20 things I'm thinking about this morning:
1. I talked about this on the Morning Pitt, I’m writing about it here and I’ll probably say it a few times this week (and likely beyond): Pat Narduzzi has a decision to make. He has to decide who is the bigger problem right now - the quarterback or the offensive coordinator. And while that might not be an absolute either/or situation, it’s one that has to be addressed.
2. All parties involved will tell you that the offense is underperforming, and I don’t think we need anyone in the South Side to confirm that particular line of thinking. We all know the offense has been bad - bad enough to cost the team at least two wins and as many as three, which looms large for a team sitting on a mediocre 4-4 record. There are many reasons the offense has struggled as mightily as it has, but there are two targets at the top of the list: Kedon Slovis and Frank Cignetti.
3. What Narduzzi has to figure out is where root of the problem lies. Is the quarterback playing poorly? Is the coordinator not putting the offense in the best position to succeed? The answer is probably a little bit of both, but Narduzzi has to determine which side should carry more of the blame.
4. To some extent, these are postseason questions, evaluations that would likely happen after the games are played and the head coach takes a bird’s-eye view of the situation. But I think Narduzzi needs to take a long, hard look at it right now, because I think there are some actions that can be taken.
5. Specifically, if he feels like the quarterback is the problem, then he needs to change quarterbacks. And if he feels like the issue is in the coaching, he probably won’t change coordinators in the middle of the season, but he can specifically address those issues.
6. The first option there is a lot easier, a lot more direct and a lot more clear and decisive than the second one. But there is some precedent for an action similar to the second one. In 2020, after Pitt lost to Notre Dame 45-3 at Heinz Field, its fourth loss in a row to fall to 3-4, the Panthers entered an off week and Narduzzi took a long hard look at the offense. He exerted more influence on that side of the ball than he ever had before - and probably since - and while I won’t put all of the results on him, those results are still worth noting: Pitt won three out of the next four games and scored 41, 47 and 34 in those three wins (after failing to score 30 in regulation during any of the season’s previous six games against Power Five competition).
7. Also, all of these things I’m saying, all of these evaluations and self-scouts and long, hard looks inward - they all should have happened three weeks ago when Pitt had a break in the schedule.
8. That said, if Narduzzi looks at the situation and says, ‘Kedon Slovis is better than this. So are the receivers, running backs, tight ends and offensive linemen. Something is broken here, and it’s not the talent,’ then he needs to look doubly hard at the coaching side of things.
9. And I’ll say this: I am not convinced Slovis is the problem. He has not looked good this season, and even when he looked good, like he did in the first half against UNC, it still resulted in a 14-of-31 performance for 236 yards and no touchdowns. Never mind that 181 of those 236 yards came on five plays, leaving a paltry 55 yards for the other nine completions and 26 attempts. That’s a bad stat line.
10. But riddle me this: how does a career 68.4% passer - prior to this season, at least - drop his completion percentage a full 10 points? He’s currently completing 58.2% of his passes this season. It’s not a sample size issue; Slovis attempted 953 passes at USC and completed 68.4% of them. At Pitt, he has attempted 208 passes and he’s completing 58.2% of them.
11. Did you know - and you probably do if you watched today’s Morning Pitt - that Kedon Slovis is the Pac-12’s all-time leader in career completion percentage? Did you know that he entered this season tied with Teddy Bridgewater for No. 13 on the NCAA’s all-time career completion percentage list?
12. Granted, Slovis has not had the best protection. He is 10th among Power Five quarterbacks in the percentage of snaps when he has been under pressure and 39th in completion percentage when getting pressured. But I don’t think that explains it all away. After all, UNC stud Drake Maye is ninth in pressured drop-backs, and his completion percentage is almost 10 points higher.
13. That’s not a fair comparison, though. Maye is a flat-out stud. He leads the Power Five in passing yards and passing touchdowns under pressure. That kid is going to be a problem for at least one more year (and probably only one more year).
14. Back to Pitt’s offensive line, I think it’s clear that Matt Goncalves and Gabe Houy are Pitt’s best tackles and should be playing pretty much all of the snaps. Branson Taylor has a lot of promise for the future, but Goncalves gives them a better chance at left tackle right now and should be playing.
15. I just also can’t shake the feeling that these receivers are better than they’ve shown. Actually, I should amend that, because the UNC game actually showed how good they can be. Yes, Jared Wayne had a drop or two, but he also made some really good catches. Bub Means showed what he could do on his long catch. And Konata Mumpfield’s diving catch on third-and-8 was a great one - he lays out at full extension, secures the ball and then does what great receivers do: rolls his body so his shoulder and back hit the ground first, thus ensuring the ball doesn’t get dislodged.
16. That was a big-time catch by Mumpfield. But how many times have we seen him even have a chance to make that play? He clearly can do it, so why hasn’t he gotten the opportunity? I could ask the same question for the other receivers, too.
17. And Gavin Bartholomew. I don’t even know what to say there. Two targets at UNC? That makes four times this season that he has had two or fewer targets in a game (one vs. WVU, two at Western Michigan and one against Rhode Island). In the other four games, he had three targets against Georgia Tech, four at Louisville and five each against Tennessee and Virginia Tech. 23 targets in eight games for a guy who was a freshman All-American. It’s criminal.
18. For whatever it’s worth, the sources I talk to who watched this team all spring, all summer and all camp and came away with the belief that it was a roster with a really high ceiling still maintain that the talent level is good enough to be better than 4-4.
19. Of course, we haven’t even talked about the defense (31 points and 248 yards allowed in the last two fourth quarters). But it’s hard to really think about that side of the ball when the offense is playing like it has.
20. Finally, offensive line prospect Colin Van Rooy announced his decommitment from Pitt on Saturday night. While it would be topical to lump this into the general struggles of the football program, I’m fairly confident this was a case of the staff deciding to move on from Van Rooy. They liked what they saw from him in camp over the summer, but his senior season has not quite lived up to what they expected.
1. I talked about this on the Morning Pitt, I’m writing about it here and I’ll probably say it a few times this week (and likely beyond): Pat Narduzzi has a decision to make. He has to decide who is the bigger problem right now - the quarterback or the offensive coordinator. And while that might not be an absolute either/or situation, it’s one that has to be addressed.
2. All parties involved will tell you that the offense is underperforming, and I don’t think we need anyone in the South Side to confirm that particular line of thinking. We all know the offense has been bad - bad enough to cost the team at least two wins and as many as three, which looms large for a team sitting on a mediocre 4-4 record. There are many reasons the offense has struggled as mightily as it has, but there are two targets at the top of the list: Kedon Slovis and Frank Cignetti.
3. What Narduzzi has to figure out is where root of the problem lies. Is the quarterback playing poorly? Is the coordinator not putting the offense in the best position to succeed? The answer is probably a little bit of both, but Narduzzi has to determine which side should carry more of the blame.
4. To some extent, these are postseason questions, evaluations that would likely happen after the games are played and the head coach takes a bird’s-eye view of the situation. But I think Narduzzi needs to take a long, hard look at it right now, because I think there are some actions that can be taken.
5. Specifically, if he feels like the quarterback is the problem, then he needs to change quarterbacks. And if he feels like the issue is in the coaching, he probably won’t change coordinators in the middle of the season, but he can specifically address those issues.
6. The first option there is a lot easier, a lot more direct and a lot more clear and decisive than the second one. But there is some precedent for an action similar to the second one. In 2020, after Pitt lost to Notre Dame 45-3 at Heinz Field, its fourth loss in a row to fall to 3-4, the Panthers entered an off week and Narduzzi took a long hard look at the offense. He exerted more influence on that side of the ball than he ever had before - and probably since - and while I won’t put all of the results on him, those results are still worth noting: Pitt won three out of the next four games and scored 41, 47 and 34 in those three wins (after failing to score 30 in regulation during any of the season’s previous six games against Power Five competition).
7. Also, all of these things I’m saying, all of these evaluations and self-scouts and long, hard looks inward - they all should have happened three weeks ago when Pitt had a break in the schedule.
8. That said, if Narduzzi looks at the situation and says, ‘Kedon Slovis is better than this. So are the receivers, running backs, tight ends and offensive linemen. Something is broken here, and it’s not the talent,’ then he needs to look doubly hard at the coaching side of things.
9. And I’ll say this: I am not convinced Slovis is the problem. He has not looked good this season, and even when he looked good, like he did in the first half against UNC, it still resulted in a 14-of-31 performance for 236 yards and no touchdowns. Never mind that 181 of those 236 yards came on five plays, leaving a paltry 55 yards for the other nine completions and 26 attempts. That’s a bad stat line.
10. But riddle me this: how does a career 68.4% passer - prior to this season, at least - drop his completion percentage a full 10 points? He’s currently completing 58.2% of his passes this season. It’s not a sample size issue; Slovis attempted 953 passes at USC and completed 68.4% of them. At Pitt, he has attempted 208 passes and he’s completing 58.2% of them.
11. Did you know - and you probably do if you watched today’s Morning Pitt - that Kedon Slovis is the Pac-12’s all-time leader in career completion percentage? Did you know that he entered this season tied with Teddy Bridgewater for No. 13 on the NCAA’s all-time career completion percentage list?
12. Granted, Slovis has not had the best protection. He is 10th among Power Five quarterbacks in the percentage of snaps when he has been under pressure and 39th in completion percentage when getting pressured. But I don’t think that explains it all away. After all, UNC stud Drake Maye is ninth in pressured drop-backs, and his completion percentage is almost 10 points higher.
13. That’s not a fair comparison, though. Maye is a flat-out stud. He leads the Power Five in passing yards and passing touchdowns under pressure. That kid is going to be a problem for at least one more year (and probably only one more year).
14. Back to Pitt’s offensive line, I think it’s clear that Matt Goncalves and Gabe Houy are Pitt’s best tackles and should be playing pretty much all of the snaps. Branson Taylor has a lot of promise for the future, but Goncalves gives them a better chance at left tackle right now and should be playing.
15. I just also can’t shake the feeling that these receivers are better than they’ve shown. Actually, I should amend that, because the UNC game actually showed how good they can be. Yes, Jared Wayne had a drop or two, but he also made some really good catches. Bub Means showed what he could do on his long catch. And Konata Mumpfield’s diving catch on third-and-8 was a great one - he lays out at full extension, secures the ball and then does what great receivers do: rolls his body so his shoulder and back hit the ground first, thus ensuring the ball doesn’t get dislodged.
16. That was a big-time catch by Mumpfield. But how many times have we seen him even have a chance to make that play? He clearly can do it, so why hasn’t he gotten the opportunity? I could ask the same question for the other receivers, too.
17. And Gavin Bartholomew. I don’t even know what to say there. Two targets at UNC? That makes four times this season that he has had two or fewer targets in a game (one vs. WVU, two at Western Michigan and one against Rhode Island). In the other four games, he had three targets against Georgia Tech, four at Louisville and five each against Tennessee and Virginia Tech. 23 targets in eight games for a guy who was a freshman All-American. It’s criminal.
18. For whatever it’s worth, the sources I talk to who watched this team all spring, all summer and all camp and came away with the belief that it was a roster with a really high ceiling still maintain that the talent level is good enough to be better than 4-4.
19. Of course, we haven’t even talked about the defense (31 points and 248 yards allowed in the last two fourth quarters). But it’s hard to really think about that side of the ball when the offense is playing like it has.
20. Finally, offensive line prospect Colin Van Rooy announced his decommitment from Pitt on Saturday night. While it would be topical to lump this into the general struggles of the football program, I’m fairly confident this was a case of the staff deciding to move on from Van Rooy. They liked what they saw from him in camp over the summer, but his senior season has not quite lived up to what they expected.
