Paris Ford opts out of Pitt’s final 4 games of 2020 regular season
Pat Narduzzi said he met with Paris Ford on multiple occasions after the Notre Dame game to discuss the Pitt junior safety’s future. In fact, as late as Monday morning, coach and player had a conversation about Ford’s decision to opt out of the final four games of the season....
Former Quaker Valley standout Dane Jackson makes impact in NFL debut for Bills
Cornell graduate Dane Jackson played his high school football at Quaker Valley because the Raiders didn’t have a football team, and he continued his career at Pitt, where he became an impact player. Now, Jackson is playing on Sundays for the Buffalo Bills, and the former Quaker had himself a...
Next 4 games will determine if Pitt can salvage its season
When Pat Narduzzi fired Shawn Watson in 2019 after two seasons as Pitt’s offensive coordinator, he did not arrive at that nasty bit of business easily. Watson was more than a trusted colleague. At the time of Watson’s hiring, Narduzzi called him “one of my first mentors in this business.”...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi says staff evaluations won’t begin until after the season
After seven games and four defeats — and with four opponents left on the schedule — Pat Narduzzi has plenty of evaluating to do, but he said now is not the time to do it. When he was asked Thursday to assess Pitt second-year offensive coordinator Mark Whipple after 20...
Pitt basketball will play Northwestern in ACC/Big Ten Challenge
Pitt continues to work on its 2020-2021 men’s basketball schedule, but the Panthers will visit Northwestern on Dec. 9 in Evanston, Ill., as part of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Game time and television platform have not been announced. Pitt defeated Northwestern, 72-59, last season in the championship of the...
U mad, bro? Readers skeptical of too much Steelers praise. Angry with Pirates, Pitt, too.
Some Steelers fans want us to pump the brakes on all this happy talk after a 6-0 start. Other readers are mad at the Pitt football team. For various reasons. And still others made the mistake of watching the World Series. Which plunged them further into depression about being Pirates...
Steelers, Pitt broadcaster Bill Hillgrove to serve probation to resolve Murrysville DUI case
Pittsburgh Steelers and University of Pittsburgh football and basketball radio broadcaster William T. “Bill” Hillgrove will serve two years on probation after he was arrested in June for a drunken driving incident in Murrysville. Police said Hillgrove, 79, of Murrysville, was intoxicated when he crashed into the front windows at...
Pitt men’s soccer team cancels final 2 regular-season games
The Pitt men’s soccer team, ranked No. 1 in the nation by the United Soccer Coaches, has canceled its final two regular-season games and paused all other activities because of covid-related protocols. The games against Notre Dame and Syracuse were scheduled for Friday and Nov. 6 at Pitt’s Ambrose Urbanic...
Pitt, Penn State basketball teams lose tournament dates
Two eight-team men’s basketball tournaments involving district teams and played in South Carolina were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Charleston Classic and the Myrtle Beach Invitational, set to be played Nov. 19-20 and Nov. 22, have been called off until 2021. The websites of both events said that...
First Call: Bruce Arians denies Tom Brady made Antonio Brown decision; Larry Fitzgerald makes history
Some interesting details about Antonio Brown’s contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bruce Arians has some questionable quotes about how that signing went down. Plus, an eye-popping stat about Le’Veon Bell in his first game with the Kansas City Chiefs. Larry Fitzgerald makes some history. And Tyler Glasnow’s late postseason...
Madden Monday: Why this Steelers offense may be better than Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell editions
The Steelers are 6-0 after a 27-24 win Sunday in Tennessee. And they got there in familiar fashion. Playing one great half and one crummy half. I’m not stunned that was enough to beat the likes of Denver, Houston and the New York Giants earlier in the season. But enough...
John Steigerwald: Pitt should be longing for Dave Wannstedt
Dave Wannstedt should still be coaching at Pitt. Pat Narduzzi is the third coach to take a crack at it since Wannstedt was fired at the end of the 2010 season, and after Narduzzi’s fourth loss in a row Saturday to Notre Dame, he is 3-4 this season and 39-33...
AP Top 25: Penn State drops to No. 18 after loss to Indiana
Indiana jumped into The Associated Press college football poll Sunday after pulling off the weekend’s most dramatic upset, and Ohio State moved up to No. 3 following a dominant season debut. Clemson remained a rock-solid No. 1 and Alabama was No. 2. The Tigers received 52 first-place votes and the...
Pitt notebook: Pat Narduzzi takes no risks, pays the price
Pat Narduzzi thought the second quarter was too early to take risks, but if he knew then what long-suffering Pitt fans and a national television audience now know as fact, he might have been more inclined to gamble. He didn’t know he had nothing to lose. He didn’t know Notre...
Tim Benz: We’ve seen ‘typical Pitt’ losses in 2020. Will we see a ‘typical Pitt’ win?
We throw around the phrase “typical Pitt loss” all the time when discussing the football team. Except there are many different iterations of a “typical Pitt loss.” • There is the mind-boggling, creative way of blowing a game late. Like when kicker Alex Kessman bombed a field goal from the...
While juggling backup quarterbacks, Pitt drops the ball against Notre Dame defense
Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi knew the Panthers would have trouble running the ball against Notre Dame’s stacked defensive front. What he hoped is they would pass it better against the nation’s No. 3 team. With starting quarterback Kenny Pickett sidelined for a second consecutive game, that proved to be a...
Notre Dame crushes Pitt, hands Panthers 4th straight loss
Already hanging onto a tattered thread of respectability before the game, Pitt unraveled completely Saturday at Heinz Field in a 45-3 loss to No. 3 Notre Dame. How do you explain the second-worst loss in Pat Narduzzi’s six seasons as Pitt’s coach? How much time do you have? It starts...
Sean McDonough on Pitt-Notre Dame, ‘When Sid Slid,’ Mike Emrick’s retirement
In advance of the Pitt-Notre Dame game at Heinz Field on Saturday, ABC broadcaster Sean McDonough has just one request of viewers in Pittsburgh. “Don’t kill the messenger.” Over the last 35 years, McDonough has proven to be one of the most talented and versatile play-by-play announcers in the business....
Pitt quarterback question looms again, but Pat Narduzzi guards the secret
Pat Narduzzi said he wanted to watch more video before coming to a conclusion, but he knew. Of course, he did. Two days (probably longer) before Pitt was set to meet Notre Dame at Heinz Field on Saturday, he knew the identity of his starting quarterback. He even said, “I...
Dropped passes have become an issue during Pitt’s losing streak
Chris Beatty caught passes at a record-setting pace at East Tennessee State and, later, in the CFL. He has coached young people on that particular skill going back into the previous century, so he believes he knows a dropped pass when he sees one. But as Pitt’s second-year wide receivers...
Pitt hopes Jordan Addison’s first impression is a lasting one
No one outside his family knows Jordan Addison better than Chris Beatty, his position coach at Pitt. So when Beatty compares Addison to a former Heisman hopeful and a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft, it sounds like in-the-vicinity bias, but it might have stronger roots than that. “He’s been...
Daughter of former Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop gets ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ appearance
It took her dad Scott McKillop 20-plus years to get into the national spotlight as Pitt’s leading tackler on one of the team’s best defenses in recent memory, but Harper McKillop’s wit got her 15 seconds of fame. Twenty-four, to be exact, on Sunday’s episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”...
Pitt soccer coach Jay Vidovich shrugs his shoulders at No. 1 ranking, goes back to work
Jay Vidovich said he doesn’t know how his Pitt soccer players reacted when word reached campus that the team is ranked No. 1 for the first time in the United Soccer Coaches poll. “I haven’t really brought it up to them at all,” he said. So, although Pitt men’s soccer...
Robert Hainsey among 5 Notre Dame players with Pittsburgh ties set to return home
Robert Hainsey tells his story with pride, all about a 16-year-old embarking on a new adventure, more than 1,000 miles from home. Yet, he says, “It wasn’t that hard.” Hainsey was captain of the Gateway football team as a sophomore in 2016, and, remarkably, the Gators’ best player, according to...
Pitt defense still learning to overcome obstacles
Back in July, when Pitt was undefeated and temperatures and expectations were rising, Randy Bates could not have predicted what would happen to his defense over the season’s first six games. Four starters, including a preseason All-American defensive tackle, the senior who lines up next him, a valued cornerback and...
