Pitt swallowed up by mistakes in loss to Cincinnati
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Phil Jurkovec’s footwork was bad. He was not in rhythm. He failed to trust the things he learned playing quarterback for three teams and six seasons.
He either left the pocket too early or held onto the football too long. He was sacked five times.
Those points could have been made by any of the 49,396 people at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday night. But they came from a much more credible source. They came from Jurkovec, himself, who lived through the misery of Pitt’s 27-21 loss to Cincinnati. More criticism will follow Sunday when he reviews the game’s video with his coaches.
Each of those points are direct admissions made by Jurkovec in his nearly four-minute interview session with reporters after he and his pass catchers failed to connect on 22 of 32 pass attempts.
Yes, he threw three touchdown passes – two to Konata Mumpfield and one to tight end Gavin Bartholomew — and helped give life to Pitt’s fourth-quarter rally from a 27-7 deficit. He even ran for 14 yards after Pitt cornerback Marquis Williams’ interception gave Pitt (1-1) possession at the Cincinnati 43. Down by only six with 5 minutes, 43 seconds left, Pitt looked to have a good opportunity to complete the comeback.
But what followed was more of what preceded Williams’ pick – three incompletions, a 1-yard gain by running back C’Bo Flemister and an 11-yard sack.
“I just missed some throws,” Jurkovec said. “I have to trust some plays more, trust that they’re going to be there, trust my training. I got away from that a little bit. My footwork messing up, leaving the pocket too early. Those are things I can correct.”
What was most distressing for everyone involved in Pitt’s passing game was that wide receiver Bub Means, who by all accounts developed good chemistry with Jurkovec throughout training camp, was targeted 11 times without making a catch. He also had two drops.
By comparison, Mumpfield caught the football every time it was thrown to him — four for four. Bartholomew caught three for 80 yards. Other than those receptions, Jurkovec connected on only three other passes.
“The game of football is opportunities, and we had opportunities out there,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “We didn’t make a play.”
Cincinnati’s secondary was allowing certain routes, Jurkovec said, but he couldn’t connect often enough.
“We’re going to continue to take those shots. We’re going to get it right,” he said. “When we do get it right, it’s going to be hard for teams to cover.”
Perhaps Jurkovec’s most egregious error was losing a fumble after a 6-yard gain on Pitt’s first play of the second half.
“Bad ball security on my part,” he said.
Given a short field (36 yards), Cincinnati increased its 20-7 halftime lead to 27-7 on Emory Jones’ 21-yard touchdown pass to Braden Smith, who nearly landed out of bounds while making a lunging catch. Video replay confirmed the ruling of touchdown.
Pitt rallied, but the deficit was too daunting.
Narduzzi knows he has plenty of work ahead of him, fixing what’s wrong with the passing game and figuring out how the Bearcats (2-0) ran for 216 net yards – 153 on 20 carries by Corey Kiner — against a team that prides itself on stopping the run. Playing from behind, Pitt abandoned the run in the second half and ended up averaging less than 3 yards per carry.
“If you don’t stop their run and you don’t run the football, it’s hard to win the game,” Narduzzi said. “We didn’t react, and we didn’t do a good enough job coaching to get it stopped. We did a better job in the second half.”
In fact, the 36-yard scoring drive netted Cincinnati’s only touchdown in the game’s final 43:20.
But there couldn’t be many worse starts than what happened to Pitt over the first four series of the game.
After Pitt received the opening kickoff and went three-and-out — three passes were incomplete, including two deep bombs — it didn’t take Cincinnati long to grab a 7-0 lead. The big play was Cincinnati wide receiver Aaron Turner’s 25-yard gain on a jet sweep. At the end of the play, Pitt safety P.J. O’Brien shoved Turner after he crossed the out-of-bounds line. The late hit cost Pitt another 15 yards, and two plays later Jones hit tight end Payten Singletary for a 12-yard touchdown pass. The game was 6 seconds short of 2 minutes old and Pitt trailed 7-0.
The Panthers also went three-and-out on their second series, setting up more misfortune. On Cincinnati’s next snap, Kiner found a hole in the Pitt run defense and ran 68 yards to the 11. Pitt avoided further problems by holding the Bearcats to a 22-yard field goal by Carter Brown. Still, Cincinnati led 10-0 and there was still 8:57 left in the first quarter.
Pitt’s normally reliable Ben Sauls missed a 42-yard field goal, and Kiner answered with a 7-yard touchdown run. The score was set up when the Pitt defense was fooled while Smith, a wide receiver, threw 30 yards to Dee Wiggins.
Later, Cincinnati toyed with the Pitt defense, kept the ball on an 8:11 drive and ended the first half with a 47-yard field goal by Brown.
Down two touchdowns at halftime, the Panthers left the field amid boos from some people in the Acrisure Stadium crowd.
Jurkovec wondered about those who booed, but knew why they did it.
“I think if you’re grown man booing in that stadium, then you have to look at yourself,” Jurkovec said. “I think that’s pathetic. But, you know what, we didn’t play well enough. We’re going to be better.”