How Pitt’s players, coaches kept season from unraveling
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For a good portion of Pat Narduzzi’s eighth season, most of the criticism thrown Pitt’s way was fair.
As we later discovered through the current four-game winning streak and a 42-16 dismantling of old nemesis Miami on Saturday night, this was a team that had better talent than its 4-4 record through October suggested.
But that’s where the Panthers stood after eight games: Just another mediocre ACC team.
What happened to throw Pitt off course?
• Perhaps it was quarterback Kedon Slovis getting hit with a concussion in the second game while trying to assimilate new pass catchers and a new offense.
• Leaks in the defense erupted when no one — least of all the coaches — expected them. Georgia Tech, a 5-7 team that fired its coach days before it played Pitt, ran for 232 yards. Louisville’s 122 on the ground doesn’t sound like much, but that’s not the standard Narduzzi expects.
• The worst loss? How about losing to North Carolina and allowing 42 points as Drake Maye completed 34 of 44 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns. Senior linebacker SirVocea Dennis said he and his teammates were “a little embarrassed.”
“Someone putting up 42 points, that doesn’t sit well,” he said. “We didn’t want that to happen with any other team moving forward.”
The season ended with Pitt one game behind North Carolina in the ACC Coastal standings. That 42-24 loss in a game Pitt led for most of the first three quarters may have cost the Panthers a return trip to the conference title game.
Narduzzi went a step further.
“This team should be a 10-1 football team, really, if we don’t turn the ball over,” he said.
Pitt lost a total of six fumbles and threw four interceptions in its four losses, but those, too, are what defined the ‘22 Panthers. Previous failures can’t be ignored. The bell rang, loudly. You can’t pretend you didn’t hear it.
But Pitt recovered by allowing only 58 points in four victories against Syracuse, Virginia, Duke and Miami, and the Hurricanes didn’t score their 16 until the outcome had long been decided.
Critics will scoff at the Virginia and Miami games because those teams have losing records, but the greater point is that Narduzzi didn’t lose his team. That is becoming a trend for Narduzzi, who is 11-1 over the past three Novembers/Decembers and now stands second in Pitt history with 61 victories.
Most Wins, Pitt Coaching History ????
1. Jock Sutherland, 111, 1924-38
2. Pat Narduzzi, 61, 2015-
3. Glenn “Pop” Warner, 60, 1915-23Congrats, @CoachDuzzPittFB ???? #H2P » #WeNotMe pic.twitter.com/5GgP1dJJEl
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) November 27, 2022
How did Pitt reverse its fortunes?
To put it in basic terms, Narduzzi said, “Our guys bowed up and played like we thought they could.”
He also gave credit to his coaching staff. “We stay consistent. We grind and we work our tails off.”
There were specific examples, too.
• Slovis got better. He threw for 830 yards and five touchdowns over the past four games. Fans will demand more, but the offense Slovis directed did something the ‘21 Pitt team and many others before it didn’t do. Izzy Abanikanda (1,431) and Jared Wayne (1,006) are only the third Pitt rushing/receiving combo to surpass 1,000 yards in the same season since 2009. Dion Lewis and Jon Baldwin (‘09) and James Conner and Tyler Boyd (‘14) are the others.
• Wide receiver Jared Wayne got in rhythm with Slovis over the past five games, with 30 receptions for 595 yards and four touchdowns. It’s what leaders do in hard times.
Said Slovis: “It wasn’t like Jared transformed himself into a great player. He was already great and took his game to the next level. I think of the guys I’ve been around that had that kind of output, 1,000 yards, they’re all in the NFL, all excelling at a high level.”
With 11 catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns against Miami, Wayne is the only FBS player this season to reach those milestones in the same game.
FBS players with 11+ receptions, 199+ receiving yards and 3+ TD catches in a single game during the 2022 season:
» Jared Wayne at Miami ????
That’s it. That’s the list.#H2P » @JWayne_5 pic.twitter.com/8q344IQ4jA
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) November 27, 2022
• The offensive line, forced to play multiple games without starters Carter Warren, Owen Drexel and Gabe Houy, became a strength long before the end of the season. After West Virginia and Tennessee recorded a total of nine sacks, opponents managed only one or none in eight of the next 10 games. Slovis was sacked only twice during the four-game winning streak.
Given Abanikanda’s production, those guys run-blocked OK, too. He is the second ACC back since 2010 with 1,400 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. He surpassed the century mark in nine games.
• The pass rush turned from good to fierce. How do you not miss Calijah Kancey and Habukkuk Baldonado, who were out against Miami with injuries? With six sacks against the Hurricanes (three by Dayon Hayes), Pitt ended up with 22 during the winning streak. In four games, that’s almost half the season total of 45, which leads the nation.
4 Tackles for Loss, 3 Sacks ????
Dayon Hayes was the first Pitt player with those numbers in a game since Ejuan Price vs. Louisville in 2015. #H2P » @ACCNetwork pic.twitter.com/X6niZLIdnO
— Pitt Football (@Pitt_FB) November 27, 2022
Next up for Pitt is a bowl game that will give the Panthers a chance to win nine games for only the fifth time in 40 years.
“It is definitely not the goal we set out at the beginning of the year,” Wayne said. “You have to look at the positives, too. Nine wins is a pretty good year.”
The bowl season is tricky. Who knows what players eager to prepare for an NFL career will opt out. It worked for Kenny Pickett, right?
With an 8-4 record (three ACC teams were better), Pitt qualifies for one of eight Tier 1 bowls. Of the two other ACC teams that finished 8-4, Pitt defeated Duke and did not play N.C. State. Many factors are involved in the process, but Pitt might be the fifth choice among ACC teams.
Three possibilities: Pinstripe at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 29, Sun in El Paso, Texas, on Dec. 30 and Military in Annapolis, Md., on Dec. 28. Opponents include Big Ten and Pac-12 teams in the first two and one from the non-Power 5 American Athletic Conference in the latter. The Fenway Bowl in Boston on Dec. 17 is out because it would interfere with final exams.