Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Gives Profane Evaluation of Run Defense
PITTSBURGH -- The immediate aftermath of the Pitt Panthers' win over West Virginia in the first Backyard Brawl since 2011 featured pure ecstasy for the home team and their fans. Pitt stole a win away from the Mountaineers in spite of how dire the situation was midway through the fourth quarter.
Via ESPN
But the midweek kickoff gave Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi two extra days to evaluate the game film and, over that extended weekend, he developed a sour view of how his team played against the Mountaineers. He also thinks the fact that his team played relatively poorly could help them stay locked in on another difficult non-conference matchup with Tenessee this coming weekend.
"I think handling success this week, when you kind of played sh**y - let's just put it that way - I think it makes it a little bit easier. How about that?" Narduzzi said. "If they can get excited about that, then good for them. You didn't see me dancing around in the locker room."
It all started up front with a defensive front seven that did not live up to Pitt's reputation as an elite run-stopping team. The Panthers, who allowed an average of 88.7 yards on the ground per game in 2021, were gashed for 190 net yards by the Mountaineers, the highest rushing total they've given up in a single game since 2019 against Boston College.
Narduzzi said players were in a position to make the necessary stops, but the fact that it was a season opener meant they were hesitant or aligned incorrectly at times.
"There's guys there to make plays," Narduzzi said. "It was mental, hesitation, poor fits, or poor alignment sometimes. If you don't get lined up perfectly, it's a problem. So just a lack of detail in what we're doing, and sometimes that happens in openers."
A productive run game has trickle-down effects, Narduzzi said. Once someone can run on you, it opens up opportunities to throw and that's why the Pitt staff harps on holding opponents in check on the ground so much.
"You can see how annoying it is when someone can run the ball," Narduzzi said. "Like it's not good, okay. It just opens up everything. I mean, now they can throw it and they can run it.”
West Virginia quarterback J.T. Daniels and the outstanding corps of Mountaineer receivers proved that by adding 214 yards through the air and a pair of medium-range touchdown passes to C.J. Donaldson's 125 yards and one score on the ground.
But for as critical as Narduzzi was of the players themselves, he assigned most of the blame to himself and the defensive coaching staff. He said the coaches were not as prepared as they should have been for a season opener in which they didn't know exactly what awaited them on the other side of the ball. Narduzzi specified that practice preparation was not well organized.
"It starts with me. Anytime we're sh**y, it starts right here: sh**y head coach," Narduzzi said. "It trickles down to not making plays. I think sometimes for openers you can have too much in because you're not sure what you're going to get, and I think defensively it started with having too many things in that you're worried about. ... You've got to have a flavor of everything in, and sometimes you put too many flavors in, you're going to have a problem."
Still, Narduzzi thinks the mistakes made last week are all "fixable" and is optimistic that their next opponent, the Josh Heupel-led Tennessee Volunteers who Pitt beat last season on the road, will provide a familiar challenge that makes preparation easier.
"I went back and just kind of did a statistical thing on what did we call and what did we practice all week," Narduzzi said. "I think we had 371 snaps of base defense and then what did they end up calling? We wasted a lot of time. ... This will be the fourth time, two at UCF, one at Tennesse - this will be the fourth opportunity to face that style of offense. ... I think that helps you a ton of knowing what you're going to get."
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