Pitt Takeaways: Don’t Wait to Make a Change

It looked like Pitt might actually start to buzz after a good second quarter against Syracuse, moving the ball well on a couple of scoring drives and limiting ‘Cuse to just 45 yards, but of course, it didn’t last.

Pitt collapsed in the second half, utterly and completely, and it resulted in the eighth loss of the season. Pitt turned the ball over four times, couldn’t run the football and allowed damn near 400 yards to a new-look Syracuse Wildcat offense.

Let’s just get into a few takeaways.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi claps after the Panthers score against Virginia Tech on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Mitchell Northam / Pittsburgh Sports Now.)

Time for Pat Narduzzi to Step Up 

It’s difficult to advocate for someone losing their job. The Pitt coaches, by all accounts, are good people. But college football is a business, Pitt is trying to win football games however possible, and it’s not happening. So, tough decisions — tough decisions for Pat Narduzzi — need to be made.

If the plan is to let Frank Cignetti Jr. go on Sunday, Nov. 26, why wait? In a 2-8 season, which has the not-too-unlikely potential to finish 2-10, why wait?

How many times does Narduzzi need to step up to the podium and say that Pitt didn’t put its players in the position to win? One more season?

“Obviously, really disappointing, and we were right there in the first half, and we were in the game, and disappointing second half,” Narduzzi said. “We didn’t finish. It starts with me, I take full responsibility. It’s my job to get the 74 guys we bring on the road all ready to go, but it starts with the coaching. It’s putting our guys in the position to make plays offensively and defensively, and we obviously didn’t do that today.”

Pitt has had some serious problems this season, and the effects of this disastrous season may be felt well into the offseason. It’s time for Narduzzi to step up and make the changes — in terms of coaching — that this team needs.

Pathetic Performance 

Again, difficult to advocate for someone losing their job, but also again, Pitt is trying to win football games.

There’s an argument to be made that Pitt should clean house offensively, and it’s looking like a better option after every game this season. It’s time to make changes — as many as needed to ensure this season doesn’t happen again.

Pitt is 114th in points per game (19.9) and 117th in total offense (310.5) in college football, and there are only four Power Five schools in each category that have been worse than Pitt this season. The passing offense is a disaster, with a couple of failing quarterbacks trying to run Frank Cignetti Jr.’s offense, and the run game is non-existent.

“We obviously as coaches have to put them in a better position to make plays,” Narduzzi said. “We didn’t put them in a position to make plays.”

Narduzzi said that he was very comfortable with the offensive game plan — that sometimes those plans work, and sometimes they don’t. Maybe other places. This game plan doesn’t work, and it hasn’t worked for just about two seasons now. When a team decides to just the ball 66 times, running a never-before-seen Wildcat because the opposing coaching staff is entirely sure that Pitt is unable to keep up, it’s a slap in the face.

Pitt turned the ball over four times, went three-and-out twice and was a hindrance — yet again — in the second half. Lack of discipline and focus, miscommunications and questionable personnel usage and playcalling have plagued Pitt all season. It’s almost gotten worse as the season has worn on.

“Didn’t get enough first downs, didn’t score enough points and the four turnovers in the second half are just really disappointing. You can’t win with four turnovers.”

You can’t win with this offense either.

Pittsburgh Panthers linebacker Shayne Simon (32) November 4, 2023 David Hague/PSN

Historically Bad Run Defense 

After a 43-yard performance against Syracuse, Rodney Hammond Jr. has racked up 381 yards (at 4.2 yards per carry) and three touchdowns on the ground for Pitt this season. That’s in nine games. Syracuse, in one afternoon at Yankee Stadium, racked up 382 yards (at 5.8 yards per carry) and two touchdowns on the ground.

Pat Narduzzi likes to run the football, and he likes to stop opposing teams from running the football. His team didn’t do either Saturday.

“It’s frustrating. You’re frustrated with the loss, period,” Narduzzi said. “There’s a lot of things you’re frustrated with, but certainly, you’d like to stop the run. And we didn’t do that today.”

In eight-and-a-half seasons under Narduzzi, his defense has allowed more than 382 yards just twice in a single game — the 2015 Military Bowl against Navy, allowing 417 yards on 71 rushing attempts, and a 2017 ACC matchup against Georgia Tech (in the midst of the triple-option offense), allowing 436 yards on 67 carries.

Syracuse racked up 382 yards on 66 carries, and while ‘Cuse isn’t a service academy or a triple-option offense, the game plan clearly changed.

The Orange attempted just eight passes against Pitt, throwing for just 17 yards, but it didn’t matter. The Panthers knew what was coming, the coaches making the calls and players trying to execute on the field, but it didn’t matter much.

“Obviously they didn’t plan on passing, I’m not sure Shrader could throw it, he hadn’t played for the last couple of weeks — didn’t even know he was gonna go today,” Narduzzi said following the loss. “But had no idea who the starting quarterback was — you try to work for (Carlos) Del Rio Wilson and everybody else.

“They did a lot of different stuff that we had not practiced. We tried to adjust as we went, obviously tackling had something to do with it, and we’ll watch that and see who missed and where we executed wrong but 66 rushes. We were on the field for a long time.”

Let’s Head to the Finish Line 

Boston College at home on Thursday night, for Senior Night, and Duke on the road. And that’s it. Two games left. The best-case scenario is a 4-8 season — which would be the worst season since 1998.

There isn’t much Pitt can do now besides giving its younger players chances to receive legitimate snaps against decent opponents. That’s been the case for a couple of first and second-year players throughout this season, and it needs to continue in increasing numbers. There are numerous veterans — who should be respected for their contributions to Pitt football — that should cede time to the younger players.

Pick either Christian Veilleux or Nate Yarnell, and see what they’ve got. The No. 1 priority has to be figuring out whether or not either is the quarterback of the future.

Narduzzi said there’s no quit in the locker room, everyone is together, and he guaranteed it. He said that Pitt would be ready for Boston College on a short week.

We’ll see about that Thursday night.