Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi extended a handshake to Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins after the Panthers’ 34-20 victory Thursday night in Atlanta. Collins dismissively shook hands and abruptly walked away, leaving Narduzzi looking bewildered.
Narduzzi said later he didn’t know why the meeting ended that way.
Geoff Collins of Georgia Tech had somewhere to be ?
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) December 11, 2020
“I told him, ‘Hey, you have a great team,’ ” Narduzzi said. “He said, ‘That’s baloney,’ I guess, in nice words and walked off. I don’t know. I thought it was a good game.”
Collins said he had no beef with Pitt’s coach.
“I was just focused on getting our guys over to the band to celebrate,” he told ESPN.com. “I don’t even remember what I said, to be honest with you.”
In the fourth quarter, there was a disagreement between the teams near the Pitt bench that resulted in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Panthers. Narduzzi said one of his players was flagged for trying to retrieve a towel that someone had stolen.
When a reporter said the game was “extra chippy,” Narduzzi responded, “It was a fun game. Chippy is good. We just have to be smart. I don’t want any 15-yard penalties. Those will drive you nuts.”
Senior center Jimmy Morrissey repeatedly came to his teammates’ defense when he perceived matters were getting out of hand.
He described the game as “two passionate units going against each other.”
“It’s a night game. Things like that are going to happen.”
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