Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi updated the quarterback situation and talked about the Panthers' preparation for Western Michigan during his final chat with the media on Thursday.

Here's the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: I’ll be quick. We’ve had a good week of practice; just looking forward to seeing how the guys respond going on the road, how they play in a different atmosphere. I’ve educated them on where Kalamazoo is, where we’re staying. I think it’s really good to get a road trip in before you get into the ACC play, so what better place than up in Kalamazoo? Should be a great opportunity to see what we have after two tough games, as far as playing 60 minutes and being in a battle every weekend. I want to find out how our guys respond.

What do Sean Tyler and La’Darius Jefferson bring as a running back duo that you guys have to stop?
Narduzzi: Really fast guy and bigger 238, 240-pound back. Kind of like a Vince Davis and a Daniel Carter combination, which we see in practice quite a bit through fall camp. So just two different guys that one you probably take a little bit lower and flip him upside down, make sure he doesn’t jump over you like Gavin (Bartholomew) would, but usually in the box. And another back, just a regular back who’s got good speed that they can do a lot of different things with.

A couple of your players this week talked about how last year you guys were a little bit caught off guard with what they were doing; what goes into making sure that doesn’t happen again this year?
Narduzzi: There are always - every week, they’re going to catch you off-guard with what they do. We worked on RPO’s, but just the way they executed it was better than what we’d seen out of most people. Like I said, Erick Hallett was there, but if the quarterback puts the ball on the money, which he did a year ago - I mean, he was perfect. I don’t know if it came down to how we played some of the RPO’s - it didn’t catch us by surprise because we practiced it; maybe we were surprised by how good they were at executing them. So you’re always going to get caught off-guard; there’s going to be stuff that we did not practice. They’d be fools, we’d be fools, to go in there and just do things that we practiced all week, that they practiced all week, and see who’s better. We know they’re a talented football team and you expect the unexpected.

Okay, pretend you’re Tim Lester and you don’t know what’s going through Pat Narduzzi’s mind as far as quarterbacks go; how does that change your week of preparation?
Narduzzi: You know, I’m not going to - I’m not going to, you know, we’re not playing games. Give me a good question, Jerry. Come on. Your injury questions are better than that.

Do you have any clarity on your quarterback situation?
Narduzzi: Not yet. No. It will be a game-time decision.

Is Kedon part of that decision?
Narduzzi: Yes.

You talked about how they bring pressure a lot; does it feel like you’re looking in a mirror a bit as you prepare for them?
Narduzzi: They brought 60% pressure against Michigan State and about 35% pressure against Ball State. I expect more in the 60’s. If you looked at Pitt in a year, we’re probably around 66-67% and 33%, we’re somewhere around 30-33 every week, but they’ll bring pressure Saturday, for sure. We expect it, we prepare for it. That’s just what they’ll think they can get home and we’ll expect a lot of pressure.

It seemed like when you watched them on tape, they would find creative ways to show one way and blitz from another, and that was something that Tennessee did against you guys last week. How do you prepare for that this week?
Narduzzi: Same thing. You know, that’s what everybody does: you’re showing it from one side, trying to bring it from the other side and that’s kind of what you do. So we practice it all week, what they do and how they do it and what they could do. You prepare for the unexpected.

What did you like from Kyler and Yarnell this week?
Narduzzi: They’re both mature. I think both of them got better the more reps they got this week, because obviously they got more reps. So just the maturity and I think they got better with a couple more reps.

How about your kickers? How did they do this week? How did Ben respond to his game on Saturday and what did you see out of both of those guys this week?
Narduzzi: They’ve both been really solid in practice. It comes down to the game, and we know we’re not going to make every one of them, but Ben had a good week and Sam had a good week, so we expect a good Saturday.

You guys went from allowing 5.7 yards per carry to 2.6 last week in the run defense; even though you didn’t come out with a win, that seemed like more of the tone that you normally set. How do you keep carrying that forward this week against this opponent?
Narduzzi: We have to stop the run. That will be the number one key. The RPO’s, they can’t run the ball and also throw RPO’s. Last year, what caught us off-guard is, they were running the ball and then we tried to stop the RPO’s - they weren’t really running the ball early, they were just throwing it and I think it frustrated our kids to the point where we didn’t stop the run. So we’re going to be sold out on stopping the run; that’s got to be the number-one thing. And then hopefully our guys do their jobs and we have the answers. We have more answers right now than we’ve ever had.

I understand they’re not doing RPO’s as much this year; does that make it more difficult in your preparation?
Narduzzi: Not really. A year ago, I think it was 70% RPO’s going into our game; they’re 40%, so they’re still doing plenty, and if you don’t stop them, 40 turns into 50 or 60. If they’re doing well, they’re going to do it as gaining yards and getting first downs. So they’re not doing as much with the coordinator, but Tim Lester will have some stuff in and they’ve learned some stuff from when Harbaugh was their offensive coordinator, who is off to Minnesota running RPO’s there.

Western has had a really solid track record with wide receivers and Corey Crooms had a really big game against you guys last year. What makes him so effective at what he does?
Narduzzi: He’s their go-to guy on almost every down. He’s the guy, and they’ve got other playmakers as well. But he’s tall, he’s rangy and he catches the football. He’s a playmaker. He’s kind of like a Jared Wayne-type guy that you can count on and they’re going to get him the ball as much as they can. We have to know where No. 4 is.

A couple of players said they remember last year’s game and it was a motivator for them this week. How much do you discuss last year’s game with Western or do you just try to move on?
Narduzzi: You know, it’s like I said earlier in the week: do I have to say anything? I think the game speaks for itself. So I really don’t need to say much. I think the game speaks for itself.

Bangally has had a really effective couple games in pass coverage; what has he done to improve in that way and to make him that effective?
Narduzzi: Bangally’s been good. I think getting that first game under his belt was huge for him. I think I told you last week, he was like, ‘Coach, it’s a lot different than in practice.’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, it is. Practice is not going to be just like the game.’ So he has grown up in seven days; that’s the great thing. I think he’ll keep getting better, he’s got great ability.

And I’ll tell you what: Tylar Wiltz did a nice job. Shayne Simon did a nice job. Having Brandon George back last week was a big boost, because we had Nick Lapi in there. We’ve got six linebackers at this point right now that we can rotate and keep fresh, keep them fast, and that’s important going into this game as well.

Is there an extra charge to your offensive line this week to take a step forward? They’ve given up some pressure and they haven’t exactly been the most dominant rushing offense so far.
Narduzzi: No question about it. I’m charged up, so if they aren’t charged, I’m charged. So they better be charged, because I’m charged.

Along that line, does that apply to the receivers as well?
Narduzzi: Yes. Everybody’s got to be charged, okay? Everybody has to be charged. You come off a loss, a tough loss, whatever, you played good but didn’t play good enough to win, you know, I’m charged. Let’s go.

How do you feel about rotating offensive linemen, though? Are you opposed to that? Do you want five guys to stick it out?
Narduzzi: No, I mean, swinging a guy in there and getting Branson Taylor in there for Carter Warren for a series is good. I think it’s good to watch, see. It’s like, after the first game, I don’t care, offensive linemen or linebackers, you want to get guys involved and you don’t want to get them involved when you have to. When you have to, that’s when you go - if we don’t get them involved ever, then you’ve got a problem, so just getting them involved in the game early helps them, because eventually those guys are going to be thrown in there, and you’d rather be more prepared.

SirVocea talked about how, after the first game, even though you guys won, he was like, ‘We need to get our linebackers up to speed to be faster.’ How have you seen him help Tylar, Shayne and the other guys get up to that speed?
Narduzzi: I haven’t seen him do anything; I just know Coach Manalac does a great job coaching. He’s got them all on the same page. I’m sure Voss has his leadership things that he’s doing and getting the motivation part of it and making sure they know what to do, but Coach Manalac is going to be in charge of, how do they get it done effectively and efficiently.

There might ben other guys on the D-line that get more attention or name recognition, but what does David Green mean to that group?
Narduzzi: He’s done a nice job. He started last week and had a great week of practice, and we need another really good week out of him, as well.

Your DB’s got challenged by some really talented receivers through these first two weeks and you said they played pretty well; does that make you any more confident or more comfortable with selling out against the run?
Narduzzi: You know, confidence - we’re going to play what we normally do. So we’re not selling out against the run; we’re going to play our defense. We’re confident with what our corners and our safeties do. It doesn’t make you any more confident, because as soon as you let your guard down, Western Michigan’s got tools out there. They’ve got players. They’ve got NFL wideouts. The one NFL guy here from Shady Side is a second-round pick and starting for the Chiefs. So they’ve got players there. We know that. And they’ve done a good job recruiting, too.