The Pitt running game just simply did not produce last week in the team’s 30-29 loss to North Carolina State. That might be putting it mildly. The Panthers averaged just 2.5 yards per carry against the Wolfpack. Not to mention a goal line stand by North Carolina State in the early part of the third quarter that has remained fresh in the minds of everyone that watched and played in the game.

Left guard Bryce Hargrove is a fifth-year senior and has started the past 20 games for Pitt at that spot. Hargrove has been around and he has a veteran mindset that you would expect in a fifth year guy. He, along with the rest of the offensive line, has taken ownership of last week’s poor performance and to improve this week, he believes it starts on the practice field.

“We’re taking responsibility for everything that happened last Saturday and we’re going to start by getting better today,” he said. “We got better today, practicing harder, and we’ll get better tomorrow and the next day.”

Third-year offensive line coach Dave Borbely believes his group has refocused themselves this week. The Panthers are thinking about getting better everyday to take on Boston College this Saturday, and not dwelling on the disappointing N.C. State game.

“They know we got to come to work each day and the response has been fantastic,” Borbely told reporters on Wednesday. “We probably had our best, maybe our best two days of practice. I haven’t seen the tape from today, but I liked what I saw on the field. But yesterday was probably the most physical Tuesday we’ve had since we’ve started.”

Those responses from both Hargrove and Borbely are expected. It’s common for teams to remain upbeat following a loss, but the Panthers need to go out and prove it this weekend on the field, not in the press conferences. As easy it is to talk about that, the play of last week remains fresh in everyone’s mind from the outside.

Pitt’s failure to punch in a 1st and goal from the one yard line is a hard sequence to ignore. The Panthers had two subsequent scenarios that were similar and Pitt punched in two touchdowns on quarterbacks sneaks from Kenny Pickett. Hargrove couldn’t pinpoint exactly why those drives ended with touchdowns, but he thought there was a different attitude when he heard those play calls.

“I feel like once we called the sneak we came in with a complete different mindset than when we called the other plays, which it shouldn’t be like that,” Hargrove said. “We should have the same mindset on every play, but I think we came with a different mindset after the first time that it wasn’t going to happen again.”

Scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns near the goal line following the failed drive to start the half should lead to some confidence heading into Saturday. The Panthers will face a different kind of challenge this week. Boston College plays a four-man front on defense, a different look than the Panthers have seen in recent weeks.

Boston College has been better against the run than North Carolina State has been this season. The Eagles also have a strong pass rush to compliment it with 11 sacks on the season in three games.

Borbely sees a challenge in the way Boston College attacks offenses with strong interior pressure.

“You know it’s coming, they know it’s coming, and it’s up to you to get it blocked,” he explained. “They’ve got some skilled guys, probably the most skilled rushers particularly on the perimeter, that we’ve seen up to this point. We’ve seen some fast guys, but these guys are fairly skilled and you can see how they’re coached. They do a really good job with their edge rushers on the two tackles.”

Hargrove said it won’t be too foreign to see a four-man front again this week, after all it is the type of front Pitt sees in practice throughout the week facing against their own defense.

“They’re a good team,” he said of Boston College. “They play fast, they play hard, which is good that’s what we’re looking forward to. We’re looking forward to a hard game, that’s what we want.”