PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pat Narduzzi was pleased with the quiet from their team meeting hours after losing 48-25 at SMU. It was what the Pitt head coach didn’t hear that has him feeling good about a bounce-back Saturday night hosting Virginia.
The Pitt head coach said his group came into a team meeting Sunday hardly saying a word, which is just wanted he wanted to see. He said he’s been around teams that are having fun, looking at their phones a day after a loss. Not this one.
“I think it hurt them,” Narduzzi said, as his team dropped to 23 in the latest AP college football poll. “I don't think they were happy. They were quiet on the plane, on the bus on the way back, which is a good thing. I want them to be hurt. You better be hurt.”
“We all work too hard to have a negative outcome. There better be some pain involved. When it hurts a little bit, it means something to you.”
Narduzzi believes you can tell a lot from a loss. It wasn’t a matter of being out-talented against SMU, who he praised several times for being a team capable of playing in a championship game. It was a Pitt team that didn’t execute.
“We didn't tackle well on defense,” Narduzzi said. “We didn't play well on offense. Didn't tackle the quarterback, didn't run the ball good enough. Again, when you play a really good, talented football team, you better match up.”
There is another issue that became evident, there were times when he team wasn’t going full speed.
Pointing out a running play Saturday where defensive back Rashad Battle is by himself getting ready to make a tackle and the rest of the team let up. They slowed down and the opponent made a sudden change of speed and it resulted in another big play.
“You got problems,” Narduzzi said. “That's a sign of a loaf. Don't assume. We assumed this guy is going to make the tackle. It didn't happen. Then we weren't there to help out. That's not Pitt defense. That's got to get corrected.”
He mentioned, it could be not handling success the right way. Maybe their heads got a little big, especially with the ‘sharks’ stuff. Didn’t seemed convinced that was the case, but what he does believe is the answers are in their room in just performing better.
“It's practicing hard every day, which I think we do,” Narduzzi said. “You see it versus the scout team. We make plays in practice.”
Narduzzi was also critical of the coaching. He said three consecutive weeks they were not prepared correctly for the opposing team’s defense. He said what the last three opponents gave them were different than what they expected.
“We just got to get more looks,” Narduzzi said. “I think that's the main thing, practicing what you think you're going to get. We have to guess on offense. It’s like that opener you're playing.”
He added it’s not just the offensive coaching, on defense they aren’t giving them enough good looks in practice. The offense didn’t see some of the looks they needed to see in camp. Some of that is just because opponents switched coaches and what they’ve done is different than previous staffs or even what those coaches did at other schools.
Over the couple of weeks prior to the SMU game, Pitt overcame mistakes. They can’t overcome lack of execution on all three phases of the game, especially at this point in the season.
Narduzzi said they got punched in the mouth and it’s now on to Virginia. Panthers pregame starts at 5p Saturday on 93.7 The Fan with kickoff at 8p led by the Voice of the Panthers Bill Hillgrove, Pat Bostick, Dorin Dickerson and Larry Richert.
18th in College Football Playoff rankings
The first college football playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night. Pitt ranked 18th right behind Iowa State and just ahead of two-loss Kansas State. Other ACC schools-4th Miami 9-0, 13th SMU 8-1, 22nd Louisville 6-3, 23rd Clemson 6-2. Pitt plays the Tigers in the home regular season finale next Saturday and then the following week at Louisville.