Pitt OC Kade Bell Has Crucial Job of Helping Eli Holstein Rebound

It may have started against Cal, but the offensive issues came to a head in a blowout loss against then-No. 20 SMU over the weekend. It was a total Pitt collapse, to be fair, but something has to give offensively.

If the defensive touchdowns are taken away, Pitt is averaging 20.7 points per game over the last three weeks — and that’s with two second-team touchdowns against SMU. That’s not going to cut it over the final four games of the season.

Offensive coordinator Kade Bell has done a lot of good things this season, but maybe the most important thing he can do the rest of the season is settle Eli Holstein down.

The first-team offense has scored just five touchdowns over the last three games. Desmond Reid has scored three of those, a 5-yarder and 72-yarder (on fourth-and-1) against Cal, and a 1-yarder against SMU.

Eli Holstein hasn’t scored a touchdown in two of the last three games. He was poor against Cal, bounced back to the tune of two passing touchdowns against Syracuse (a 20-yarder to Censere Lee and a 29-yarder to Poppi Williams) and hit another low against SMU.

Holstein, for the second time in three weeks, looked horrible. He hasn’t looked great over the last three weeks as a whole, and it’s become a legitimate problem.

Holstein doesn’t need to be a Heisman Trophy candidate, but if Pitt is to reach beyond and achieve its lofty goals (which are still possible), Holstein has to be better. As opposing defenses — starting with Cal — have started to study him, his weaknesses have been exploited. He hasn’t processed defenses well, breaking down under heavier pressure.

Defenses have been able to confuse Holstein with disguises, changing the coverages and forcing him to adjust post-snap. It hasn’t gone well as defenses have taken away his first read at a higher rate. But at the same time, Holstein hasn’t been able to consistently make the “easy” plays either.

In the first five games of the season, Holstein completed 113-of-172 pass attempts (65.7%) for 1,567 yards with 15 touchdowns and three interceptions, adding 265 yards (5.5 yards per carry) and three rushing touchdowns.

In the last three games of the season, he’s completed 54-of-91 pass attempts (59.3%) for 489 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions, adding 40 yards (1.7 yards per carry).

It’s not ideal, but it probably shouldn’t be a major surprise. Holstein is a freshman, eight games into his collegiate career, and the “freshman wall” is real. But Holstein has shown flashes — extended looks even — of greatness. It doesn’t matter how much is on film, it’s impressive to lead back-to-back double-digit comebacks against Power Four opponents. He’s a big, strong kid (freshly 20 years old) with all the tools.

Holstein is the guy. He’s the present and the future, and while he’s not playing well right now, it’s up to Bell and the offensive staff to find ways to get him comfortable.

Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein warming up against North Carolina

It would help if the offensive line could withstand four rushers. According to PFF, he was pressured on just over 35% of his dropbacks against SMU.

“We gotta protect him better, whatever it is,” Pat Narduzzi said after the game. “Whether we gotta put six guys in there, max protect, we gotta find a way to protect him. We gotta get the ball out, and then we gotta catch the ball. I think we had more drops today than in the seven previous games.” 

The offense as a whole hasn’t operated well, but Holstein hasn’t done himself any favors either. He’s struggled to adjust. He’s played like the game is moving a step or two too fast. Bell hasn’t called perfect games, but he can’t complete the open throws for Holstein either. There isn’t an instant fix, but it’s up to Bell to figure out how to snap Holstein out of his funk.

It’s been particularly difficult on third down. Pitt is converting just 37% of its third down attempts this season (11th in the ACC), and that’s with a 5-of-17 performance against SMU — a 20% conversion rate over the last three games.

The early third down woes set Pitt back against the Mustangs. Holstein wasn’t particularly sharp, but the playcalling wasn’t either. So, while the offense has moved quickly this season, racking up yards and tons of points at a rate far greater than the last couple of seasons, there’s work to be done.

“We gotta go back and look at what we’re doing as coaches and what we’re asking our kids to do and figure it out,” Narduzzi said. “It starts with a good defense, SMU’s defense we know was good stopping the run. Top 25 defense in the country, they’ve been good all year, and we didn’t do a good job. We’re not making plays, and we’re not doing a good enough job coaching.”

With four games left this season, in the regular season, at least, there’s a lot of time to work out the kinks. A lot of time for Bell and Holstein to figure it out together. Holstein can’t do it by himself.

“It’s a team game,” Narduzzi said. “It takes 11 guys out there running the right routes and it takes protection and you gotta trust your protection and you gotta get the ball out. And we’ll look at it, but it’s one of those games. He’s played well all year, and we just wanted to get him out of there at the end to protect him. And make sure we didn’t lose him play in that game. But hey, you can’t be great every day. And we’ll bounce back.”

Holstein has talent, he’s shown that very clearly this season, but he’s young and inexperienced. Bell might be young, too, but he’s the perfect offensive coordinator to guide Holstein through his first stretch of adversity.

It’s not as if there’s pressure, but this is why Narduzzi hired Bell. He’s in charge of the offense because he showed Narduzzi his vision — and now he has to show Narduzzi the results. The future is now after this season’s start.

“We’re just starting slow,” Gavin Bartholomew said after the game. “We’ve got to get the offense going, the defense is helping us out as much as they can, but as an offense and as a unit, we’ve got to keep the ball moving and score points.”

Pitt is back in action this weekend against Virginia, an 8 p.m. kickoff at Acrisure Stadium, and there are expectations now.