Narduzzi on the goal line, the loss and more
UNIVERSITY PARK - Pat Narduzzi discussed his goal line decisions and more after Pitt’s 17-10 loss to Penn State Saturday. Here’s the full rundown of what he said.
Narduzzi: Boy, heck of a ball game. Heck of a ball game. Our kids played tough. We were physical. Obviously left some plays out there, but I don’t question our guys played with some tremendous effort out there today. Came in, played a good football team and we left some plays out there in all three phases of the game, and in a tight ball game, seven-point ball game, you can’t do little things wrong and make plays. Our kids hung in there, played four quarters and just disappointing. I feel bad for our kids. I love those guys in there. They’re resilient. We’ll bounce back. And there was some great effort. Some great catches. Taysir Mack had a heck of a game. Kenny Pickett continues to play football the way we expect - all-conference type of effort out there today. I thought our offensive line did a great job out there protecting the quarterback for as many times as we threw it, 51 times.
And defensively, we held strong all day, played good football. You give up 17 points - disappointed in the first drive of the second half. Really, both offensively and defensively, I think that’s where it kind of swung us. But we fought back. I thought in the first drive offensively, we had two drops in that series, where we could just continue to move the sticks. And then we got in the 13-play drive, they moved it down the field and put one in. I believe that was the scenario.
The first offensive and defensive series of the second half was critical. We have to do a better job as coaches and we have to do a better job as players and continue to fight.
Did you think about going for it on fourth down?
Narduzzi: We thought about it. We thought a few times. I thought too many damn times and I’m wasting a timeout at one point. So we have to do a better job communicating as coaches what we want. We went for that fourth-and-1 in our own territory and Nakia makes a huge play. It’s a great job by the offense designing that play and making something happen.
And we had some plays down there that we thought we could get in on those three plays, and it becomes a two - I mean, we could have gone for it there and not gotten it. I thought, if we kick a field goal - you need two scores. A field goal was a good play and then you come back and score again. So we can go back and question the fourth-and-1 and go for it, not go for it; you know, if we go for it and don’t get it, it’s like, ‘Why didn’t you kick the field goal? You needed two scores anyway to win a football game.’ That’s what it comes down to. You need two scores and we had three plays. I wish Kenny would have connected on the third down; we got a little pressure off the edge, we didn’t slam down and block long enough before we released. We had two guys open on that third down play and, you know, you run out of plays that you feel really good about it down there in those situations. We thought we had three good ones. I thought our offensive coaches did a good job of trying to set things up. I don’t question that call.
You had four plays from the 1-yard line and only needed one score to tie the game. Why go for the field goal? Why not go for the touchdown?
Narduzzi: Because you need two scores to win the football game, unless you guys are playing for overtime. We’re trying to win a football game. So, you know…
You could have gone for two also; then it’s a one-possession game.
Narduzzi: We could have done a lot of things.
What went into the decision to throw it on all three of those downs and not run it?
Narduzzi: Just looking at the success we had running the ball today on that front seven. We didn’t have much success. We can look back at all our calls, guys. All the armchair quarterbacks - you guys all have those armchair desks there - it’s easy to make those decisions. We were throwing the ball, threw for over 300 yards, felt like we had some plays open. We’ll go back and look and see what we did and make decisions off of that.
So did you just not want to play for overtime at that point?
Narduzzi: I wanted to play to win the football game, and it’s a two-possession game as far as - we’ve got to score twice to win the football game. I don’t question that decision at all, really.
Ultimately, was that your call?
Narduzzi: Yes, ultimately that’s my call. Yes. We make decisions - we talk about it on the sideline, but it all goes back to me, guys. You can blame it all on me. My fault.
The decision to go for it on fourth down a little earlier, what went into that?
Narduzzi: We went back and forth and we felt like we had a good play and we lined up and executed. Again, great execution by the offense. And like I said, we had three plays down there on the goal line and you have to…
What do you think went into your rushing issues all game?
Narduzzi: You have to give them credit and we’ll go back and watch the tape and make decisions on what happened there and decide what happened there. But give them credit. We knew their front seven was pretty good and that’s what you do. We didn’t run the ball very effectively early in the game, but we felt like we had to try to establish it first and try to run the football.
How much of that went into the decision-making at the end of the game?
Narduzzi: They all add together when you look at your rushes and what you’re rushing for, you’re looking at trying to give our kids a chance to win the football game. We were throwing the ball well, we were protecting the quarterback pretty darn good, and I thought that, for throwing the ball as many times as we did, it wasn’t bad.
What can you say about your punter today?
Narduzzi: Kirk Christodoulou , he did a heck of a job. As good a football game as he’s played. He pinned them down, I don’t know how many times. He was bombing. I don’t know what his average was but Kirk had a heck of a game. It was great for his confidence. He was a weapon today and I’m happy for Kirk and the punt team.
Were you happy with your pass rush today?
Narduzzi: Early, I was, and in the second half, I wasn’t. We were down a couple guys up front and I thought maybe if you could rotate guys a little bit more, we could have. It was a critical play when the quarterback scrambled, I think, in the end of the third, maybe early fourth quarter, about the 40-yard line traveling toward the student section. The quarterback scrambles out. We have a wrong blitz path; we have two guys in the C-gap, I believe. We’re going to have a guy come clean and it’s going to be a big hit on the quarterback, it’s going to be a sack, he had nowhere to go with the ball. Like I said, there’s little things, guys. It’s a game of inches. And we lost a couple inches today.
How would you break down Kenny’s play?
Narduzzi: Kenny had - I don’t know if Kenny can play any better. That guy played his tail off. He made some throws that you guys have not seen him make before. He’s throwing it on time. He’s throwing it in rhythm. Kenny did a heck of a job. Starting off, throwing that one in the dirt early, but Kenny had a heck of a ball game.
Penn State took a 10-7 lead when they kicked a 57-yard field goal at the end of the half. Did that take the wind out of your sails? How hard was it to watch?
Narduzzi: Our guys came out and fought in the second half. I don’t think it took the wind out of anybody’s sails. That was a heck of a field goal. Give that guy credit. A 57-yard field goal is not easy. Probably a stadium record. Who kicks 57-yard field goals? We even put a returner back to see if we could maybe return it.
You talked on Monday that the next time they play this game, you’ll be retired or in a coffin. You were joking but that decision on fourth down, is that something that’s going to linger?
Narduzzi: It won’t linger. It won’t linger long at all. It is what it is. It’s tough. Tough call. But again, you get a field goal there, then you get a drive mustered up, you go down and score a touchdown and you win by three. That’s what we expect to score. You have to score more than 10 points to win a football game, period.
Does a loss hurt more knowing that you’re not going to get another shot at these guys?
Narduzzi: No, it doesn’t hurt any more. A loss is a loss. It doesn’t matter who it’s to, when it is. It’s a nonconference game and all our goals are still ahead of us and we’ll continue to play. We’ve got a resilient team that I love and we’ll be fine. We’ll be just fine.