SEE ALSO: Narduzzi on the QBs, the field goal and more | Video of Narduzzi's post-game | Box score: N.C. State 35, Pitt 17 | Video: DiNucci talks after the game

Ben DiNucci started Pitt’s 35-17 loss to N.C. State on Saturday at Heinz Field and he finished it, too. But in between the start and finish, things got a little strange.

After Pitt’s third drive of the second half resulted in Pitt’s third punt of the second half and N.C. State had gone ahead 21-14, head coach Pat Narduzzi and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson made the decision to life DiNucci in favor of freshman Kenny Pickett.

The insertion of Pickett wasn’t a total surprise. Narduzzi and Watson talked through the week about wanting to get playing time for him after he burned his redshirt with the final snap of Pitt’s loss at Syracuse last week.

Narduzzi even said Thursday that there was “a plan” for getting Pickett into the N.C. State game, and while that plan seemed to be conceptual more than one with a specific application, Pickett did see the field.

“We decided to play him and I think Kenny’s going to be a good football player, and we’re going to need him somewhere,” Narduzzi said after Saturday’s game. “I don’t want his first action coming when it has to be - when he has to go in there. We’ve got a lot of confidence in both of those guys. You know, we had a lot of confidence in Kenny back in camp, and you can see, he did some nice things out there, made some nice throws, had a couple of nice scrambles and he’s only going to get better.

“And like I said, it wasn’t a, ‘Taking Ben out because he wasn’t getting the job done.’ I think Ben had four series in the second half and Kenny had three, and we just wanted to work it.”

In fact, prior to the change, DiNucci had actually been playing relatively well. He had thrown for 155 yards, one touchdown and one interception on 17-of-29 passing to that point, passing his career highs for completions and attempts and matching his career high for touchdowns in a game.

And while the offense wasn’t moving in the third quarter - the Panthers opened with a pair of three-and-outs and another drive that resulted in a punt after a holding call set up second-and-24 - DiNucci conceded after the game that he did not expect to get lifted when he did.

“A little bit surprised, yeah,” he said. “I wasn’t necessarily aware going into this week that they were going to try to get him a series. But that’s ultimately their decision, so the only thing I can do is respect it and try to help him out as much as possible…

“I didn’t know anything about it going in beforehand, so I was a little caught off-guard. But that happens. It’s football. You have to roll with it.

Narduzzi said he had “communication” with DiNucci and Pickett heading into the weekend so there would be clarity about the situation.

“We had talked with them prior to the game, so there was communication prior to the game on what we were going to do and what the plans were,” Narduzzi said. “So the communication was done prior to the game.

“And I know it doesn’t make anybody happy either. I’m sure Ben would have liked to have had those three series back, too, and you can look back and forth, but that’s what we decided to do.”

Pickett completed 5-of-13 passes for 61 yards, but he was incomplete on five of his final six passes and completed just two throws on the last drive he played. He did scramble for 18 yards, which put him in a tie as Pitt’s leading rusher for the day.

But while the future is bright for Pickett as Pitt’s quarterback long term, Narduzzi and his staff have much more immediate decisions to make - like who will start next week’s game at Duke. DiNucci played what was probably his best game at Pitt on Saturday, finishing with 170 yards, a touchdown and a pick on 19-of-32 passing.

The last time DiNucci made a start - Pitt’s loss at Georgia Tech last month - he told the media after the game that Narduzzi had reassured him he was still the starter. Two days later, Narduzzi walked back those comments, and by kickoff of the next week’s game, Max Browne was the starting quarterback.

So when DiNucci was asked on Saturday what he thought the plan would be going forward, he declined to answer.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” DiNucci said. “I’ve done that before and it bit me in the behind a little bit. But I’m going to take the same approach as, it’s my team. I don’t think I necessarily did anything to lose the job. Coach has kind of said that they burned his redshirt so they were going to try to work him in a little bit. That’s fine. That’s their decision. I’ll live with that. But whoever is out there first next week is going to try to do the same thing that the other guy’s doing: just leading the team to a win.”