Familiar pattern repeats in Sun Bowl loss

EL PASO, Tex. - Pitt’s slide to a three-loss finish to the 2018 season came against three very different opponents having three very different seasons.

But if there was any connecting thread, any element that tied each of those three losses together, it was the Panthers’ inability to threaten teams with the passing game.

There was a punchless 130 yards through the air in a 24-3 loss at Miami in the regular-season finale. Then a probably-historic performance against Clemson in the ACC Championship Game where sophomore Kenny Pickett threw for eight yards.

And on Monday, in the Sun Bowl, Pickett had 136 yards on 11-of-29 passing. It was the seventh time in 14 games that Pickett didn’t throw a touchdown pass, the eighth time he has thrown for 150 yards or less and the eighth game he has had fewer than 15 completions.

It was a season-long issue with really only one or two exceptions, and in that way, the Sun Bowl was a fitting conclusion to the year.

“There’s three phases to it, like I always say,” Pickett said after the game. “We have to block them, I have to throw and we have to catch it. So we have to improve in all areas this offseason.”

There are plenty of areas to improve on. In the Sun Bowl, one of Pitt’s biggest problems was in the red zone: the Panthers went inside the 20 three times and scored one touchdown, settling for field goals on the other two drives after third downs were killed by a sack and an incomplete pass.

But that was Monday's issue (or one of them). The season as a whole featured a variety of problems. There was the pass protection; Pitt allowed 32 sacks in 2018. There was the lack of involvement from the tight ends; that position group accounted for 10 receptions this season and just one in the last five games.

There was a seeming inability to attempt or execute screen passes. There was an unwillingness to try to hit slant patterns. There were recognition problems, both pre-snap and post-snap.

Taken together, those issues resulted in 1,985 total passing yards - the fewest by a Pitt team in a season since 1996. But this year's Panthers put up those numbers in a 14-game season; the average of 141.8 passing yards per game is the lowest since 1993.

Pitt won a combined total of seven games in 1993 and 1996. The 1996 team turned into something better the following year when Walt Harris was hired. Pat Narduzzi likely isn't going anywhere this offseason, but he'll have to carefully evaluate the state of his organization, particularly on offense, in the next few weeks.

"We’ve just got to continue to look at what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and evaluate, really, every part of the program," Narduzzi said after Monday's game.