PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi won’t comment on injuries, but did say there was a chance senior center Jake Kradel returns this week. It would be a boost for an inconsistent offensive line with senior Blake Zubovic questionable and Matt Goncalves out for the year.
Panthers are at Wake Forest Saturday at 3:30p. An interesting matchup as the Demon Deacons have also struggled this year, having to score two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to come back and beat Old Dominion. They also only have one FCS win, against Vanderbilt, but are 0-3 in the ACC with the closes game being a five-point loss at Clemson and coming off a 30-13 loss at Virginia Tech.
Quarterback Sam Hartman transferred to Notre Dame and the high scoring Wake team you might remember from the ACC Championship Game is 13th in the ACC in scoring and 128th in FBS in sacks allowed. Pat Narduzzi is concerned that head coach Dave Clawson’s system could be an issue for a team trying to win two straight.
“Offensively a lot of RPOs, so something we haven't faced a ton of,” Narduzzi said Monday. “It's just a run-pass and riding it up into the line of scrimmage and throwing it over your head or throwing slants and digs, five-yard outs, ten-yard outs, fades. Hit us on a fade in the championship game on an RPO where it looks like run, and everybody commits to the run, then they throw it over your head.
That'll be a challenge defensively. Offensively it's a very similar defense to what we are. They're four-down, an attack front up front. Play a lot of quarters and a lot of man free, and they're going to blitz you, whether it's safety backer from the field, safety backer from the boundary.”
“They'll do a little bit of everything, stuff that we've seen and stuff that we've just got to go out and execute and do a great job communicating.”
Veilleux debut
Often after a game Narduzzi will reserve judgement on players’ performance saying he wants to study the game tape. Now that he had the time, what he said about Christian Veilleux game against Louisville-12-26, 200 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions.
“Christian threw some nice balls,” Narduzzi said. “He got the ball out quick as well. He made good decisions with the ball. You think about the weather and you think about what that other (Louisville) quarterback did and what our quarterback did, I liked the decision making he made. I liked where he placed the ball, especially the Bub one and the Konata one, those are two.”
“But he can do a better job on some of his out routes, which Coach Cigs (Cignetti) will fix his feet and do all those things, but I thought he had a really nice day.”
Devonshire rebound
MJ Devonshire was critical of his season as he talked following the interception return for touchdown and five passes defended against the Cardinals. Narduzzi said he could tell leading up to the game last Saturday that Devonshire was ready.
“Sometimes you've just got to look in the mirror and go ‘what can I do better’,” Narduzzi said. “It's like I told our guys, when you walk out on that field every day, whether you're playing corner or you're playing right tackle, left tackle, tailback, tight end, quarterback, defensive end, it's an audition every week. You're putting on an audition.”
“When you're walking on that practice field, and tomorrow there will be seven NFL scouts here, it's an audition every single day when you walk out on the field. What are you putting on videotape in practice, what are you putting on videotape in the game?”
“It's kind of put on a show, and M.J. put on a show the other night. M.J. had a pretty good day.”