By Ray Porter Jr. for Urban Media Today
PITTSBURGH, PA–In Week 1, it was the Pitt Panthers offense that led the way in a 59-14 onslaught of Miami (OH) and Week 2, it was the defense that led the way in a 12-7 win over the UCF Knights at Acrisure Stadium. The opponent for both teams were the elements as the game endured a 1:05 rain delay and a consistent downpour in the second half.
“Couldn’t be more proud of our football team. I think that was a big-time team win,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “All three phases found ways to get their job done. Obviously, it wasn’t pretty. It was ugly weather day. Weather delay, the whole deal, sudden change, whatever it may be. Obviously, some good plays in the game. Again, I think it was a good football team. Look across the line. Look at the guys who played against, really good football team. Obviously a Big 12 win. We’ll take those any day. They all count as one.”
It may not have been as ‘glamorous’ as last week’s victory, but it was a victory nonetheless as the Panthers held the Knights to 206 total yards (186 pass yards and 20 rushing yards.) and kept them out of the end zone until late in the 4th quarter.
“They played good. I mean, looking at 206 yards — wish we wouldn’t have gave up that one touchdown at the end there. Made things get a little hairy there. But you know it’s good to have a little adversity. Obviously, they aren’t perfect. We didn’t make some plays out there today. I think that quarterback was as wet as anything. I think when you think about the ball, he was just grabbing and it was like wiping us off. We’ve got to clean that up and kind of go from there. Defense played well,” Narduzzi commented.
The Panthers scoring consisted of a FG by K Antonio Chuba, a Safety by LB Braylan Lovelace as he got the sack on UCF QB Alonza Barnett III and their only TD came on a 13-yard TD run by Damon Ferguson Jr, who also led the team with 59 rushing yards.
As a team, Pitt rushed for 103 yards.
“I think he handled it pretty well. I mean, we’ll look at the videotape and see exactly.” Said Narduzzi. “I’m sure he made some mistakes, bounced some runs when he shouldn’t, you know, Freshman mistakes. But thought he did a nice job. Like I said, that one run, I mean, that’s a big-time run. And I think the Big 12 officials let those piles go a little longer, too. I’ve made note out there. You play with the Big 12 staff, I mean, told our guys we got to start pushing the pile, they will let it go until it stops. So good day by Damon.”
The Knights turned it into a game late in the 4th quarter as Barnett found WR Waden Charles for a 19-yard TD, closing Pitt’s lead to 12-7. On the ensuing drive, the Panthers went 3-and out, giving the ball back to UCF for a possible game-winning drive with over a minute to play. But the Panthers were able to prevail as they forced a turnover on downs.
“Yeah, you know what, I think it’s just a confidence builder for the future. I think that’s the first thing. You get that opportunity to go out there and go four-and-out and stop them. To me, there’s nothing that builds a team better than that.” Said Narduzzi. “That’s what you want. You want it on defense to stop it. Even though we threw one pass, I told Kade, got a first down. So, he threw one pass, and I think after that ball went into the ground, it was like, let’s just run the ball and eat up the 40 seconds, probably gave a timeout to them, but you gotta be aggressive with it but we gotta be smart.”
Narduzzi on the weather: “They hated me during practice because I was looking at the weather all week, saying we’re going to do wet balls. Tight ends and receivers think they can wear those gloves. Those gloves are slippery as heck. We probably gotta find an answer for the quarterback. They might have to give Kenny Pickett two gloves, get him a pair of gloves that can, you know, grip that ball better than what we found. So, we’ll experiment with that.”
The 2-0 Panthers will operate on a short week as they will host 1-1 ACC rival Syracuse Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium hoping to start the season 3-0. “It’s a sped-up week. And we’ve got to get our guys fresh. But we’ve got to get them prepared for really good Syracuse team. I’m assuming they’re 2-0 as well, right? I didn’t see the final score. They did? Cal beat them? I know they were up 3-0. I lost track. It’s obviously a really good Cal team. I’ll start on that tape when I get home.”
