The running game was the bread and butter for the Pitt football team during the 2018 season. The Panthers operated one of the top rushing offenses in the country led by a pair of 1,000 yard running backs in Darrin Hall and Qadree Ollison. Heading into the 2019 season, the reliance on the run was expected to go away to a degree.

Pitt hired Mark Whipple to replace Shawn Watson as the offensive coordinator, and his main objective was to bring some balance on offense and help revitalize a passing game that ranked 13th in the ACC. Throughout fall camp, head coach Pat Narduzzi and Mark Whipple vowed that the running game would still be the backbone of their offensive philosophy, only with an improved passing game.

Going into the season, Pitt had to replace both Hall and Ollison and while also trying to usher in four new offensive linemen. That was understood to be no easy task, given the success the rushing attack had a year ago. Still, as a team built to run the ball - that was still expected to be a strength, or at the very least an area of focus. In game one of the 2019 season, however, that went away in a lot of respects.

Pitt’s running back duo of A.J. Davis and Todd Sibley were given 15 rushing for a combined 48 yards, while quarterback Kenny Pickett attempted a career-high 41 passes in a 30-14 season opening loss to Virginia. Narduzzi claimed that trying to throw the ball more was by design, however.

“Part of the game plan was just to throw it a little bit more,” the Panthers head coach said. “Again, each week we'll have a little bit different what we want to do, I guess, offensively.”

The results on the scoreboard showed that the lack of a consistent running game. Pitt’s first two offensive possessions both resulted in three-and-outs with all six plays being pass attempts. It was not until third drive of the game until Pitt attempted a rush - a two-yard loss by Davis.

On Pitt’s two scoring drives, the running backs played a prominent role. Pickett found Davis on a wheel route for a 59-yard gain. That played helped set up his own two yard touchdown later on the drive to cut into Virginia’s lead 10-7.

A pair of Sibley runs led to a first down on Pitt’s scoring drive and from there, it opened up some passing lanes as Pitt grabbed the lead on a 14-play 80 drive capped off by a Pickett touchdown pass to Tre Tipton.

Despite the two nice scoring drives, Pitt’s passing woes were evident throughout much of the night. Pickett’s deep passes were regularly overthrown, and as the game intensified so did the Virginia pressure. Pickett was on the run quite a bit in the second half as the Cavaliers sent blitzes from all angles, and the Pitt quarterback did not handle the pressure well with two second half interceptions along with some drive-killing sacks.

The Cavaliers played Pitt’s hand a bit. The Panthers were expected to have Sibley and Davis handle the bulk of the carries, but sophomore V’lique Carter and true freshman Vincent Davis had some breakaway speed that the Pitt coaching staff intended to use in Saturday’s game. When asked about why David didn’t see the field until well after the game decided, Narduzzi conceded he was worried about his ability to pass block.

“Vince is a littler guy and he's not a pass protector guy right now,” Narduzzi said. “He will be, but right now he's not there.”

Davis carried the ball twice for a total of six yards, while Carter had two touches for a total of 11 yards on the evening.

Before some late sacks, Pickett found some success running the ball, albeit on some scrambling attempts.

“But we did some nice things at times, and shoot, Kenny ran the ball well just scrambling, but that's really not the run game,” the Panthers coach admitted.

The offensive gameplan is obviously a work in progress for now, and it may take time until the personnel is comfortable with Whipple in a game situation. At the end of the day, however, this is a team built and recruited on having the identity to run the football. On Saturday night’s season opener, it was not there and that’s a big area of concern moving forward in the 2019 season.