Pitt notebook: Run game makes a modest comeback
The numbers were modest but productive. Pitt running back Vincent Davis averaged 4.0 yards per carry, and his 28-yard run was Pitt’s longest of the season and set up a touchdown in a 41-17 victory Saturday against Florida State. A.J. Davis recorded an 18-yard run among his five carries for...
Hobbled Pitt recovers, snaps losing streak at Florida State
Kenny Pickett returned, courageously and triumphantly, completing 78% of his passes while moving on a heavily bandaged left ankle. The defense, missing six players who were starters at the outset of training camp, threw a shutout in the second half and intercepted three passes. Alex Kessman hit from 51 yards,...
Pat Narduzzi believes Pitt players will remain hungry against Florida State
The game presented by the ACC Network at 4 p.m. Saturday will match Pitt (3-4, 2-4), the conference’s ninth-place team, against Florida State (2-4, 1-4), mired even deeper in the standings at 12. It will be Pitt’s first game after safety Paris Ford opted out. Given Ford’s love for the...
Pat Narduzzi knocks on wood, hopes Pitt stays covid-free for another week
There is a large, wooden table in a meeting room inside the Pitt football offices, and Pat Narduzzi makes frequent use of it. The coronavirus has infested college football with repeated cases nationwide, but Pitt’s players have had no positive covid-19 tests over its past five games. “Our kids need...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi suggests playing injured Kenny Pickett might be ‘risky’ choice
After barely a nudge from reporters, Pat Narduzzi — a coach who stubbornly avoids discussing players’ injuries — quickly turned the topic toward quarterback Kenny Pickett’s sore left ankle Thursday afternoon. The initial question concerned tight end Lucas Krull and middle linebacker Wendell Davis and whether they might play Saturday...
Dick Groat, celebrated two-sport athlete, turns 90
Dick Groat, a two-time World Series champion, MVP, basketball and baseball All-American and a member of three Halls of Fame, reached another milestone Wednesday. He turned 90. Groat, a Swissvale native, celebrated with a private dinner, seated with family at Champion Lakes, the golf course he owns in Fairfield Township,...
Covid protocols put Pitt’s swimming, diving teams on pause
Pitt’s swimming and diving teams have paused all activities among their athletes because of “covid-related protocols,” the athletic department announced Wednesday. Pitt’s meet at Notre Dame, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, has been canceled. The swim team is the third Pitt athletic program affected by covid concerns during the fall...
Injuries, opt-outs force young Pitt team into on-the-job training
Perhaps it is a good sign Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates didn’t want to discuss Paris Ford’s decision to opt out. It’s also not a surprise. Win or lose, Pitt’s final four games will create waves at least as important as any past developments, and Bates said it is “absolutely”...
Mind games: ACC schools ramping up mental health services
Tre Tipton felt off. Yet the Pitt wide receiver spent years wrestling with his inner demons in silence, assuming it was up to him to sort things out on his own because, well, that’s just how things worked. “We have to be the manliest of men,” Tipton said. “From a...
Florida State coach Mike Norvell made quick, meaningful stop in Pittsburgh
Mike Norvell arrived in Pittsburgh nearly 10 years ago, brimming with energy and ambition. Named co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach, he was part of the Todd Graham’s first and only staff at Pitt. Winning more and more of Graham’s trust through the 2011 season, Norvell called the plays in...
Pitt notebook: Players get day off Tuesday to vote in the election
Division I athletes throughout the NCAA will take a break from their sports Tuesday, so they will have time to vote in the presidential election. Coach Pat Narduzzi, who conducted practice Monday to compensate, said about half of his players already have cast a ballot. “Everybody talks about wanting change,...
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...
