Injuries are a part of football. It’s unfortunate for the players that go down, but there’s always a silver lining - it creates opportunities for some other guys. During Saturday’s 35-34 upset win over 15th-ranked Central Florida, Pitt had to lean on its depth a little bit to pull off the win, and those players showed up in big ways.

Pitt has an experienced group of cornerbacks with Dane Jackson, Jason Pinnock, and Damarri Mathis. In fact, heading into that UCF game, they were the only corners that saw any game action in the first three games.

The Pitt coaches knew UCF would be a different story.

The Knights ran an up-tempo offense, so in general some extra defensive backs were expected to play, and of course, some injuries happened, too. Mathis and Pinnock did not finish the game against UCF, but that allowed for junior Therran Coleman and redshirt freshman Marquis Williams to get on the field, and both guys were able to make plays.

“Therran Coleman, my hat goes off to that guy,” Narduzzi said during his Monday press conference. "And Marquis Williams, they're waiting, begging, whining, complaining - which they should; when do I get my chance?”

While losing experienced cornerbacks in a tight game against a pass-heavy offense isn’t a good thing in the moment, the circumstances allowed for some depth to be built for the remainder of the season.

"They came in and did some stuff that you go, ‘Okay, good, we can trust you.’ And sometimes you don't know,” Narduzzi explained. “It's hard to trust someone until you give them a chance to go. And that's the hardest thing as coaches. You want to play your best players to win football games. So that was a good thing those guys came in there. Now, makes us even that much stronger.”

It wasn’t just on the defensive side of the ball. Lost in the craziness of the game is that Pitt had to play without starting quarterback Kenny Pickett for a stretch. Redshirt freshman Nick Patti had to run the offense for a stretch, and he responded. He finished 2-of-3 with 16 yards passing and a touchdown, along with 18 yards rushing.

Narduzzi said the plan was for Patti to get some reps anyway, but the way he responded, he may even see more playing time moving forward this season.

“But we had a little couple things that we wanted to do with them, and we'll continue to maybe expand that package every week about what we can do with him because he can run. And he's tough. And again he can throw the ball as well,” Narduzzi said. “He showed us what he's going to do when he gets in there. Gives Coach Whipple, the offensive staff and myself more confidence if he has to go in there that we're good.”

Like most head football coaches, Narduzzi was not quick to talk specifically about the injuries, but did seem optimistic about his team’s health heading into Saturday’s game with Delaware.

Narduzzi did mention he expected Mathis and Pinnock to play, and of course Pickett returned on Saturday and caught the game-winning touchdown pass.

“I think we're pretty good,” he said. “I think we're pretty good right now. We may not have one guy, I don't know, we may have them all. But, again, banged up but nothing bad, which is a good thing. So I feel good right now.”