MORGANTOWN, W.V. — Pitt redshirt senior quarterback Phil Jurkovec didn’t speak to the media following the loss to West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Jurkovec played poorly against the Mountaineers in the 17-6 defeat. He completed just eight of his 18 throws, only had 84 yards and threw three interceptions with 0 touchdowns.
His three interceptions are the most in a Backyard Brawl since Rod Rutherford threw three in 2003, although Rutherford also threw for four touchdowns in the 52-31 loss. His 84 passing yards are also the least in a Backyard Brawl since Pat Bostick threw for 67 yards in 2007. Bostick also won that game, as it ended in the famous 13-9 victory for Pitt who knocked off No. 2 WVU and stopped them from going to the BCS National Championship game.
The sixth year quarterback has played poorly in these past two games. He completed just 10 of his 32 passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns, with many of his throws inaccurate, over thrown, under thrown or poorly placed, in the 27-21 loss to Cincinnati in the River City Rivalry last weekend.
Following the Cincinnati loss, Jurkovec spoke to the media in what is now an infamous press conference. He complained about the home fans booing him and didn’t care for their displeasure in his performance.
Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi has full confidence in Phil Jurkovec, saying that against the Bearcats and the Mountaineers, that he never wanted to bench his starter at any time. Panthers offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr., who coached Jurkovec at Boston College in 2020 and 2021, also has full support in him.
Jurkovec’s three interceptions are the most in a game in his career. He has thrown two interceptions in a game five times previously in his three seasons at Boston College from 2020-22.
He is also the first Pitt quarterback to throw three interceptions or more in a game since Kenny Pickett did so against Clemson on the road in 2020. Pickett also completed two touchdowns in that game and played against one of the best teams in the country, as Clemson would go on to make the College Football Playoff.
Narduzzi also intends to start Jurkovec next week against No. 20 North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Acrisure Stadium, set to kickoff at 8:00 p.m. and broadcasted on the ACC Network.
He needs to be removed as QB. Cignetti needs to be fired. Narduzzi is about to have a season where the program bottoms out because he refuses to make changes. He has not learned his lesson after Nick Patti last year.
Wofford also lost to William & Mary and Presbyterian college. Cincinnati lost to powerhouse Miami ( of Ohio). The offense is a steaming pile. I don’t think Narduzzi wants to put in a Penn State guy to save the season. Not even for a series to have Jerković. Just watch the game for a bit. The stubbornness is unbelievable. This will be a very long season.
Lots of schools bring in FCS REnt-A-Wins. But Pitt went out of it’s way to bring in one of the worst of the worst FCS teams. 5 wins in the last 4 seasons.
Guess they knew they’d have trouble beating a good FCS school/program.
lol….They even had to struggle to pull away in that game!!
Dave Wanstedt, WHERE ARE YOU!! NARDOZI AND THE WHOLE COACHING STAFF + PHIL JURKOVEC GOTTA GO!
COME ON LYSLE, DO YOUR JOB!?
I think he’s doing a fine job. Have faith in Phil, I get it you’re not very patient. Stop and smell the hoagies from Triangle Bar and Grill
The Jurk is an OVERPAID crybaby who should be forced to return his NIL money.
Jurk is approaching Sunseri status, now! Yes, he is just another pampered punk.
Not his fault… The coaching staff has done a terrible job of using what they have they’re trying to put a square peg in a round hole… hey But let’s run the ball 20 times in a row we’ve gone back to the Stone Age.
This is the worst OC and QB coach in college football. Narduzzi has been blind to it. Narduzzi is now the problem
Duzz and his ego/stubbornness have ruined pitt football and they are back to pre-pickett era. Watch how many decommits occur this month
Maybe MSU will take him back. Narduzzi is Weak as Water!
Fire Narduzzi for laziness! He is too busy playing golf cart weirdo! PITT needs to clean house now!
Slovis and Patti did not want to play for Cignetti. No qb does. Cignetti is a fraud. Narduzzi has lost courage to do what is necessary. He is soft and weak.
Heather, please fire Cignetti.
The road was sort of cleared of all QB’s (like Slovis & Patti) who would have outperformed Jerko in Training Camp. Sort of like when the whole opposing defense removes itself one way…..for Jerko to go the other way on one of his unlikely QB run gains, when there is no Defender within 15 yards.
No qb wants anything to do with the con man Cignetti. That is why Slovis and Patti left. That is why Minchey de-committed.
I am bewildered that Cig had both Lyke and Duzz conned.
Patti was a true Pitt guy fighter.. Too bad he got injured a lot and retired..
This new guy is the most hated Pitt QB in awhile..
Patti would have played another year, if anyone other than Cignetti were the OC.
Narduzzi had a great coordinator in Whipple but Duzz couldn’t handle it. He couldn’t handle the talk being about the offense which is why after they beat Virginia in 2021 he made sure to tell reporters “the talk has been all about the offense but that was championship defense.” Then when they won the ACC he stood on stage and told everyone “when I took this job 7 years ago I said we would win it and here we are.” It doesn’t matter if he gets a good coordinator because Barduzzi can’t get along with any offensive coordinator. Whipple left… Read more »
Slovis is 3-0 at BYU.
Slovis wasn’t the right fit for Pitt. He thought the offense was gonna be 1 thing, it was another, he didn’t like it so he left.
You never really see too many players around Jurkovec on the sidelines encouraging him. He’s often by himself. That speaks for itself.
At the same time, who are the leaders on this team? There’ are no clear leaders. In the past two years it was clear who the leaders were.
Sometimes being loaded with 5th and 6th year seniors isn’t actually good thing.
Who is going to step up and lead this team? You don’t need to be loud to be heard. Who is it going to be?
Can Jurkovec even read a book? I’m not so sure by listening to his press conferences. His only future in football is to be an assistant coach at a wpial high school, there he can relive his glory days. That will build him back up by reminding him of “how good he once was. “
Phil’s theme song is Toby Keith’s “As good as I once was.”