The third time might be the charm, but Pitt needs the second time to be an improvement, if nothing else, when it comes to the Panthers’ offense heading into 2023.

This will be Pitt’s second year with Frank Cignetti as offensive coordinator, and while the offense showed some holes throughout the season, it was still one of the most productive offenses Pitt has had since Pat Narduzzi became head coach in 2015.

Pitt averaged 31.3 points per game in 2022, but the offense itself was responsible for just 43 touchdowns - an average of 3.3 per game.

By comparison, Pitt’s passing offense alone in 2021 produced 44 touchdowns (the run game added another 26).

The 2021 offense is an unfair comparison, though, since it was the most productive offense in school history, and last year’s touchdown production did outpace what Pitt did in 2019 and 2020, Mark Whipple’s first two years as the Panthers’ offensive coordinator.

In fact, last season’s average of 3.3 touchdowns per game was higher than Pitt’s average in 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2015. The 2016 (4.92 touchdowns per game) and 2021 (5 touchdowns per game) seasons stand as high-water marks at Pitt since Pat Narduzzi became head coach in 2015, but 2022 is No. 3 on that list.

The overall numbers are positive, but there were issues in the offense. In nine of Pitt’s 13 games last season, the Panthers’ reached the end zone three times or less, and the passing offense produced more than one touchdown in just three games.

Those shortcomings were particularly relevant in two crucial losses last October. In a home game against Georgia Tech, Pitt managed three total touchdowns, but two of those came in the final minutes when the game was out of reach. Three weeks later, Pitt lost at Louisville while scoring one offensive touchdown, a score that was more than offset by three interceptions and two lost fumbles.

Those two games were the difference between a possible 10-win regular season with a Coastal Division title and the eight-win record Pitt actually had.

Now, Cignetti is in Year Two with the Panthers, giving him familiarity with the players and vice-versa.

“It brings a lot of confidence to us,” redshirt senior offensive tackle Matt Goncalves said during spring camp. “We trust him, he trusts us. I trust, personally, on Saturdays, he’s going to bring the best out of all of us.”

Super senior center Jake Kradel agreed.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “We know the calls now, so we’re not guessing. We’re just out there going full-speed. Not making, like, ‘Oh, is it this or that?’ We’re just going full-steam ahead, and it’s great to have a second year. I feel like that’s when you start to hit your stride.

“We started hitting our stride the last five games of the season last year. We won all five of them and put up some points. Now this year, going into Year Two, it’s going to be great to see what we can do and the strides we make in Year Two.”

In the final five games that Kradel referenced, Pitt scored 15 offensive touchdowns, including six in the regular-season finale at Miami and three in the Sun Bowl win over UCLA. Pitt’s players and coaches hope that the relatively strong finish to 2022 bodes well for 2023.

“Last year was really more of an adjusting period,” redshirt senior receiver Bub Means said. “First year with the OC, first year with the new quarterbacks. This year, we have some new quarterbacks, but as an offense with the OC, we have already adjusted to our OC and his type of play-calling. So this year we’re full-throttle. We can buy in. It’s not like we’re learning the plays as we go. We have a full spring, we already know the plays, we already know the playbook. Our quarterback’s going to come in, they’re going to give us opportunities and we’re going to make the plays.”

“Yeah, it’s totally different,” Cignetti said during the first week of spring camp. “You know what, last year at this time we went through a methodical installation: install one, install two - we felt like we had to get the personality of the run game going early in camp last year. This year, really, we’re picking up from the UCLA game…so the players, I think, have really enjoyed it because we’re not holding them back going through methodical installations. We come out here and we play ball.

"The other thing that I can tell and all of us can tell as offensive coaches is that our players know what they’re doing. Take a look at the receiver group: last year at this time, it was a methodical installation, they were learning a new system, and when you look at guys like Bub Means and [Konata Mumpfield], you can not only see that they know exactly what they’re doing, but you see the leadership and what a great job they’re doing helping others through it.”

Cignetti and the rest of Pitt’s offensive staff are counting on that knowledge and experience to expedite the installation process this spring as they look for the players to carry over what they learned last season.

For their part, Pitt’s veteran offensive linemen have seen a much smoother process this spring.

“Oh, it’s a lot easier,” Goncalves said. “Doing the whole playbook last year and knowing everything now, it’s a lot easier transition from last year when we had to learn the playbook. Now we know what we’re doing - veterans know what they’re doing and stuff like that. So it’s been a lot easier.”

“Last spring it was kind of tough because we were just learning everything,” redshirt senior lineman Ryan Jacoby said, “but now that we have a whole year with it, it’s making sense now. It can develop even more. We’re making new calls that we didn’t have last year. And it feels more comfortable for everybody because we had a year in it and it’s going really well so far this spring."