Pitt Wasn’t Ready, and It’s Worse This Time

PITTSBURGH — The officials may not have been ready on a fourth-and-1 stop by Pitt, which led to a late Virginia field goal. They may not have been ready, again, when a Virginia defender fell down and earned a phantom holding call on Ryan Baer, which resulted in a failed two-point conversion.

But Pitt wasn’t ready either. And that’s what should hurt the most.

Pitt came out flat for the second straight game. The Panthers were outcoached and outplayed for the second week in a row, and this time, it was to an opponent that was a 7.5-point underdog. Pitt was supposed to beat Virginia and bounce back from a 23-point loss to SMU.

Instead, the Panthers came out flat and failed to adjust in an embarrassing 24-19 loss to Virginia. It’s a worse loss than the one suffered last week.

“It starts with me, starts with our coaches putting our kids in position to make plays,” Pat Narduzzi said Saturday night. “We had way too many penalties in the first half offensively. Again, we got iPads. So I’m seeing a lot of things on iPads. But we lost as a team. Again, it starts with me. I’ve got to do a better job getting our guys prepared. I thought we had a great week of practice, but Virginia came in with a week off and did a nice job.”

It’s largely the same message as last week. The loss starts with Narduzzi and the coaching staff, who need to put the players in a better position to succeed, but ultimately, the players didn’t execute. Well, the offense didn’t.

The offense mustered 292 yards (4.4 yards per play) and went 4-of-13 on third down. Eli Holstein was knocked out of the contest in the third quarter with an apparent head injury, and Nate Yarnell was poor in relief. Just when it seemed like there was some sort of momentum being built offensively, a pre-snap penalty ended it. Every time.

It wasn’t a particularly inspiring night from offensive coordinator Kade Bell, but Holstein still missed the plays that were there to be made.

Holstein completed 10-of-23 pass attempts for 121 yards, but he skipped screen passes across the turf, missed Konata Mumpfield running over the middle of the field a couple of times and just looked rattled. He’s looked rattled for weeks, and for whatever reason, the Pitt coaching staff hasn’t been able to settle him down.

It was perhaps worse than ever against Virginia — a Virginia pass defense that entered the night 126th in passing defense nationally. Holstein didn’t execute, which was compounded by the offensive line failing to gain any sort of cohesion, committing pre-snap penalties and failing to pass protect.

It’s a mess, and there’s not an easy fix. A great strength has slowly turned into an Achilles heel, and that falls on Bell and the offensive staff.

“The teams got better,” Narduzzi said. “That’s the first thing you’ve got to say. Give credit to the defenses. They’ve done a nice job. And we’ve got to do a better job creating plays and making plays. Like I said, I don’t know how many, six, seven drops, I don’t know. So you can’t move the ball, you can’t move the sticks if you don’t catch it and you don’t get to the right guy.

“We’ll sit down and reevaluate where we are, what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and try to put a better product out there. But it’s frustrating, it’s frustrating for our offense, coaches; it’s frustrating for our offensive players. And again, it takes 11, 11 guys out there that have to make plays.”

Pittsburgh Panthers quarterback Eli Holstein (10) November 9, 2024. Michael Longo/PSN

Virginia executed the defensive game plan that’s been in place since Cal gave Holstein and the offense fits last month, and it’s been successfully adopted to some degree by Syracuse, SMU and now the Cavaliers.

Gavin Bartholomew, who finished with three catches for 29 yards and a score, felt like Pitt had a pretty good idea of what Virginia was going to do.

“Maybe they ran a little bit more man than we expected, but at the end of the day, we just gotta execute our jobs and whatever play coach Bell calls, we gotta execute it the best we can,” Bartholomew said Saturday night. “Whatever he calls, it’s gonna work if we execute it.”

Pitt didn’t execute, not nearly well enough against a vulnerable Virginia defense. It was supposed to be a “get right” game before a challenge against No. 23 Clemson next weekend, but Pitt didn’t execute. And clearly, despite preparing for the Cavaliers this week, it wasn’t good enough. It hasn’t been good enough in a few weeks now.

Even with a botched officiating job, which deserves its fair share of scrutiny following a non-answer response from the ACC, Pitt still had a chance to drive 75 yards with just under two minutes on the clock to win the game.

It may not have been Holstein under center, but Yarnell entered the summer as the starter and knows the offense well. A second bad interception ended a 4-play, 24-second drive around midfield. It kind of summed up a night that was so close yet so far away for the Panthers.

“Obviously a disappointing outing, disappointed in a lot of different ways,” Pat Narduzzi said. “We had our chances to win the football game. We didn’t get it done. Their last touchdown, a 20-yard drive, four plays off of a turnover, or even in the turnover margin. Two interceptions, both teams. So, it hurts you when you don’t protect the ball.”

Pitt is 7-2 (3-2 ACC) following the loss, but with the way the Panthers have played over the last two weeks, it’s kind of hard to project wins in any of the last three games right now. Pitt hasn’t shown anything that signals a return to form; it’s the opposite, if anything.

Pitt didn’t show up against SMU. Okay, it’s a bump in the road. Pitt didn’t show up against Virginia. Okay, this team has serious concerns.

Still, and to the credit of the players on the team, this isn’t a team that’s quit. The fight has been there, the resolve hasn’t wavered even in the recent losses. And it’s that dedication that has Donovan McMillon confident.

“I think the key is positivity,” McMillon said Saturday night. “Next play mentality like we always say. The energy’s gotta be keeping us up. Going from 7-0 to two losses that could break teams, but I think we worked too hard for nine months of the offseason to fumble and hold now.

“So, the mindset’s now on Clemson, we’re gonna have the 24-hour rule, watch the film, figure it out and the goal is to go beat Clemson.”

Pitt and Clemson will kick off at Acrisure Stadium next Saturday at noon.