Narduzzi Sticks By QB Eli Holstein as Pitt Starter After Benching
PITTSBURGH — A promising start from quarterback Eli Holstein and Pitt football turned sour Saturday afternoon as the Panthers’ second-year starter finished the day on the bench in a loss to the Louisville Cardinals.
Holstein completed 12-of-20 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns in the first half that began with a much-improved start compared to two weeks ago against West Virginia.
The second half was a different story for Holstein, however. The redshirt sophomore completed just two passes on six attempts, while throwing a pair of interceptions, including his third red zone interception of the season. The two picks brings his total to five on the season in four games.
“They’re all concerning down in the red zone when you’re in scoring position, you can’t turn to ball over. It’s simple. We got to be better, Kade’s got to be better and our quarterback’s got to play better,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said.
Following the second interception in the fourth quarter, Pitt replaced Holstein and trotted out transfer senior Cole Gonzales at quarterback.
“I just grabbed Eli and said, ‘Hey, listen. Sit out and watch this next series.’ I think anytime a quarterback throws two picks, gets in his head. We’re playing to win and just wanted to see if we could get a spark,” Narduzzi said.
When asked what the benching of Holstein does for the quarterback position moving forward, Narduzzi stuck by Holstein.
“We’ll go into next week; I still say Eli’s our starting quarterback and it’s what it is,” he said. “Throw two picks in the second half, it’s tough.
“We got a big explosive pass, which we had some explosives today, which is great to see throwing the ball down the field and making some shots giving our receivers a chance. We throw a short pass and get it picked out; we had the ball on the four-yard line. Maybe we should’ve run it, keep it on the ground, whatever. I thought when we did run it, we had success, but there’s times we got to make more plays.”
Narduzzi described Holstein’s reaction after being benched in the fourth quarter.
“Eli was fine. He was fine. He’s a team guy. He gets it. He’s hard on himself and he understands what we expect.”
Gonzales was unable to move Pitt down the field in crunch time in his limited action as he finished completing 3-of-6 passes for 31 yards and an interception.
Holstein has completed 72-of-114 (63.2%) for 1,050 yards, 11 passing touchdowns and five interceptions on the 2025 season.
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