Disturbing Fourth Quarter Pattern Emerging for Pitt
PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers' loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels this past weekend highlighted a major deficiency in their play, one that has only begun to materialize over the past four weeks of play.
Coinciding with a 1-3 skid for the Panthers is a stretch of regression in the game's final period. Pitt is flopping when it matters most and the coaches are noticing. These struggles have been particularly apparent in the two most recent losses to Louisville and North Carolina, when the Panthers were outscored 38-0 over the two fourth quarters.
"Like I told our team last night, we played three really good quarters, and we've got to find a way to finish it," Head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "I'm going to change some things up in practice this week. It's really two fourth quarters that we've let two of them get by the last few weeks."
Narduzzi added that "Historically I think we've been a pretty good fourth quarter team," and those numbers back him up. Last season, the Panthers outscored their opponents by 30 points in the regular season.
They continued that trend through the first four weeks of the year, outscoring their opponents by 28 points in the fourth. But over its last four fourth quarters, Pitt holds a -32 scoring margin. In fact, over that same period, just about every measure of the Panthers' play on offense and defense takes a dive when the game turns to its final quarter.
From Week 1 to 4, they averaged 13 points per fourth quarter and from Weeks 5 to 8, that figure fell to seven per fourth quarter. They gained fewer first downs and committed more penalties while allowing more points and yards on average and turning the ball over more. The Panthers didn't commit a turnover in the fourth until the Georgia Tech game and after Israel Abanikanda's fumble in the final frame against Carolina made it three fourth-quarter giveaways in four games.
Narduzzi thinks North Carolina's 21-0 advantage in the fourth quarter made Pitt's latest loss look more lopsided than it actually was and if his Panthers had been able to hold things together for longer, the result might have been different.
"The score didn't indicate really what kind of game that was," Narduzzi said. "They got us in the fourth quarter late, and obviously we were up for three quarters, I believe, or at least up until a couple of minutes into the third quarter. I'm not sure what that number was. But it's just how we finished."
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