Phil Jurkovec leads Pitt to 45-7 victory against Wofford
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Long before kickoff, Pat Narduzzi and everybody in the crowd of 45,096 at Acrisure Stadium knew Pitt would defeat tiny Wofford on Saturday.
Clean execution and careful planning had plenty to do with the 45-7 victory that, in reality, was easier than the final score indicated. Wofford, an FCS team that broke a 15-game losing streak just last season, was badly outmanned by Pitt in the 2023 opener for both teams.
Pat Narduzzi, happy with his quarterback. pic.twitter.com/LHks1ZzGiu
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 2, 2023
Hoping to build on past victories, Narduzzi wanted to put a Pitt stamp on the game — authoritatively, convincingly — and show off a little for the ACC and the nation. Unranked in the Associated Press preseason poll, Pitt has a long climb back to the Top 25. Saturday’s game was a start.
“We talked about, ‘Are we just going to outscore them, or are we going to beat them down?’ ” Narduzzi said. “I thought it was a beat-down, really. We kind of did whatever we wanted to.”
Did anything go wrong?
“We didn’t get to punt enough (just twice),” the coach said. “Wish we had some more punt work.”
Punting aside, Pitt played a nearly perfect game.
The one moment of anxiety occurred early in the third quarter. Before that, the only concern on either sideline was getting through the game without serious injuries.
On that note, Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec was sandwiched between Wofford defensive ends Brandon Maina and Chuck Smith shortly after the start of the second half. The Smith hit came several seconds late and to the back of the 6-foot-5, 235-pound quarterback, who made his first start in Pittsburgh after a decorated career at Pine-Richland High School.
Smith was ejected for targeting, but Jurkovec shook off the two hits that looked worse than they actually were. He stayed in the game like nothing was wrong and led Pitt to its fifth touchdown of the day six plays later, a 1-yard flip to tight end and former defensive tackle Karter Johnson.
All facets of the game on both sides of the ball came together cleanly for the Panthers, who scored five touchdowns and a 26-yard Ben Sauls field goal on six of their first eight possessions. Backup quarterback Christian Veilleux found former walk-on wide receiver Jake McConnachie for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the game.
“I don’t know if there could have been a better first half,” Narduzzi said of the 28-0 advantage at intermission.
Jurkovec played only three quarters, completing 17 of 23 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown. He hit nine different pass catchers and all four scholarship tight ends. He also ran seven times for 41 yards and a 23-yard score that started with a fake handoff and ended with him running around right end and into the end zone, untouched.
The Wofford defense was fooled while Pitt wide receiver Konata Mumpfield was amazed.
“I wasn’t paying attention. I’m over trying to block,” he said. “The (Wofford) DB said, ‘He pulled it.’ I looked back, and he was going in the end zone.”
Looking at Jurkovec’s body of work, Narduzzi was impressed for another reason.
“Did you see how calm he is in the pocket?” the coach said in the postgame chat with reporters. “He just sits back there. (Players) flying by him. I’d be a little skittish. He’s just so smooth in the pocket. He doesn’t care. That’s what you like, the moxie he has.”
But there was so much more to the victory than Pitt’s quarterback.
The Panthers ran for 217 yards, led by starter Daniel Carter’s 65 on 11 carries. C’Bo Flemister totaled 27 on nine and Rodney Hammond 25 and two touchdowns on five.
Carter got the first touches, but Narduzzi doesn’t care who starts.
“We’re going to keep them fresh and see who breaks away. We have a lot of playmakers,” he said. “You have to cover them all.”
Pitt’s defense was dominant, allowing Wofford only two snaps across the 50-yard line through the first three quarters. Wofford ended up with 126 total yards, but 75 came on a touchdown pass from Bryce Corristown to Tyler Parker with 73 seconds left in the game.
The game started with a sack — one of four by the Panthers — by defensive end Dayon Hayes and a tackle for a loss by tackle Deandre Jules. From there, Pitt allowed Wofford only one third-down conversion in nine tries while Pitt’s offense kept the chains moving on 11 of 17 third- and fourth-down snaps.
The defense was on the field for only 18 minutes, 27 seconds, but Narduzzi was proud of his run defense, anyway. Pitt permitted the Terriers negative-1 yard on the ground.
It wasn’t the best defensive performance against the run he has concocted in his career. He remembers Michigan having minus-48 yards when he was coordinating Michigan State’s defense.
“We’ve had some minuses through the years,” Narduzzi said.
Next up for the coaching staff is keeping players grounded after such an overwhelming victory. The games get more challenging, starting next Saturday with Cincinnati at Acrisure Stadium.
Asked what he needs to do to remind his team of what lays ahead, Narduzzi said, “Have some good practices.”
“There will be so much that could have been better. When we watch the tape, we’re going to nit-pick. We’ll get better from Game 1 to Game 2, I guarantee you that.”
Linebacker Shayne Simon also knows the reality of the situation.
“Knowing that we’re going to have 11 more games that are going to be bigger and bigger and bigger is going to help us focus even more,” he said. “We got a lot more in the tank, a lot more to prove to the nation that we are who we are.”