Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi held his final press briefing of the week on Thursday and talked about the Panthers’ matchup with No. 1 Miami, how the quarterbacks have progressed this week, what happens on the sidelines and a lot more. Here’s video and a full rundown of everything he said.
Narduzzi: Week eight, we’ve had a good week of practice, our guys are locked in and ready to go down to Miami, so I’m excited to see what happens there.
You said last week when we sat here that you didn’t wanna talk about the quarterbacks every week. But then after the game and again on Monday, you said you weren’t sure what was gonna happen this Saturday. So we have to ask you again, who do you anticipate starting on Saturday?
Narduzzi: I don’t know. I don’t anticipate anybody. We’re going to still watch the tape. We just got off the field probably about an hour and a half ago. Our coaches are watching the tape now, we have staff meeting at noon, and we’ll make a decision before the afternoon’s over.
Kade (Bell) said yesterday he feels like after seeing both guys start games, he knows what he has, he knows what you guys have. What do you have? What do you have in Corey (Dailey), what do you have in Holden (Geriner)?
Narduzzi: I think we’ve got two players that can go in and play a game for us and help us win a game, period. And it’s a matter of how they practice during the week. The advantage of playing two quarterbacks and seeing what they got is you know what we have now. I think when you get one game under your belt, no different than Mason (Heintschel) last year when he got his first start against Boston College, you kind of go, we know what we got. Okay, so we know what we have, we know what their strengths and weaknesses are. And it’s our job as coaches to put them in the best position for us to be successful.
So to me, it’s like you don’t have that, wonder what it would have been like if we would have started him or him. So you kind of know what, then you look at the game plan, what we have to do schematically to have a chance to go knock off the number one team in the country and you go with your gut.
We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Miami’s offense. I’m curious how you just assess their defense. I mean, just kind of looking at the black and white stats, they get the quarterback stuff to run. Are there similarities between you guys and objectives and just what they do?
Narduzzi: I mean, they’re gonna blitz 50% of the time. They’re gonna bring a corner to the boundary, free safety to the field, free safety to the boundary field. I mean, they’re 50% of the time. They’re gonna try to man you up. So they’re a little bit more man coverage than we are. They’ll play a little bit of quarters. But they’re the number one defense in the country. So I put it right there, I believe. So they’re number one for a reason.
Along those lines, what have you seen out of Boosie (Ja’Kyrian Turner) this week? Are you kind of confident that he had that one in back room?
Narduzzi: I don’t know, has Boosie played?
Says questionable.
Narduzzi: Okay, so he’s questionable right now, we’ll see.
I think we’ve asked you this earlier in the season, just obviously because Boosie’s missed some games. But just how have you felt now seven or so games through the year that La’Vell (Wright) and Damon (Ferguson) have handled the run game?
Narduzzi: I think they’ve done a really good job. I mean, we put the ball on the ground one time, which is the worst thing we’ve done. But I think they’ve done a great job. I think they know the role. And obviously Damon Ferguson has been the guy, the horse, I guess. And we’ve got a lot of trust and faith in him. Regardless if he put the ball on the ground once, he won’t do it again.
Speaking of the running backs, Lindsey Lamar is down on the field this year. I think he was in the booth the last couple of seasons. What led you to do that? And now I think all the assistants on offense are on the field, right?
Narduzzi: Yeah, yeah. I think the game has changed. Back in the day, me and Harlon Barnett were up there for 11 years together. But the game has changed. In the past, you needed to have eyes in the booth to tell people what happened. And you usually put guys in the booth that can tell you, hey, what happened on a play? But now with the iPads, and I really like the change. I mean, if we have the iPads, why would we have somebody in the booth telling, hey, LL, such and such has happened. We have it right with us. You don’t need that eye in the sky like you used to. You got iPads there.
So really, I mean, Cory (Sanders) is the only guy that’s up in the box as a full-time assistant, and he’s making the calls from up there, getting a feel for the game, which I like being in the box. So he likes being up in the box. He’s the only full-time we have in the box, and the rest of those guys are getting all the information that we need.
That iPad is so critical. I mean, the iPad, I can’t tell you how game-changing that is, to be able to watch the game. I mean, our kids, they’ve already watched the game before the game ends. Unless there’s some 15-play drive, which we had last week, and if the offense goes three-and-out, you’re not getting through the whole series as a players. But that’s why we can flip around and go to the big plays first and then go back and hit the other ones. So that’s the reason, and it’s a good reason.
How big is the group of people who are getting that footage loaded and tagged and cut up so that you can access what you want as soon as it happens?
Narduzzi: I have no idea. I mean, it’s big. They get it in. I don’t know how they get it in. I don’t know what the process is, but it’s there. I mean, it’s there at a timeout. I mean, in the middle of a series, I can say, hey, give me that iPad. I wanna look and see what happened on those first three plays. Anytime we got a three-minute timeout, if I’m not coaching somewhere, I’m looking at an iPad to see and flip over to the offense or defense to say, hey, this is what I saw. Hey, you got this fixed, whatever it may be. Hey, we need to do this. I mean, it’s unbelievable.
Have you guys considered, we talked about this Monday with you, but have you guys considered the chance of kind of rolling with both Corey and Holden in this game of different spots just based off of what you see the looks?
Narduzzi: I don’t know. I have no idea. I really haven’t thought about it.
A lot of focus, understandably, on Malachi Toney and just how he can hurt opposing defenses, but-
Narduzzi: They got a lot of guys can hurt. Yeah. But he’s number one. (Darian) Mensah’s number one, too. I’d say those two guys.
Well, I was gonna ask about the run game. Those two tailbacks, I think, are approaching like a dozen touchdowns on the year. Is that maybe an underrated element of that offense?
Narduzzi: Yeah, everybody’s gonna talk about Toney, but yeah, I mean, (Mark) Fletcher and (Gavin) Mallory, the tailback, I mean, those guys, they’re two horses. And they got four of them. They don’t have two of them. They have four that will play in the game. Number zero will come in, number two will come in. So they’ve got a slew of guys in the backfield, again, just like we do. I mean, so they got four guys, and they play the hot hand. And Mallory went in there last week and he played against us last year. A lot of them have different numbers, maybe you don’t notice. So we’ll see what we got.
Florida State, a team you guys got coming up a little later on in the schedule, they took Miami down to the wire. What did they do well when you watched that game, that some of them maybe you can emulate or show up in you guys’ preparation?
Narduzzi: It’s a big rivalry game, obviously. I think Florida State played their tails off and played to win. They were impressive. They got a really good quarterback that was making plays. And they were explosive on it. They made some big plays. And I think that’s the main thing, they made some stops on defense, got them off the field early, especially with the field position.
How important is that to disrupt a team early and set a tone with your defense against an explosive offense like that?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing you gotta do is be able to stop the run. We know they can throw it, so it’s like pick your poison. They can throw it too; you put too many in the box, they’re gonna throw it to Malachi. You don’t have enough in the box, they’re gonna run it down your throat. So what do you wanna die by? And that’s probably the main thing.
With the talks of the 24-team playoff, you talked on Monday about the importance of the conference and conference titles and what it will kind of change, not having those anymore. Today a report comes out that Miami might be looking into going independent. Narduzzi: Really?
Do you think there might be some unforeseen effects of changing the sport in that way?
Narduzzi: Could be, I mean, who knows, who knows? I mean, I don’t know if you go independent with the grant of rights and all that stuff. I don’t know how that whole thing works. I’m worried about what they do on first down, second down, third down. And stopping them, that’s all news to me. I don’t read all that stuff, but who knows?
Is that kind of how you’ve dealt with how the sport has changed over the past ten years of you being here, where the transporter comes about, the conference realignment? Do you kind of just stay centered of like, I’m worried about our day-to-day?
Narduzzi: Yeah, I mean, I can worry about all the rumors that go on throughout the world of college football, or even in the game of football, but if you get caught up on that, half of it’s baloney, stuff on Twitter, whatever. I know the ADs and the commissioner had a big meeting this week, I guess, on Tuesday or Monday or Tuesday, two-day deal down there, I believe, in Charlotte. So I haven’t talked to Allen (Greene) to see what’s going on there, but who cares? I mean, I’m not gonna, you think I’m gonna talk to Mario (Cristobal) pregame and say, hey, why are you gonna go independent? I’m not gonna talk to Mario about that stuff. And we don’t control anything, he probably doesn’t control anything either.
Getting back to Toney for a second, I have to assume there’s a lot of people out there who might look at this matchup, and you guys defensively, and say something to the effect of, well, just double team them, just give them some extra attention. I assume it’s not always as simple as that. So is there more than meets the eye? Is it possible to even do that? And what sacrifices do you make defensively when you have a star player and you give them more attention?
Narduzzi: They got good players everywhere. We gotta be detailed and know where he is at all times. We have to do special things to him. But if you, I think it’s all overrated stuff. You start doubling people, even in the NFL, I think people talk about it – Yeah, what are you gonna do, we’re gonna double him. I can tell you we’re gonna double him, and you have two sets of eyes on him. But like, you know, offenses, they have iPads too. They’re gonna see what you’re doing, and they’ll kill you on the other side. It’s not like they got Malachi Toney and nobody else. I mean, you double him, you got two eyes on him, they’ll run the ball down your throat. It’s like simple for them to go, okay, they wanna do that, we’re gonna do this. And then you play them other ways. So the best thing to do is be sound against them, know where he is, and play good football. That’s what we do.
How vital is it to have your homegrown defensive front guys like Sean (FitzSimmons), like Nick (James), guys that have been here for years, to take on their offensive line that is that talented?
Narduzzi: Well, I went back and watched, obviously, last year’s game, and there’s a lot of snaps we don’t have our ones out there last year against them. We had a third team guy playing in there. We had a defensive end that we converted. Joey Zelinski was in there playing three technique last year against that. I mean, we didn’t have our dudes last year in this game. So we’re hoping that pays off a little bit. We’ll see how much, but again, those guys played hard.
But they aren’t Nick James, Sean, they’re not Eliyt (Nairne) or Jeremiah (Warren).
I think in the past you’ve talked about on your kick return, you have rules for when to fair catch. What are those rules for those guys this year? I mean, do you still have rules on fair catch left or right, inside the five, whatever it is?
Narduzzi: Every week’s a little bit different, but you’re worried about hang time. I mean, you gotta feel, how long is that ball hanging in the air? So it can go to the goal line. We may say, hey, the goal line’s, we’re taking it out from the goal line. Or you can take it out from the three if it’s a line drive and you feel like, so it’s how long is the ball in the air, which is something you have to gauge. And then we gotta do a better job at that and give it better parameters or don’t give them any parameters, tell them to fair catch it or let it go out of the end zone and just let it go. So the most important thing is field position and we can’t end up having the ball inside the 25 yard line, just doesn’t make any sense. So we’ll take care of that.
But again, hang times are critical. And if it’s a four, four and a half, five second hang time, well, at the three yard line, it doesn’t make sense to take it back. So you gotta have a feel for how long am I waiting on that ball? You gotta have a clock in your head.
What’s the vibe been for you guys this week, obviously coming off two losses and knowing what’s ahead, what have you seen from them energy wise?
Narduzzi: Like I tell them, nobody cares what happened in the first five games and no one cares what happened in the last two games. I mean, it’s a one game season every week. I think we’ve had a great vibe. Our guys love to play the game. I think when you love to play the game, you can’t wait to go out and do it again. And that’s what we work for all week.
I don’t know if it happens in your life, but in our life, in this game of football, you play every week. You only get 12 guaranteed opportunities. You take each one of those. It’s precious, a game is precious. And our guys, they’re not like, my God, we stink, man, we gotta go out and play. That doesn’t happen in college football anyway. Nobody gets down like that, guys. So our vibe is good. And we gotta go out and play good. We gotta play better than Miami to have a chance to win this football game on the road.
Last week, Curt Cignetti, right before the game against Ohio State, asked how to stop Jeremiah Smith. He said, hit the quarterback before the ball gets out of his hand. How much is that, a lot of you guys, I think best game is when you’re hitting the quarterback a lot, cuz it disrupts everything that the other team is doing.
Narduzzi: Yeah, if we hit him early. Hit him early. Not late. Yeah, two of those last week, two of the three.
What goes into a pressure plan against a quarterback like Mensah, who’s also athletic, talented, and experienced?
Narduzzi: You gotta be able to get four and you gotta be able to get six or seven man pressure, and you gotta mix it up. You can’t do too much of one or you’re in trouble. But obviously, we wanna get hits on the quarterback every week. That’s always part of the plan, is how can you disrupt him, get him off his spot, and make him think about what’s coming at him.
So, obviously, the best thing to do is play coverage and see if you can get four man pressure. If four man pressure doesn’t work, then what else are you gonna do? Where are you bringing it from? Field, the boundary, the middle. So we’ll have plans based on what they do, how they do it. And see what that iPad looks like. But I think we had a better chance of getting some four man pressure this year than we did a year ago. So, I think that’s a bonus.
How do you feel like your four man pressure’s done so far through seven games?
Narduzzi: I think it’s a lot better than it was a year ago. I think we have had more disruption, I think we were very good a year ago. That was one of our big offseason things to fix and get better and get more violent in our pass rush and moves. And I think we’ve done that, I think Coach (Tim) Daoust has done a great job there.
We haven’t had an open week yet, so there’s no time to go back and self-scout. We’ve had two short weeks that you wouldn’t even think to go back. But when we self-scout, it’s go back to watch Miami, when you played in the past and what’s been good, what’s been bad, what are they doing to you? But we haven’t had a chance to go back, which most teams have. But we haven’t had a chance to go see what the four man stuff has been like.
You don’t get that off week for another two weeks. Does it feel like it’s grinding a little bit? Do you feel like you need to get to that break?
Narduzzi: It’d be nice to have one now. I’d call and see if Mario wants to move it to the next week, but I doubt he’ll say yes. But I think we don’t get to plan those, we don’t get to give us our schedule.
But you’d like one halfway through game six or seven. After game nine, is that when we have one? Is that what it is? We got eight this week after nine, yeah. So you got nine games in, it’s almost like let’s keep going. Do you need it at nine? I’m sure it’ll be nice. But you’d like to kind of have halfway through the season. And I wouldn’t want it real early, and I don’t think I really want it late, but we don’t get to determine that.
