Pitt HC Calls Out Biased Penalty Calls vs. WVU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Pitt Panthers looked lethargic, sloppy and most importantly, undisciplined in the 31-24 loss to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Backyard Brawl on Saturday evening.

Pitt couldn't capitalize in the red zone, was a measly 4-for-18 on third down and had drives consistently stall. The one thing in common was the unexplainable number of penalties and penalty yards.

It was a deciding factor in this game — among many others. The Panthers committed a whopping 14 penalties, totaling 118 yards. That's the most penalty yards in one game since 2020 and the most penalties in one game since 2019 for the Panthers.

Pitt had more penalty yards than rushing yards, even when excluding sack yards, and one fewer yard than the leading receiver, Poppi Williams, who had 119 receiving yards.

No one can deny that committing 14 penalties is bad, even Pat Narduzzi can't.

"We'll look at the videotape, but not happy with that at all," Narduzzi said after the loss. "We had 14 penalties. A little lopsided there."

West Virginia committed six penalties for 60 yards.

However, Narduzzi felt West Virginia committed some fouls that were not called by the officials.

"Eli got punched, had his helmet ripped off, punched in the face, no call there," Narduzzi said. "We had somebody get spit in their face, too. But things didn't go our way."

Entering the game, the Mountaineers committed seven penalties for an average of 77 yards per game over the first two weeks, which ranked them 120th in the nation. Pitt had nine penalties and averaged 49 penalty yards per game, which ranked in the middle of the road at 62nd.

Sure, the penalties and the yards were bad, but the timing of them was even worse. Of the 14 penalties, nine were committed on third or fourth down — seven on offense and two on defense. All seven of those offensive penalties were committed on West Virginia's side of the field, and of those seven, five occurred in the red zone.

Pittsburgh Panthers place kicker Trey Butkowski (93) kicks a field goal against the West Virginia Mountaineers — Sep 13, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers place kicker Trey Butkowski (93) kicks a field goal during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

The one penalty that stuck out to Narduzzi was a block in the back called on Blue Hicks just outside of the red zone in the first quarter. The penalty turned a third-and-3 conversion into a third-and-10 that the Panthers failed to convert, and they subsequently punted.

"It didn't look like he touched anybody," Narduzzi said. "We had a first down and all of a sudden, we're backed up. That just continued to happen to us all day."

On the few drives that Pitt scored a touchdown, it did not commit a penalty at any point during the drive. When it did commit a penalty during a drive, the Panthers punted three times, missed a field goal, and made two field goals.

Also note that on those two field goal makes, the offense started those drives on the Mountaineers' 14 and 24-yard lines due to interceptions from Kyle Louis and Braylan Lovelace, respectively.

"We've got to be more disciplined," Lovelace said. "That's something that can't happen, that's something that we never do. I think that we were letting the atmosphere get to us, and that's something that we can't do. That's something that we have to fix. It all comes down to discipline."

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