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Narduzzi: 'I couldn't be more proud of those guys'

SEE ALSO: Video of Narduzzi's post-game | Box score: Hall runs for another 100-yard game to beat Virginia | Pitt makes it two in a row with 31-14 win

Pat Narduzzi met the media after Pitt’s 34-17 win over Virginia Saturday, and here’s a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Great game. Great weather. I wish I’d’ve saw the Panther Pitt a little bit more into the weather, like our kids did. But our kids weathered the storm and it was a great day. A lot of great things out there. We talked about, really, two major things: running the ball and stopping the run, and I think we got that done today. We talked about getting paid on money down, because that’s when you get paid, and our guys did a great job of stopping them on third down. Stopped the four out of five times on fourth down; that’s big-time football, down near the goal line, so I was proud of what our defense did.

The kids hang in there. You go through adversity through a season and things don’t go your way early, but our kids have hung in, been resilient and I couldn’t be more proud of those guys. They’re the ones that go out there and play the game, so I’m proud of them.

What kind of confidence are you seeing your defense playing with?
Narduzzi:
We’re getting a little bit better. We didn’t have one senior on that field the entire game, with obviously Avonte out. They’re continuing to have fun and doing the little things right most of the time; there’s still some mess-ups that you guys can’t tell that I can go crazy about. So we still are making little tiny mistakes that can cost you at times. There was a couple times it didn’t cost us and we made some plays because we messed up and it may have messed them up, too. But they just keep getting better and we just have to keep working through it.

How impressed were you with the line, particularly when you were missing two guys?
Narduzzi:
We’ve played a lot of guys, and that’s helped us. I think Dewayne probably could have gone today, but it’s just going to help us even more now; we didn’t have to go out there and beat him up. Now he’s got another week-and-a-half off, just to get even fresher. So it’s nice to go out there and get a win without two of your D-line starters and your starting corner - that just kind of goes with the depth that we’ve got out there. We missed a couple sacks with some of the young corners; those guys drive me nuts - really, three missed plays with corner pressure that could have been big plays that, you know, Avonte probably makes. But those young guys have to figure it out.

Did you think Saleem’s pick kind of set the tone for you guys?
Narduzzi:
It did. It lit the fire for our guys and then our offense takes it on a short field after a big pick. I think anytime you have a momentum-changer like that, it changes things. So that was a great play by him.

Can you talk about that fourth-and-goal when Shane Roy jumped in and stopped the run?
Narduzzi:
I know it’s Shane Roy that made that play, but there was a lot of guys. And I don’t remember which fourth down and goal line - are you talking about the one at the very end?

Yeah, with about three or four minutes.
Narduzzi:
Three or four minutes, so it was the one before the other one. There was a few of them down there. Guys made plays, and again, it takes 11 of them out there ticking together. But Shane’s been solid for us the entire year. He’s having a great year. And I’m proud of him and the rest of those guys that were out on all those fourth-down stops.

Would you say after nine games, this team isn’t inexperienced anymore?
Narduzzi:
I don’t know. You tell me. They’re still puppies, you know? They don’t bark real loud right now. They’re growling a little bit, but we’ll see. One week at a time. We’re still young.

That being said, you were 2-5 a couple weeks ago and you’ve got a stretch coming up where you’re running out of wiggle room to get where you want to go this season. What response, from a maturity standpoint, have you seen from your guys? Not panicking, kind of sticking with the program.
Narduzzi:
And I think it starts with our coaches. Our coaches have done a great job of making sure there is no panic and no loss of who we are, so credit to coaches for keeping those guys going and credit our players; they believe in what we’re doing and it’s a process. It’s a growth process. There’s learning every week that our guys have to make sure they hold onto and there will be a lot of learning tomorrow morning when we watch this tape to get better.

You said last week that Darrin was running with a lot more confidence; do you think today was a byproduct of that?
Narduzzi:
It sure was. He ran hard again. And Qadree had some nice runs as well, a nice touchdown run by him. So it’s funny: when one guy steps up and rushes for 200 yards, those other guys start to go, ‘Oooh, I better run harder, too; maybe I can run like him.’ And I saw Qadree do that today. Sometimes it’s a product of watching someone in front of you and then you have to step your game up. That’s that competition we talk about all the time.

Another full day of work for Ben; did you think he built off what he did last week?
Narduzzi:
I did. You know, not happy with the one interception where he threw down the seam to Chris Clark; it was underthrown and behind. Just overthrow it; don’t throw it behind and give them a chance. But overall, I mean, it’s a win and he operated the offense. There was a couple things he missed out there in the run game that maybe could have sent some things out the gate. But it’s a learning - and that’s a good defense, too.

Was that the plan for today, for Ben to play the entire game?
Narduzzi:
The plan is, if Ben’s - if he’s clicking and doing things right, then we’ll continue to go.

You had a lot of roll-out plays for him today; is that where you’re getting the most efficiency from him, especially coming into the future?
Narduzzi:
We had a little bit of sprint-out but a lot of nakeds. They’re flowing with the run…guys are wheeling out and he’s all by himself, either pitching or running with it. So it’s a run-pass option on any of those nakeds, so he’s doing a nice job there.

He threw a lot early in the game; are you guys getting more confidence and trust in him?
Narduzzi:
I can’t tell you we’re throwing any earlier. We’re doing what they’re giving us and we’ve got confidence in him. We’ve had it. But we want to run the football, run nakeds and we’re just going to do what we do.

What does it do for your team when it’s back-and-forth and then Quadree Henderson breaks a 75-yard return?
Narduzzi:
That’s a big-time play. We’ve been waiting for that. You guys know what he’s all about. He had a nice game, had a nice little run, too, out of the backfield on whatever you call it. He did a nice job. Those momentum plays - I could go down the list of all the momentum plays that we had, where it’s Saleem’s, fourth-down stops are big and obviously that return is a huge play in the game.

You talked during the week how you still wanted to see more from the linebackers in terms of physicality, coming up and hitting guys. It wasn’t just Saleem today; Zeise had a bunch of tackles, too. Did you pretty much see that?
Narduzzi:
Chase Pine, look at that third-down stop he had down on the goal line. I thought someone blitzed him. But he’s playing fast and making some plays. It’s good to see him make some plays. Across the board, we’re getting a little bit better. Those guys are still young and it was good to see - even for Chase Pine to come in there and make some plays, he’s had some rough days and he’s persisted.

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