MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Phil Jurkovec played poorly — to put it lightly — against West Virginia Saturday night, but Jake Kradel made sure to give his quarterback a vote of confidence when given the chance.
“Phil’s a great leader,” Kradel said following Pitt’s loss to WVU. “There’s no question about him, he doesn’t waver at all, he keeps us up, we keep him up, and I have so much confidence in that guy. If we just continue to block for him, give him time to throw, he’ll make plays.”
Narduzzi did say that, while he still needs to go back and watch the tape, he thought the offensive line performed better against West Virginia than it did last weekend against Cincinnati — at least in pass protection.
West Virginia was credited with just two quarterback hits and a sack against Pitt Saturday night.
But it wasn’t enough for Jurkovec as he completed just 8-of-20 pass attempts (40%) for 81 yards and three interceptions in the loss. But Narduzzi — like Kradel — is still a firm believer.
“We’ve got a lot of faith in Phil, and you gotta give defenses credit,” Narduzzi said in his postgame press conference. “Took the opening drive, and you get down to the 3-yard line, you gotta score touchdowns. And you don’t.”
Jurkovec is in the midst of a two-week stretch in which he’s completed 18-of-52 pass attempts for 260 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. Two losses. And just three total touchdowns — none this week.
Kradel, for whatever reason, still believes in Jurkovec’s ability to lead the Pitt offense.
“From a passing standpoint, Phil’s doing great,” Kradel said. “We just gotta protect better. It starts with me as the center. I gotta make the best IDs, the best calls, put the guys in the best position to protect him. And Phil will deliver.”
The offensive line has been a problem this season, and it wasn’t perfect (though it was improved) against WVU, but Jurkovec hasn’t done himself any favors either. Kradel, in the true spirit of the never-say-die center, reiterated that the offensive line just needs to give Jurkovec more time.
“His attitude was great,” Kradel said. “Phil’s just a natural leader, and he didn’t waver one bit, and that’s the thing I love about him. He’s from Pittsburgh, he’s gritty, he’s not gonna let any crowd get in his head or anything. He played hard, at the end of the game, we just gotta play better for him.”
I don’t know exactly how much time Jurkovec will need next Saturday against No. 20 North Carolina next weekend at Acrisure Stadium to show out, but we’ll see if the sure-to-be-heard boos get in Jurkovec’s head again.
Ton of excuses with nothing to back it up. Sad group of guys including this platform.
No excuses! The start to this year has set this program back as far as I can remember. Jurkovec should not have been on the field at all in the 2nd half. All you need to know is how the offense was designed in the first half. It tells you that they had absolutely no faith or confidence in Phil. This game and Narduzzi has set Pitt football back with these last two performances. The recruits will be running away like roaches when the light comes on. Especially the offensive side of the ball. They haven’t recruited a Qb, which… Read more »
They have a commitment at qb, a 3 ⭐️ from Penn Hills. All the 4 ⭐️ qbs were smart and went elsewhere. And recruits are probably going to start to decommit with shit show performances like the last 2 weeks
Dugger will be moving on. HIs good start combined with pitt’s anemic start and now the stadium will be empty will see them all run
He’s TERRIBLE….
It’s Time To Fire Narduzzi – His Stupidity is Obvious, and the Reality is that he his Uneducated!
“You gotta give defenses credit…” WHAT????? West Virginia had the worst pass defense in the country last year, and were, up until Cignetti and Jurkovec’s overwhelming generosity, the worst in the country this year. The solution was to run non-stop on them? It’s clear, that despite whatever lies they’re telling to the media, that they do not “have a lot of faith in Phil.” If they had confidence in him, they would have used him to take advantage of an awful pass D. They ran a lot of off man/zone coverages. Aaaaaannnnnddd? That opens up 3 step drops, slants, screens,… Read more »
People are concerned about Jurkovec’s football IQ. Have you heard him speak? I’m not sure he can even read A Cat In The Hat.”