PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Nearly six touchdown favorites with conference play starting the next week, could Saturday’s Noon kick with Rhode Island be a game where Pitt lets down?
“I certainly hope not,” said Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi. “We'll have different goals what we want to do, how we want to do it. We didn't have that problem a year ago. Maybe we were an angry football team a year ago.”
“I think our guys are mature enough they understand. They've learned from the past. We'll find out Saturday about 4:00.”
“You keep challenging them,” said Pitt assistant coach Archie Collins. “The expectation is the next week, to go 1-0. That’s what they embrace. To come to practice and then finish it off. It’s not as hard as you think because with our 1-0 mentality, we can keep it going.”
“I want to focus on technique and fundamentals,” said Pitt linebacker SirVocea Dennis. “We want to come together as a group and play football, have winning performances. We want to be a great defense, a shutdown defense. We don’t want to let anything slide. We just want to play good, Pitt football.”
More Yarnell love
Pat Narduzzi would not confirm who his starting quarterback is, but saying Kedon Slovis, who started the first two weeks, Nate Yarnell, who started last week and Nick Patti coming off an injury, are all ready to play Saturday. Who will play? He wouldn’t say.
While he wouldn’t confirm the starter, there was more praise for Yarnell, who came off the scout team to start and beat Western Michigan.
“I think that’s why Coach Narduzzi puts guys on scout teams, to get ready to play,” Dennis said. “We’re one of those type of defenses that do really well in pressuring the quarterback, with Nate being the scout quarterback and maintaining the scout offense. I wasn’t surprised at all.”
“Nate is a competitor,” said veteran offensive lineman Jake Kradel. “He gave us the confidence. We trust this guy back there. It’s easy, when you got a guy with confidence back there. It’s easy to block for them and build that connection with him. Nate had a hell of a game.”
Kradel also wouldn’t mind starting in the same position he had against the Broncos. He had to move to center due to the injury to Owen Drexel after being mostly the emergency center.
“I love it all because I make the calls,” Kradel said. “I set where we are going to. I ID everything, I love being in charge of the offense and getting the guys in the right position to make a play.”
TD Defense
It’s been quite a turnover run for the Pitt defense. Touchdowns in four of the last five games:
· Marquis Williams 22-yard interception return v. WMU
· MJ Devonshire 56-yard interception return v. WVU
· Cam Bright 26-yard fumble return v MSU
· Erick Hallett 19-yard interception return v WF
“It’s expected,” Collins said. “Every one of our drills we have a finish. Even when we have individual interceptions, go finish with a touchdown. It’s translated over the years that when we touch the ball, we expect to get to the end zone. It’s secondary nature because we practice it that way.”
It started with the Hallett pick, he continues to find the football this season. Only four players in the entire FBS have more interceptions this year than Hallett.
“It’s been remarkable,” Collins said. “I always talk to him about, a few years when we put him in and he was a different player. He’s getting more relaxed. You can see his confidence in a game. He understands what’s coming at him. It’s been amazing to see his maturation going through the process of going through a slight amount of reps when (Damar) Hamlin was here.”
Better offense?
Pitt averaged 41.4 points a game last year with a record-setting quarterback and receiver. Junior running back Daniel Carter says they can be more dangerous this year.
“I feel like it’s good that we are not one-dimensional how we were last year,” Carter said. “Everyone knew we had a Heisman-candidate quarterback that would throw the ball 40 times. Now we can do both, they don’t know what we are doing.”