Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 9

There’s no shame in winning only eight games, and the College Football Playoff rankings provide hard evidence. Eight ranked teams have 8-3 records, including No. 13 Alabama. When Pitt (7-4, 3-4 ACC) meets Boston College (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass., it can reach eight victories for the...

Pat Narduzzi might not like to admit it, but his Pitt teams previously have dealt with slumps. Actually, it was only 12 months ago. Pitt was 2-8 as it approached 2023 senior day at Acrisure Stadium, but the Panthers found a way to defeat Boston College, 24-16. This season, Pitt...

There are certainly more inopportune times than now for Pitt to lose one of its starters. Perhaps the night before the start of the ACC Tournament would be worse. But Damian Dunn was injured Sunday in a loss to Wisconsin in the Greenbrier Tipoff, hurting the thumb on his right...

In the moment, the torn labrum in Max Browne’s throwing shoulder hurt. Of course, it did. But the immense physical pain was only part of his story. He hurt personally for himself and collectively for the Pitt team of which he was the starting quarterback. Yet the injury might have...

During his chat with reporters Tuesday, Pitt running backs coach Lindsey Lamar was quick with an answer when the question made it obvious. Is Desmond Reid playing through pain? “All season,” Lamar said, “like everybody in college football. I’m sure Kyle Louis (Pitt’s All-American candidate linebacker) is banged up, but...

Off to an encouraging start this season, Pitt men’s basketball received some bad news Monday when transfer guard Damian Dunn underwent surgery to repair a right thumb injury and will miss at least six weeks. Dunn injured his thumb and sprained his left ankle Sunday in the first two minutes...

No one doubted that Pitt sixth-year senior volleyball player Valeria Vazquez Gomez had a future as a pro. But the Omaha Supernovas of the Pro Volleyball Federation verified it Monday by choosing her sixth in the fourth round of the second all-time PVF draft. She will have the opportunity to...

There were topics Pat Narduzzi wanted to discuss with reporters Monday at his final regular-season news conference of 2024. Eli Holstein wasn’t one of them. But the manner in which Pitt’s starting quarterback suffered a lower-body injury was certainly up for discussion. The last question of the 18-minute news conference...

The consolation game went into triple overtime and the shot clock wasn’t working at the outset. So, the start of the Greenbrier Tipoff championship game in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., was delayed 75 minutes. Then, while Pitt was attempting to deal with No. 19 Wisconsin in its most difficult test...

Two undefeated teams met Sunday night in the championship game of the Greenbrier Tipoff in White Sulpher Springs, W.Va., and No. 19 Wisconsin’s late surge was enough to hand Pitt (6-1) its first loss of the season 81-75. Pitt played almost the entire game without guard Damian Dunn, who suffered...

The air was electric inside Acrisure Stadium during Pitt’s prime-time victory against Syracuse precisely one month ago. Larry Fitzgerald was in the house among nearly 50,000 fans, Pitt returned three interceptions for touchdowns, went into halftime with a 31-0 lead and eventually crafted its first 7-0 start in 42 years....

There aren’t many moments in a football game worse than losing your starting quarterback in the opening 10 minutes. But after Eli Holstein left the field at L&N Stadium on a cart with a serious injury — his left leg in a boot, his day finished — Pitt found several...

In a venue layered in history that once was a Cold War safe haven for U.S. congressmen and served as host for 28 presidents, Pitt gets a chance Sunday to open eyes across the college basketball landscape. The Panthers play No. 19 Wisconsin in the championship of the Greenbrier Tipoff...

Given medical clearance by Pitt doctors, quarterback Eli Holstein will play Saturday against Louisville after a one-game absence. This situation marks the second time in the past 3½ weeks Holstein has been cleared by doctors to play. He was injured in the Syracuse game Oct. 24, but played at SMU...

Matt McMahon isn’t an NBA scout, only a guy who coaches LSU and saw his team get punched in the mouth Friday afternoon by Pitt and its guard combination of Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett. Four days after recording a triple-double against VMI, Lowe did a little bit of everything...

On some teams in Pitt’s situation — a three-game losing streak, only two games to go, both away from home — there might be a tendency to treat the end of the season as an afterthought. By all accounts from remarks made by players and coaches, that’s not the case...

If he chooses to use them, Pat Narduzzi will have both quarterbacks available Saturday when Pitt visits Louisville. Narduzzi said Thursday that Eli Holstein, who left the Syracuse and Virginia games with apparent head injuries, has been cleared medically to play. “He’s cleared to play right now,” Narduzzi said, without...

After only five games — all victories by an average margin of 28.6 points against mid-major competition — Pitt coach Jeff Capel doesn’t have enough information to have a definite idea of what to expect this season. He is pleased the Panthers are averaging 88.6 points per game and shooting...

At the end of Pitt’s football season — when Kyle Louis finally has a chance take a deep breath and go home to East Orange, N.J. — he will arrive bearing a special gift for his mom, Kesha Chisolms. It’s a game-worn jersey, but this one Kesha won’t have to...

When T.J. Parker lined up at defensive end for Clemson against Pitt, it was his 10th game this season. He came into the game with five sacks. In one afternoon, he had four. His teammates had four more. So went the game as Pitt lost its third in a row....

Frank Cignetti Jr. woke up Saturday morning, back in Pittsburgh from his home in Florida, wondering what he might do next. Normally, in his life as a coach, he was getting ready to navigate a game plan and mentor his quarterbacks through another football Saturday. This Saturday was different. “I’m...

In the 1970s, they were a couple of pre-teens running around Mountaineer Field on the campus of West Virginia University, sons of the head football coach. They mixed easily with players at practice and in the locker room but never took their proud eyes off their dad, Frank Cignetti Sr....

Sometime after the Washington Wizards game late Monday night, Bub Carrington’s phone buzzed with the news. Carrington, a guard for the Wizards, no longer is the only Pitt player to record a triple-double in the past 26 years. Jaland Lowe, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, hit the historic milestones in Pitt’s 93-48...

Two days after one of the most crushing defeats among the 125 times he has walked the Pitt sideline, Pat Narduzzi emphasized two points important to him under unfortunate circumstances. One was expected. “They’re playing their tails off,” he said of his players’ effort during the 24-20 loss to Clemson...

Let’s examine one of Pat Narduzzi’s statements after Pitt’s 24-20 loss to Clemson, the Panthers’ third in a row and the second that could have been avoided in any number of ways. “We have a good football team,” said the coach, who is looking more and more despondent with every...