yards (830), rushing yards per game (138.3), rushing touchdowns (12), total touchdowns (13), all-purpose yards (1,117) and all-purpose yards per game (186.2). It’s fair to say he’s carried Pitt offensively.

And according to Pat Narduzzi, there are no plans to alter the course. Abanikanda is the hot hand, and even when Rodney Hammond Jr. returns from injury, Abanikanda will continue to be the guy. But that also doesn’t mean Hammond can’t form an elite duo with Abanikanda going forward this season.

“We’re not going to stall Izzy, I can tell you that,” Narduzzi said Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “Rodney’s good, and we gotta get Rodney back to 100%, he’s not 100% yet. Wish he was. But we gotta get Rodney back to where he’s 100% and we can maybe talk more about where he is. You guys saw him limping out there on Tuesday a little bit.

“We’re not going to slow down what Izzy’s done so far. He’s proven it. We’ve talked for the last couple of years about who’s the hot hand. He’s the hot hand right now and he keeps getting hotter.”

Pittsburgh Panthers running back Israel Abanikanda (2) October 8, 2022 David Hague/PSN

A one-two-three of Abanikanda, Hammond and Vincent Davis is in place. The offensive line put together its strongest performance of the season in blocking Abanikanda’s historic day. It’s a stark contrast from the passing attack this season, a reversal of roles from last season.

Kenny Pickett threw for 4,300 yards and 42 touchdowns last season, serving as perhaps the best deep ball passer in college football. Kedon Slovis has thrown for 1,110 yards and five touchdowns through four and a half games this season.

The passing game hasn’t been able to click this season. There have been injuries to the quarterbacks, the offensive linemen, the wide receivers, the tight ends and even the running backs, but it’s looked like Slovis has been hesitant to take risks downfield and instead opts for check-downs and dump-offs.

Narduzzi looks at the situation in a glass-half-full kind of light. The running game is working, as the passing game did last season. You can’t always have a complete balance.

“Everyone wants to talk about, ‘How’s Kedon doing?’ And it’s, like, you know, to talk about a run game and Izzy’s performance last week — it would be bad on my part not to talk about how successful he’s been, how well the offensive line has blocked and fullbacks and whatever, the tight-ends.

“But everybody wants both, right? Last year, we don’t have a run game. You guys talk about the run game. This week — this year, we’re running the ball better than we’re throwing it. We like to be two-dimensional. We like to be great at everything.”

Narduzzi is notably a fan of the run game, and with an elite running back in Abanikanda, why wouldn’t he be in favor of utilizing the offense’s best and most consistent player? If push came to shove, Narduzzi would rather run for 400 yards than throw for 400 yards. The run game is working.

But the run game works even better when there’s even the hint of a threat to push the football downfield through the air. The RPO offense was supposed to be a strength of Pitt’s offense this season, and it hasn’t quite been utilized to its fullest.

Slovis’s average depth of target this season is 9.1 yards, which isn’t far off Pickett’s 9.7 ADOT last season, but where Pickett excelled in volume and downfield prowess, Slovis hasn’t.

Pitt isn’t going to throw the ball 40 times a game. Slovis has only crossed the 30-attempt plateau once this season, but he’s shown he’s capable at USC.

It’s not as if Pitt is forcing Slovis to drastically alter his style of play, it’s about the same as it’s been since his freshman year at USC, but the difference has been the success of his opportunities.

In 2019, Slovis completed 24-of-42 pass attempts (57.1%) over 20 yards for 960 yards and 10 touchdowns.

In 2020, Slovis completed 18-of-39 pass attempts (46.2%) over 20 yards for 571 yards and seven touchdowns.

In 2021, Slovis completed 22-of-50 pass attempts (44%) over 20 yards for 690 yards and six touchdowns.

In 2022, Slovis has completed 5-of-17 pass attempts (29.4%) over 20 yards for 131 yards and two touchdowns.

Slovis threw to the likes of NFL stars Amon-Ra St. Brown and Michael Pittman Jr. (and a young Drake London) as a freshman at USC, so there were elite playmakers to throw to, but he still flashed enough arm strength and precision to make throws across every level of the field.

The deep ball has just about been eliminated from Slovis’s game this season, in favor of check-downs and dump-offs, and Narduzzi pointed at the potential of Slovis perhaps being overcoached a bit this season when it comes to a playmaking perspective.

“It’s — you know, sometimes it comes down to maybe overcoaching stuff,” Narduzzi said. “Sometimes we’re — put it this way: I think (Slovis’s) a pleaser. And I think he’s trying to do everything exactly the right way. And sometimes I think he can overthink things.

“So, I think we just got to kind of let it go and maybe don’t overcoach him as much and let him play football and let him do what he does.”

Narduzzi still feels like Slovis has been above average this season, maybe not a winning effort every performance, but above average nonetheless. He knows, and said Slovis himself knows, that Slovis can be better. It may just be as simple as Pitt is cluttering Slovis’s mind with “useless details.” But it also cannot be Pitt simply relying upon taking what any opposing defense gives Slovis and the offense.

“There’s so many times — as a quarterback, sometimes you can clutter his mind with useless details. Instead of just saying, ‘Hey, let him go play ball.'”

Narduzzi said that it may be twofold — the coaching staff can do better at putting him in positions to succeed and he’ll be able to see the field at a better level. That goes for putting Slovis in a position to succeed, yes, but also for Abanikanda in the run game.

“And as I say, coaches will coach, players will play,” Narduzzi said. “And we’re going to do a good job of getting Izzy in a position where he can be successful. That’s what we’ve done. He hits the hole fast.

“It’s a coach’s job to put him in a position to be successful. And our offense has done that. And we’ve done an outstanding job running the football, period. And we’ll continue to do that.”

It’s a three-part deal when concerning Pitt’s passing attack. There’s the blocking, the route running and the decision-making. Three separate areas need to work together as one. And it needs to be under the umbrella of strong offensive play-calling.

There’s been a lot let to desire when it’s come to Pitt’s offense this season, outside of Abanikanda, but Pitt controls its own destiny going forward. If Pitt goes 6-0 the rest of the way, that will mean a 10-2 record entering the ACC championship game. But a lot of that will rely upon the offense figuring out how to coexist.