In his mind, Pitt's Phil Campbell sets aside loss to Miami, focuses on bigger goals

Phil Campbell wasn’t hiding a camera phone in his shoulder pads when he wrapped up Miami’s Jaylan Knighton for what everyone wearing the Pitt colors insists was a safety.

But he does have visual evidence that, he claims, shows Knighton’s forward progress was stopped in the end zone in Pitt’s 38-34 loss to the Hurricanes on Saturday.

“I have pictures. I have videos,” he said. “I was getting all the evidence. I definitely don’t think the whole ball got over the white plane.

“I hit him in the end zone and I drove him back. I was really shocked that it wasn’t called. It definitely would have changed a lot of things, probably the outcome of the game. I really believe that.”

The denial was the second time in two seasons that Campbell thought he made a big play, only to have the officials disagree. It happened in 2020 at Boston College in another close loss, 31-30, in overtime.

“I stripped the ball and they said it wasn’t a fumble,” he said.

Three days after the loss to Miami, Campbell, a senior linebacker who’s been a regular for three seasons, has let go of the frustrations. Which is what you would expect from a super senior who has played in 51 games, with 27 starts, since 2017.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has a rule that states everyone can celebrate or anguish over the previous day’s game for 24 hours. Then, it’s time to get ready for the next one. Campbell’s feelings were difficult to shed, but he said he has done it and is locked on Duke, the next opponent Saturday in Durham, N.C.

“It does (make it hard to forget),” said Campbell, 23. “That whole night I really didn’t get any sleep because I was up thinking about the game.

“The next morning you hear everybody talking specifically about that play and how it could have changed things. It’s kind of hard to let that go. The morale was down. You could feel that, going into the meetings the next day.”

It was time for some of the older players to take action.

“We let everybody know, `Hey, we still have all our goals ahead of us.’ We’re still fighting for a championship.

“I had to sit down with myself and say, `Hey, you know what? That happened. Now, it’s time to finish the season out and accomplish our goals.’ ”

Despite the loss, Pitt remained in first place in the ACC Coastal, but with almost no room for error.

“There’s a lot more urgency now,” Campbell said. “We were urgent before, after the Western Michigan loss (earlier this season), but we know this is it. This is our last chance. Every game from now on is a playoff game, pretty much.”

Will the pressure weigh heavily on the players’ minds? Considering the makeup of the roster – 12 super seniors and 24 college graduates – that should not be an issue.

“I think it’s good pressure,” said Campbell, who has a degree in communication. “It’s what we need to go out and win this whole thing.

“The older guys, we responded well (after the loss to Western Michigan). We knew what time it was. Some of the younger guys, they were down a little bit, for sure. We all got together and we’re all going in the right direction again.”

Campbell said players are encouraged by how Pitt rallied from 21-7 and 31-17 deficits, allowed only seven points after halftime and found themselves in a tie game late in the third quarter.

Campbell said problems that surfaced are mental more than physical and easier to fix. It’s a problem defensive coaches see all the time – players trying to do too much.

“In big moments sometimes, it’s hard to just focus on your job, not try to do too much,” Campbell said. “Especially if (the opponents) do get a big play, now everybody feels the urgency and then they start doing too much. We saw that on film. It’s all fixable. It’s not like guys are just getting beat (physically).

“Guys making wrong decisions, wrong choices, wrong calls maybe. We’re at practice making sure everything is squared away.”