Narduzzi on UCF, tempo, the offense and more

Pat Narduzzi talked about UCF, tempo and a lot more on Thursday, and here’s the full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: We had a great week of practice. Obviously we have a great football team coming in that’s going to tempo, averaging 90 plays per game, so I think we’re about as prepared as you can get as far as the defense goes. I like the game plan offensively and defensively. We have to be prepared to stop a lot of quarterback runs. They liked that against us with our coverage, whether it’s Wimbush coming in there and having his plays because we know he can really run, we faced him at Notre Dame. I’ve seen plenty of tape on how fast he is. And Dillon’s also fast and athletic. So those are always concerns that you have that you stop the pass, you stop the deep ball, then here comes the draws and they hurt us on that a year ago, so we’ve done a good job of preparing for that.

Brightwell said yesterday that you stepped the tempo up in practice to ridiculous levels, unreasonable levels. How fast were you going? Were you using two units, one after the other?
Narduzzi: No, we weren’t using two units. It wasn’t ridiculous. I’ve seen more ridiculous - I think our guys did a good job, because there’s a fine line. Maybe in the past I’ve overdone it. We used to make them do up-downs; they’d run a play and do up-downs, just to get the scout team a chance, which is kind of like a play. Then they’re exhausted, so it’s really playing exhausted because that’s what ends up happening. So I don’t know if it was ridiculous, but we got the tempo going. We got plays off between 10 and 12 seconds, consistently, with one team. But a lot of our coaches are coaching up the offense to get them out. It’s like, we’ll have a card for the right guard/right tackle, a card for the left guard and left tackle and center, someone’s got the quarterbacks, someone’s coaching receivers over here, someone’s coaching receivers out there just to get them out. We don’t have one guy showing a whole huddle of 11 guys, ‘Hey guys, this is what’s going on.’ So Peyton Deri, who’s kind of a medical right now - we had just a lot of good student managers helping us. It was good.

Who was the scout team quarterback and how much of a burden is it on him to be this?
Narduzzi: It’s funny you ask that question. It’s Davis Beville, who does a great job. Obviously, he’s a little bit taller but he’s athletic and he throws a nice deep ball because the balls go like this. So Davis did a great job. He actually threw a couple left-handed passes, as well, which I didn’t think he could throw left-handed. But he was throwing some left-handed passes so, pretty talented kid.

Was that something you saw on the recruiting trail?
Narduzzi: Left-hand? No. I didn’t see the left-hand throw. I was shocked when I saw it - ‘What did he just do?’ He’s trying to give us a look and he threw it pretty decent.

Maybe the best way to keep a tempo offense in check is to off the field. Do you have to adjust - you guys were good doing tempo a couple times you’ve gone to it, but do you have to weigh, ‘I want us to get into a rhythm but it’s okay if it takes 30 seconds to get off a play instead of 20’?
Narduzzi: Yeah, you know, when you say ‘done a couple times’ - we’re tempo a lot of times. I would say, a majority of the game, we’re up-tempo, we’re not huddling a whole bunch. We were able to utilize the clock and win the time of possession a week ago really throwing the ball, because we know we didn’t run it very well. What I don’t ever want to do is handcuff the offense and tell them, ‘Hey, slow down.’ Because even our first touchdown - if you go back to our first touchdown when Vincent Davis scores a touchdown, you know, Dontavius Butler-Jenkins catches it down the sideline. We tempo’d the next play, ran it and got it in…then you go down to the first-and-goal, okay, what happens? We don’t get the tempo, because we had another tempo play ready to go catch them off-guard. They’re reeling after a big play. But what do they do? Go to the replay booth. Let’s check it out. Let’s slow it all down, give them a chance to get a breath and then the rest is history.

So the tempo is good and I don’t want to slow that down. I want them to score points. We’ve got to be able to score points tomorrow. It will be a tough day if we don’t.

When you’re dealing with their tempo, how do you communicate defensively?
Narduzzi: Well, let’s get back to the stealing-signals deal. They certainly are trying to get a peek at our sideline. I have no doubts about it. But they’ve got a good feel for what’s going on, especially on third down, they’ll look to the sideline. But we have to get it out there quickly. That’s what it is. But we’ll be able to still pressure. Some people eliminate all their pressures because they’re afraid that they can’t operate and get them. So we’ll still be able to have all our pressures and bring that at them because you’re used to doing that with one call.

Last year, when you brought in an extra defensive back, it was almost always a safety except for in this game when you played a three-corner nickel. This year you’ve been playing three corners a lot already; does that make it easier to make that kind of adjustment if that’s what you decide you want to do this week?
Narduzzi: Yeah, it does. The problem is, you get that same personnel stuck out on the field so that’s what we have to be aware of. When we go nickel, which we’ll go nickel again like we did last year, you get that corner stuck out there and you can’t get them out. Then they start running the ball and you’re like, ‘Ah, get us out of nickel.’ I can’t waste timeouts on that. So the defense knows that we have to be selective when we do it, but you get stuck out there and you don’t necessarily want it done. So we have to be careful with it.

Mark said yesterday that he’s never been involved in two straight games with no turnovers from either team. Can you talk about your team on both sides of the ball in that regard?
Narduzzi: Yeah. Obviously I’m really happy with the offense not turning it over the last two games. If we don’t turn it over in the opener, we probably win that game, too, because of the short fields, as we know, if you guys can remember back three weeks ago. It was a long time ago.

And then defensively you have to get them. I think sometimes turnovers come - we’ve worked the heck out of getting turnovers and I know the Steelers have; I heard all their stuff during the preseason and I’ve talked to Coach Tomlin. But sometimes they come in droves and you kind of push it. The one play with Paris Ford last week was too bad; we get a great hit - we’ve caused some turnovers, the ball just hasn’t really bounced near us. Phil Campbell should have knocked the ball - before he even hit the quarterback, the ball should have been knocked out of the hands. It would have took a different bounce, we would have scooped and scored and we wouldn’t be having any conversation about the game.

But we just have to, you know, you have to have a little luck to get turnovers. Sometimes it just bounces the wrong way. Last year, we messed it up. Damar Hamlin had a pick almost down to the 4-yard line. We got a late hit on the quarterback, and we’ll remind our guys of that. Dane Jackson has what looks to be great coverage and it gets called by for a P.I. Dane just ran by the guy. And we had another turnover on the sideline where Phillipie is trying to pick it up instead of just getting on it. We don’t get on it, but we still got a late hit on that thing. So we have to be disciplined and we’ll have our opportunities, hopefully, tomorrow and we have to take advantage of them. But turnovers are important.

This series with UCF was scheduled in January of 2017. How much, if at all, were you involved in wanting to play them or getting this whole thing together?
Narduzzi: You know what? I have no idea. It’s a great question. But I have no - in 2017, I forget what I ate for dinner last night. I don’t remember the conversation, I don’t even know who the A.D. was at that time. I don’t remember it ever getting across my desk, but I’m sure I signed off on it somewhere. But I don’t know what - everybody talks about what their record was, all that; we know they’ve been a talented - with George O’Leary there, they were a talented football team. So I can’t answer it. I don’t know what other options there was, but it doesn’t matter. We’ve got a great football team and that’s what you want: a great football team coming there, another top-25 team and we get an opportunity to show what we have. It’s just preparing us for the future.

From an off-field or recruiting standpoint, what benefit do you think you guys get from playing them, even if it’s just from having one game down there in Florida?
Narduzzi: You know, I think that’s overrated as far as the benefit of recruiting. We’re going to have a relationship with our kids. I don’t know if the kids know who we’re playing. I could call a recruit, which I called three of them last night, and none of them said - as a matter of fact, two of them were from the state of Florida, they don’t even know who we’re playing. They’re in their game. I don’t know who they’re playing. They don’t know who we’re playing. They’re focused on school and their players, so I don’t think that really matters.

I think we talked about this on Monday’s press conference: we have a lot of our players coming up for that Miami game that are from that state. That’s the one they know about. It happens to be that it seems like a lot of them might be able to come to that game.

You have another top-15 opponent on the nonconference schedule. When you’re making a nonconference schedule, is that what you’re looking for? Is that more stronger than you would have liked?
Narduzzi: Well, you don’t know where they’re going to be ranked when you play them. But you obviously would like to not open up with an ACC opponent; I can tell you that. That’s probably the biggest problem I think we have, I can tell you that. I was just talking to an NFL scout the other day, he said the NFL might cut it back to two preseason games and he’s like, ‘It’s tough. You guys don’t get a preseason game.’ It’s like, no doubt about it.

Who was it? He was from - where the quarterback didn’t play well, but he goes, ‘He hadn’t taken any reps. He’s not playing and you don’t want to get him hurt.’ Oh, it was Trubisky. He was from the Bears. I said Mitch didn’t have a great day in the opener and he was like, ‘No, but he didn’t practice, he didn’t play in the preseason.’ So it’s kind of the same thing. If you have all of these preseason games and you don’t get your guys out there to get practice, you don’t find out until game one. So I think that’s a tough deal. You need to get a scrimmage going.

Ideally, for you, what would be a good opening game? Like a Villanova, a Duquesne, a Youngstown State?
Narduzzi: That’s what we’ve done - that’s what everybody else tries to get if they can. So, of course.

Do you remember a time, whether it was here or as an assistant elsewhere, that you’ve had a tougher four-game stretch to open a season?
Narduzzi: I know at Michigan State we didn’t have - then you look at last year, I think it was just as rough. I don’t think next year is as rough. But who knows? I mean, who thought Ohio U. was going to be picked to win the MAC, too? Those things happen and you don’t know. We want to play the best, and I think that’s the most important thing. So it doesn’t matter. You guys all worry about records; we’re worried about what we’re going to do in the Coastal Division. We’re going to keep playing, week by week, and try to get better. The most important thing is we get better every week and we have; from Week One to Week Two, Week Two to Week Three, we’ve gotten better, and that’s all I can be concerned about. The wins will come. We’ve got to take care of the little things. If we take care of the little things, the big things - which are wins and losses - take care of themselves.

The team next door has a guy starting at quarterback on Sunday that you faced a couple times. When you were scouting Oklahoma State and Mason, what do you remember that stood out about him?
Narduzzi: Mason Rudolph’s not going to have any problems. I’m not going out and saying - I love Ben Roethlisberger. He’s a great one. I had an opportunity to play with him or coach with him in his last year at Miami. He’s a legend quarterback. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. And Mason Rudolph’s got a chance to go in and take over. Everybody on that team is playing for him and he’ll have a lot of support behind him. I know James is going to play his tail off and those receivers have got to go make plays.

But Mason Rudolph’s a great quarterback. There’s a reason he’s in the NFL, okay? And I think a lot of people will be shocked. He’s going to have a great day. He was spectacular at Oklahoma State. He knows how to throw the ball. He doesn’t take pressure or get flustered with pressure. So Mason will be fine. I’m glad I don’t have to play him tomorrow.

He has talked a lot about being a football nerd. I’m sure you were trying to game plan and disguise; was he pretty adept at - did you fool him much?
Narduzzi: Another tempo team. Probably not. Obviously, we didn’t. He didn’t get fooled. We probably fooled him a little bit better out there in his junior year. But his senior year, he fooled us. He’s good.

Where does he stack up among the quarterbacks you’ve faced here at Pitt?
Narduzzi: Mason? Boy, he was on fire. I always look at the - it’s the quarterback but it’s also the style of offense. Like, Central Florida’s offense is different. It’s different. It’s like the Georgia Tech offense - it’s just a totally different - kind of like Syracuse a little bit, as far as the splits of the receivers, you guys will notice that on Saturday. And Oklahoma State was the same type of team.

So he’s special. He can put the ball where he wants it. He can put it on a dime. As far as comparing him, I mean, we faced a lot of them, but Trubisky was - I won’t forget that two-minute drive, that 16-play, two-minute drive at the end there. And then when you think of a quarterback, it’s a two-minute drive to win a game, so I would say that’s probably the top two. I’m probably leaving somebody out.

I guess it depends on the players, but does different work better sometimes than the pro-style, typical offense? Is it harder to face when you get a team that’s like that?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I think different styles - the thing about, it’s not like it used to be 20 years ago where everything was the same. But being different is important. We’re kind of different. What we’ve done in the past is different, with all the jet sweeps and all of that. So I think it’s good to be different, for sure.

Kenny didn’t throw a lot of picks last year and he has been pretty careful with the ball. Is that something that you guys have emphasized all week, how do you get a quarterback who’s so good with the ball, that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes?
Narduzzi: It’s coaching. I give credit to Coach Whipple. You can’t say, ‘Hey, don’t throw two picks, don’t throw picks;’ just because we say it, it doesn’t really matter. It’s him making good decisions with the ball, knowing where to go with it, knowing when to throw it away, knowing when to tuck it and go. I think that comes with time. And again, give credit to Coach Whipple and give credit to Kenny for working so hard. He’s probably in there right now watching tape and doing more. So give credit to those two, because it’s not easy sitting back there with people coming at you and you just want to get rid of the ball.

He said he comes back here at night after class; do you have to kick him out after awhile?
Narduzzi: No, I don’t kick him out. I keep him right here. He’s a smart guy. He gets all the work done.

What’s led to some of the numbers that Twyman’s put up this year?
Narduzzi: His work ethic. It’s the same thing. He’s the guy you might have to kick out. He might be worse than Kenny. He’s in there at 6 o’clock in the morning watching tape. I go in to see Coach Partridge and I think it’s him behind the computer and I see this big guy look up at me and it’s Jaylen sitting back there. The guy watches tape a ton. He knows what an offensive lineman is going to do and he’s got a plan going into a game. I’m sure, like Aaron Donald, there’s only a few of those guys out there. He’s better than a guy we had, Jerel Worthy, that I thought did a great job of knowing what was going on up front. This guy is talented and works at it. He’s not just a guy that likes to go out and play the game; he studies the game, he kind of has a plan of what’s going to happen with him protection-wise, so he gives himself a chance.