11/24/2018 football Edit

Narduzzi on the loss to Miami, the offensive struggles and more

Chris Peak • Panther-lair

Publisher

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. - Pat Narduzzi spoke to the media about Pitt’s 24-3 loss to Miami on Saturday, and here’s a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: Ran into a buzz saw against - I told you Monday, defensively, that they were pretty stout and Warren Sapp came out of retirement. But they were good. We didn’t execute well enough offensively to muster up - I don’t know how many punts we had, way too many three-and-outs offensively. Defensively, I thought we stood toe-to-toe for awhile, gave up a few big plays. In the first half gave up a return for a touchdown on some questionable stuff there, but…and then in the second half, either they wore us down or we did a poor job of coaching them.

I just told the guys, ‘Hey, this one’s over with and we have a big one to play next weekend.’ We get to play next week and I give Miami credit; they came ready to play on Senior Day. It’s not easy when you go on the road and that’s a good football team.

Do you think it was a factor of you guys being focused all year long on winning the Coastal and then week after week to win four in a row and then it’s just kind of a natural letdown kind of thing?
Narduzzi: You know, I don’t know. I’d hate to say that. God, we tried to coach against that all week. I heard a couple guys afterward in the locker room say, ‘Coach, some guys were looking past this.’ If you put the tape on, I don’t know how you look past them unless you want to get your tail beat in. I hope that’s the reason; if you’re going to take it, I’d rather that be the reason than we just flat-out didn’t execute.

But we weren’t disciplined in the first half - seven penalties to zero. Just some stuff that we have to clean up and it’s the same thing that we did last week; I thought we’d come out and clean it up in the second half and then we start off in the first series and have two more penalties offensively. It’s tough to get a drive going with that.

Did you feel the loss of Jimmy at center had a big impact or would this have been a tough matchup either way?
Narduzzi: I’ll have to watch the tape before I say that. Prior to the game, last weekend, last Saturday after the game, I could tell you it was going to be a big loss. Anytime you lose your starting center who started 23 or 24 games straight, whatever it is, it’s an impact. A lot of things change. It’s not easy when that happens. That’s the quarterback of your O-line; he gets everything going.

So we’ll look at the tape, see how Connor did; I don’t think he played bad. I just think they’ve got some guys up front. They’re a pretty good football team

It took a few weeks into the season for your line to get things going with shuffling guys around. Is it a thing where it might take a few weeks to get these guys going?
Narduzzi: I hope it doesn’t take a few weeks. We don’t have a few weeks. We have one week.

Did you feel like there were still some plays to be made on offense that, for whatever reason, you weren’t able to strike with any kind of big play?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, Bandy’s a good corner; they did a good job taking away some of our deep game. But we didn’t make some - we had some batted-down balls with guys wide open and we had some guys not catch balls when it hits them in the hands on critical third downs. We just didn’t make the plays we needed to, whether it’s Kenny pump-faking the guy so he can get him up in the air and get the ball completed, whatever it may be, we just have to make more plays. We have to block them better and that’s what it comes down to.

How would you evaluate the defensive play? I guess they would have had to pitch pretty much a perfect game to match that, but they won the turnover battle for you guys.
Narduzzi: Yeah, they had two big hits and got two turnovers. We were plus-one in the turnover ratio. They played solid in the first half; they gave up three points. Then in the second half, we give up a couple big plays, one on a T-screen that we worked all week on. They didn’t run one in the first half so we said, ‘They’re coming back in the second half.’ They’re a very good T-screen team and they lined up in trips and ran exactly what we worked and Saleem’s a little late getting there and they went with a tight split and you could see the thing coming from the sideline. But I don’t have to see it coming; the kids have to see it coming and make a play.

But they hit us two plays and bang - they scored. And Homer’s a good player, period. He’s a good tailback. And Dallas is good. We knew, personnel-wise, they’re pretty good.

Did you get a chance to look at the potential targeting call?
Narduzzi: You know, players play, coaches coach, officials officiate. I thought the officials on the field got it right. I mean, you know, I guess I’m not - the replay guy, I don’t know what he saw, but I just know head and neck. You’ll have to ask the ACC about that.

Did you think he waved a fair catch?
Narduzzi: I thought he had a fair catch, too. But I’m just a dumb old coach.

What’s your biggest concern moving forward against Clemson?
Narduzzi: That they’re the number-two team in the country and they’re really, really good and they’re as good as what we saw out there today. We have to come ready to play, as coaches, we have to have a better game plan and we have a week to get going. We get to go play in the biggest game in these kids’ - in that locker room’s history. They have a chance to go play in the big show and it’s going to be a big game on a big stage against a good football team.

Obviously you don’t want him to punt 12 times, but it was it nice to see Kirk have a big game?
Narduzzi: Kirk is outstanding. I don’t want him to punt that many times, but he was outstanding. He keeps getting better and better. He’s a weapon.

You mentioned that you need a better game plan for next week; offensively, did you feel that you got away from what you came in wanting to do?
Narduzzi: Not really. We just didn’t have enough plays to get things going. You went three-and-out, you couldn’t set anything up, you never got in a rhythm. It’s three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, and it’s hard to set up a plan when you just go three-and-out and you’re not making any plays.