Pitt Take 5: Is there any satisfaction in being a spoiler?
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By the time a college football team starts 1-4, its goals of winning a championship and earning a bowl bid are all but gone. There aren’t enough games in a season to attain a complete reversal of fortune.
Pitt football doesn’t have the same luxury as its basketball colleagues, who started 1-3 last season and ended up with 24 victories, an NCAA Tournament berth and the pats on the back that go with it.
That said, Pitt is in the midst of a unique situation over the next seven games, with four opportunities to kill the hopes of No. 14 Louisville, No. 21 Notre Dame, No. 4 Florida State and No. 17 Duke. First up is Louisville on Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium. Louisville and Florida State are undefeated and looking to reach the ACC championship game, maybe even the College Football Playoff.
Pitt linebacker Solomon DeShields recognizes the golden nugget he and his teammates could deny those teams.
“It will be great to knock them off, just to mess up their whole season,” DeShields said. “Give them their first loss. That’s what we’re trying to do. That’s our No. 1 goal right now.”
While admitting a victory would “turn everything around … give us our confidence back,” he said the goal — for now — is just to go 2-4. “We don’t worry about any games later in the season,” he said.
Here are five thoughts in advance of the 6:30 p.m. kickoff at Acrisure Stadium:
1. An unintentional peek at 2024
Pat Narduzzi said changing quarterbacks from Phil Jurkovec, who has no eligibility left after this season, to Christian Veilleux, who is a redshirt sophomore, was not made with 2024 in mind.
Of course, the effect is the same. Narduzzi will get an idea of how he wants to approach the offseason, based on how Veilleux plays.
“I’m excited to watch him, excited to see what we have,” the coach said. “Not going to find out on Tuesday or Wednesday. You’re going to find out on game day. You and us together.”
Narduzzi called Veilleux “a young quarterback … still learning.”
Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. simplified the game plan last year when Nate Yarnell, a redshirt freshman at the time, started against Western Michigan and threw only 12 passes in a 34-13 victory.
It’s different this time because Veilleux has a bit more experience than Yarnell did.
“There is no reason to simplify it. We can do just as much or more with Christian,” Narduzzi said. “He’s really smart, and he understands football.”
Narduzzi said Veilleux didn’t show any nervousness during preparations, but he also added, “It’s not Saturday yet. You’re always going to have nerves, but it’s good nerves if you’re prepared. And he’s prepared right now.”
Veilleux would be wise to listen to this famous quote from Chuck Noll: “Pressure is something you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing.”
2. Let it rain
Two days before the game, there was an 89% chance of rain Saturday, but Narduzzi said there are no plans to adjust the game plan based on weather.
“We don’t coach like that,” he said.
“Advantage Pitt. We play on grass every day. This grass out here is wet (for morning practice). It’s always sloppy out there, muddy. We’re mudders. We don’t play on field turf. So, advantage Pitt. Let’s hope.”
Louisville plays its home games on field turf at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.
3. Falling short of expectations
When Narduzzi was asked if Pitt’s problem stopping the run comes from mental or physical mistakes, he chose physical.
“We physically missed tackles (against Virginia Tech),” he said.
The Hokies averaged 3.4 yards per carry, but Narduzzi said it felt like more than 12 because Pitt allowed its opponent to possess the football for nearly 38 minutes.
“We’re used to stuffing the run, and we haven’t done it this year,” he said. “Some of those guys we lost at the defensive end spot (Deslin Alexandre, Habakkuk Baldonado and John Morgan) were critical. You have new guys out there you thought were ready as the preseason started, and maybe (they are) not as good as we thought they were going to be.”
4. Shortage of sacks
Speaking of ends, senior and first-year starter Dayon Hayes leads the team with four quarterback hurries, but he has recorded only two sacks in five games.
“It’s called finish the play. Dayon knows it. There’s nobody who feels worse than him about not finishing some of those plays,” Narduzzi said. “He’s had opportunities. The big thing as coaches, our job is to put him in position to make plays and after that you have to finish it. Dayon will get better.”
5. Missing Kradel
One missing player getting almost no attention — partially because Narduzzi won’t talk about injuries — is center Jake Kradel, who has been out the past two games.
He is the third offensive lineman to miss significant time, joining tackle Matt Goncalves and guard Ryan Jacoby, who are out for the season with injuries. Narduzzi says he will talk about season-ending injuries, but he has made no such announcement about Kradel.
When Kradel returns, Pitt might be best served by moving him to guard.
“I have considered that, but we’ll see how that goes,” Borbely said. “Jake got some good (rehab) work in (this week). I always liked Jake better at guard in the past. He played at center out of necessity last year. His natural position is guard. So, we’ll see how that goes when he comes back.”
If Kradel doesn’t play this week, Pitt will have the same five linemen aligned in the same spots in consecutive weeks for the first time this season. The line jumble is at least partially responsible for Pitt allowing 13 sacks for a loss of 129 yards. Only four ACC teams have surrendered more sacks while the yardage lost is the third-highest in the conference.
The good news is that, thanks to the injuries, redshirt sophomore center Terrence Moore and redshirt freshman right tackle Ryan Baer are getting on-the-job training that might pay off next season.