What Narduzzi Said Thursday About Pitt Matchup vs. Syracuse, Parity in CFB & More
PITTSBURGH — Pitt football is in full preparation mode for its upcoming ACC matchup against Syracuse at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday.
Before Pitt hits the road, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi met with the media one final time to discuss the Orange, how Pitt has progressed in recent weeks, parity in college football and more.
– Opening statement: “Got through another week, it’s hard to believe that we’re in week seven already, really week eight, week seven for us, halfway through the season. I thought we had a good week of practice, a lot of energy out there. We get a chance to go on the road again, go up to the old Carrier Dome, the Dome, and get to play some football.:
– On unique challenges of playing at the Dome: “I don’t know, I mean, I think it’s all what you look at. It’s another field, probably the biggest challenge is always that field turf. Just for the health and safety for players. Speaking of turf, that’s a big topic this week. I think I’d rather slip on the grass than get caught up in the turf. But the more injuries happen on artificial surfaces, so again, I’ll go back to the questions, probably have that question again, because I had it on Monday, the grass is so much better than artificial turf. You look at the history and the safety of what it does. So it always scares me when you’re banged up and then you gotta go play on that turf. I think it’s four years old, so I don’t even know how old the Astro turf or the field turf is up there. I think that’s the main thing. Other than that, it’s playing indoors, there’s no wind. We don’t have to worry about wet ball drills and make sure the guys got their wet gloves and their dry gloves. So I think it’s being in a different atmosphere. It’ll be the crowd, it’ll be noise, it’ll pump in music. Back in the old days, before it’s been redone, I called Dino Babers the other day. I said, hey, you’re gonna go up there and turn the heat on again? Cuz he used to turn the heat up on me. He used to try to melt you out of there. But supposedly they have air conditioning in it now. So it’ll be a nice venue.”
– On how teams are defending Pitt QB Mason Heintschel: I think it’s what people do. I mean, I think it’s what people are gonna do. It’s like I told Coach Bell this morning. I said, if it was 11 personnel, three wilds, and Dez Reid’s in the game, I’m not sure I’d be running any man coverage, right? People have gotten caught in some of that, I think. If you had to go break it down, I’m sure their defense staff has done a great job. Again, Fran Brown’s a DB guy. I’m sure he’s got his hands deep into that defense and what they do. But there’ll be some things that you probably not wanna do. Everybody’s gonna have their different plan, right? There’s not always the same plan. I think plans change based on who your personnel are and what you do. I don’t think you can change it a whole bunch. I mean, even though last year… they totally changed for us. I mean, that was a totally different look. So we’ve worked the look they gave us last year. Do they have the people? Do they wanna do that again? Again, our offense wasn’t on the field very often. We shoot with three pick sixes. So we really didn’t get enough videotape. But we got enough of what they did, what they tried, and they do a nice job.”
– On Syracuse QB Rickie Collins: “Everybody’s gonna say it’s trouble cuz they’ve lost. And when you lose, the quarterback’s gonna get all the heat. It ain’t just the quarterback, it’s everybody. Just like when we lose, it ain’t just the quarterback, it’s everybody. So I’ve seen the guy get better from his first game against Duke to his second game against SMU on the road. So you saw what he did on the road. I mean, they took the first drive down, looked like our eight minute drive. They went all the way down to the one yard line, got stopped on fourth-and-1.
“Okay, just like it could have been the same thing we did last week, fourth-and-1, they got stopped. I mean, they’re this far away from driving the ball right down the field. And then again, that momentum starts to take over and you’re at SMU’s stadium. I think they’re really good. I think they can run the ball. I think the Willis kid up front, running back in the front. I think they’re gonna try to establish a run game cuz they have the ability to do it with a 235 pound tailback, take some pressure off the quarterback. And then when he does throw it, the receiver’s gotta catch the ball. I mean, there were some drops in that SMU game. So I think he’s getting better. I think he throws a great deep ball. I think he throws a tight spiral. I think he’s a good player, but everybody else around you’s gotta get it done, and again, it’s a totally different story if you’re up 7-0, okay, as opposed to, we didn’t get it. Then they drive down the field. Then the next series he throws a pick, coming out, gives them another, they get a ten yard score. So there’s different things that happen in games and the momentum. Shoot, I think in the first half that he lost the ball three times on downs, plus a turnover, that’s four. Okay, that’s four turnovers period if you wanna, even though they didn’t turn over, you’re giving a really good offense and a talented football team short fields.”
– On the Pitt TE Jake Overman shovel pass play: “Yeah, we went back and looked at the Matt Canada offense. Chris, you know that, he won’t know about that. They pulled out a couple shovel passes. It’s a great wrinkle of our offense, and every week you wanna have a different kind of wrinkle of some sort. So that was one we used last week, but it doesn’t work every week. It depends on who you are, what the defense is. That’s where game planning, it’s just game planning. How are they gonna play this formation? What do we think they’re gonna be in, and can we execute it.”
– On Pitt stopping deep shots defensively: “Yeah, first thing, we could be in a better coverage and the next thing is make a play, okay? Whether it’s make a play on it, make the sack, or make a play on the ball deep. We don’t work deep ball drills all the time, so I can’t tell you we did anything special. You have to make a play, and we hope we got a sack on the play, and then it’s kind of, boom, we’re good. Then if that doesn’t happen, then let’s make a play down the field on the ball and cover the end zone. So the ball was up in the air for a long time. You gotta be able to break half the distance of that ball, leaving that quarterback’s hand, and we didn’t break very far.”
– On areas of team that he has been most satisfied with: “I can’t tell you I’m satisfied with anything. We still gotta improve on offense, defense, and special teams. I mean, you go from winning a football game to losing a football game, and it’s all about the details. You don’t get evaluated halfway through the season on, man, I’m excited about this, and then it looks like crap on Saturday. It’s about consistency, I think, and we can continue to improve everywhere.”
– On what area has been most consistent for Pitt: “I think the last two weeks we’ve been consistent offensively, at least being two-dimensional, right? I think anytime you can be two-dimensional, run it and throw it at your will, and have success, not obviously every play, but I think it’s just the ability to run it and throw it and move the sticks. Really,I think the last two weeks we’ve won the time of possession, right? I didn’t know if that was capable in our offense, but I guess it is if you complete the ball.”
– On Pitt offensive line play helping with time of possession: “You know what, O-block, it starts with the front all the time. They’ve got a little attitude about them. I’m happy with how they’re playing, even being banged up a little bit. They’ve stepped up, and next man up, and they’ve got it. And again, they’re playing strong right now, so we just gotta keep that going.”
– Importance of Pitt skill players blocking: “It’s been big, and it’ll continue to be big. It’s something I was disappointed in, maybe the Louisville, no, West Virginia game. Malachi catches a ball over the middle, go back and watch the tape. About snapped in a staff meeting, just Malachi, it’s on the one Cooper got the personal foul on. But we got guys standing around, at least Cooper was giving effort. But we had guys standing around, and that can’t happen. So we’ve gotten better, you talk about getting better at little things. That was something, the receivers have done a nice job of getting down and covering people up. You don’t have to pancake anybody like an offensive lineman. We have to – and Kenny’s always been a great blocker. Kenny’s always been a great blocker – but some of the other guys out there have to give more effort at times. And you wanna be an NFL receiver, you better block, okay? You think, you put that on tape, you got no shot. I don’t care how many catches you have. You better be able to be a guy that can block in the run game, and spring some big plays. So we’ve improved in that respect, so it’s a good point.”
– On history of playing Syracuse: I think it’s great. I mean, I haven’t talked a lot about rivalry game, because we got two big rivalries, I think, that we think of as rivalries. But it’s an old school, old Big East rivalry, and it’s great competition. It’s the ACC, so good football. They got a good team.”
– On ACC football as a whole halfway through the season: “Top to bottom, I think it’s the best conference in the country. I’ve said that years ago, and I’ll back it up again. I mean, that tells you really where the conference is. I mean, I think anybody can beat anybody, any given day. I think the parity is better in college football than it ever has been, and there’s no easy Saturdays. I talk to high school players all the time. Talking about, hey, what’s it look like this weekend? ‘Oh coach, we’re gonna kill him.’ I’m like, when you get to college, it ain’t like that. You get to the ACC, it’s not like that. But in high school football, it is. Some guys, they think that they’re gonna have those weeks, if you think you’re good, when you get to college football. But you’re not gonna have that.”
– On parity in college from NIL, transfer portal: “I think it has something to do with it, maybe, cuz if you’ve got a weakness, you can fix it real quick by going out and buying somebody. But it’s great coaching, and I think, again, the ACC, it’s a speed. It’s really just a speed in the conference, I think, that you have up and down the Atlantic coast.”
– On transfer QBs in conference making it tougher to scout a team: “I think maybe, but everybody’s gonna find a way to get better, right? We’re all getting better. We’re all gonna try to find a way. If you have a weakness at quarterback or cornerback, you’re gonna find a way to go out and find a guy and see if we can plug a weakness and make it a strength.”
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