Listless offense dooms Pitt again

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Pat Narduzzi said it best himself in his postgame press conference. The Panthers’ head coach, who is off to a career-worst 1-4 start, put it plainly when discussing his team’s performance.

“Offensively, we didn’t do anything.”

No kidding.

Pitt limped its way to a 38-21 loss to Virginia Tech, the fourth straight defeat for the Panthers. Aside from two big passing touchdowns, Pitt’s best offensive drive traveled 37 yards and ended with a missed field goal.

37 yards? That must be a misprint, right?

Nope. Pitt only generated nine first downs for the entire game against the Hokies, who themselves are not a very good team and entered this contest with a 1-3 record. You would hardly be able to tell with the way Virginia Tech dominated Pitt on both sides of the ball. The Panthers converted just 2-of-10 third down attempts. The offensive output was as bad as it sounds, and perhaps even worse. Pitt finished with 272 yards of offense, which is below its paltry season average of 317 yards per game.

The root of the offensive issues would seem obvious to the most casual of observers. Pitt has not received good quarterback play from Phil Jurkovec all season and that trend persisted throughout another week and another defeat.

Jurkovec finished 11-of-22 for 235 yards and three touchdowns. On the surface those numbers aren’t terrible, but he only completed three passes in the first half. It’s the third time in four games he has failed to even connect on at least five passes in the first half.

Jurkovec fumbled once and was sacked four times. He found Bub Means for a 75-yard score and C’Bo Flemister turned a screen pass into a 61-yard touchdown, but that was kind of it for him and offense. The ball was not finding receivers and the chains weren’t moving because of it.

Narduzzi was asked, like he has been many times this year, if he intends on making a change at quarterback. Given that this Pitt team has a bye week on the horizon, it would seem like a time to make a move or at the very least explore one to salvage the next seven games.

"We’re going to reevaluate where we are,” said Narduzzi. “I see a lot of things that need changed on the offense. We got nine first downs, like it’s hard to win a football game. We’ve got two explosive plays, that’s all we got. So we’ve got to look at what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and fix it. That’s my job as the head coach to fix it. It doesn't come down to one guy, it’s everybody. It’s a team loss. Period. That’s kind of what it is, honestly.”

Pitt’s offensive line struggled to protect Jurkovec to be sure. The much maligned group, down three starters, also failed to created running lanes for the tailbacks. Virginia Tech entered this game as one of the worst rushing defenses in the country giving up over 200 yards per game, but limited Pitt to 38 yards on 24 attempts.

The play of the quarterback has largely drawn the bulk of the headlines, but it’s certainly more out in the open now that there are concerns about Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. If Pitt can’t run the ball with this type of passing game, then more 17-point losses to teams like Virginia Tech are on the horizon.

“We’ve got a bye week to figure it out,” Narduzzi explained. “We’ve got to figure out what we do well, what we don’t do well, and stop doing what we don’t do well and start doing something better. We’ve got to obviously change some things up and that’s what we’ll do in the open week to try to figure out what we’ve got to get first downs and touchdowns.”

Pitt’s offense has generated only four touchdowns over the last three games. The Panthers were aided by a special teams score last week and they got a boost from a defensive touchdown last night to make it 28-21 in the third quarter.

Pitt even got a stop on the following Virginia Tech possession and appeared to have life down one score in the third quarter. It was possibly a game-changing sequence. Narduzzi was asked if his team seized momentum from the defensive touchdown, which he believed they did initially.

“We didn’t take advantage of it,” he lamented. “We quieted them down there just for a second. I don’t remember what happened on that next series after that, but I’m assuming in was another three-and-out and a punt.”

Narduzzi’s assumption was right. Pitt followed up the big defensive sequence with two runs, a sack, and ultimately a punt.

That is kind of the whole story right now.