Pat Narduzzi has been preaching, teaching or designing defensive strategy for 30 years.
He believes in recruiting athletic, tough-minded cornerbacks who don’t mind — in fact, prefer — pressing up against wide receivers at the line of scrimmage and covering them with little help from safeties.
So it was no wonder Pitt’s coach was a bit defiant Thursday when asked if he occasionally second-guesses himself for leaving his cornerbacks alone against equally brash wide receivers.
“Not really,” he said, without immediate amplification.
Pressed for an explanation, he said, “Just because it’s what we do. If you want to stop the run, which, I think, is still one of the keys. Those (cornerbacks) play best when they’re pressed up and on that island.”
The idea is to stop the run and leave an offense only one option, and it often works.
Pitt (3-2, 2-2) is No. 1 in the ACC and No. 2 in the nation in rush defense (52 yards per game), but three of the five games have occurred against Austin Peay of the FCS and Syracuse and Louisville, who are a combined 2-6.
There is price to pay for strong run defense, and Boston College wide receiver Zay Flowers took advantage of Pitt’s single coverage for receptions of 44 and 77 yards last Saturday when safety help couldn’t arrive fast enough. He ended the day with six receptions for 162 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-30 BC victory.
Mark Herzlich, a New York Giants linebacker for six seasons, has covered three Pitt games as the color analyst on ACC Network telecasts. He respects Flowers’ speed and said, “There are times and places (for single coverage).”
“But I’ll take last week’s game versus Boston College. You know you’re limited in terms of depth, your guys are playing lots of snaps and you have Zay Flowers, who is an absolute burner.
“To me, you can’t leave your guys alone on a guy like that.”
Narduzzi said Pitt does play cover-two and cover-three (safety help) defense.
“We give (cornerbacks) more relief than maybe what it appears. That should take some pressure off them. We play a good bit of cover two as well, which we played 15 snaps of it against Boston College, especially in two-minute situations and third down.”
But he staunchly believes his cornerbacks should be able to stand alone, if necessary.
“They got a job to do, and we trust them to do that job,” Narduzzi said, “and it’s what they want to do as well.”
One change he might make Saturday against Miami is more frequent use of backup cornerbacks A.J. Woods, a 5-foot-8, 185-pound sophomore, and freshman Rashad Battle (6-3, 200). He said starters Jason Pinnock and Marquis Williams played 167 snaps against N.C. State and Boston College in what he called the equivalent of three games.
“(Secondary) coach (Archie) Collins has emphasized to Woods (who started Pitt’s opener), ‘You’re getting in the game, so you better be ready to go. Everybody’s counting on you and trusting you’re going to do your job.’
“He’s very qualified to do it. When it comes to the fourth quarter, we have to make sure they’re fresh.”
Narduzzi sees defense as an 11-piece puzzle that works only if everyone does his job. If the pass rush pressures the quarterback — and Pitt leads the Power 5 with an average of five sacks per game — the throws might not be as accurate, offering the cornerback a bit of relief.
But will Pitt be able to catch up to Miami quarterback D’Eriq King?
Herzlich said King is “very good against man defense” because of his scrambling ability. He is second among ACC quarterbacks with 241 yards rushing.
But Narduzzi has repeatedly defended Pitt for its speed that he believes compares favorably to almost every team in the conference.
Herzlich agrees.
“I could see (linebacker SirVocea) Dennis being a quarterback spy 60-70 percent of the time, using his speed to track down D’Eriq King,” he said.
Plus, he said Pitt linebackers Cam Bright and Phil Campbell III are “two of the best blitzing linebackers in the ACC.”
“When they’re number’s called to blitz, there is no latency in their movements. They are downhill. They are decisive in their blitz path. It allows for pressure to come other places if they don’t get the sacks.”
Get the latest news about Pitt football and all things Panthers athletics.
