Pat Narduzzi obviously wants to see a Pitt win against Kent State in the season opener Saturday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium, but it goes deeper than that.
It’s the first time Pitt hits the field in the 2024-25 season, and a lot has changed since the end of last season (with an entirely new offensive staff). Pitt isn’t overlooking Kent State, but the Golden Flashes provide a ready and willing warm-up for Cincinnati and West Virginia in the non-conference schedule.
Pitt is implementing a new up-tempo offense, and it’s being led by Alabama transfer quarterback Eli Holstein — his first taste of college football. Holstein and Nate Yarnell are both slated to receive snaps at quarterback, but Narduzzi just wants to see the new offense run smoothly.
As smoothly as possible, that is.
“First thing come out, just operation. I mean, I wanna see execution. Saturday’s not gonna be perfect. There will be hiccups along the way, but I want to see details. I wanna see us just pay attention to details. There’s gonna be a TFL in the run game; there’s gonna be a misread in the route. There’s gonna be a throw that gets buried in the ground. It’s gonna happen. But just the details, operation and getting lined up properly, not having false starts, all those little things that kill and stall drives.”
Pitt struggled mightily offensively in the first scrimmage of the summer, the first real chance to matchup against the defense in a game-like situation. The operation wasn’t smooth; that changed in scrimmage No. 2, which was won by the offense.
Narduzzi just wants to see a clean offensive performance, no matter who’s in the game.
A Narduzzi defense is built upon two things: stopping the run and getting after the quarterback. The Panthers weren’t able to do much of either last season, but an inability to stop the run frustrated Narduzzi beyond belief.
“The No. 1 thing, we better stop the run,” Narduzzi said. “Kent, they like to run the football. Head coach is a running backs guy, wants to get his tailback — who I think is one of the better players on the football team. The quarterbacks, they’re gonna have RPOs, but we better stop the run. If we get an RPO, I’m not gonna be as concerned as if we give up a run. I mean, to be successful this year, we have to stop the run. We did not do that last year; the year before, we did. The year before, we did. The year before, we did, and I want to get back to doing that.”
Pitt allowed 150.2 rushing yards per game last season, a far cry from the top units (98 yards allowed/game in 2022, 88.7 yards allowed/game in 2021 and 93.5 yards allowed/game) under Narduzzi of late, but it’s a new-look defense.
An older defense last season wasn’t able to generate much push up the middle; the defensive line is much younger and more athletic this season. And if the offense is able to score some points this season, make it a little easier on the defense, the push rush and run defense will be able to work more cohesively.
A Kent State squad that likes to run the ball will be a good early test for the new-look defense as it looks to regain its form in 2024.
