PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers still have a bad taste in their mouth. Last week, on their home turf against a 1-3 opponent that had fired their head coach, they laid eggs and fell 26-21 to Georgia Tech. This week has given the Panthers plenty of time to ponder just how good they are and plan a response.
“Excited to see how our guys rebound from last week,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “Obviously, as a coach, still not happy about last week. Can’t wait to watch our guys go play and see what they got.”
They’ll face another desperate team this week in Virginia Tech, who lost their last two games by an average of 27 points. History is on the Panthers’ side. They’ve won the last two games and nine of the last 13 contests against the Hokies.
But the Hokies will provide good tests for the Panthers. They excel in areas Pitt has struggled in and, even if there is an imbalance in talent, no win in ACC play comes easily.
“You got to go out and take it. It’s like I told them out at practice today – no one’s going to give you a game. … These are all hard games. For anyone to think that you’re going to walk in and beat Georgia Tech or Virginia Tech just because you showed up in Acrisure Stadium, you’re crazy.”
First and foremost, head coach Brent Pry – the former Penn State defensive coordinator who took the Hokies’ head coaching job last winter – has brought what Narduzzi calls “a Penn State flavor”, particularly on defense. They’re stout in pass defense, allowing just over 209 yards and one touchdown per game – tied for the 18th best mark in the country.
Pitt, on the other hand, has struggled to find explosive plays if they’re not coming by way of star running back Israel Abanikanda’s legs. With Abanikanda’s status for this week up in the air, the Panthers will need to rely more on the arm of Kedon Slovis, who Narduzzi said has needed more help from the offensive line and skill positions around him.
Slovis oversaw an abysmal offensive effort for about 35 minutes of game time last week against the Yellow Jackets. Before their final two drives in which the Panthers accumulated 166 of their 411 total yards, the Panthers managed just seven points against a team that entered the afternoon allowing an average of 31.75 points per game.
Narduzzi and veteran pass-catchers Jared Wayne and Gavin Bartholomew said it’ll be important to build momentum early. They missed on a couple of big plays on both sides of the ball on the first drives last week and it allowed a less talented opponent to gain control of the game and eventually win.
“It’s a game of inches, as we always say,” Wayne said. “A couple of things didn’t go our way and it’s hard to get in a rhythm and get things started if things aren’t going your way. We’ve just been focused on the details this week and executing.”
On defense, the Panthers and their prolific pass rush, which has gained momentum after a slow start, will have few chances to tee off on Hokies quarterback Grant Wells. In what Narduzzi also qualifies as a “Penn State flavor”, he gets the ball out quickly and is smart with his athletic legs. But they run similar concepts that Pitt – who’s held Virginia Tech to 21 points over their last two matchups – has been successful against.
“Grant Wells is doing a good job of knowing where to go with the ball,” Narduzzi said. “They’re very similar to what they’ve been the last couple years offensively with some of the things they’ve been doing. It is almost like they went back and watched all of last year’s season and said, ‘Let’s do the same thing.'”
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All of these facets have to come together while the Panthers are fine tuning their details and trying to clean up the penalties that cost them 75 yards last week.
The message from the Pitt side is clear – this team is tired of losing. Losing to Tennessee – a team that finds themselves in playoff contention as conference play begins – in overtime was one thing but last weekend’s defeat was unacceptable. There’s no more silver linings in adding a defeat to their record.
“Hate to lose,” Narduzzi said. “I don’t know if there’s ever a good loss because you can learn from a bad win, too. We’ve done that, as well. We’ve just got to keep getting better as a football team.”
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