Pitt’s 30-19 loss to Duke in finale turns into a repeat of tough season
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In the bitter aftermath of a miserable season, Pitt’s 30-19 loss to Duke on Saturday in Durham, N.C., doesn’t matter as much as what coach Pat Narduzzi will do to fix the program’s trajectory in the days, weeks and months to come.
There were the same problems that have plagued the Panthers since September. Missed tackles, poor special teams play and a lack of discipline led to easy points for Duke, ill-timed penalties and Pitt’s worst finish (3-9, 2-6 ACC) since the program was 2-9 in 1998.
The offense was marginally better against Duke (7-5, 4-4), but there also were dropped passes, a failure to construct a running game and opportunities wasted. Quarterback Nate Yarnell completed 25 of 35 passes for 265 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but he joined his blockers in allowing the Blue Devils to record four sacks.
Offseason developments within and outside the program will have a significant impact on the roster, but for the moment, the sophomore Texan is Pitt’s No. 1 quarterback.
“He’s a guy who can win a lot of football games for us,” Narduzzi said.
But Yarnell’s necessary improvement is among Narduzzi’s thick list of problems to tackle in the offseason.
Asked to detail his takeaways from the worst season of his Pitt tenure, he didn’t try to sugarcoat them.
“Oh, boy. There are 14 pages (worth) of takeaways,” he said. “It’s a long list of things that we have to clean up. We played a lot of young guys all year. There are a lot of takeaways (we) probably don’t have time (to talk about Saturday).”
What might be on top of the list?
“There’s a bunch of them” he said.
Just as frustrating for Narduzzi was another loss to a quarterback who started the season on his team’s bench.
After allowing Wake Forest third-string quarterback Santino Marucci to throw the winning touchdown pass last month, Pitt couldn’t stop Duke first-year freshman Grayson Loftis, who completed 20 of 37 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. Loftis wasn’t sacked in only his fourth career start.
In the first half, Pitt made it too easy for Loftis. The defense played well for most of the first 30 minutes, but it couldn’t overcome a 15-yard punt by sophomore Caleb Junko just before halftime.
Pitt looked to be on its way to a 10-3 lead at halftime, but the poor punt from the end zone put the ball on the Panthers’ 25-yard line.
It didn’t take long for Duke to tie the score at 10-10 on Loftis’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Moore with 67 seconds left in the first half.
“Every offense would like that (ball on 25),” Narduzzi said. “Just made it real easy, right before the half to give them seven critical points.”
The score was tied again 13-13 toward the end of the third quarter when Loftis hit Jalon Calhoun for a 15-yard touchdown pass. But that wasn’t the most impressive play on the drive. While hurried by Pitt’s pass rush on third-and-7, Loftis managed a short flip to Jordan Waters, who turned it into a 46-yard gain to the 15.
“Missed tackles in the second half, for sure,” Narduzzi said. “We have to make those plays defensively.”
The Blue Devils went up 27-13 on their next possession when Loftis led a 10-play, 59-yard scoring drive, with Jacquez Moore scoring on a 3-yard run. Duke scored on its first three possessions of the second half, starting with Todd Pelino’s 25-yard field goal.
Pitt’s season-long problem — penalties — led to that field goal. Pitt committed penalties on two third downs: hands to the face by defensive end Sam Okunlola and pass interference in the end zone by cornerback A.J. Woods. Overall, Pitt committed nine penalties for a loss of 93 yards, which turned out to be nearly twice the yardage the Panthers gained on their own in the run game.
“We have to stop beating ourselves,” safety Javon McIntyre said.
A week after gaining 145 yards against Boston College, running back Rodney Hammond rushed 12 times for 21 yards. Overall, Pitt’s run game supported Yarnell with only 43 yards.
Somehow, while staring at a 14-point deficit, Yarnell kept Pitt in the game. A penalty and interception deep in Duke territory turned out to be his ultimate downfall.
After Yarnell scrambled 14 yards to the Duke 4, the gain was nullified when running back C’Bo Flemister was called for an illegal blindside block. Two plays later, Yarnell threw the first interception of his career on a pass that sailed far over the head of freshman wide receiver Kenny Johnson.
Narduzzi said Johnson ran into an official, but Yarnell took blame for the interception.
“It was completely on me. The ball should have never gone there,” he said.
He came back on the next possession to hit Bub Means with a 14-yard touchdown pass and trim the Duke lead to 27-19 with 5:17 left. Instead of taking the sure extra-point kick, Narduzzi elected to try a 2-point conversion. Yarnell’s pass was incomplete, but it ultimately didn’t matter because Pitt’s defense couldn’t prevent Duke from scoring on Pelino’s 48-yard field goal. The Blue Devils’ 30-19 lead stood to the end.
Narduzzi shouldered the blame for all that went wrong.
“It starts with me,” He said. “I didn’t get it done. Our job as coaches is to put them in position to make plays and we have to make plays.”