For Pitt, big picture not very pretty view
going 16-10 with a couple of unforgettable victories over his first two seasons, but the stretch of 17 games since has been anything but memorable, save for last season’s upset of Miami.
It’s not so much that Pitt is off to its worst start under Narduzzi — if you’ll recall, the Panthers were 2-3 at this time a year ago, too — that is cause for alarm, but that this season is already looking a lot like the last. This year, through five weeks, Pitt is at a low point in average scoring margin (minus8.4) under Narduzzi and a high point for penalties (40 for 379 yards). Pitt’s worst first-five-games numbers in total defense, sacks and sacks allowed have come this year or last, and its 343.2 yards per game so far this season are the secondfewest of Narduzzi’s tenure.
Even Pitt’s special teams, which were something of a bright spot Saturday at Central Florida with a punt-return touchdown by Rafael Araujo-Lopes, rank fourth-to-last in the Football Bowl Subdivision in S&P+, a ratings system by FootballOutsiders.com that takes into account play-for-play efficiency based on explosive gains, field position and other factors. So in all three phases of the game, little is going right for the Panthers.
“Sometimes we’ve got to have a little bit of luck, too,” Narduzzi said. “I think it’s all caved in on us with execution, details, discipline and maybe no luck at all, either.”
Last week, in the days after Pitt’s discouraging 3835 loss at North Carolina, senior outside linebacker Elijah Zeise admitted it’s hard not to have “flashbacks” to Pitt’s 5-7 record in 2017.
Now, with Pitt sitting at 2-3 overall entering its matchup with Syracuse for the second year in a row, the situations are even more similar.
What’s different is that the Orange under coach Dino Babers has become a more resurgent program, with a close loss Saturday at No. 4 Clemson that might be more impressive than the 4-0 mark Syracuse brought into that game. Another defeat for Pitt would bring Narduzzi to 47 in his past 11 against ACC opponents, and represent Pitt’s second three-game losing skid in as many years after never losing that many in a row in Narduzzi’s first two seasons.
Syracuse isn’t ranked, but it has an offensive identity akin to UCF’s, which gives Narduzzi some semblance of faith that his defense can build on its struggles this past weekend.
“For them, they’ve got to be excited that we played Central Florida the last game. For us, we’re saying, ‘Hey, at least it got us prepared for the tempo,’” Narduzzi said. “Our guys know that’s not going to be a problem coming in. We’re going to be able to get lined up. You put on tape against Central Florida, and probably the most proud thing is our guys got lined up.”
That might be damning with faint praise for a unit that allowed 7.2 yards per play, didn’t force any turnovers and had just one sack. Beating Syracuse will take not only Pitt’s defense getting lined up correctly, but also making plays once it does so, lest it be another busy day for the scoreboard operator.
For Narduzzi, it doesn’t seem to matter if Pitt is getting blown out, like the UCF game, or edged out, like at North Carolina. The upshot is the same, both varieties of losses casting a pall on the program ahead of homecoming week.
“Can’t worry about that,” Narduzzi said of the one-sided results. “I worry about wins and losses. We want more wins, and we want less losses, and we’ve got to work to get to that point.”