Virginia Tech rolls over Pitt, stretches Panthers’ losing streak to 4
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In the aftermath of Pitt’s embarrassing 38-21 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday night in Blacksburg, Va., Pat Narduzzi pointed the finger of blame everywhere.
Just not at Phil Jurkovec.
Pitt’s sixth-year senior quarterback completed only five passes in the game’s first 54 minutes, lost another fumble that led to a touchdown – he did so in the Cincinnati game, too — and was seriously off target on several pass attempts.
Yet Narduzzi remains in his quarterback’s corner. For now, anyway.
While reporters asked multiple questions about Pitt’s ineffective quarterback situation – Jurkovec is completing barely 50% of his passes through five games (50.8%, to be exact) — Narduzzi made possibly the most telling indictment to date of the rest of his team.
“You could put Dan Marino in there. Dan Marino is not going to do anything, period,” Narduzzi said. “Phil was under pressure the entire game. He was getting hit every time. That is not an easy situation for anybody.”
Narduzzi referenced the hit on Jurkovec that caused the fumble recovered by Virginia Tech on the Pitt 10-yard line.
“Second play of the third quarter, we miss on the left side and Phil gets killed,” the coach said. “I don’t know what quarterback is going to sit back there and throw the ball effectively.”
Actually, Jurkovec completed two passes that resulted in two quick touchdowns – 75 yards to Bub Means in Pitt’s second series and a 61-yard screen pass to running back C’Bo Flemister after halftime. Those plays count, even though the final score renders them almost meaningless.
Overall, Jurkovec was 11 of 22 for 235 yards, but he was nine of 20 for 99 yards through the bulk of the game.
It must be noted – and Narduzzi made sure to make note of it – that injuries on the offensive line had an effect on the proceedings. Starters Matt Goncalves and Ryan Jacoby are out for the season, and center Jake Kradel missed his second consecutive game.
But backups haven’t responded such as the team’s “next man up” slogan indicates they are trained to do. Redshirt freshman Ryan Baer tackle was called for two false start penalties in one possession while making his second career start in front of a noisy crowd of 65,632 at Lane Stadium.
With Virginia Tech stacking the area near the line of scrimmage, Pitt’s ground game disappeared. Rodney Hammond carried only once for no gain in the second half and seven times for 18 yards overall. Pitt ran for a total of 38 yards, averaging 1.6 per carry.
“You can’t run the ball, you have problems,” Narduzzi said. “We came in thinking we could possibly run the ball like we did a year ago, except Izzy is not in the backfield.”
Izzy Abanikanda ran for a record 320 yards against Virginia Tech last season, but replacing him has been a problem. After five games, Hammond is Pitt’s leading rusher with 196 yards.
That’s one side of the ball, but when the defense allows 38 points a week after surrendering 41, it also can’t hide from blame.
“They pretty much ran at will, in my opinion,” Narduzzi said.
Playing without linebacker Bangally Kamara and defensive tackle Devin Danielson, the Panthers missed several tackles throughout the game and had trouble stopping a Virginia Tech offense that rang up 427 yards, five touchdowns and 25 first downs (199 and 15 first downs on the ground).
The Hokies (2-3, 1-0) came into the game 13th of 14 ACC teams in total offense (an average of 320.3 per game) while averaging 21.5 points per game.
The final indignity was a 30-yard catch by Da’Quan Wright on third-and-19 play in the fourth quarter. Pitt allowed Wright to run free in the secondary.
“It’s not up to Pitt standards, my standards,” Narduzzi said. “Too many missed tackles on defense.”
The defense created one turnover – a scoop-and-score by freshman linebacker Braylan Lovelace (Leechburg) when senior linebacker Shayne Simon forced Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones to fumble inside his 10-yard line.
Drones, the Hokies’ backup, did almost anything he wanted to do, throwing three touchdown passes and running for two more. He is the first ACC quarterback this season to do that.
Moving on from its fourth consecutive defeat, Pitt will take its first 1-4 record since 2005 into the upcoming bye week.
Asked specifically about the quarterback position, Narduzzi said he will “re-evaluate where we are.”
“I see a lot of things that need changing,” he said. “We have to look at what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and fix it. It doesn’t come down to one guy. It’s everybody.”