Published Nov 30, 2019
Narduzzi on the loss, the turnovers and more
circle avatar
Chris Peak  •  Pitt Sports News
Publisher
Twitter
@pantherlair

Pat Narduzzi talked about turnovers, mistakes and more after Pitt's 26-19 loss to Boston College on Saturday. Here's a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Obviously, not a great outing. I think our kids - I don't question their effort - I think they came out and played hard. Give Boston College credit. A.J. Dillon is a darn good back; I don't know why they aren't talking about that guy for the Heisman. He's a good back.

Defensively, we gave up the one big run, the 61-yarder. That was really more on the call that it was our kids. I'm sure someone could make a tackle, but I didn't like the defensive call there. And then in four-minute, we have to get off the field and we didn't get off the field in four-minute.

We've got four turnovers. You lose by seven points and you've got four turnovers - usually that's a 27-point loss but our defense stepped up in those four situations and caused four field goals. But we gave them 12 points off of four turnovers - very well could have been 28. But you're not going to win any football games turning the football over four times.

We had false starts. Got the ball down to the one. Ended up getting a field goal because we had a false start. Those details aren't taken care of. We've got to get better.

Questions.

How do you account for all the mistakes?
Narduzzi: You tell me. I don't know. Senior Day, I feel bad for those seniors going out and playing like that.

We got senior tackles, illegal procedure, two of them to start off the game in the first series. I mean, you got to be focused, you got to be locked in, you got to take care of those things. There's no excuses for it. We got to get better as coaches and they’ve got to be better as players.

What happens to this offense when it gets to the red zone, can't find the end zone?
Narduzzi: Again, give BC some credit. We don't make enough plays to get in the end zone.

Has there been one consistent thing that's been bothersome down there?
Narduzzi: You can't put your finger on whatever it is, whether it's a penalty or execution, blocking or making the catch, making the throw. We had four sacks in the first half, we didn't protect the quarterback. That's part of it.

Is there a little frustration from your end that this team doesn't feel like it's playing its best football at the end of the season?
Narduzzi: No question we're frustrated. I don't think we're playing our best. We should be better than what we are right now.

Again, we got a good football team. It's not easy. I mean, BC came in, they're hungry, trying to get a bowl game themselves. They played better than we did. We didn't execute.

How hard is it to swallow, you had a couple close losses this season, could have been 9-3?
Narduzzi: It is what it is. Every loss, whether it's close or by 28 points, they're all tough. That's part of the game.

What you don't want to do is just give it to them. When you give them four turnovers... I know there's some young guys on offense making mistakes. We don't have a ton of senior leadership on the offense. We've got some on defense. That's part of it.

Taysir Mack did not play today?
Narduzzi: He'll be ready to go for the bowl game. Physically wasn't capable.

Did you feel like it was a cumulative effect of the turnovers and time of possession to be slanted against your defense?
Narduzzi: Yeah, when you allow them to run the ball. Again, A.J. Dillon is a big back. He fought for yards. We didn't tackle 250 pounds very well. He's a hefty guy.

Was your defense fatigued?
Narduzzi
: I don't know. We rotated enough linemen in there. It will wear on anybody. You saw that during the year. I mean, rushed for almost 500 yards on Syracuse. They know how to run the football. They do a nice job.

Like I said, A.J. Dillon, give him some credit, he's a big back, an NFL tailback.

How much did the loss at Virginia Tech take a toll on this team knowing they weren't in the ACC championship picture?
Narduzzi
: I don't think much of a toll. I think our kids were locked in and ready to go. I thought we had a good week of practice. Wouldn't have been there anyway based on the results of Friday afternoon. It was just better to find out a week earlier instead of the night before, so...