Sticking with QB bad move by Pitt
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Pitt lost a very winnable game to West Virginia on Saturday night at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in a 17-6 drubbing. It was maybe Pitt’s most embarrassing loss under Pat Narduzzi since its 51-6 loss to Penn State in 2018.
For how bad the game looked in its final score and the tone of a stadium packed with 61,106 fans, the Panthers did almost everything they could to stay in this game outside of one key element to the game. That element, for the second game in a row, was rooted in its redshirt senior transfer quarterback, Phil Jurkovec. Though his stats from the Panthers loss to Cincinnati showed three touchdowns and no interceptions, it was clear from his 31.3% completion rate that there was a problem.
But what was a bigger problem than Jurkovec’s eight completions on 20 attempts for 81 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions Saturday night was the decision to not replace him.
Before we get to that, it’s important to note how Pitt did what it was supposed to in several other aspects of this game to give the Panthers a chance to win on the road in a raucous environment.
The Panthers came out of the gates looking to be in complete control for the first 13 plays. Pitt won the coin toss, deferred to put its defense on the field and forced an immediate three-and-out from West Virginia’s offense.
Then, immediately after, Pitt ran the ball 10 consecutive times in a drive that went 67 yards, down to West Virginia’s 3-yard line. The only play of that sequence that could be considered a win for West Virginia was Rodney Hammond II’s run for no gain on 3rd-and-goal that was followed by a Ben Sauls 21-yard field goal to put Pitt up 3-0 with 07:39 left in the first quarter. Even though the drive fell short, the message had been sent by Pitt that it could run the ball effectively even if it overcommitted.
“We didn’t know it would be that heavy,” center Jake Kradel said after the game when asked if Pitt’s run-heavy start was expected. “But when something is working, why change it? I enjoy running the ball. I enjoy establishing the line of scrimmage. That was one of our goals of the game — to control the line of scrimmage. We wanted to be road graders, be aggressive and impose our will. We did that in the beginning of the game, but we have to continue to do that for four quarters.”
Kradel’s point stands that Pitt’s run game didn’t continue to dominate after that drive. After rushing 67 yards on 10 plays, the run game only gained 63 yards on 26 tries the rest of the game for an average of 2.4 yards per carry. That came as a result of West Virginia’s commitment to stop the run regardless of what that might open up for Pitt’s passing game. Linebackers and safeties for the Mountaineers could be seen flying to the line of scrimmage as soon as the ball was snapped.
Typically, a passing offense in the ACC would take advantage of that kind of aggressiveness for some big plays. That never came for Pitt.