PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – He admitted he should have been better a couple of questions into his post-game news conference Saturday night following a 27-21 loss to Cincinnati. Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec then reacted to when he wasn’t better and heard boos from the home fans.
“I think if you are a grown-ass man booing in that stadium, you got to look at things yourself,” Jurkovec said. “I think that is pathetic.”
“But, you know what, we didn’t play well enough. We are going to play better.”
It started with just a few boos after a first-series three-and-out on three incompletions, which really could have been as much about the play calling as the execution. It started to grow as the game wore on, including after a fumble led to a Bearcats touchdown drive.
“I think I just missed some throws,” Jurkovec said Saturday night. “I have to trust some plays more. Trust they are going to be there. Trust my training and I think I got away from that a little bit with my footwork. Messing up or leaving the pocket too early. Those are things I can correct.”
Jurkovec was 4-13 in the first half, finished 10-32 for 179 yards and three touchdowns. He targeted receiver Bub Means 11 times and there were no completions. Jurkovec said the defense was giving them the fade and go routes and he and Means have had success with those plays in practice.
“Bub was definitely targeted, and from my old receiver days, you expect those guys, whether it's an underthrown ball or not a great ball, doesn't matter,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “You get a chance to make a catch, you've got to make a catch, and there were some drops out there. There was drops, period, and again, it's not on one guy ever.”
“It's 11 on offense, 11 on defense, and again, it starts with the head coach. I guess I didn't have them ready to play, and we'll be ready for this week.”
“I know we are going to get it right,” Jurkovec said. “Whenever we do get it right, it’s going to be hard for teams to cover.”
“I think first thing, it starts with the offensive line,” Narduzzi said, adding he never considered replacing Jurkovec. “It takes 11. Everybody is going to point at the quarterback. He'll get all the glory when you win football games.”
“He's a great quarterback, got a lot of faith in him.”
“And we'll check out the videotape. Again, I told our guys, this is the opener. The opener wasn't last week; today was the opener, and you find out where you are and where your weaknesses are.
We didn't see any weaknesses. You guys didn't see any weaknesses. There was too much pressure. Phil got sacked five times. That can't happen. When was the last time we won a game with five sacks on the quarterback?”
“We've got to shore up the protection. We've got an idea where we are now, what we have to do to protect the quarterback, and that was one of our goals going in is to make sure we protected the quarterback, and we did not do that.”
“I was out of rhythm,” Jurkovec said. “I have to take the blame for that. I can get the ball out sooner. That’s what I was talking about trusting some of these plays. Just being on time and getting the ball out. When I hold onto the ball, I’m going to take sacks.”
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All who spoke to reporters postgame said there was time to fix the mistakes in practice this week. The schedule difficulty ramps up with the Backyard Brawl Saturday night in Morgantown followed by North Carolina and then at Virginia Tech.
“I’m excited to play on the road,” Jurkovec said. “I’ve always liked playing on the road. After tonight, I’m excited to play on the road. It’s fun playing on the road.”