Pitt 'O-Block' Rallies Around Personal Game for Lyndon Cooper Against Former Team
Pitt center Lyndon Cooper walked into the postgame press conference Saturday night following the Panthers’ conference win over NC State with the entire starting offensive line unit, or also known as “O-block.”
As Cooper sat down to answer questions, the rest of the offensive line group stood behind him like pseudo-body guards.
It was a representation to an extent of what happened on the field just moments prior as the offensive line and the Panthers had Cooper’s back against his former team in NC State, where he spent the first three years of his collegiate career.
“Captain Cooper,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “He’s an outstanding football player. It was personal for him. I don’t know if he mentioned they had pictures of him up in their locker room. They kind of put a target on him. And our kids made it personal that we were going to go out and get a victory for Lyndon Cooper.”
While it was already expected to be an emotional evening for Cooper, it turned even more personal when he learned what the Wolfpack did leading up to the matchup.
“They knew a lot, man, because I kind of tell my story to these guys a lot, what happened to me at my other school,” Cooper began. “Them boys had put my face up all in the NC State’s locker room. They put my face on the d-line room, mind you. They had 60-plus transfers come out of that school, but when it came to Coop…they wanted to make it a little personal, so I wanted to make sure that we knew that it was personal to me and to this team. But it was bigger than NC State. We knew we can win that game. At the end of the day, I’ve been preaching it all year. It’s us versus us, and as long as we do our job, man, we unstoppable.”
By the time Cooper was a redshirt sophomore, he became a dynamic starter for the Wolfpack early during the 2023 campaign, making three starts at left guard and two at center. However, he was the odd-man out when NC State got its starting center back from injury and several other linemen solidified spots at the guard positions.
Cooper then jumped in the transfer portal following the season and landed at Pitt. Last season, he won the starting center job and would go on to start all 12 games he was available for as he missed one with injury.
With NC State on the schedule this year, not only did the offensive line understand the importance of the game for Cooper, but the message spread quickly throughout the Pitt program.
“We talked about that earlier in the week,” Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel said. “I remembered when we had our meetings, that Coop used to play at NC State, and I didn’t really know, like, the backstory of how or what was going on with that. But, when it’s something personal for Coop, and that’s something big for him, it’s personal for all of us, because we’re a family and we’re a brotherhood here. I’m glad we could just come out and get a win. That’s a tough team. They’re really talented, offensively and defensively. It’s great to be able to get that dub for not only the university, but for Coop, because, like you said, that is a personal game for him. I’m just glad that we were able to come out with a dub.”
Pitt got the last laugh as Cooper and the Panthers walked away with a 53-34 win over the Wolfpack.
“It feels good, man,” Cooper said. “Like, just silence the doubters, man. We know what we got in our building. We know what we got in this room. We know what we got at quarterback. The defense, we got some guys banged up, but they coming back, though, so we just gonna keep getting better and better.”
Pitt Offensive Line Performance with Additional Meaning
While Cooper’s first game against his former squad stole some of the storylines, the game also had another personal hitch for the Pitt offense and line.
Pitt walked away with a gritty, but sloppy win at Syracuse last Saturday. The offensive performance was underwhelming with just 255 total yards of offense.
There were larger issues, however. Pitt gave up seven sacks – the most on the year – to go along with a bevy of penalties.
The Panthers played with an edge against NC State, especially when it came to protecting Heintschel as Pitt did not allow a sack all evening.
“Man, it feels good because last week, even though we got that win, none of us was happy with that win. We weren’t satisfied. We were very upset about the way we played. We knew, we got six in the backfield, We got to protect them at all costs because he’s a playmaker. As long as we keep them up and give them time in that pocket, we got a good chance to win the game,” Cooper said.
Narduzzi added: “I didn’t know what we’d get out of our defense today, but I didn’t have any doubts our guys would bounce back. They obviously weren’t happy. You think about all the penalties we had a week ago, the sacks, and again, probably versus a more talented football team, gave up zero sacks, protected the quarterback and gave Mason a chance to do what he did. The O-block was alive today.”
The offensive line paved the way for 529 yards of total offense, including a freshman quarterback record of 423 passing yards.
