Goals still on table
But Pitt has long road to haul after UCF’s dominating win
ORLANDO, Fla. — Before the 2018 season began, Pitt senior linebacker and captain Quintin Wirginis wasn’t shy in sharing his belief that his defense could be the best in Football Bowl Subdivision.
That seems like ages ago now, as back-to-back games allowing 38 and 45 points to North Carolina and No. 13ranked Central Florida have sapped any confidence in that unit, at least from outside the program.
“It’s going to click,” Wirginis said Saturday shortly after the game. “We’ve just got to trust the process. Continue to work hard, keep our faith and what we’ve been saying all spring ball, all offseason, and it’s going to click.”
What they’ve been saying since a 5-7 campaign in 2017 ended without a bowl berth is that this season will be different. This season, they’ll make sure another .500 record doesn’t happen, and they’ll challenge for the ACC championship by winning the Coastal Division.
Five games in, that has become a very tough sell, even as Pitt is 1-1 in conference play with six league games ahead of it. There’s little sign of an upward trajectory from the seasonopening win against Albany to now, no arrow pointing up in any phase of the game, save for maybe a special teams corps that hit rock bottom in Week 2 against Penn State.
Asked if there’s anything the offense can build on from Saturday, quarterback Kenny Pickett simply said, “I think we have to watch the film and then go from there.” On the topic of whether any progress has been made, coach Pat Narduzzi didn’t even point to the Georgia Tech win Sept. 15.
“It’s hard to say,” Narduzzi replied. “Each week, it’s something here or there, and we’re going to look at it again and say, ‘It’s one play, it’s one guy here.’”
But it’s not as if a play here or there would’ve made much of a difference at UCF, or that eliminating one stray mistake could’ve changed the outcome. Narduzzi tweaked his usual 4-3 base defense by deferring after winning the coin toss, and starting the game in a nickel formation with five defensive backs. It worked on UCF’s first possession, forcing an early punt, but then the Knights scored touchdowns on five of their next seven possessions. Not one of those drives took more than three minutes, and three were under two.
From the defense’s perspective it brings up an upsetting question: What’s worse, not adjusting your scheme to fit your opponent, or doing so and getting shredded all over the field anyway?
“The more you change, the more problems you have, as well, sometimes,” Narduzzi said.
UCF averaged 5.3 yards per carry, and 7.0 in its 17point second-quarter onslaught. That seems like a lot until you consider that quarterback McKenzie Milton averaged 18.2 yards per completion, and nearly a first down (9.6 yards) per throw. The Knights tallied a whopping 31 first downs and finished 8 of 15 on thirddown conversions, 2 of 3 on fourth-down tries.
“It’s pick your poison, really, with what they do,” Narduzzi said. “I wouldn’t change a thing as far as what we do [schematically]. They’re good football players. They made plays.”
The Panthers should hope that they’re some of the best football players in the country, lest they find a way to patch up all the holes in their strainer of a defense. It’s worth noting that Pitt’s offense struggled just as badly, but quarterback Pickett and company were trying to come back from a two-touchdown deficit less than 11 minutes into the game, and again after the second play of the second quarter.
For an offense that’s built to run the ball first and not rely too heavily on a sophomore under center, it hasn’t been afforded that luxury by its defense the past two outings.
“Yeah, it’s tough, but that’s the issue. We can’t not play our game,” Pickett said. “We have to continue to be the team that we are.”
If you believe Wirginis, it’s a team that can still compete, and still win, despite a remaining slate that includes a resurgent Syracuse and rolling Notre Dame, which might be bound for the College Football Playoff, in the next two weeks.
“There’s no slouches on our schedule the rest of the way,” Narduzzi said, “so we have to buckle up and get better, stop hurting ourselves, and we’ve got to do a better job coaching.”
Said Wirginis: “Nothing changes. Our goals don’t change after a loss like this. You’ve just got to keep chipping away at it each day.”