Pat Narduzzi met with the media one last time before Pitt travels to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech in the team's ACC opener. The Pitt head coach hit on a number of different topics, and here is a complete rundown of his remarks.

Narduzzi: Alright gentlemen. I think our kids are excited about getting into ACC play and I think they're ready to roll. So, questions.

You have had a couple teams in your time here that were really good on the road. What sort of characteristics do you look for in a team that tells you that they're ready to go on the road in a hostile environment?

Narduzzi: I don't know. I mean, I hope they're ready to go home or away. Doesn't really matter. And we don't care where we're playing. I think it's always - you’re not looking for characteristics, but you look for guys like the challenge, like going to a different atmosphere, a different stadium. And liked to get booed. I mean, I don't know if there's any athletes that don't like that. It’s kind of a fun atmosphere to go to somebody else's house and disrupt things. So that's kind of what we like to do. That's the plan going down to Atlanta or anywhere on the road.

When we talk to Brandon Hill, he talked about a lot about how Cors Sanders has been training their eyes to stay on their man and coverage and not worry about other things. Does that kind of go into what you've been talking about, and not trying to do so much to help other people stay on your assignment?

Narduzzi: Yeah, and that’s at every position. It’s a D-Linemen, a center and it's - your eyes are so important in the game of football. Your mind is important, your eyes are important. You know everybody's got to have their eyes on something. I heard Alex Officer yelling, one of our GA’s obviously a former offensive lineman, former center, yelling at Terence Moore. I shouldn’t say yelling at him, but just coaching him up, like, what are you doing? He gets down in first thing he does is look down and adjusting the ball. It's like you got to have your eyes up and see what's going on at all times. So it doesn't matter a position, your linebackers have got to have their eyes focused where it's supposed to be. A different defense, we have different keys that we're looking at. So you have to know where where to put your eyes. So you need your eyes trained. And obviously, you might not see a fatal eye thing up front, whether it's a defensive end or D-Linemen or even a linebacker, for that matter. But the ones you see are the ones in the back end. Everybody gets to see those, it's gets on ESPN, becomes a big play. And it's sometimes when you're staring in the backfield…everybody likes to see there's only one ball. They like to stay in the backfield. Sometimes we let them do that, too. But when you're supposed to be, you have eye control and your guy and you play with proper leverage, that's important. When he's telling you, you gotta know what he's doing to you. A corner has got to have his eyes on the guy's hips when he releases. You know what he's going to break, he'll break out and get to his breaking point. So those are all a lot of fine, fine, fine details. It's good Brandon is talking about that. But you better have eye control in the back end and the safeties are a lot of times keying their number two receiver, and they got him and that’s what will get you on RPOs. We coach it every single day where our guys runs a route but they want to peep it because he wants to see if it was a run. They want to go see if it's a run. Well, guess what? You don't know it. And there's periods out there in team where we're running the ball and we're throwing a pass to him. So there's two plays going on at the same time just to get him a rep out there, a rep inside for the run game. And again, there's never two balls, but they always want to get get nosy. So we try to train them by, you know, by throwing those RPOs in practice.

Cory told us you guys always track where the stripes of the helmets are pointed to to see that. But he also said it kind of ramped up recently. Was that part of what you guys saw after the Western Michigan tape?

Narduzzi: Yeah, a little bit, but it's always ramped up. But I think you're always looking but it hasn’t ramped up for me, but maybe, I know Coach Sanders has been on them hard about where their eyes are and finishing the play and and driving on the route.

Is that one of those little details that you really get in college and maybe in high school you didn't have to have as good eyes because they are physically better?

Narduzzi: Yea, you’re physically better. And they don't have a bunch of Division-1 teams on the other side, they might have a great quarterback over there. But you don't a line that can block yet. But you this level, you know, and at that level out there (pointing to Steelers practice), you better. It’s the details. So those are the little details in every position. You can have a list, ten or fifteen things that you must do. But every position just to be on that first team, sometimes you lose your eyes and you get tired, you get lazy and it’s important, obviously.

What have you seen from your linebackers this year. And has anything changed for their responsibilities this year without like Rashad and Patrick up front?

Narduzzi: No, nothing's changed. We play what we do. We have tweaks in for everything including RPOs and all that. And when you when you can use them and but nothing's really changed. They’re doing what they do without adding anything to their play as far as what they do and how they do it based on not having Rashad and Patrick.

Will there be enough snaps for three running backs? And how did those three running backs do in practice?

Narduzzi: It’s hard. It’s not easy, but we’ll go out the same plan with Vince and Izzy to start off with and then we'll give Rodney a chance and let him go out there and find out who's got hot hand. But we'll kind of go out with the same plan. But there's a place for Rodney Hammond for sure.

Georgia Tech really got after Sam Howell last week with UNC. What kind of things are you keying in on for protection wise to keep Kenny safe and just let him do his thing?

Narduzzi: You’ve got to protect the quarterback. I mean, it's critical. Again, it's something they do. And our offense is used to seeing some three down and bringing different pressures. And we're going to have to play with great technique up front. Owen Drexel is going to get things operating the right way and get our people the right way. And I'm sure we'll have some more for us that we haven't seen tape. So we're going to have to adjust to whatever that is and we've got to protect Kenny. And that's a priority going into the game.

Does that mean Drexel is playing?

Narduzzi: Yes. It does mean Owen is playing.

What do you think of this Georgia Tech defense, just as a defensive coach. What kind of catches your eye about the way they're implementing that scheme?

Narduzzi: You know, I just love how they play. I mean they play like how you're supposed to play the game football and play with an attitude. They play fast and they're a little bit reckless. And I think it's a good thing. They’ll turn it loose and they're talented and well coached.

With the changes they've made, how does that make make them different?

Narduzzi: They went from a four-down to three-down. That's what makes them different. And I think they're putting their best athletes on the field. Maybe they feel like they have 4 D-Linemen that they liked,. So they're just putting more athletes on the field. They've got them down south, they've got them in Georgia, and they're playing fast and playing at a high level right now. So we're going to have to protect the quarterback, obviously, UNC didn’t. And so we'll find out where our protection is compared to their protection. And Kenny’s got to get the ball out, too.

Are they doing some similar stuff to what you do on third downs?

Narduzzi: Similar, but it's it's different. It's different. I would say it's different.

In your experience, is it easier or harder to run against three man line compared to a four?

Narduzzi: It depends on who those guys are over there. I line all you guys up in a 3-4 D, it’ll be easy. It doesn’t matter what front you’re lined up in.

Sceme-wise…

Narduzi: I would say it's harder and it's easier. You know, it all depends on what you’re running and what you're doing and how you're doing it. So the big difference is it's new. Yeah, it does make a difference, because it's different. So the difference is, is it easier or harder? It would be easier for our guys if they work against it every single day. But what makes it hard is it's like going against the wing-T. You get to see it one time of year, one time. So it's totally new for you. So that's new. And I'm sure it's new for North Carolina. They didn't expect it as much as maybe they got it. Maybe they thought it was just a Clemson thing. But we know we're going to see it. We know what we got. And hopefully that's an advantage.

You have always had an aggressive defensive front. You got guys like Haba, Kancey, and Camp who are getting after it and used to rushing the passer. But is there a sense that, hey, you guys got to be a little more patient in this game with the athletic quarterbacks that they have? What's the kind of adjustment you make when you're facing those kind of quarterbacks?

Narduzzi: To me you don't want to slow down. You know, we worried about the quarterback last week. I mean, we're going to face a good quarterback every week. And I thought that kid last week was talented. So you don't want to slow down. I don't want to put our guys in this hesitate, slow down. I always talk about this. You guys heard me talk about the other two modes we always put our kids in and one mode I hate. So very rarely do we ever, ever have to go to that. There's capture mode which we're trying to make sure he doesn’t get out of pocket, which just gives them all kinds of time to to get home. Or it's kill-mode, and we're going after him. Very rarely, we are in that capture mode, maybe on a down of distance, maybe in a certain defense we're that where you trying to spy the quarterback. But it's it's kill mode is the mode that we like to be in weekly and let our guys go. Trust them to go make a play and turn it loose and get there. It's kind of like breaking down on tackle or taking a shot. I like to take a shot at the guy, not give him a chance to to wiggle and break you down. So we like to take a shot. And we always talk about if you got to miss which side you miss on, but go take a shot. We've got to do a better job at that as well.

Obviously, the passing game this year has been pretty successful for you guys. How do you balance sticking with what's working but also trying to improve the running game each week?

Narduzzi: You've got to continue to work on it. I mean, we you know, we've known for a couple of years that Kenny can throw it and our receivers out there are good. It would be waste to sit there and keep running it up in there when you have some talented guys, and you trust your passing game, but sooner or later that runs out. If something goes bad, you got to be able to run it. So we've got to test to run. We've got to get it up in there. And again, I think the run game gets going after you continue to run it. It's hard to get a rhythm when you go three-and-out, so that hurts your run game immediately. So when our offense gets a first down, things start to roll. And that's the big thing is just get a first down and get into rhythm. It's hard as heck as a play caller to call an offense when you're three and out. but there's nothing set up setting up anything. It's like three plays and you had no time to set up a certain formation or a run or a pass. But we've got to get our run game going. Again, I feel like once we do start getting it going, that you can get it going. But, you know, sometimes you're going to take one yard gain, one yard gain, one yard gain game, two yard gain, one yard TFL to get that forty yard run, you've got to go with it. But it all comes down to the time and what’s the defense doing when you're on the field and having some patience but not too many patience, I don't have a lot of patience.

What’s the rotation at quarterback? Is there a reason, or do they just ride the hot hand?

Narduzzi: In the opener, obviously Sims started and Sims got hurt, ran his own read-keeper and hurt his shoulder, that’s what it looked like on tape. I don’t have their current injury report. Maybe Jerry. Jerry, you got the report?

I’ll let you know later..

Narduzzi: How about now? (laughs). So it appeared to be a shoulder injury on kind of a zone-read. So he was trying to keep it in a three by one, trey set and dropped the ball and had to dive after it and I think got hurt following that play, I believe. I don't know if it was nagging in practice before or not. So you don't know what was going on there. So then Yates took over and ran the offense and then he started he was doing well. And he's a good football player. He's fast. He can do a lot of things like he throws the ball well and makes good decisions. And then they planned on putting in Sims, I believe, at some point in the game that he just sparked, really sparked some quarterback runs. And it's not just quarterback draws or scrambles, as you're talking. It's more of they have some legit quarterback counters and the ones that are specific for him, whether it be a quarterback draw, quarterback counter. So they'll have some stuff that maybe we haven't seen. They'll have a designated quarterback runs designed quarterback runs, I should say for Simms for sure. And Gates will follow and do the same thing sometimes just not as many.

Is the key for you defensively to keep Simms in the pocket and your ends coming up and make a play and not let him escape?

Narduzzi: The key is to go get him. Let’s not contain him, we want to go get him. And Chris asked earlier. So we just want to go get the guy and go make a play. That's the job. I mean, we're not going to contain him and keep him in there and let him have all day to throw it. As soon as you tell a guy to do that they start…’Coach said I can’t lose contain’ So stay on the edge.

Then you’re guys from D-tackle can come from up the middle. A guy like Kancey could take advantage of him sitting in the middle.

Narduzzi: Yea, they could. But they might have two guys on him, right?

With that mobility, you need to make sure your back end guys are staying on their receivers for the extra time?

Narduzzi: That's right. So, you just got to go play football. It's no different than any other game we've played athletic quarterbacks before.

Jordan leads the nation in touchdown receptions right now. I know he's got to be excited, but what kind of message that you guys pumped into him and he's a young kid. Kenny has kind of - he’s been here a long time. He gets that. But this is his second year in ACC play. What kind of message you guys trying to do to keep him in check or do you feel that something that you even have to do?

Narduzzi: I don't think we have to keep in check. Jordan is a special, special kid. He's just like this every day. And you get to say, I never had to say to him, Jordan what are you doing? And I never have to tell him to clean his locker. I never have to tell him to take his hat off at a meal. Jordan is Jordan Addison. His mom Keisha has done an unbelievable job of raising him. And he's just like this and he never gets too high or too low. He stays right down the middle and not a guy that I have to say - he's not going to take a practice off because this hurts or that hurts. He goes and plays every day.

The Coastal division has become somewhat notorious for being wide open, you guys did a commercial about it, I think even?

Narduzzi: I didn't do any commercials

I thought…

Narduzzi: There was some stupid commercial. I thought it was embarrassing, to be honest with you. I think the ACC put it together as kind of a joke, but I wasn't real happy with that. But we don't have anything to do with that.

But what does that do. Do you talk about that with your team that this is a division that yea you guys can win, but everybody thinks that too. Every ACC locker room has to think they can win this thing…

Narduzzi: Yeah. We're not getting into winning it. We need to win - this is the ACC Championship down in Atlanta. It's a one game season. We've got an open week afterwards, put everything we can into this one game, then we'll put everything into that next game. What I don’t want our guys is looking like, we’re going to win the Coastal, but the Atlantic? Are we going to play Clemson in the championship? Normally it’s a slam dunk, we know who we're going to play if we get there. But we just got to take it one game at a time. And I know that you guys think it's coachspeak, but it's real talk. You look ahead, you're going to get punched in the mouth. And I don't like getting punched. I'd like to throw the swing first, you ain’t getting a shot on me.

Adults think that way, but are kids able to think that way?

Narduzzi: You know, I think our kids are good. I think they understand that you start looking ahead, you’re going to you're going to have an issue. There's a lot of things I don't think they can do. But that's one thing I think that they they understand that. I really do. I think they get it. There's got to be total focus. We've got seventy 75% focus. We just talked about eyes, OK? And you think about your brain. If your brain is not focused on today what you could do today, you mean even you know, we're not looking forward to Saturday. Today we're looking forward to what we did in practice today. Tomorrow we're looking through walk through and meetings and clearing up the details. But there's a every day we just can't go too far ahead. And, you know, it's day by day, even though the focus is on Georgia Tech, it's focused on us. We can't beat ourselves on Thursday. We can't beat ourselves on Friday. We have to take care of Pitt football first. Saturday's coming. We'll get that other different color jersey over there. But we'll take care of Pitt first. Right now, I think our kids get that. I don't think there's a lot of things - Do do they think they can win games? Maybe that they think are going to be easier than…I don't know if I can control that. You hope you can in your building for two, three hours a day. But what happens the other 18-19 hours a day? I don't know.

That singular focus may have helped you against New Hampshire. They had to know New Hampshire was an FCS, but you guys still had a good effort anyway.

Narduzzi: Sometimes you have to learn hard way, right? You don’t like to learn the hard way. But like I said, after that game, I mean, rather learn there, then learn in the ACC, because, our goals are there. But again, you know, our goals are Georgia Tech. One team, that’s all that matters. Game number five, they keep going and they fly by. You don’t get many opportunities.