Madden Monday: Pitt's Pat Narduzzi is 'as much at fault as anybody' for Phil Jurkovec's problems

The Backyard Brawl may have ended up providing the knockout punch for Phil Jurkovec’s benefit of the doubt with the Pitt football fanbase.

Even if it has only been three games.

It sure did for Mark Madden during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.

The Pine-Richland alum was just 8 of 20 for 81 yards and three interceptions as the Panthers were 17-6 losers at West Virginia on Saturday night. After transferring from Boston College, via an original stop at Notre Dame, the former WPIAL star has failed to live up to the preseason hype in his sixth year of eligibility.

Then he was not made available by the school for a postgame interview session in Morgantown. That’s after Jurkovec was critical of Pitt fans booing him and his teammates during a loss to Cincinnati the previous week.

From what I was told, the coaching staff and media relations department didn’t select Jurkovec to speak after the game. His absence wasn’t a matter of him refusing to talk to the media directly.

Yet, Madden doesn’t seem to care about the explanation.

“I just don’t believe that for a second,” Madden insisted. “Him calling the fans who booed him ‘pathetic’ (after the loss to Cincinnati), then him not talking to the media (Saturday). What a brat,” Madden said.

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In that game against the Bearcats, Jurkovec was 10 of 32 for 179 yards and three touchdowns.

“Three schools, six years,” Madden said. “He still doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand where he is, or what he is, and at what point his career is at. And it says a lot that they barely had him throw and when he did throw, he threw three picks.”

Madden says Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi deserves a lot of the blame for the club’s 1-2 record and the poor QB play.

“It’s ridiculous, though, because Narduzzi plays real conservative with him, but won’t pull him. He’s going to start again next week, and Narduzzi is as much at fault as anybody,” Madden said.

The Panthers host North Carolina on Saturday as seven-point underdogs according to BetRivers.com. Christian Veilleux is the backup.

Also during the podcast, Madden and I discuss the “Monday Night Football” game between the Steelers and Browns. We get into some injury-related issues, the prospect of an 0-2 start for the Steelers and changes they need to make to get a win in Week 2.

Listen: Tim Benz and Mark Madden talk Pitt and the Steelers in this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast.