Pat Narduzzi Has Mind-Boggling Answers to Pitt’s Questionable Bowl Decisions

PITTSBURGH — Pat Narduzzi has made his fair share of game management mistakes throughout the years, and the 23-17 loss to East Carolina was no different.

There were a few questionable play-calling decisions offensively early in the game on money downs, but that likely wasn't all Narduzzi's fault.

What was his fault, though, was the decision to be aggressive rather than play the clock and take the points while trailing in the fourth quarter.

Narduzzi was asked about his game management strategies after the loss and gave some confusing and contradictory responses.

Narduzzi Discusses Late-Game Decisions

Had Narduzzi opted to kick a field goal earlier in the second-to-last drive of the game, it would have made it a 23-17 contest with over three minutes and all three timeouts remaining, plus the built-in two-minute timeout. Instead, the offense went for it on a fourth-and-1 and converted, but the next six plays ran off over two minutes of clock.

Narduzzi said postgame that he never entertained the thought of taking the points on the fourth-and-1 to leave more time to potentially get the ball back.

"No, not at all," Narduzzi said. "You're going to try to score touchdowns if you can, unless you get to fourth down. If on fourth down, we would have kicked it. But we wanted to get a little closer."

That right there is the confusing part of Narduzzi's response. The fourth-and-1 was at the 25-yard line, inside of freshman kicker Trey Butkowski's range, but the offense elected to pick up the one yard to keep the drive going rather than taking three points.

Dec 27, 2025; Annapolis, MD, USA; East Carolina Pirates head coach Blake Harrell and Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi shake hands at mid field after playing in the Military Bowl at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Pitt later settled for a 21-yard field goal with 1:23 remaining when faced with another fourth down. After choosing not to kick a field goal and try for a touchdown earlier in the drive, Narduzzi said he never contemplated going for the touchdown on fourth down from the 3-yard line.

"...You have to take the points down there," Narduzzi said. "It could have taken us another 30 seconds off the clock to score a touchdown there. So we could have gone for a fourth down, but it was the right move to kick the field goal and try to get the ball back, which we did get the ball back... with 57 seconds left in the game. We got an opportunity, so great job by our defense getting the ball back in a four-minute situation."

The defense forced East Carolina to punt after 26 seconds of game time by using all three timeouts. By that same math, Pitt certainly would have had at least three minutes, plus the two-minute timeout, to score a touchdown and win the game.

But when the offense actually got the ball back with 57 seconds remaining and no timeouts, Pitt started on its own 20-yard line, still needing a touchdown. An offensive pass interference ultimately killed the drive and Pitt never crossed midfield.

Analysising Narduzzi's Comments

The goal for every drive is to score a touchdown, and that particular drive was no different. A touchdown would have made it a two-point game, at which point Pitt could make a stop, use all three timeouts and try to get downfield for a game-winning field goal.

But when the offense had struggled all day long, as it did in this game, and the drive was already six plays in and took up three minutes of game clock, any points as soon as possible is the best outcome. Pitt did not do that and instead used more clock going for the big score, which never came.

It doesn't make sense that Narduzzi never considered kicking a field goal in Butkowski's range with over three minutes left, three timeouts and the two-minute timeout on his side, but he decided that a chipshot with 1:23 left in the game, down by nine, was an opportune time for three points.

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