Pat Narduzzi believes he has found a solution to the problem that has plagued his team longer than any other.

The coin toss.

Pitt has lost the past nine pregame coin tosses, dating to the Sun Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

How will he fix such a vexing problem?

“I’m going to call ‘Hails,’ ” he said.

Pitt’s coach was in a jocular mood Thursday when he met with reporters after most of the preparations for Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech had been completed.

He wasn’t a fountain of information, declining to update the condition of running back Todd Sibley, who was helped from the field in the fourth quarter of the Miami game last week. But Narduzzi does like the progress the running game made against the Hurricanes, five players rushing for 176 yards (even after 23 yards were subtracted for four sacks.

That lifted Pitt’s average rushing yards per game to 127.5, 11th in the ACC.

It should be noted a strong running game is not necessarily a ticket to the ACC championship game. Miami (tied for 12th, 120.2) and first-place Virginia (14th and last, 105.5) have bigger problems on the ground than Pitt, but they are the only ACC teams to defeat the Panthers.

Although he didn’t offer much information on Sibley’s injury — other than it is not season-ending — he did say Pitt’s heaviest back (5-foot-9, 225 pounds) was a big part of the team’s limited success on the ground against Miami. He ran four times from a wildcat formation for a team-high 54 yards.

“I liked what I saw out of him,” the coach said. “He’s big, physical and he was running hard and running with a little bit of attitude and confidence.”

If Sibley can’t play Saturday, that puts a bigger burden on starting running back A.J. Davis, who leads the team with 332 yards (55.3 per game). He followed up his 103-yard effort against Syracuse with only 45 vs. Miami.

V’Lique Carter had his best game of the season against Miami (47 yards on 11 carries), and Narduzzi insists the 5-9, 185-pound sophomore can gain yards inside or outside.

“He might not be our short-yardage back, but I like what he does in there,” Narduzzi said. “He can run on the outside and go, but if he hits a hole inside, it’s just a matter of time when he hits one and it’s gone.

“If he hits one and there are some holes like Qadree Ollison and Darrin Hall had last year, he’s going to be gone. Now, is he going to break a million tackles? But I do like how physical he was, regardless of his size. There are a lot of guys that size in the NFL that run hard.

“He’s starting to figure it out. It takes time to figure out how to play with your pads down, and you can be small and still be physical.”

Pitt might be more willing to test the Georgia Tech run defense Saturday because it is last in the ACC (226.3), while the pass defense is third (185.6).

No matter the method of moving the football, Pitt needs to get its offense back on track. It hasn’t scored a touchdown since the final seconds of the first half against Syracuse on Oct. 18.

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