Pitt Take 5: Panthers can avoid regression from 2021 by taking care of immediate business
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When Pitt opened training camp in August, players and coaches predictably didn’t show any concern over the loss of Kenny Pickett and Jordan Addison. Remember the slogan: Next man up.
Nonetheless, regression seemed inevitable to some outsiders, and Pitt (4-2, 1-1 ACC) already has lost one game off its six-game pace (5-1, 2-0) of last season.
Yet, the Panthers can take a major step toward important late-season football by winning at Louisville (3-3, 1-3) on Saturday night.
“We have an opportunity to be where we want to be,” senior left guard Marcus Minor said. “We’ve been there once. We know we can do it again.”
Here are some thoughts while awaiting the 8 p.m. kickoff on the ACC Network:
1. Time to go outside?
Coach Pat Narduzzi is never shy about giving an opponent another issue to consider, which might be the reason he mentioned a possible position shift for middle linebacker SirVocea Dennis.
During the Virginia Tech game, Dennis was injured and replaced by Shayne Simon, who moved from outside linebacker.
In response, Simon led the team in tackles (nine), raising the possibility of moving Dennis outside on a more frequent basis. When Narduzzi was asked about it, he said to the reporter, “Have you been in our staff meetings?”
“You may see him on the outside. You never know. Yeah, he likes it out there, too. That guy gets to make a lot of plays out there. So it might be something you see.”
Simon, a transfer from Notre Dame who has started every game at the money (outside) position, recently started “turning it loose” in practice, according to Narduzzi.
“And then he did an unbelievable job of coming in and playing (middle) linebacker. At halftime, when we heard No. 7 (Dennis) is out, ‘Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting,’ because Shayne has not had a ton of snaps (in the middle). He did an outstanding job of coming in and filling that role.”
Narduzzi hopes Louisville’s coaches were listening.
2. Beware the pass rush
Pitt offensive line coach Dave Borbely is impressed by the Louisville defense that helped hand UCF (5-1) its only loss, 20-14. The Cardinals lead the ACC with 23 sacks, five by defensive end YaYa Diaby (tied for the conference lead) and four by Ashton Gillotte, the end on the other side.
“This is probably the best Louisville defense I‘ve seen,” said Borbely, who was on the Cardinals’ staff from 2010-13.
Louisville won 23 of 26 games in 2012 and ‘13, including an upset of No. 3 Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
Borbely said Louisville’s 3-4 defense is challenging, but his guys have seen versions of it against West Virginia and Tennessee. In fact, Izzy Abanikanda scored on a 76-yard run against the Volunteers.
“(Center) Owen (Drexel) did the center/nose guard dance and there goes Izzy,” Borbely said.
3. No AP love for Pitt
For the third week in a row, Pitt received no voting points — in other words, zero national love — in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
Such a development is no surprise, given Pitt was off last week and previously lost at home to Georgia Tech, a team with a losing record (3-4).
Some will argue that, if quarterback Kedon Slovis didn’t miss the second half against Tennessee, Pitt might have defeated the Volunteers, who climbed to No. 3 after beating Alabama last week.
But that isn’t reality.
There are five ranked Top 25 teams with two losses, led by No. 15 Utah. The Utes just defeated previously unbeaten USC, counteracting losses to Florida and No. 9 UCLA.
Of the others (No. 19 Kentucky, No. 20 Texas, No. 23 N.C. State and No. 24 Mississippi State), only Kentucky owns a victory against a team that is currently ranked: 27-17 against Mississippi State last Saturday.
• Texas defeated three Big 12 teams after losing by a mere point to No. 6 Alabama (No. 1 at the time).
• N.C. State has two good Power 5 victories (Florida State and Texas Tech).
• Before losing to Kentucky, Mississippi State had a three-game winning streak, scoring in the 40s against Bowling Green, Texas A&M (No. 17 at the time) and Arkansas.
The case against Pitt: All the others are 5-2, while the Panthers have recorded 75% of their victories against Western Michigan, Rhode Island and Virginia Tech. Also, the loss to Georgia Tech rings loud.
There’s an argument to be made that Pitt will turn out to be better than at least four of those teams. Meanwhile, Narduzzi’s team can make an emphatic declaration for national relevancy by winning Saturday night.
4. Staring down adversity
Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the season is how the offensive line did not stumble after three starters missed significant time. Branson Taylor, Blake Zubovic and Matt Goncalves filled in nicely while Jake Kradel made a smooth transition from guard to center.
How did that happen?
“Being able to hold each other accountable is really the main thing,” Minor said. “Being able to bounce back, not hold your head down for too long.”
5. Offering a broad shoulder
The season-ending leg injury to left tackle Carter Warren was difficult for Minor, who counts Warren as one of his best friends.
“He’s still bringing high spirits to the team,” Minor said. “I’m doing the best that I can to cater to him when he needs it, if he needs it. We know we have to lean on each other because we know being an offensive lineman, things get messy. There’s five of us against the whole world.”