This is definitely the era of out-scoring your opponent. The game and most important officiating has evolved to heavily favor the offense, and the passing game in particular.
Let’s face it, for all sides, offensive holding happens far more frequently than it ever did. On Thursday our OL got away with our share, and WVU’s OL definitely did so blatantly on almost every pass play, or we would have had even more pressure on Daniel. Refs, consciously or not, seem to give the OL breaks with that when it’s facing a better DL, and of course that negates a great deal of Pitt’s advantage, since it’s the foundation of Duz defense.
Of course, defensive PI is chronic, and calling targeting penalties (whether it truly reduces injuries or not) frequently also helps the offense tremendously, as it takes away much fear for receivers going over the middle. That even extends to players and coaches, as it is painfully the norm now for DBs to never look back on the ball. That had to be a combination of zero fundamentals being taught to players in early years, or defensive coaches in college not giving it any priority (because they tend to be better at it in the NFL). That of course adds tremendous advantage to a long passing game as well.
The issue with all this is that Narduzzi’s stated wish for more ‘balance’ and running the ball and TOP and promotion of a “game manager” QB like Slovis seems to be a great risk. Anytime it fails to put the ball in the end zone is putting more pressure on a defense already hamstrung in the ways I mention above to make repeated stops. Against teams with great offensive firepower that isn’t too realistic.