Editor’s note: Saturday Down South’s annual Crystal Ball series continues with Pitt. We’ll go in alphabetical order through the 17-team ACC.
Previously: Boston College | Cal | Clemson | Duke | FSU | Georgia Tech | Louisville | Miami | NC State | North Carolina
* * * * * * *
Frustrating doesn’t begin to describe what Pat Narduzzi went through last season.
Things got so bad for his Pitt Panthers that after a 58-7 pounding at the hands of Notre Dame, the veteran coach decided to throw his players under the team bus before using it to take them to the airport.
“As a football coach, you lose a lot of good players from a year ago and you think as a coach you’re going to replace them,” he said that day. “Obviously we haven’t.”
Narduzzi quickly apologized for the disparaging statement and was able to hold his team together. But the results didn’t get much better. The Panthers lost 3 of their final 4 games from that point on to finish 3-9, their worst record since 1998.
Coming just 2 seasons after Pitt’s first ACC championship and 1 year removed from winning 9 games in 2022, the struggles were viewed as an unfortunate hiccup. But the pressure is on to turn things around quickly and get his program heading back in the right direction.
“Sometimes you’ve got to go through tough times like that to bounce back and to get your fire started again,” Narduzzi said. “It was just one of those years where things didn’t go our way. That’s not who we are. But like I told our football team, sometimes you need to get punched and knocked down so you can get back up and fight some more. That’s the attitude we’re taking.”
Attitude adjustment isn’t the only step Narduzzi has taken to help put last season’s frustration behind him.
He’s taken steps to improve an offense that ranked dead last in the ACC in scoring (20.2 ppg), total offense (317.9 ypg), passing (101.9 ypg), 3rd-down conversions (31.3%) by replacing offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. with young, aggressive newcomer Kade Bell.
And he’s beefed up a pass rush that dropped from 2nd in the ACC with 48 sacks a year earlier to just 31 by adding 5 defensive linemen from the transfer portal.
Will those changes be the glass of water that cures the hiccup, gets Pitt back on track and turns down the temperature on Narduzzi’s coaching hot seat?
Let’s dive in and take a closer look.
Western Carolina favor
Cullowhee, NC, is a sleepy college town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Not the most exciting place in the world, especially compared to a major city such as Pittsburgh. Maybe that’s what made Bell stand out when Narduzzi went looking for a coordinator capable of adding a jolt of energy into the ACC’s worst offense.
As the OC at Western Carolina, located in Cullowhee, the 31-year-old rising directed an explosive offense that led the Football Championship Subdivision at 504 yards per game and ranked 3rd nationally with a scoring average of 37.5. That’s 17 points and nearly 200 yards per game more than the Panthers were able to muster on their way to their 3-9 record.
“He’s open, he’s creative, he’s smart,” Narduzzi said.
Those are qualities Bell displays on the practice field every day. Rather than scripting workouts as most coaches do, he calls his plays on the fly as he would during a game. It’s an approach that has impressed his new boss.
“He is just calling it like this,” Narduzzi said, snapping his fingers rapidly. “I think that’s what makes great coordinators.”
It also helps to have talented players. To that end, Bell brought 3 of his top weapons with him to Pitt. Receivers CJ Lee and Raphael “Poppy” Williams combined for 93 catches and 14 touchdowns for the Catamounts in 2023, with Lee averaging better than 17 yards per reception. Running back Desmond Reid, meanwhile, rushed for 897 yards and 13 scores in 8 games.
“There’s a lot of good football players out there,” Narduzzi said. “That’s why you see FCS teams beating FBS teams at times. Not only did we get Kade Bell, but we got 3 excellent young men and players from Western Carolina.”
Nate’s time to shine
While Narduzzi had to go outside his program to develop a new, more potent personality for his struggling offense, his search to find a consistent QB1 appears to have ended much closer to home.
Nate Yarnell has spent the past 3 seasons waiting and watching from the sidelines while transfers Kedon Slovis, Phil Jurkovec and Christian Veilleux tried and failed to give the Panthers the kind of passing attack they enjoyed when 1st-round NFL Draft pick Kenny Pickett was leading them to n ACC title.
His patience was finally rewarded late last season. The redshirt sophomore started the final 2 games, a win against Boston College and a close loss to Duke, completing 66.7% of his passes (36-of-54) for 472 yards and 4 touchdowns and only 1 interception. Those performances, combined with his continued development during spring practice led Narduzzi to name Yarnell his starting quarterback.
“All along, I thought Nate was a pretty darn good quarterback,” Narduzzi said. “He could have started the last 2 years. I saw him a lot on the scout team and I just thought he was a tough son of a gun. The size doesn’t matter. The arm strength doesn’t matter. Who throws a pretty ball doesn’t really matter. It’s who completes the pass and wins football games.”
A lot of players in Yarnell’s situation might have run out of patience and entered the portal looking for an opportunity to play. But Yarnell said that’s not how he’s wired.
”Obviously it was frustrating not being able to play. If you’re a competitor, you want to be on the field,” he said. “That’s definitely how I felt. But I knew I’d get my opportunity.”
As hard as Yarnell had to work to win the job, he might have to work even harder to keep it with Alabama transfer Eli Holstein already waiting in the wings to replace him if he doesn’t continue to produce.
Revamping the sack attack
When you think of Pitt football under Narduzzi, you envision a team with a relentless pass rush known for making life difficult for opposing quarterbacks. The fact that the Panthers weren’t able to do that last season is one of their coach’s biggest disappointments.
“If you looked at it last year, we didn’t have any sacks,” Narduzzi said, exaggerating just a little. “The 2 previous years we were (among the) top in the country. That comes with playing complementary offense and defense together. Obviously special teams. We’re looking to increase that sack total. I don’t care who is returning on offense or defense, it doesn’t matter. We do a great job schematically. We’re excited about a little bit of newness on defense, getting after quarterbacks.”
The newness comes in the form of a revamped defensive line stocked almost entirely with transfers. Last year’s sack leaders Samuel Okunlola and Dayon Hayes both left via the portal. The 1 key holdover that remained, Bam Brima, unexpectedly left the program earlier this month. In their place are a group of newcomers.
Nate Matlack has already emerged as a leader on defense. The former Northwestern edge rusher is the most experienced of the additions, along with senior tackle Anthony Johnson, who went through spring practice at Illinois after spending his 1st 3 seasons at Youngstown State. The defensive line transfers with the highest ceiling, however, are David Ojiegbe from Clemson, Nick James from Indiana and Chief Borders from Nebraska.
Game-by-game predictions
Week 1: vs. Kent State (W)
Narduzzi couldn’t have picked a better opponent to start the season. The Golden Flashes are coming off a 1-11 season in which they lost their 2 power conference games, to UCF and Arkansas by a combined margin of 84-12.
Week 2: at Cincinnati (W)
The Bearcats held on to win 24-21 in Pittsburgh last season. But the Panthers have a different quarterback and different offensive coordinator. That adds up to a different result.
Week 3 vs. West Virginia (L)
The rivals have split the past 2 Backyard Brawls, with each holding serve on their home field. With Nate Yarnell having established himself as Pitt’s quarterback and West Virginia’s Garrett Greene healthy, this year’s renewal promises to be a much higher-scoring affair than last year’s 17-6 final. That favors the Mountaineers, who have more firepower.
Week 4: Youngstown State (W)
The Penguins are no joke. They held their own against Ohio State and advanced to the 2nd round of the FCS Playoffs in 2023. It might not be pretty. But it doesn’t have to be as long as Pitt does enough to take care of business.
Week 5: Open
Week 6: at North Carolina (L)
The Tar Heels beat the Panthers 42-24 in 2022 and 41-24 last year. Pitt keeps getting closer. But at this rate, it will be 2042 before it closes the gap enough to win.
Week 7: vs. Cal (W)
The Bears will be making their 3rd trip to the Eastern Time Zone in 6 weeks. That’s a lot of travel. And it takes its toll, even on young legs.
Week 8: Open
Week 9: vs. Syracuse (L)
Fran Brown has the Orange on the rise. The Panthers are going to have their hands full against Kyle McCord, LeQuint Allen and Syracuse’s new-look offense.
Week 10: at SMU (L)
The Mustangs are the best of the 3 newcomers to the ACC. And they’re at home.
Week 11: vs. Virginia (W)
Coaching matters in 50-50 games, especially in a matchup in which both might be fighting to keep their jobs. Narduzzi has a much better track record than Tony Elliott.
Week 12: vs. Clemson (L)
Weather could be the great equalizer. But barring a monsoon or a blizzard, the Tigers have far too many horses for the Pitt to handle.
Week 13: at Louisville (L)
The Panthers took advantage of Louisville’s post-Notre Dame hangover to pull off an upset last year. You can bet the Cardinals haven’t forgotten that debacle.
Week 14: at Boston College (L)
Bowl eligibility could be on the line for the winner. There’s not a lot of difference between these teams. But BC has a better returning core and did a better job on the transfer portal.
2024 projection: 5-7 (2-6)
#H2P
Narduzzi has had a nice run in his 9 seasons at Pitt. He’s recorded 65 victories, is 12 games over .500 in the ACC and won a couple of division championships to go along with that championship title, in addition to producing 28 NFL Draft picks.
But his stock has been falling since 2021. It’s a dip that can be traced to several factors, the most significant of which has been his inability to find a capable replacement for ACC Player of the Year Kenny Pickett. The Panthers’ fortunes cratered last season with a 3-9 record that was the program’s worst this century.
Narduzzi is under contract through 2030. But he’s feeling the heat. And he’s taken some decisive steps to ensure that the frustration he felt last season is only just a 1-year blip.
Not a recurring nightmare.
Because if Pitt doesn’t make a quick turnaround, his players might not be the only ones getting thrown under the bus this time.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
