PITTSBURGH — Phil Jurkovec heard the boos at Acrisure Stadium Saturday night, and it’s safe to say he wasn’t a fan.
It was a rough night at Acrisure Stadium as Pitt fell to Cincinnati 27-21, and Jurkovec struggled throughout much of the game. He completed 10-of-32 pass attempts (31%) for 179 yards and three touchdowns. The offense looked out of sync all night, and with two chances to score late to take the lead, both chances slipped by unsuccessfully.
Pitt fans voiced their displeasure throughout the night — largely at the offense. And Jurkovec didn’t mince his words.
“I think if you’re a grown-ass man booing in that stadium, then you gotta look at things yourself,” Jurkovec said following the loss. “I think that’s pathetic. But you know what? We didn’t play well enough, so we’re gonna be better.”
Pitt’s offense was lifeless throughout much of the first three quarters, failing to put together any sort of consistency through the air, and to be fair to Jurkovec, it wasn’t just limited to his play. The offensive line was battered all night, and the wide receivers let some balls hit the turf. But Jurkovec wasn’t good enough.
Pat Narduzzi, as was the case throughout last season, never considered the idea of benching Jurkovec in the second half. Jurkovec — for better or worse — has Narduzzi’s complete faith entering next week.
“I think first thing, it starts with the offensive line,” Narduzzi said following the loss. “It takes 11. Everybody is going to point at the quarterback. He’ll get all the glory when you win football games. He’s a great quarterback, got a lot of faith in him.”
Narduzzi said that Pitt would need to improve everything entering the Backyard Brawl next week in Morgantown, W.Va., and that certainly includes Jurkovec’s play and the ability of the offense to mesh across all phases of the offense.
“I think I just missed some throws,” Jurkovec said. “I gotta trust some plays more, trust that they’re gonna be there and trust my training. I got away from that a little bit with my footwork and messing up and leaving the pocket too early. So, those are things I can correct.”
The Backyard Brawl is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. next Saturday in Morgantown.
Maybe he should just transfer again. Like tomorrow.
Sorry Phil. A grown a$$ man should learn to take the criticism when it’s warranted. Missing 22 of your 32 passes is also pretty pathetic.
Can we have Slovis back?
Sad, but funny.
I don’t blame Jurkovic at all. The O line was completely outplayed ruining both the run game and pass plays. If you’re blaming the quarterback you watched the game at a crack house.
It’s not an either/or in my mind. The offensive line was bad, Jurkovic was bad, and the wide receivers were bad, too.
Narduzzi is a Bum!! He is an idiot and should have been fired when we lost to Penn State after the field goal attempt on 4th and 1 .Duh!! “we had to come away with 3 points”
This is what you get when you can’t recruit a top QB.
Pitt has been trying to get by with guys who are going nowhere 8n their football careers.
Most of the top QB recruits watch Pitt play and see it is not a QB friendly offense and say, time to find another team that knows how to coach offense.Duzz is simply a one trick pony as a coach, has no clue of offensive football..It is pretty obvious his defense can be had,as Cinn. just showed,
Cignetti sucks. Slovis was not the problem, Cignetti is. Jurkovec has always been inaccurate.
I wish I could like this comment more than once.
Cignetti has had 9 coaching jobs in the last 15 years.
There is a reason for that.
They had a baller on the bench till ucla game.. some guys make plays and arent practice studs.. wake up nardizzi
Right. Guys know what’s up. Davis Beville, Nate Yarnell, Nick Patti, Ben DiNucci, Joe Flacco, Chad Voytik, all see Narduzzi’s fascination with re-tread tires. Joey Yellen, Bo Schneider, Ricky Towne, Nathan Peterman, Tom Savage, Max Browne, C Villeaux, Phil Jurkovec.. Oh wait some of those guys did great so it is safe to say Yinzers judge after the fact. The best measure of a QB is his hand size and whether he wears a glove… Jurkovec will Win us 8 or 9 games, be content with it as that is our History outside the six Year stretch in the late… Read more »
I for one will not boo a college player. Even though they are getting closer and closer to the paid status of pro athletes, to me most of them are still college kids. BUT….this comment really struck a nerve. Sorry kid, grow up. If Jurk is that thin skinned, he shouldn’t be playing Division 1. So he thinks 10-31 is acceptable? Does he realize people pay good money to watch the game?
10 of 32 and he was helped out a lot by many pass interference calls, on bad plays by Cincy defenders on mostly uncatchable passes. You mean they didn’t boo him in Boston. I find that hard to believe, if he was 10 of 32 there
He looked no better than Slovis !!!!
After 2 games last year, against far tougher competition Slovis was a mile better.
Slovis’s accuracy was 10 times better than this Jerk kid. And that allowed Pitt’s run game to actually work. If Jerk kid can’t pass better, Pitt won’t be able to run either.
Dude you went 10 for 32 Jerk earned every one
Cignetti is a bad OC.
Jurkovec is an inaccurate passer.
Everyone in CFB knows this.
NOTHING NEW HERE.
Grow up Phil. You get booed when you sick.
So the kids soft. Good to know.
What was pathetic was the first 45 minutes of Pitt’s offense.
Also, let’s not let the head case kicker off the hook either. If he makes the 1st field goal then Pitt is in position to tie and take the lead on those last couple of drives that ended on 4th down.
Very true. Also, Bub Means just flat out sucks.
I understand this emotional statement but cannot rightfully call-out the Kicker since he’s been one of the best in Pitt history. If he misses just one of his 5-field goals against UCLA in the Bowl game last year, Pitt loses.
Positive thought of the day – they played like absolute dog poo and only lost by 6.
When you get NIL money you opens yourself to this criticism. Booooooooo!
Booo Phil. You suck!
Just a bad night overall. Phil is very inaccurate and waits for receivers to get open, rather than throwing them open. OL is still terrible and WRs drop too many balls they get their hands on. Doesn’t help coming out with NO energy at all. They were getting blown up on both lines for 30 min. until they started to get back in the game.
Another mediocre year.
H2P!!!
It’s not even going to be mediocre .We will get crushed by WVU and UNC and Notre Dame,and Wake Forest and Florida State and Duke. Pitt may win there games this year
tried to tell you people Phil is shot…not accurate and always hurt or complaining..team is average at best…Penn State cast offs won’t help. Duzz just can’t recruit and shops the transfer market for other peoples cast offs.
It’s time to stop with the 6th year redemption projects. They are trying to redeem themselves for a reason. Slovis is still struggling at BYU, and Jurkovec is struggling, here. Christian Veilleux is a 4 star. He’s young, hungry, big armed, athletic as hell, and ready to play. The success that Pitt had was when it let QB’s (KP) develop. It wasn’t plug n play redemption projects. All of that being said, Cignetti’s offense is, and always has been, a complete joke. It’s not “pro-style,” it’s boring, unimaginative, predictable, straight drop back, no motion, no misdirection, no roll out, no… Read more »
Narduzzi is stubborn on these types of changes. I’m sure it is a confidence thing, like not trying to take any confidence from his players. But kind of funny that the last time he pulled the plug on a QB during the season we got Kenny Pickett. Is that irony? I don’t know the plays. Or the routs. So I can’t say if this is 100% on the QB. Obviously receivers were not on the same page of the playbook. But if those obvious miscues were because of the QB I think you have to consider letting Veilleux take over… Read more »
never seen a player fight less for a 50/50 ball than Means
Christian looked capable at PSU, needs some work but playing time would help that. Why keep injury Phil in who is mentally soft? Veilleux is the future so play him now. Cig is terrible, his offense is just lob it up and hope for pass interference. Gonna be a long year. UNC, FSU, DUKE, Miami all head and shoulders better than pitt. Clemson is still better as well.
Slovis was 22 of 32 for 350 yards and 4 TDS yesterday. Narduzzi and Cignetti are bad for QBs. Thankfully Pickett had Mark Whipple.
No Running Game and a Pathetic QB – The OC is another Whipple Bozo!
Need to bench lollipop arm… dont do like last uear and let the horrible qb play all year..
Cignetti has to go. I like Narduzzi, but the 2 best OC’s he had he complained about one and ran the other off. Whipple helped Pitt win an ACC title and Pitt wouldn’t match his pay offer from Nebraska. Pitt keeps Whip and we’re at or very near the top of the conference last season and this season. Slob is wasn’t great but he wasn’t the issue. Find an actual OC and keep him. I don’t care if he’s from Pittsburgh or Dallas or the North Pole.
Whipple is not performing so well at Nebraska. I think Pickett helped Whipple, rather than the opposite. Pickett was a strong leader laser focused on improving his game. He never panicked or lacked confidence as QB. These critical attributes are where both Slovis and Jurkovec fails.
If you want to play with the big boys & your play was less than Division 1 caliber, then own up to it. Show people you are better than your performance on Saturday instead of whining about grown *** men booing. You played terrible, the stats & the score reflected that. Suck it up cupcake.
Phil is a baby and a bad qb.
Leadership? Don’t make me laugh.
We would have won that game with an average D-3 qb.
Don’t be so sexist, Phil. I’m sure there were plenty of grown women booing your performance also.
Can’t believe this kid was smart enough to go to ND and dumb enough to make a comment like that. You really going to win an argument with fans. I’m sure they all went into self reflection after that statement and are going to be behind you next week. I always remember this statement from a wise old coach. Who is the idiot. The one who is the idiot or the one who tries to argue with the idiot.
One thing I can not stand about how duzzi runs his program he forgets about the guys he Recuited and brings transfers in and plays them over guys that’s been in the program some time he totally forgot about yarnell. The way he coach is so retarded and it’s catching up to him.
I would never take a kid who was on his 3rd team, especially a QB. You need a leader at that position and a QB who runs when it gets a bit tough should not be in the huddle
You have to take the Boos just as you took the cheers, you can’t expect one and not the other