Amid QB woes, blown leads, Pat Narduzzi preaches confidence in Pitt

Pat Narduzzi had a lot on his mind Monday afternoon at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex on the South Side.

It’s routine for Narduzzi, after a day-plus of watching game film from the prior weekend, to offer more detailed answers and insights than fresh from the sidelines, when reporters meet with him following a contest.

But Narduzzi on Monday spent more than six minutes recapping Pitt’s 34-27 loss to Louisville, the Panthers’ second straight defeat, taking time to delve into a host of topics pertaining to all three phases of the game.

Narduzzi addressed blowing 17-0 and 27-17 leads, offensive struggles in the second half, defensive miscues versus the pass and crippling special teams plays, but in his overall estimation of Saturday’s performance, he saw something off of which to build.

“I can tell you this: We did make improvement from last week,” Narduzzi said. “I think that’s hard to say because you’re like, ‘Hey, it’s another 7-point loss.’ We didn’t go overtime, but we did make improvements without a question. How do (I) know that? No. 1, it was against a better opponent. The skill level, the whole deal was a lot better. We faced a better football team. I have no questions about that, and we played and did some good things.”

The extent to which fans would concur with that statement is up for debate, but regardless of Narduzzi’s outlook, a critical week of practice now gets underway for Pitt (2-2, 0-1 ACC) before its next opponent, Boston College (1-3, 0-2), arrives at Acrisure Stadium on Oct. 4.

Most pressing will be figuring out what to do at quarterback: extend Eli Holstein’s leash after a two-interception day against the Cardinals or turn to transfer Cole Gonzales or freshman Mason Heintschel?

Narduzzi didn’t offer much color on Pitt’s quarterback situation Monday but did say Holstein is still the starter.

“We’re not going to discuss that right now, but right now Eli is our starting quarterback,” Narduzzi said. “We’re going to watch practice, get better and see where it goes.”

Holstein made several impressive throws against Louisville and had two touchdown passes, but those positives were overshadowed by two ugly interceptions, one of which came in the red zone at the Cardinals’ 2-yard line.

That led Narduzzi to bench Holstein with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. Gonzales closed out the game.

Through four games, Holstein has thrown five picks, three of which have been inside the opponent’s 25-yard line.

Narduzzi said he wants to see more consistency out of Holstein.

“I just think where his eyes are and put the ball where the open receivers are, let it go,” Narduzzi said.

As for Holstein’s psyche after being benched, Narduzzi is hopeful his quarterback can leave the past in the past.

“That’s the emotional part of the game,” Narduzzi said. “Just got to sit back and take a deep breath. That was last week. This is this week, and refocus.”

Other matters at the forefront of Narduzzi’s to-do list include getting back tailback Desmond Reid, described as “close” to playing Saturday but held out because of injury.

Safety Javon McIntyre also left Saturday’s game, and left guard Keith Gouveia suffered a season-ending injury.

In addition, cornerback Tamon Lynum didn’t play.

Plenty of more work aside from personnel-related matters will be on deck for Pitt this week, such as performing better on third down and getting more pressure on the quarterback.

Right now, it’s not hard to imagine the mood currently being somber within Pitt’s locker room following back-to-back frustrating losses.

But with the season still young and a new foe to prepare for, Narduzzi is preaching confidence.

“Our guys love to play the game,” Narduzzi said. “I feel bad for them. They don’t deserve it. We all work too hard. They work too hard, coaches work too hard — everybody in this building works too hard to get those kind of results.

“ … Hey, maybe we’re not starting so well right now. That’s the attitude. Guess what? How about a finish? That’s what we expect. Our guys will always come out and play. We’ve got great kids. They listen. They’re coachable. They’ve been that way since we got them in January. We’ll be all right.”