Pitt Take 5: Victory against Vols could push Panthers toward early-season elite status

The outcome of Saturday’s game between Pitt and Tennessee might decide the Panthers’ status going forward: elite or just another above-average team.

Nothing wrong with above-average, but the national perception around Pitt may need the kind of jolt that a victory in a showdown of ranked teams would bring. Pitt defeated Power 5 West Virginia in dramatic fashion on national television last week and remained No. 17 in the first in-season Associated Press rankings.

No downward movement, but no ascension, either. The chorus from most of the voters was, “Show me.”

Full disclosure: One voter, David Jablonski of the Dayton Daily News, ranked Pitt No. 8. Two others left Pitt off their ballots completely.

Coach Pat Narduzzi realizes what’s at stake at Acrisure Stadium in the Johnny Majors Classic: Pitt could move into the top 10 — or on the cusp of it — with a victory against the No. 24 Volunteers. Then, if chalk holds, the Panthers might be favored in the next nine games before the finale at No. 15 Miami.

When asked if a victory might push Pitt among the nation’s elite, Narduzzi said, “I think so.” But he also wants to see proof.

“We’ll find out what we got Saturday,” he said. “I’ll talk to you after the game at the press conference. We’ll decide how elite or not elite we are.”

Here are a few more thoughts to ponder as kickoff approaches at 3:30 p.m. Saturday:

1. Dave and Johnny

One of the most overlooked numbers connected to Pitt this season is: 42, the number of consecutive seasons offensive line coach Dave Borbely has been employed as a college assistant.

Pitt O line coach Dave Borbely, on his days as a Johnny Majors assistant pic.twitter.com/7bTefmTos2

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 9, 2022

Borbely has worked at 15 schools, including as a graduate assistant at Tennessee under Johnny Majors in 1985 and 1986.

“Coach Majors was all business, and he was all football,” Borbely said. “The thing he always preached to us as graduate assistants were enthusiasm, fundamentals and the kicking game. He’s famous for that. He didn’t just say it. He truly believed in that. I loved working for him.”

Borbely said Majors demanded enthusiasm in practice — spring and summer — and everyone wanted to please him.

“Back in those days,” Borbely said, “the one thing you learned to do really fast is, as soon as the play was over, you sprinted to the pile and grabbed one of your guys and jogged them back to the huddle and coached them along the way. You didn’t want to be the guy caught not doing that.”

Majors had a who’s who of future head coaches on his staff, including offensive line coach Phillip Fulmer (who won a national championship at Tennessee in 1998), offensive coordinator Walt Harris (who coached at Pitt from 1997-2004) and Ron Zook (who was a head coach at Florida and Illinois after he was the Steelers’ special teams coach from 1996-98).

2. The need to get healthy

Playing West Virginia without offensive tackle Gabe Houy, middle linebacker Brandon George and tight end Karter Johnson probably contributed to Pitt’s run game issues on both sides of the football.

Narduzzi pinned part of the blame on the big and experienced offensive line, suggesting they may have had “fat heads.”

“Maybe they were thinking about how good they were,” he said.

Yes, there appears to be good depth on the roster (we have been told as much this summer), but George and Johnson compose a big part of it.

How long can Pitt sustain success against good teams without some of their better players? If they remain unavailable, that will be another test of Narduzzi’s recent recruiting efforts.

The stable of running backs looked deep in training camp, but Rodney Hammond Jr. was the only consistently effective runner Thursday and he hurt his foot in the game.

Izzy Abanikanda carried eight times for 15 yards and C’Bo Flemister fumbled on his lone carry and never returned. Vincent Davis was not part of the rotation.

Overall, three running backs needed 27 attempts to reach 93 yards (3.4 average). That might not be what Narduzzi had in mind when he retooled his offense in the offseason.

Another mystery was tight end Gavin Bartholomew making little impact. He was targeted twice and had one catch for 9 yards.

“He was open a few times where we didn’t get it to him,” Narduzzi said. “But we’ll get it to him more.”

3. More brand building

Pitt is one of seven ACC schools — half the conference — that played Power 5 opponents in the first full weekend of games.

Pitt, Florida State and Syracuse defeated West Virginia, LSU and conference foe Louisville, respectively. Boston College lost to Rutgers, and Clemson pounded Georgia Tech. Give major props to Pitt for a nonconference Power 5 victory when most schools like to ease into the season.

Even beyond the victory, playing WVU in front of a big crowd was good for the program and its national perception. It’s a good bet 70,266 would not have showed up for Youngstown State/Pitt.

Narduzzi said he saw the end of the Florida State game Sunday night, and he sent coach Mike Norvell, a former Pitt assistant under Todd Graham, a congratulatory text Monday morning.

“Anytime coaches have good wins, it’s good to see,” Narduzzi said. “It’s great for the conference, and I’m sure the commissioner is happy. I’m just worried about staying in our lane and doing what we need to do here in Pittsburgh.”

4. Hooker, again

Speaking of staying in your proper lane, that will be a challenge for Pitt’s defense against Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker, one of the more mobile quarterbacks on the schedule.

“We have to have a little different approach due to his mobility, and it’s just maintaining our pass-rushing lanes and keeping him contained,” defensive tackle Devin Danielson said.

Hooker, a sixth-year senior who’s almost 25 years old, should know Pitt better than any of his opponents. This will be his fourth game against the Panthers (1-2), including two when he played at Virginia Tech. He’s recorded 601 aerial yards while throwing six touchdown passes, two each time.

“We feel like we’ve seen him for 13 years,” defensive line coach Charlie Partridge said.

Partridge said Hooker’s running style includes “hard, violent cuts when he goes to change direction.”

In his past two games against Pitt, he has totaled 102 rushing yards.

5. Did you know?

SEC schools seldom go on the road for nonconference games, and Tennessee will do so Saturday for the first time since 2014, a 34-10 loss at Oklahoma.