Analysis: Issues abound as Pitt tries to figure out a season suddenly gone wrong

No, the sun didn’t come up Sunday morning when Pitt coaches and players began gathering to pick through the trash of penalties, dropped balls and interceptions during their second loss of the season.

It was cloudy and rainy outside, while inside Pitt headquarters on the South Side, Pat Narduzzi and his staff tried to figure what has gone suddenly wrong in a season full of such promise as recently as Halloween.

Three things:

• Quarterback.

• Those protecting the quarterback.

• Those given the task of making the quarterback look good by — you know — catching the ball when it hits their hands.

Who would have guessed that Pitt’s quarterback situation — so full of promise while Eli Holstein was throwing three touchdown passes in each of first five games — is now a cloudy mess?

Holstein, a redshirt freshman who appears to have a bright future but still has much to learn in the present, suffered his second head injury in three games Saturday in the 24-19 loss to Virginia. His replacement, Nate Yarnell, threw two interceptions in the second half and was less mobile than Holstein.

“It hurts you when you don’t protect the ball,” Narduzzi said.

Is Holstein hurt seriously enough to keep him out of the next game Saturday against Clemson? More guessing games are ahead, courtesy of the head coach.

“We don’t talk about injuries,” he said, “but (Holstein) seemed OK in the locker room.”

On another front, there is a short-sighted tendency to blame officials for the loss to a Virginia team that carried a three-game losing streak into the game. Indeed, the do-over after what appeared to be Pitt’s fourth-down stop in the fourth quarter was a blow the Panthers were unable to overcome. Snapping the ball too quickly when officials aren’t ready is supposed to be a penalty by the rulebook, but the ACC said there was “no foul” in its answer to reporters’ inquiry.

But what about the 21 of 35 pass attempts that were either incomplete or intercepted?

What about Virginia’s two touchdowns in two minutes in the third quarter, one that looked too easy when Xavier Brown caught a 24-yard pass from Anthony Colandrea?

Or the reverse pass that set up Virginia’s touchdown in the second quarter?

“We have to keep our eyes on our keys,” safety Donovan McMillon said.

What about the blocked field-goal attempt and the offense averaging fewer than 20 points per game in three of the past four games?

From all appearances, Pitt seems to miss offensive left tackle Branson Taylor, who suffered a season-ending leg injury a month ago. Redshirt sophomore tackle Ryan Baer committed three holding penalties after moving from right to left.

Every team suffers hiccups, but these mistakes are magnified after they emerged from a seven-game winning streak. There was even a delay of game penalty that was supposed to be eliminated because of offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s no-huddle, hurry-up offense.

Nothing wrong with a 7-2 record in the second week of November, but Pitt is allowing a promising season to slip into mediocrity. Clemson and Louisville, ranked Nos. 17 and 22 by the Associated Press this week, are next, and that represents back-to-back games against two of the ACC’s best. Pitt is out of the Top 25 for the first time in six weeks.

Pitt still has juice left, evidenced by McMillon making one of the game’s best plays when he broke up a pass to tight end Sackett Wood in the end zone. That forced Virginia (5-4, 3-3) to settle for a field goal and a five-point lead in the fourth quarter. But a task even more difficult than that play looms for McMillon and teammates.

“The key is positivity,” he said. “The energy has to be up. It has to be preached throughout the locker room. Everyone has to have that mindset that we’re going to be OK, and I think we are. We’re going to be fine.”

Tight end co-captain Gavin Bartholomew, who caught five passes and scored for the first time this season, was equally upbeat.

“We know we can move the ball when we’re efficient and everyone does their one of 11,” he said. “Whatever (Bell) calls, it’s going to work as long as we execute.”

The good attitude that McMillon and Bartholomew are displaying is important. Making it matter is the trick the best teams know how to get done.

“We’ll sit down and reevaluate where we are,” Narduzzi said. “What we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and try to put a better product out there.”