The Pitt Panthers improved to 5-0 over the weekend, with a 34-24 takedown of North Carolina. Pitt is off to its best start since 1991, and this undefeated run has been fueled by some impressive individual performances. In this week's notebook, we check in on some of the more interesting stats surrounding the team.
The best freshman in the country
I don’t know if people need to mince words anymore about Eli Holstein. The Pitt quarterback is having the best season of any freshman in the country. I don’t know if he is the best freshman, with respect to Alabama’s Ryan Williams, but Holstein is having the best season in terms of team success, the position he plays, and how he is playing it.
Holstein is one of two quarterbacks in the entire country averaging 300 yards passing per game with an undefeated record. The only other being Cam Ward of Miami. That’s the bottom line, though. He is not just playing well for a freshman quarterback, Holstein is up there with the best period.
Holstein broke Pitt's single game freshman passing total, with 381 yards and three touchdowns against North Carolina, giving him 1,564 yards, 15 touchdown, and three interceptions on the year.
Dual threat?
Eli Holstein’s passing has obviously been the driving force of his success, but his running has to start getting talked about more and more. He is up to 265 yards on the season, and leads Pitt with three rushing touchdowns. It’s the best rushing total for a Pitt quarterback since Nate Peterman posted 286 yards and three touchdowns in 2016.
At the North Carolina postgame press conference, Holstein sat down, looked at the stats, and immediately did a fist bump. He admitted he was checking on his rushing stats.
“I only lost one yard,” Holstein said. “That’s not too bad. I’ll take that”
After only gaining one rushing yard in the opener, he has rushed for 59 yards or more over Pitt’s last three games. He was Pitt’s leading rusher against North Carolina with 76 yards on only ten carries.
Do-it-all
On the season, Pitt junior running back Desmond Reid has 11 touches of 20 yards or more this season. Five of those are runs, five are receptions, and one is a 78-yard punt return touchdown, on his only special teams attempt this season.
Reid has shown he can take almost any touch the distance this season, but on Saturday, his longest play, a 72-yard reception against North Carolina, did not go for a touchdown. Reid said earlier this season, he never gets caught in the open field, but took some blame for it on Saturday.
“I’ve got to do better with that,” Reid said with a smirk. “It won’t happen again.”
Reid is second nationally, averaging 193.5 yards per game of all-purpose. He is Pitt's leading rusher with 374 yards, and second on the team with 322 receiving yards and has six total touchdowns on the season.
Keeping it 100
Konata Mumpfield did not record a single 100-yard game in his first two seasons at Pitt. It always felt steadier quarterback play would have benefitted the Panthers’ wideout, and we’re seeing it this season.
Mumpfield churned out his second 100-yard game of the year on Saturday against North Carolina. The senior went for 111 yards against the Tar Heels, and did it on three catches. Two of his receptions went for over 40 yards, placing Pitt inside the 10-yard line each time. On the season, Mumpfield has 23 catches for 426 yards and three touchdowns. He is third in the ACC with 85.2 yards per game.
Lee emerging
Pitt brought in three Western Carolina transfers this offseason. Desmond Reid and Poppi Williams each scored two touchdowns in Pitt’s opener against Kent State, and sort of announced themselves with a big introductions, but Censere Lee is catching up over the past two games.
He hauled in his second touchdown of the season against UNC on Saturday, a seven-yard strike for Eli Holstein in the second quarter. Lee had an 82-yard touchdown last week against Youngstown State as well. Currently, Pitt has six receivers with double digit receptions and over 100 yards receiving on the season, giving Holstein plenty of options on every play.
Clean pocket
Eli Holstein’s mobility helped on Saturday, but the offensive line did not allow a single sack to North Carolina, keeping Pitt’s most important player off the ground. It was the first time all season Holstein did not get sacked, a stark improvement when he went down five times against West Virginia.
It was interesting leading up to the game that Pat Narduzzi called the Tar Heels the best defensive line they will face to this point of the season. Kaimon Rucker, North Carolina’s top pass rusher, did return Saturday after his status was up in the air. He was only credited with one hurry, and no tackles.
Ryan Baer was hit with two holding penalties, however. Branson Taylor was flagged for one, but UNC declined it. So it was not a perfect performance, but Pitt you can’t rack up over 500 yards without good offensive line play.
Speaking of offense
Pitt is fourth nationally in total offense, posting 522.2 yards per game. The Panthers are sixth in scoring, totaling 45.6 points per game. In Pitt’s 2021 ACC Championship season, the team posted 486.6 yards and 41.4 points per contest. That stands as the best offensive season in Pitt history, and this current team is very much within reach of that pace through five games. The 2021 Panthers scored 70 offensive touchdowns in 14 games and the current version is up to 26 through five games.
I do want to stop comparing things to last season, but that team only scored 27 offensive touchdowns, so it’s safe to say the Kade Bell hire has been nothing short of a home run, five games into his tenure.
Not getting home
Pitt’s defensive line was a concern heading into this season, and the group still remains a question mark for this team. Pitt got in the face of North Carolina’s Jacolby Criswell quite often with 11 QB hurries, as opposed to the four the Tar Heels got on Holstein.
But Pitt seemingly couldn’t get home for a sack. Kyle Louis, a linebacker, eventually pulled down Criswell on UNC’s final offensive snap of the game. But the defensive line did not generate one. Nate Matlack and Sincere Edwards appeared active off the edge. Sean FitzSimmons gave the team a little boost with his season debut. He had two tackles and three hurries, and stuffed a key fourth down attempt in the fourth quarter.
Pitt was missing Nick James, who Narduzzi called “Probably our best D-tackle” after the game and said he may return this week against Cal. A healthy James and FitzSimmons’ emergence, could start to turn the tides for this group.
Blood in the water
It was another solid performance for ‘The Sharks’ over the weekend, referring to the self-given nickname of the Pitt linebackers. The main trio of Kyle Louis, Raheem Biles, and Brandon George combined for 23 tackles, four tackles for loss, two pass breakups, and accounted for Pitt’s only sack against North Carolina.
Braylan Lovelace actually started the game, Keye Thompson returned after missing time with an injury, and Jordan Bass was playing big snaps early in the game. The entire pack was at full strength for the first time in a while, and continued to post solid numbers for this Pitt defense.
Kyle the Great
Kyle Louis emotionally led the charge, again, with nine tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and had the sack to essentially end the game. His interception against West Virginia also ended a game for the Pitt defense. He sort of always comes up clutch in the game’s final moments. On Saturday, however, he actually didn’t realize it.
“That’s the best feeling, but I ain’t going to lie to you, I didn’t know it was fourth down,” Louis said with a laugh in the postgame press conference.
I think that also sort of illustrates who he is as a player. Louis just flies around to the ball on almost every play. Pat Narduzzi appreciates his sophomore linebacker as much as anyone.
“That guy's electric, that guy's a football player,” the Pitt coach said of Louis. “He’s an all-ACC linebacker, let's just vote for it now. That guy's a player.”
Racking ‘em up
It does not matter who the opponent is, but if you look down at the stat sheet after any one of Pitt’s game, then you’re going to see Donovan McMillon’s name at the top of the tackle statistics.
That was indeed the case on Saturday, as the senior safety totaled ten stops. In five games this season, he has posted 45 tackles, giving him an average of nine per game, which ranks fifth in the ACC. McMillon now has three double-digit tackle games this season, coincidentally enough, all against power-four opponents. He had 15 stops against Cincinnati, 13 versus West Virginia, and ten against the Tar Heels. The senior safety now has eight career double-digit tackle games in two seasons with Pitt.
It’Saulsways good
It was another perfect day for Ben Sauls on Saturday. The senior kicker made both of his field goal attempts, and all four of his PATs. On the season, Sauls is 9-of-9 on field goals, and 26-for-26 on extra points.
Sauls has simply been automatic so far this season. He is one of two ACC kickers hitting 100% on field goal attempts for the season, along with Florida State’s Ryan Fitzgerald (6/6).
Conquered the Hill
Pitt finally won a game at North Carolina’s Kenan Memorial Stadium. The Panthers were previously 0-7 in road games against North Carolina. Pitt had leads against North Carolina at halftime in its four most recent games in Chapel Hill, but faltered in the second half every time. The Panthers and Tar Heels were tied in this meeting, but Pitt won the second half 17-7. After starting 0-4 against North Carolina personally, Pat Narduzzi has started to turn the tides a little. Narduzzi is now 3-2 against UNC head coach Mack Brown in head-to-head meetings.
Calgorithm invades
Pitt will welcome Cal to town this weekend, a new member of the ACC. The Golden Bears are 3-2 and are coming off a devastating loss. Cal led No. 8 Miami 35-10 midway through the third quarter before losing 39-38. It was the program’s first time ever hosting ESPN’s College Gameday, as well, which could cause some hangover for the team, especially with the cross country flight.
Pitt is 3-2 all-time against Cal, but the last time the teams played was in 1966. This will mark the first time Cal has played in Pittsburgh since 1963, a 35-15 win for Pitt. That Pitt team was the infamous ‘no bowl team’ despite going 9-1 and finishing the year No. 4 in the AP Poll.
