Pitt opened the 2023 season with a commanding 45-7 win over Wofford at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday. It was hardly an unexpected outcome, but Saturday’s game still helped answer some questions about the 2023 Pitt football team.
Here are my five takeaways from Pitt’s season-opening win.
1) Decided to turn it up a notch
Pitt did not exactly light the world on fire from the start on Saturday. It took a few plays for the offensive to find its footing, but once it got there, the Panthers put the game in cruise control. Pitt’s first offensive drive resulted in a punt. The second one did not start off much better, as the Panthers looked to have a conservative approach with their play calling.
Finally, they decided to let it go.
Phil Jurkovec hit Bub Means for a 24-yard completion and the next play Rodney Hammond rushed it up the middle for a 10-yard touchdown. Those two plays netted 34 yards, the first 14 only produced 26 yards of offense. Once Pitt lifted the training wheels, the offense started to flourish.
We have seen Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi sometimes take these games against FCS opponents lightly. The logic, at least from what I can gather, is that he likes to save his real offense for bigger games. I’m not sure if that is always a sustainable model and the first 14 plays on Saturday sort of suggest that. I do not think you can expect to run tight end screens and handoff the ball to the third-string running back from the start and believe it will work for an entire game, even against a team like Wofford.
Once Pitt let the game go, everything went a lot more smoothly. The Panthers generated 491 yards of offense on Saturday, with eight players combing for 217 rushing yards. Pitt had 13 different players catch a pass as well.
The outcome went as expected, it just took a little while to get it there.
2) Jurkovec with a solid debut
Phil Jurkovec got his first game under his belt on Saturday as Pitt’s starting quarterback. The native son produced a solid first outing, completing 17-of-23 pass attempts for 214 yards and a touchdown. Jurkovec also produced 41 rushing yards, including a 23-yard touchdown jaunt in the first half. He missed on a few throws, took an unfortunate sack on the first drive, but overall it’s hard to be discouraged by what he showed.
Jurkovec has some mobility and showed off the wheels on some runs, but he was also able to extend some plays and I think that’s an element Pitt missed last year and something they had gotten used to from Kenny Pickett. Jurkovec really made a nice throw on the run in the third quarter to Gavin Bartholomew on a third-down attempt.
It was only Wofford, so it’s hard to get a great feel for how he really did, but again once Frank Cignetti Jr. let the offense…play actual offense, I thought Jurkovec made some nice throws and ran the offense well.
They still probably held some elements back, which is fine, and there are also areas where he can improve on for next week but it was a good debut. His team won by 38 points, hard to complain about that
3) Spreading the wealth…even to the tight ends
I think the one area that stood out to me most about Jurkovec’s performance was his ability to spread the ball around on offense. His first eight completions on Saturday were to eight different receivers and overall he found nine different pass catchers against the Terriers.
Combining Christian Veilleux’s appearance in the fourth quarter, 13 different Pitt players caught a pass on Saturday. In an ideal world when you play a team like Wofford, that is how you want to play it. These games are opportunities for everyone to get involved and that is what we saw happen on Saturday.
Back to receivers for a bit, though.
Pitt’s top three returning pass catchers from last year: Gavin Bartholomew, Bub Means, and Konata Mumpfield all made plays against Wofford. The other tight ends, like Karter Johnson and Jake Renda also made an impact. We had heard a lot of buzz about the freshman wide receivers, though they did not see much action until the fourth quarter. I think that’s immaterial in the grand scheme of things. Jurkovec likes to spread the ball around and he does not lock in on one or two guys, plus he is more than comfortable using the tight end in almost any situation. Again, it’s only Wofford, but it’s a good sign multiple players are getting involved on offense.
4) Simply dominant defensive effort
Wofford had very little success moving the ball against the Pitt defense all game long. The Terriers had 0 points and 51 yards of offense when they got the ball for the last time on Saturday. Of course, the shutout was spoiled when Wofford quarterback Bryce Corriston hit Tyler Parker for a 75-yard touchdown with 1:13 left in the game.
In the end, Wofford totaled 126 yards of offense on Saturday, so not a bad day at the office for the Pitt defense. Pitt held the Terriers to negative-1 yards rushing on Saturday. Corriston was often running for his life as he finished with -28 yards on the ground himself.
The Pitt defense, known for its stingy pass rush, produced four sacks and six tackles for loss as a team. The Panthers also had one takeaway and limited the Terriers to 1-of-9 in third-down conversion attempts. There were 20 different Pitt players to record a tackle on Saturday, with Bangally Kamara and Dayon Hayes leading the way with four apiece. Both players also recorded a sack as well in strong opening games. There was a lot of buzz surrounding Deandre Jules exiting training camp, and he made an impact almost right away with a tackle for loss and blowing up a play that led to Hayes sack. The Pitt defense did what it was supposed to do on Saturday, and even then some.
5) Did we learn anything?
Pitt beat Wofford by 38 points on Saturday. I think we all expected a comfortable win for the Panthers, but did we learn anything from it? I think there are a lot of things we expected coming out of fall training camp and we did get to see those things on display…
Phil Jurkovec will throw to tight ends.
Bub Means is a freak on offense, Bangally Kamara is the same type of player on defense
Deandre Jules is a breakout candidate.
Dayon Hayes is prime for a big season
The cornerbacks and offensive line will be strengths
We got to see all of those players make plays, but again for the one millionth time: it was Wofford. Aside from that, there are still some elements that are complete unknowns that we did not get to see on Saturday.
The big one I am talking about is that that the safeties never got tested too much against Wofford, but I suspect the next three opponents will certainly push their boundaries and see if they are ready. Pitt’s offense was solid, but it did have a slow start. Will they be able to generate that same kind of offensive push when the competition goes up? We didn’t see too many explosive plays either, can those still be waiting in the wings?
It’s week one football, and while sometimes there can be overreactions to just one game, I’m still in wait and see mode in a lot of respects. The win is the biggest takeaway on Saturday, but there will be a bigger test when Cincinnati invades Acrisure Stadium next weekend.
