ATLANTA - Pat Narduzzi talked about his defense, turnovers, approaching the off week and more after Pitt’s win over Georgia Tech on Saturday. Here’s the full rundown of what he said.
Narduzzi: I’ll tell you what: I’ll start off just talking about the defense, and, you know, they played another outstanding game. You win championships with defense and, again, another spectacular performance by them. Put in some tough positions in the first half with three turnovers again, and they just rise to the occasion. I mean, it’s an impressive group of guys out there, especially doing it without our starting free safety in Damar, being a little bit dinged up. It was nice to be able to not have to play him. Hat goes off to Stocker who played in his place. I think Erick Hallett got some reps back there, too.
But they were dominant and they just hung in there every single time, got two nice turnovers in the second half. I mean, the Kylan Johnson-caused fumble - big hit on the goal line, probably the play of the game, where he makes a big hit, turns the ball over and Cam Bright takes it back for a long fumble recovery return.
And then offensively, we just have to, again, learn not to turn the football over. It just tells you what kind of football team we’ve got: we can turn the ball over and we’re still up at the half. You turn the ball over three times, that doesn’t happen anywhere in the country and that’s again a tribute to the strength of our defense.
You closed out the game with the run on that last drive, but did you come into the game feeling confident about your run game, that you could get it going?
Narduzzi: Yeah, we felt confident. We also felt confident about our passing game, and I think we threw the ball effectively; we just, you know, put it in their hands a few times. We moved the ball well. That’s what you want to do. Again, they were stacking the box to stop the run and we took what they were giving us.
Was Damar a game-time decision?
Narduzzi: It was a game-time decision. He actually came out in the second half with street clothes on. We felt pretty confident with what Stocker was doing in there. He played well and it was a game-time decision, for sure. We just didn’t want to take any risks. He’s got a big career ahead of him and I’m never going to put a kid in harm out on the field.
Will the bye week help him?
Narduzzi: It will help big-time. He’ll be back, I guarantee you. He could have played today if we needed him. He could have played. He was feeling better as the week went on. It’s just nice to be able to get a fresh guy for that Thursday night game.
Coming off the field talking to him on the sideline, what feedback did you get from Kylan after he got dinged up on that play?
Narduzzi: He’s good. He just had a little stinger. He was fine, if that’s what you’re asking.
He had that forced fumble and also the drive after the blocked punt, he had a sack on third down. Was this a big game for him?
Narduzzi: Kylan’s had a big game every week. That guy doesn’t make many mistakes. He’s a football player. I’m glad he’s playing in Pittsburgh, that’s for sure.
On your first offensive series, third-and-9, Kenny threw it away and you guys kicked the field goal, but that “money down” - the music was piping in during the play, was that frustrating?
Narduzzi: Yeah. I mean, you know, they have to wait until they get warned and then they were better the rest of the game. But it should be no warning. It should be called immediately. And we warned them on the downs before that because they were doing it before that. Then they really played it loud, pumping in the music. It was the music that they just kept playing. They claimed, I guess, they pushed the button and the button didn’t work. Okay.
On Maurice’s fumble, it looked like his knee might have been down.
Narduzzi: Yeah, they’re supposed to review it all. I put that in the ACC’s hands. They go back to Greensboro, they have a job to do just like we do, and we’ll review it and send it in like we normally do but his knee was down from all the pictures I saw.
Is that something you can ask the referee to review?
Narduzzi: They’re supposed to review them all, so, you know…you got me.
Was there anything John Morgan could have done to avoid the penalty he took?
Narduzzi: There was nothing he could have done. He kind of came crawling through there. There’s nothing he could do. He was getting blocked. He came off the block and he crawled for three steps. I mean, he was already going down. I just - there’s nothing you can do. You can’t coach that. Disappointing.
When you’ve talked about your backs in recent weeks, you’ve liked the attitude they’ve run with. You said that about Sibley last week or A.J. after the Syracuse game. Did you see that out of A.J. again?
Narduzzi: I did. I saw it out of V’Lique. I saw it out of A.J. Davis. And obviously, Vince - and Vince will be back, hopefully have that big old cast off his forearm and be 100% healthy in another week and a half.
What does bowl eligibility mean? You start 5-2 so it’s not assumed that you’re going to get there but - what does that -
Narduzzi: It just takes that monkey off your back, knowing that that’s done with, we don’t have to worry about that, we just need to get ready for North Carolina. A really good North Carolina team coming into Pittsburgh on a Thursday night. The same night the Steelers play in Cleveland, which is unfortunate, but I guess, you know…
Can you talk about your team’s perseverance after the turning over the ball so many times, to only give up 10 points?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I think defensively, we held them under 200 yards. That doesn’t happen in college football nowadays. And it’s just, again, it’s a low on the year. I think Clemson held them to maybe 294. So the low on the year, just like last week was. And our kids just keep coming and playing, they believe in what they’re doing, they believe in the coaches. Randy Bates has done an outstanding job.
How does an offense break in a rut when it’s turning the ball over consistently?
Narduzzi: You can’t worry about it. The kids are trying to make plays and we’ll go back and watch the tape and see why and what. I think Kenny did a nice job in the second half of throwing stuff away and not trying to squeeze it in there. But we’ll look at it. But we have to eliminate that stuff.
Did you have a planned rotation with the offensive tackles? Or was that a feel thing?
Narduzzi: I’d have to ask Coach Borb, but we knew we were going to play Carson Van Lynn and play Gabe Houy, and they’re doing a nice job in there giving guys opportunities to stay fresh and not playing the same five like we did earlier in the season. It’s nice, we’ve got confidence in those guys, they know what they’re doing and I see some physicality. I saw Carson Van Lynn just blow up the Mike and put him on his back about six yards deep in the fourth quarter, just pancake block. It’s just good to see those guys play with some confidence in the run game.
We found out last night the program and Elias Reynolds parting ways. What happened there, from what you can tell us?
Narduzzi: You know, he needed to make a decision and move on and we needed to make a decision and move on as well, so it’s a good thing and we wish him luck. We’ll help him wherever he wants to go. He’s supposed to graduate in May. He should do that and he’ll find a place to play his last season.
Was he injured these last five games?
Narduzzi: Yeah, he’s been injured. He’s been injured and he needs to get healthy, too. So he’s got those things to deal with.
