Christian Veilleux Puts Blame on Himself Following Pitt Loss

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Christian Veilleux didn’t play well against No. 14 Notre Dame, and he knows it. It was a game in which he never really felt like himself.

I suppose that can sometimes happen after taking a 9-yard on the first play offensive snap of the game.

“Didn’t play the type of football, the level of football that I wanted to play, and I wanted to showcase, so I’ll go back and watch the film,” Veilleux said following the loss. “But just made too many mistakes out there. A lot of it I should have just either taken a sack or scrambled. So, it’s all on me, I take full responsibility for it, just gotta move on, get better and learn.”

Veilleux completed just 14-of-29 pass attempts (48.3%) for 127 yards with four interceptions. It was a poor performance, one in which he never really appeared to be on the same page with his wideouts, and he said that the only thing he can do is learn from it — he made just his third career start, after all.

“You gotta watch the film and really understand where you went wrong, what you could do and then you gotta implement it in practice,” Veilleux said. “So, excited for the opportunity next week, excited to build off of this and just one step ahead every single day.”

Pitt faced a good Notre Dame defense that limited Ohio State to just 17 points and dominated the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, completely stifling USC quarterback Caleb Williams in a career-worst performance. All Veilleux can take from this performance is the experience, and as he said multiple times, learn from it.

He doesn’t have much time before No. 4 Florida State comes to town next weekend, so it’s back-to-back to the facility on Sunday, back to the film room and back to the practice field this week to try to solve what’s plagued the offense all season.

The miscommunications between Veilleux and the Pitt wide receivers, especially, were a major problem against Notre Dame. There certainly have been times when the quarterback and wide receivers haven’t been on the same page, and it appeared to be worse than ever against the Irish — misfiring on timing, wide receivers not looking when the ball was thrown their way, etc.

Pittsburgh Panthers tight end Gavin Bartholomew (86) and Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Christian Veilleux (11) September 2, 2023 David Hague/PSN

“You see a couple of them out there, and I don’t know if it’s exactly the routes and the quarterback just throwing it where it’s not supposed to be,” Narduzzi said. “We’ll see the details there and probably have a better answer on Monday. We had opportunities.”

Narduzzi said he thought that Veilleux started the game before making some errant passes and bad decisions. I don’t think he started well. I don’t think anyone played well offensively. It was a horrible night, and everyone — coaches and players — is to blame.

But even with a particularly hard night, with Nate Yarnell closing out the game (going 2-of-3 for 75 yards and a touchdown in garbage time), Veilleux is still the Pitt starter going forward.

“It’s about getting him reps and seeing what he’s got,” Narduzzi said. “He’s a good football player, and we’ve got a lot of faith in him as well. It was just an opportunity to get Christian out of there, sit down and watch a bit. Christian is not benched. It was just a matter of giving Nate a shot to show what he’s got.”

It would be easy to compare Veilleux’s play with Jurkovec’s play, but unlike Jurkovec, Veilleux has two extra seasons of eligibility remaining and has started just a handful of collegiate games. Pitt needs to see what it has in him, and Veilleux saw how his teammates had his back.

“All the guys on the sideline had my back. Obviously, I felt terrible, I felt like it was on me today that the offense wasn’t producing. I know the guys have my back, I know that we’re all focused on next week and there’s no quit in this team. I wouldn’t trade this roster with any other roster.”

Veilleux doesn’t have an unlimited leash, especially if the poor showings continue, but he has a chance to show that he can brush off bad losses, learn from his mistakes and improve with increased reps.

It will be tough against Florida State, but Veilleux needs to show — this season — that he can be the starter going forward. If he can’t do that, then there’s certainly no guarantee he’ll be the guy next season.