Analysis: Wasted opportunity leads to questions about Pitt's defense

Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi made a point Saturday afternoon aimed at keeping hope alive after the 44-41 loss to Western Michigan.

“It’s one game. It’s not an ACC game,” he said. “All our goals are still ahead of us.”

That’s one way to look at it, and that’s probably what coaches and players will do while trying to pick up the pieces in advance of the New Hampshire game next Saturday.

Or, cynics and critics (and there are plenty of both) might choose to dwell upon the past two games against good teams when the defense allowed a total of 891 yards and 78 points.

Let’s face it: Pitt has been expected to step to the next plateau of college football since the day athletic director Heather Lyke extended coach Pat Narduzzi’s contract through 2024 after a 5-7 finish to 2017.

Since then, Pitt has represented the ACC Coastal in the 2018 conference championship game, but otherwise made modest strides, winning 23 of 41 games.

This season, Pitt looked capable of, at least:

• Crafting an undefeated record in nonconference games for the first time in history.

• Walking into Blacksburg, Va., next month with a 5-0 record, national ranking and the opportunity to take early control of the ACC Coastal by defeating Virginia Tech.

• Refusing to buckle under to adversity because of what looked like the right mix of experience and talent.

Pitt was not supposed to have:

• Defensive backs running into each other in the secondary.

• Coaches who can’t figure out a MAC team’s offense. “We got outcoached,” Narduzzi said.

• An offense that failed to convert 9 of 11 third and fourth downs.

• Or, a super senior quarterback who lost two fumbles and threw an interception in one half.

Yes, all of that happened Saturday. To be fair, quarterback Kenny Pickett played in pain after falling awkwardly on his left side while fumbling in the first quarter. He threw six touchdown passes, and is hardly a reason for concern.

What surely bothers Narduzzi is the fact that Pickett is his leading rusher (107 yards) and it’s taken junior running back Vincent Davis three games to get to 103. Sophomore Izzy Abanikanda barely played Saturday after Narduzzi said he wasn’t well at practice Wednesday, but was “great” Thursday.

In the past two games, Davis and Abanikanda have combined for 113 yards on 43 carries. That’s a 2.6-yard average,, which might be one reason offensive coordinator Mark Whipple called so few running plays against Western Michigan.

The other reason is the team’s dependency on Pickett. When your quarterback can complete 71.2% of his passes for 939 yards and 10 touchdowns in three games, why deviate from a sound plan? Jordan Addison (124 yards) and Jared Wayne (100) became the first pair of Pitt receivers to hit the century mark in one game since Devin Street and Tyler Boyd in 2013. There is clearly something special happening with the passing game.

But Western Michigan intensified its pass rush in the second half when it felt no threat on the ground. Pickett handed off to a running back only five times after halftime in a game where the score was tied entering the fourth quarter. Eventually, pass blocking broke down and Pickett was sacked on the final fourth down of the game.

The other issue is perhaps Narduzzi has lost confidence in his defense, which failed to force a turnover for the first time in seven games. Western Michigan had its way with Narduzzi’s defense, piling up 517 yards and crossing the goal line six times.

Down 41-34 with more than 10 minutes left in the game, Narduzzi revealed his mistrust when he decided not to punt on fourth-and-6 from the Western Michigan 48. Pickett was sacked for a loss of 14 yards and Western Michigan pumped up the lead to 10 on the ensuing possession.

Narduzzi had a chance to pin Western Michigan inside the 10-yard line, but perhaps he didn’t feel comfortable putting his defense back on the field. He also questioned his overall defensive strategy.

“I don’t know if we blitzed enough. Seemed like a lot of four-man pressure, to be honest with you,” he said. “They do a good job of looking to the sideline and getting themselves in a good play, and we didn’t adjust well enough.”

Looking ahead, the final nine games do appear manageable.

Miami lost at home to Michigan State, West Virginia beat Virginia Tech and Virginia gave up 59 to North Carolina — all on Saturday. Even Clemson looks less formidable after it only defeated Georgia Tech, 14-8, in Death Valley.

Pitt has the quarterback who can get the job done, receivers eager to help him and plenty of opportunity.

Trouble is, it wasted all of those things in the loss to Western Michigan.