Pitt Notebook: Narduzzi Says Coaches Did 'Great Job,' Pass 'D' Must Make Plays, LINK!

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

I am in agreement with Coach Pat & Staff Assessment. This is still a Honest Head Coach Rebuilding Pitt's Football Program with Big Programs all around it in the Big Ten and ACC!

Coach Pat & Staff have had to contend and overcome years of Athletic Selfish Neglect, Athletic Director's Ego Mismanagement and Selfish Buyouts including his own, with Misspending on Worthless Executive Searches and Re-branding Logo Consultants. All the while ignoring Boosters and Fans Pitt Support Traditions.

What I like about these Coaches is that the Players are focused , study in film and classrooms, and still working hard in spite of being beaten and under 3 Coaches and Systems with little to no off the field discipline problems.

As well as, backing not just 1 Player that recovery from cancer, but 5 having Healthy conditions right now. I respect others that disagree but I have no doubt i have not seen this kind of honesty, challenging his players to be better, and focus on the Program and Players since Sherrill.

If Pederson got 19 years out trying to rebuild Pitt Football, then Narduzzi should get more than 17 Games in just his second Year as Head Coach?
Excerpt:
When Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi was asked about fixes to his pass defense, his answer — on the surface — might be surprising. “You can't do anything about it,” he said. Fans should not panic. Narduzzi hasn't surrendered. Translation: Pitt has its best personnel on the field, coaches have designed what they believe are the appropriate alignments and players need to execute. “Could we make a play? Yeah,” he said Saturday after Pitt lost 37-36 to North Carolina on another late-game pass. “Players make plays. Coaches coach, and we try to put them in position. “I thought our coaches did a great job of putting them in position to make plays.” North Carolina (3-1, 1-0) is one of the best teams on Pitt's schedule, and the Tar Heels have several productive players on offense. “You can't cover them all,” Narduzzi said. “They're going to spread you out. “(Ryan) Switzer's a good player,” he said of the UNC wide receiver. “Mitch (Trubisky, the UNC quarterback) is a good player. There's nothing you can do about it.”..................

Peterman said the team's goal to win the ACC championship remains alive. “We don't believe those goals are over at all,” he said. “We'll definitely feel this loss, but we'll bounce back. We'll keep our heads up, and we'll be all right............

Safety Jordan Whitehead said the communication problems that plagued the secondary at Oklahoma State were eliminated Saturday.
“We were communicating better,” he said. “That was an emphasis all week in practice, making sure everybody got their assignment.”

Pitt is next-to-last (127th) in the nation in pass defense, allowing an average of 361 yards. Only Arizona State (404) is worse. Marshall, a Conference USA team that visits Heinz Field on Saturday, is 121st (323.7)..............

READ THE REST FOR MORE INFO...
LINK:
http://triblive.com/sports/college/pitt/11187687-74/pitt-carolina-north

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

I thought more revealing (though obvious) was Fedora's comments:

Fedora said. “Basically because they are so run dominant-stopping defensively, they get those backers in there, the safeties are involved. So basically it was going to have him one-on-one against a safety the majority of the game. We felt like we could take advantage of that. And he did.”

 

[Swervin27]

Lol, yeah, great job coaches, keep up the great work.

 

[DruidTM]

I can understand the strategy... Thinking back I was worried they would start running on that last series and Hood might pick up steam late...

People in the secondary need to cover period

 

[TD_istheman]

Lol, yeah, great job coaches, keep up the great work.

When coaches of other teams , who never throw each other under a bus, make the comments UNC's coach did, DUZZ and his band of stiffs are not doing their job, asking to be beat next week as well. Marshall has a good offense, and he better adjust something

 

[JokePa]

Agreed, coaches did a fantastic job, came out dominating, we stopped the run game and made the qb and wr make plays and they certainly did that

 

[thebadby2]

I thought more revealing (though obvious) was Fedora's comments:

Fedora said. “Basically because they are so run dominant-stopping defensively, they get those backers in there, the safeties are involved. So basically it was going to have him one-on-one against a safety the majority of the game. We felt like we could take advantage of that. And he did.”

More or less exactly what Mason Rudolph said OkSU was going to do to us before he hung 540 passing yards on the Dooz. But hey, we stopped the run.

That whole notion that you stop the run on defense, run the ball on offense, and you win is really pretty antiquated at this point. It goes back to the Bo and Woody days. You will still win more than you lose that way, but there are a lot of teams out there right now that don;t give a damn about running the ball, they run tempo and attack through the air.

Football has always been about identifying and exploiting the opponent's weaknesses while maximizing your own strengths. Our last two opponents have done exactly that. You really can;t go into every week with the same game plan.

 

[DruidTM]

Antiquated my ass...Ohio State beat Oregon doing just that....

Someone let me know when Pitts secondary makes a play... Any play

 

[Swervin27]

this is my biggest fear here, that Narduzzi doesn't see the issue and believes that either this problem will fix itself or that the last 2 games were some sort of aberration..

 

[VAPITTALUM]

Antiquated my ass...Ohio State beat Oregon doing just that....

Someone let me know when Pitts secondary makes a play... Any play

Dead on. The secondary made exactly 0 plays on Saturday. Their best defensive play was pass interference to prevent the WR from scoring another TD.

The DL played their butts off and were absolutely gassed at the end of the game. They knew the only thing preventing UNC from playing pitch and catch against the secondary was to get to the QB within 2-3 so he wasn't set.

 

[MajorMajors]

Didn't the Mich State fans tell us that this would happen. That Duzz's defense would give up a ton of big plays until he gets the shutdown corners that he needs for his approach to work...

I guess he has a system - which has worked pretty well when he has the right players - and he's sticking to it...

Go Pitt.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Didn't the Mich State fans tell us that this would happen. That Duzz's defense would give up a ton of big plays until he gets the shutdown corners that he needs for his approach to work...

I guess he has a system - which has worked pretty well when he has the right players - and he's sticking to it...

Go Pitt.

Very much seems to be the case.

 

[TD_istheman]

Well doesn't he need to recruit top players to run said system?

 

[TD_istheman]

Losing Jeter hurts here a lot. He could be that guy to fill up the gaps and cause havoc.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

Losing Jeter stings a bit. But, I like the 4 FR that are DT that came in current class. There are still a few high end DT that Pitt's in on for the upcoming class as well.

 

[mak1734]

If we accept coach's comments that players are not making plays, why are they still playing when we have freshmen who could do no worse but could at least benefit from experience?

 

[Jpripper88]

Being true to your system when you don't have the players needed to win the games with that system is not good coaching. Narduzzi is on the edge right now of going one way or the other. In year 1 you are handcuffed with the team you inherit and you install and see what can happen. Year 2 and 3 you need to start winning and seeing as you are unlikely to have the perfect players for your system you have to adapt some. Just a little coaching and adjustments would have us at 4-0, instead of 2-2. HCPN has been a disappointment this season and had cost us two games. He does not have the talent to beat teams by leaving those CBs on an island and they are telling him that pre game and post game. He needs to swallow his pride and win games. The division and a good bowl are probably out of the equation already, but they need to at least salvage a solid season.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

At the moment, I'm just glad Marshall, GT, UVa, Syracuse and Duke don't the have skill at QB/WR that OSU and UNC currently have... VT, The U and Clemson on the other hand, well, yeah, they have it.

This is showing me more and why the D thrived last season v. so many backup and sub-par QBs. Corners like Pitts and Maddux can survive that. But, just like last season, when up against UNC, The U, the Irish and Louisville, Pitt really struggled on D and surrendered a ton.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

Being true to your system when you don't have the players needed to win the games with that system is not good coaching. Narduzzi is on the edge right now of going one way or the other. In year 1 you are handcuffed with the team you inherit and you install and see what can happen. Year 2 and 3 you need to start winning and seeing as you are unlikely to have the perfect players for your system you have to adapt some. Just a little coaching and adjustments would have us at 4-0, instead of 2-2. HCPN has been a disappointment this season and had cost us two games. He does not have the talent to beat teams by leaving those CBs on an island and they are telling him that pre game and post game. He needs to swallow his pride and win games. The division and a good bowl are probably out of the equation already, but they need to at least salvage a solid season.

Another way to look at this is how much worse this team could look on defense if the DL wasn't able to create pressure on the QB if Narduzzi and Conklin dedicated more personnel to stopping the passing plays. If the secondary is unable to force the QB and WR into tough throws down the sideline, how would an extra LB help with the passes over the top where the WR is simply running by the CB/S? Without pressure on the QB, I fear we may see even more big plays in both the running and passing game.

It's not just the secondary who is to blame here either.

In the OSU game, Pitt's defense forced 5 punts in a row with the scored tied 38-38. The offense did absolutely nothing following great defensive stops.

In the UNC, PITT forced 2 punts and came up with a FG to make it 36-23. They then went 3 and out twice while only taking 1:36 and 1:49 off of the clock ; leaving UNC with over 3 minutes to operate on offense.

The offense deserves a lot of the blame for the 4th quarter meltdowns as well.

 

[Pittx9]

Sounds harsh, but it's definitely not far from the truth. My god at a certain point, you gotta make something happen when you're in position to. To me, it's obvious a lot of these guys are just awful.

 

[DruidTM]

If we accept coach's comments that players are not making plays, why are they still playing when we have freshmen who could do no worse but could at least benefit from experience?

See ND playing a ton of freshman especially in secondary...can't tackle can't cover etc... My guess is Narduzzi want them more seasoned

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

By the way, if Pitt can make some of these adjustments to help the CBs a bit and remain aggressive on O in the 4th quarter, I see no reason why don't still have a real shot at the Coastal. If UNC goes out and beats FSU, I'll feel otherwise But, until then, Pitt's still very much alive. While unlikely, UNC could very well lose their next three (@FSU,VT,@Miami). At the very least, they'll be underdogs @FSU and @Miami.

By mid-October UNC may have more ACC losses than Pitt, allowing Pitt to control their own destiny for the Coastal crown.

 

[Jpripper88]

Another way to look at this is how much worse this team could look on defense if the DL wasn't able to create pressure on the QB if Narduzzi and Conklin dedicated more personnel to stopping the passing plays. If the secondary is unable to force the QB and WR into tough throws down the sideline, how would an extra LB help with the passes over the top where the WR is simply running by the CB/S? Without pressure on the QB, I fear we may see even more big plays in both the running and passing game.

It's not just the secondary who is to blame here either.

In the OSU game, Pitt's defense forced 5 punts in a row with the scored tied 38-38. The offense did absolutely nothing following great defensive stops.

In the UNC, PITT forced 2 punts and came up with a FG to make it 36-23. They then went 3 and out twice while only taking 1:36 and 1:49 off of the clock ; leaving UNC with over 3 minutes to operate on offense.

The offense deserves a lot of the blame for the 4th quarter meltdowns as well.

Yeah, but on many of those plays we aren't getting pressure because we can't get pressure in 1.5 seconds where the QB is just getting the ball out to receivers on underneath routes and carving us up. It can't be the same thing all the time with the lack of talent we have on the outside.

 

[VAPITTALUM]

Yeah, but on many of those plays we aren't getting pressure because we can't get pressure in 1.5 seconds where the QB is just getting the ball out to receivers on underneath routes and carving us up. It can't be the same thing all the time with the lack of talent we have on the outside.

Absolutely! The problem wasn't the underneath passes, it was the passes over the top. Check out these examples:

Webb and Lewis allowed the WR to run right past and between them. This ball should have been easily intercepted if either player decided to turn and try to find the ball.

Another long pass. Lewis is exposed yet again, with Webb in no man's land. These two were the culprit on long passing plays on Saturday. Neither play would have been impacted by having a LB underneath.

This is one of those plays where you would like the LB to force the receiver into the teeth of the secondary. That appeared to be the case, yet Webb failed, yet again, to close on the WR once that player came into his area. Maybe it was a lack of communication; who knows.

 

[Jpripper88]

Absolutely! The problem wasn't the underneath passes, it was the passes over the top. Check out these examples:

Webb and Lewis allowed the WR to run right past and between them. This ball should have been easily intercepted if either player decided to turn and try to find the ball.

Another long pass. Lewis is exposed yet again, with Webb in no man's land. These two were the culprit on long passing plays on Saturday. Neither play would have been impacted by having a LB underneath.

This is one of those plays where you would like the LB to force the receiver into the teeth of the secondary. That appeared to be the case, yet Webb failed, yet again, to close on the WR once that player came into his area. Maybe it was a lack of communication; who knows.

Oh, there were plenty of problems with the underneath passes. Every pass was a problem if there wasn't pressure because all we did was blitz and left very, very below average CBs on their own. We really didn't get much pressure when you consider how often we blitzed. The number of sacks and pressures look great, but when you consider we brought it or stacked the line on pretty much every play, that really isn't very good.

 

[DMD6037]

Antiquated my ass...Ohio State beat Oregon doing just that....

Someone let me know when Pitts secondary makes a play... Any play

If you would have ended that with "Bueller...Bueller......" It would have been even better!

 

[DMD6037]

Absolutely! The problem wasn't the underneath passes, it was the passes over the top. Check out these examples:

Webb and Lewis allowed the WR to run right past and between them. This ball should have been easily intercepted if either player decided to turn and try to find the ball.

Another long pass. Lewis is exposed yet again, with Webb in no man's land. These two were the culprit on long passing plays on Saturday. Neither play would have been impacted by having a LB underneath.

This is one of those plays where you would like the LB to force the receiver into the teeth of the secondary. That appeared to be the case, yet Webb failed, yet again, to close on the WR once that player came into his area. Maybe it was a lack of communication; who knows.

Good post. I wish Narduzzi would dim the lights in his presser and run the film showing what was called and what is expected to happen versus the lack of execution and what is happening with secondary players who are just not making basic football plays. I know that smacks of throwing players under the bus. But if the players are not executing what was designed in the scheme, then it doesn't matter what call is made, they are not executing it and it is on them. The film does not lie.

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

Didn't the Mich State fans tell us that this would happen. That Duzz's defense would give up a ton of big plays until he gets the shutdown corners that he needs for his approach to work...

I guess he has a system - which has worked pretty well when he has the right players - and he's sticking to it...

Go Pitt.

Yes, this is correct. But then Narduzzi did recruit some his own freshman DBs who are presumably some of those shut down guys. Why not take a chance with them, even if they are a little raw. It seems to makes more sense than living with some of the current players who get burned play after play and may never prove capable of playing any better. Maybe if Hamlin were healthy and playing, Pitt wins these last two games.

Another thing that is a bit of a concern is that these coaches were talking as if the DBs were looking really good at the end of summer camp. Now Naruzzi is making it sound as if giving up over 400 yards in passing a game is really not bad because every QB and WR Pitt plays against is really good.

 

[TD_istheman]

Good post. I wish Narduzzi would dim the lights in his presser and run the film showing what was called and what is expected to happen versus the lack of execution and what is happening with secondary players who are just not making basic football plays. I know that smacks of throwing players under the bus. But if the players are not executing what was designed in the scheme, then it doesn't matter what call is made, they are not executing it and it is on them. The film does not lie.

Then get those who won't listen, the hell out of there, that is on him! Play whoever listens , ball boy, to water boy, to red shirt or true frosh, it can't get any worse

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

Absolutely!
Another long pass. Lewis is exposed yet again, with Webb in no man's land. These two were the culprit on long passing plays on Saturday. Neither play would have been impacted by having a LB underneath.

This is one of those plays where you would like the LB to force the receiver into the teeth of the secondary. That appeared to be the case, yet Webb failed, yet again, to close on the WR once that player came into his area. Maybe it was a lack of communication; who knows.

Yeah that's what I was thinking but then...

Safety Jordan Whitehead said the communication problems that plagued the secondary at Oklahoma State were eliminated Saturday.
“We were communicating better,” he said. “That was an emphasis all week in practice, making sure everybody got their assignment.”

Well, I guess communication wasn't the problem and Coach Narduzzi said it wasn't the coaching. Oh wait, maybe we just played against the two best passing offenses in the country. Nope, Rudolph had 0 touchdown and only about half as many passing yards against his next opponent. Oh and Trubisky threw for more yards against Pitt than he did against James Madison. Hmm.

 

[pittmeister]

Guys,

Narduzzi is doing everything he can not to state the obvious; the DB players are not good enough. He will never say that to the players or in public. He's not Brian Kelly.

Narduzzi knows there's a problem.

So when you hear him say things to the press that doesn't make sense, it's because he doesn't want to say what he's really thinking.

He's a player's coach and he has their backs

 

[DMD6037]

Then get those who won't listen, the hell out of there, that is on him! Play whoever listens , ball boy, to water boy, to red shirt or true frosh, it can't get any worse

AMEN, BROTHER

 

[vegasgreed]

maybe he should leave out this part.....the coaches are putting all the players in the right position to make the plays.

instead of that, maybe he should take the high road and say that him and his staff and the players have to be better. but ultimately its his responsibility to make this team better.

 

[PITTLAW]

maybe he should leave out this part.....the coaches are putting all the players in the right position to make the plays.

instead of that, maybe he should take the high road and say that him and his staff and the players have to be better. but ultimately its his responsibility to make this team better.

Reminds me a bit of Walt's old explanation after a loss...the "players were not doing what they were coached to do..." Sounds just as bad from a more articulate coach. Show me, don't tell me. Hail to Pitt!

 

[DMD6037]

Yes, this is correct. But then Narduzzi did recruit some his own freshman DBs who are presumably some of those shut down guys. Why not take a chance with them, even if they are a little raw. It seems to makes more sense than living with some of the current players who get burned play after play and may never prove capable of playing any better. Maybe if Hamlin were healthy and playing, Pitt wins these last two games.

Another thing that is a bit of a concern is that these coaches were talking as if the DBs were looking really good at the end of summer camp. Now Naruzzi is making it sound as if giving up over 400 yards in passing a game is really not bad because every QB and WR Pitt plays against is really good.

Going up against our own sorely lacking receiver corps, the might have looked pretty good....

 

[CaptainSidneyReilly]

I thought more revealing (though obvious) was Fedora's comments:

Fedora said. “Basically because they are so run dominant-stopping defensively, they get those backers in there, the safeties are involved. So basically it was going to have him one-on-one against a safety the majority of the game. We felt like we could take advantage of that. And he did.”

Thank you, love reading opposing coaches that teach Pitt Coaches how they got beat.

John Madden of the Oakland raiders kept losing to the Steelers and once said how he beat them to and won his Super Bowl. The loser of the AFC Game became the HC in the Pro Bowl. At the Pro Bowl Madden would friendly quiz Steeler's how did you do that, how did did you prepare, and what did you see on fim that gave you an edge on that particular play. Steeler's after that quit talking to him?

If I am Pat Naruzzi, he needs to read how Fedora prepares his his game and analysis he uses, it can't hurt.

I still think Narduzzi is putting way much more pressure on Whitehead to perform and be the spear in his Defense and has said that wants he wants from him and expects more leadership from Whitehead.

Looks like Fedora, and OKSU's OC and PSU Moorhead figure it out too, and Coach Pat has to fix it, change it, or keep at it, but so far has failed in 3 games, not by much, but enough to lose 2 of them?

Unlike some other Posters here that know far more than me, I have confidence Coach Pat & Staff will accomplish it, but "WHEN" is what I don't know, and hope to see it solved sooner not later.

When the Steeler's lost 0-4 in 1976, Chuck Noll went back to teaching Fundamentals on Lining Up, Stances, Tackling, and back to High School Teaching to remind the Steeler's how they win games that way? The Steelers shutout 5 NFL Teams after that start!

Last week, Coach Pat spoke about how Miscommunications almost lost the PSU Game, and did help lose the OKSU, and Whitehead said it was improved and fixed in the UNC game and UNC Players were covered that last drive.

However, Coach Pat now is complaining Sloppy Tackling is and was missing from the UNC game, time to fix that these next 3 games in Open break, before Miami, Clemson, and Virginia Tech arrive!

Marshall, Georgia Tech and Virginia are perfect games for Pitt to perfect Communications, Covering and Tackling!

Coaches have to teach it and Players have to Execute it!

 

[pittmeister]

Going up against our own sorely lacking receiver corps, the might have looked pretty good....

BULLSEYE! When our DB's go up against a team that has our WR talent level, then they'll all look like Rod Woodson. They looked pretty good against Villanova...

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

I respect others that disagree but I have no doubt i have not seen this kind of honesty, challenging his players to be better, and focus on the Program and Players since Sherrill.

Pitt is next-to-last (127th) in the nation in pass defense, allowing an average of 361 yards. Only Arizona State (404) is worse. Marshall, a Conference USA team that visits Heinz Field on Saturday, is 121st (323.7)..............

He is clear an upgrade in many ways, but sometimes he loses me with his decisions and his comments.

"You can't cover them all,” Narduzzi said. “They're going to spread you out. “(Ryan) Switzer's a good player,” he said of the UNC wide receiver. “Mitch (Trubisky, the UNC quarterback) is a good player. There's nothing you can do about it.”..................
"You can't cover them?"

Really? That's his response. Doesn't he realize his pass defense is at the absolute bottom in yards allowed and percentage. That's like a baseball team having the worst on base % in the league and after another game where almost no player on the team gets a hit the coach says, "Well, you can't hit them all."

Let's remember how badly these defensive backs struggled last year. He had spring and summer practice to help them get better or replace them with someone who could play better. He and his coaches stuck with most of them stating at the end of summer camp that the DBs looked good. We now see that is not the case and instead of acknowledging that he and the coaches are partly to blame (at least for not giving some other kids a shot when it is clear these kids are not stepping up or talented enough), he chooses to say of his secondary who gave up 453 yards and 5 TDs -a career high for the opposing QB right after a they gave up a career high # of yards and TDs to the OSU QB "You can't win them all." that "Switzer a good player,” and “Mitch ( the UNC quarterback) is a good player. There's nothing you can do about it.”..................

Please.

Coach. Work with us. Come back to reality.

No question Narduzzi (and Sims) deserve credit for the nice job they have their guys doing against the run, but Pat needs to quit believing that stopping the run is the only thing that really matters (as he has tried to convince us). Coach, you have two losses that likely would have been wins if your secondary was even slightly better than terrible in pass coverage.

Safety Jordan Whitehead said the communication problems that plagued the secondary at Oklahoma State were eliminated Saturday. “We were communicating better,” he said. “That was an emphasis all week in practice, making sure everybody got their assignment.”

Again, really? Communication problems were eliminated in the NC game? 453 yards with defenders wide open multiple times.

The first step to recovery is admitting when you have a problem.

This team could be undefeated if coaches and players were brutally honest about whet the the problems are and then worked on a away to address them. When that happens, maybe just maybe Pitt will win the close ones moving forward.

 

[Jpripper88]

Agree @#99HUGHgreen . At a minimum if the DBs can make 1 play this weekend, we are 3-1 and the favorites to win the division. Literally 1 play. And it would have been their first of the season.

 

[pittmeister]

He is clear an upgrade in many ways, but sometimes he loses me with his decisions and his comments.

"You can't cover them all,” Narduzzi said. “They're going to spread you out. “(Ryan) Switzer's a good player,” he said of the UNC wide receiver. “Mitch (Trubisky, the UNC quarterback) is a good player. There's nothing you can do about it.”..................
"You can't cover them?"

Really? That's his response. Doesn't he realize his pass defense is at the absolute bottom in yards allowed and percentage. That's like a baseball team having the worst on base % in the league and after another game where almost no player on the team gets a hit the coach says, "Well, you can't hit them all."

Let's remember how badly these defensive backs struggled last year. He had spring and summer practice to help them get better or replace them with someone who could play better. He and his coaches stuck with most of them stating at the end of summer camp that the DBs looked good. We now see that is not the case and instead of acknowledging that he and the coaches are partly to blame (at least for not giving some other kids a shot when it is clear these kids are not stepping up or talented enough), he chooses to say of his secondary who gave up 453 yards and 5 TDs -a career high for the opposing QB right after a they gave up a career high # of yards and TDs to the OSU QB "You can't win them all." that "Switzer a good player,” and “Mitch ( the UNC quarterback) is a good player. There's nothing you can do about it.”..................

Please.

Coach. Work with us. Come back to reality.

No question Narduzzi (and Sims) deserve credit for the nice job they have their guys doing against the run, but Pat needs to quit believing that stopping the run is the only thing that really matters (as he has tried to convince us). Coach, you have two losses that likely would have been wins if your secondary was even slightly better than terrible in pass coverage.

Safety Jordan Whitehead said the communication problems that plagued the secondary at Oklahoma State were eliminated Saturday. “We were communicating better,” he said. “That was an emphasis all week in practice, making sure everybody got their assignment.”

Again, really? Communication problems were eliminated in the NC game? 453 yards with defenders wide open multiple times.

The first step to recovery is admitting when you have a problem.

This team could be undefeated if coaches and players were brutally honest about whet the the problems are and then worked on a away to address them. When that happens, maybe just maybe Pitt will win the close ones moving forward.

Again, Narduzzi is doing everything he can not to state the obvious; the DB players are not good enough. He will never say that to the players or in public.

Narduzzi knows there's a problem.

So when you hear him say things to the press that doesn't make sense, it's because he doesn't want to say what he's really thinking.