Vukovcan: Flat Out Disappointed by Pitt Football

Disappointing.

I’m not sure there’s a more appropriate word to describe last night along with what it likely means for the future.

A famous cliche coaches like to use is “We probably aren’t as good as we played when we win or as bad when we lose.”

Unfortunately for Pitt, as the season has progressed, this team, and the offense in particular, has come back to earth and in reality, they were fortunate to be 7-0.

That’s not to take away or discredit anything that they accomplished — just, it got everyone excited and certainly raised the expectations for the remainder of the season.

10-win season? ACC championship game? College Football Playoff? Unfortunately, none of that is going to happen, and that’s disappointing.

What makes it most disappointing was the all-around performance, or lack thereof, in last night’s season-killing game against an average Virginia team.

The reality is that if Pitt was indeed a playoff worthy or ACC championship caliber team, considering what happened a week prior against SMU, the Panthers would’ve blown the doors off Virginia, and it wouldn’t and shouldn’t have been a game.

As it turned out, it was a close game and one in which they lost. I’m going to say something that I’m sure won’t go over well, but it’s the truth.

Unlike most people, including Pat Narduzzi, I’m not going to whine about the blown call. Was it awful, and did it hurt Pitt’s chances? Yes, no doubt.

Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi November 9, 2024. Michael Longo/PSN

But it wasn’t the main factor. The Panthers lost because they came out flatter than piss on a plate, they lost because the offense continues to struggle, they lost because their offensive line is very much a problem, and they lost because of the large number of penalties they continue to accumulate.

And as WWE Hall of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin would say, “That’s the bottom line.”

One quick point that everyone is ignoring and while the focus has been on ACC head referee Nate Black and his crew, people should be complaining about the fact that, prior to that blown call, Pitt had the opportunity to get the ball back in excellent field position and failed.

After cutting Virginia’s deficit to 21-19, Pitt had Virginia staring at a third-and-15 from their own 20-yard line. If Pitt stops them, they likely get the ball back in ideal field position and with a chance to kick the go-ahead field goal.

Instead, the Panthers allowed a 25-yard completion to a quarterback that showed no ability to throw the ball downfield. I have no idea why they sent an all-out blitz and didn’t just drop players back and force the Cavaliers to throw into a loaded coverage or just throw underneath and let them pick up 7-8 yards.

To me, that play was just as much a killer as the blown call by Black.

People are assuming that if the ref made the correct call and awarded Pitt the ball after a fourth-and-1 stop that they were just going to march down the field and score. I have no idea why that is the prevailing thought considering everything they saw from the Pitt offense prior to. Of Pitt’s four scoring drives, two happened because they took over in Virginia territory, not because they were able to drive the length of the field.

So, instead of referencing ‘iPads’ and coming into his press conference blaming referees, Narduzzi needed to come in pissed off at his players and coaches, including taking a hard look in the mirror at himself.

There’s no good excuse for what took place last night, especially from what we saw in the first quarter, where we saw countless false start and holding penalties. When your offense — your quarterback, in particular — is struggling, asking them to continually convert first-and-15 or 20 isn’t ideal.

The other thing that doesn’t help the offense or the confidence of the quarterback is the continued drop passes by the wide receivers. They’ve all shown that they have ability, that’s simply a concentration and lack of focus. Not going to blame the coaches for that one, that’s 100% on the players.

An aspect of the coaching that can be questioned is the offensive gameplan and I’ll go into detail on this in a future commentary, but first-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell has to figure some things out and make adjustments because what he’s doing clearly hasn’t been working for weeks.

I know he wants to play fast and ‘Go Go Go’ but they’ve been stuck in quicksand, and he needs to make adjustments. Defenses know exactly what Pitt is attempting to do and last night in particular, Virginia had their safeties so close to the line of scrimmage, almost daring Pitt to throw deep. Instead, Pitt’s passing game continues to go sideline to sideline instead of vertically. With all the pressure the opposing defenses are bringing, when was the last time you saw a reverse or jet sweep?

To borrow a quote from Steelers Hall of Fame Coach Chuck Noll, “Pitt’s problems on offense are many and they are great.”

The second half of the season is when good teams are playing their best football, but that’s not happening with Pitt.

The Panthers still have a record of 7-2, but there are three challenging games remaining against Clemson, Louisville and Boston College.

Unless this team is able to fix these offensive woes and play with some passion and focus, this once promising season is quickly going to turn into one where a lot of questions are going to be raised and plenty of fingers being pointed.