Vukovcan: Kade Bell Needs to Learn from Pitt Offensive Failures

After watching what happened in the Pitt game on Saturday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium, I don’t know where to start.

There are many specific things that I could point out as to the reason Pitt lost a 24-20 heartbreaker to No. 20 Clemson but it wouldn’t be fair or accurate.

The bottom line is for the second consecutive game, the Pitt offense has struggled in all areas and is the main culprit for Pitt dropping their third straight game after starting the season 7-0.

If we want to go back further, the offensive struggles go back to 2023, which led to a 3-9 season and the firing of the entire offensive coaching staff.

That led to the hiring of 31-year-old offensive coordinator Kade Bell and his fast-paced, ‘play fast, score faster’ offense.

For the first five games of the season, Bell was the talk of town and Pitt fans were worried about being able to hold onto him and Bell not getting plucked by an SEC or Big 10 program.

Well after what we’ve witnessed the last month; I don’t think Pitt has to worry about that. Instead, in my opinion, they should be a bit worried about whether this offensive system is one they want to run long-term and if it’s one that Pitt can be successful in.

I know what some of you—and maybe even Pat Narduzzi might be saying. If the offensive line wasn’t struggling so much and if the receivers cut down on their drops, none of this would be an issue.

Wrong.

At first, I thought my concerns about this offense were just a one-game issue but then they developed into a trend and now have turned into a major problem.

What worries me the most is that none of it has changed, which has ended up costing Pitt wins. When this is the case, it’s causing me to have concerns about Bell.

If you’re a Pitt fan, here are 3 things that should have you worried: 1) inability and lack of desire to run the ball. 2) horrible clock management. 3) continued confusion on offense with getting plays signaled in and the ball eventually snapped without a pre-snap penalty.

My biggest issue is Bell’s lack of interest in running the ball. I’m not endorsing what Pitt did over the last few years with Frank Cignetti, but what we’re seeing with Bell is ridiculous and costing Pitt games.

Pitt was obviously having offensive line troubles against Clemson, particularly in protecting their quarterback. The makeshift offensive line allowed eight sacks to the Clemson defense.

With that being the case, how then does Bell decide to pass the ball 54 times? Especially with a backup quarterback in Nate Yarnell, making his first start of the season?

I’m sorry, but that’s inexcusable.

This isn’t just a one week thing. Here are Desmond Reid’s rush attempts in the last four games:

• Clemson: 14 carries.
• Virginia: 16 carries
• SMU: 13 carries
• Syracuse: 11 carries

Along with being able to take some time off the clock and moving the sticks, Pitt completely abandoning the run game makes zero sense considering the recent struggles of Eli Holstein.

Here’s a thought: Maybe if Pitt was a threat to run the ball and defenses actually worried about it, maybe it would help out Holstein?

Maybe if the offense did it more often, they would’ve been able to punch it in from the 2-yard line, in what was a turning point in this case.

The bigger issue there was the pre-snap penalties when the entire offense was in a state of confusion.

This was a regular occurrence against Clemson as Pitt’s offense committed five procedure calls and seemed to have difficulties getting plays signaled in.

It also occurred last week against Virginia, one time in particular where Pitt was called for a delay of game penalty coming out of a television timeout.

These things shouldn’t still be happening 10 games into the season.

I know this goes with running a fast-paced offense but Pitt’s clock management today and all season has been horrendous.

Depending on the situation in a particular game, there has to be some middle ground where Pitt slows things down in an attempt to run the clock. If that was something Pitt had any ability to accomplish, Clemson wouldn’t have had an opportunity to kick a 51-yard field goal at the end of the first half.

Those extra three points proved costly for Pitt as they were forced to score a touchdown at the end of the game, instead of needing just a field goal.

All season long, Pitt’s offensive play-calling has shown little regard for the game clock by snapping the ball with 20+ seconds on the play clock when they could’ve run off an additional 10-15 seconds.

When you continually do that during the course of a game, those 10-15 seconds add up to 2 and 3 minutes.

I understand wanting to play fast, but you also have to be able to adjust, which is something Bell hasn’t been willing to do.

Hey, I realize this is Bell’s first year and calling plays in Power 4 football is a major jump from Western Carolina.

I get it, he’s still learning and also isn’t getting helped out by his struggling line and inconsistent receivers.

I’m not saying his hire was a mistake, but at the same time, Bell has to improve and more importantly, be willing to change, be flexible and learn from what’s not working. And right now, that’s throwing the ball 54 times and trying to snap the ball every seven seconds.

The only saving grace for Bell? The offense’s inability to execute in this three-game losing streak means that he has two no-stakes games to figure things out to close the season.