PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Starting quarterback Eli Holstein was on the sidelines and went through warmups on Saturday before the Clemson game. He didn’t play, Nate Yarnell started. Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi wouldn’t say if Holstein would be ready for Saturday at Louisville.
As for how Yarnell played in the 24-20 loss to Clemson?
“Offensively, they hung in there, made a lot of plays,” Narduzzi said. “Again, there was a lot of good plays out there for us. Nate Yarnell had a heck of a game.”
It was a rough first series, following an incompletion on his first pass, the second was caught for negative two yards. A 24-yard connection with Poppy Williams seemed to get him going in the right direction on the next series. By halftime Yarnell was 13-20 for 111 yards and sacked four times.
In the second half, a number of chunk plays. Yarnell was sacked and lost a fumble early in the third quarter. Even during a methodical drive with three, third down conversions, mistakes killed them. You could see Yarnell’s visible frustration in plays getting in late as the Panthers blew a first-and-goal from the two-yard line. It would end up being a field goal and Yarnell took the blame.
“It’s my fault,” Yarnell said. “I take responsibility for that. Offensively, I’m the quarterback. I got to make sure everything is smooth and it wasn’t. I’ll take responsibility for that. We should have scored there, no doubt about it.”
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It was more than just Yarnell’s mistakes. Offensive coordinator Kade Bell shoulders much of that blame, but even after the frustrations and being hit a couple dozen times, including the eight sacks, Yarnell kept fighting back and the game ended with the ball at the Clemson 26-yard-line. The final numbers, a career-high 34-54 for 350 yards and a touchdown.
“He made some great throws,” Narduzzi said. “I don't like the eight sacks. Is that on him, is that on the O-line? I thought Nate played a heck of a game.”
“There is so much to take from this game,” Yarnell said. “A lot to learn from. I got to get the ball out faster. I got to see the blitzes and get the ball to our guys in space. Didn’t do that enough tonight, took too many sacks and that’s my fault. I got to see it faster and get it out.”
“As the night went on we all got more comfortable with each other. Towards the fourth quarter we were playing fast and not thinking too much and just getting the ball out.”
He lost the quarterback battle with Holstein days before the first game. When he got another opportunity, against a Top 25 team, Yarnell proved he belonged. We’ll find out during the week if he gets another shot.
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