Pat Narduzzi believes Pitt players will remain hungry against Florida State

The game presented by the ACC Network at 4 p.m. Saturday will match Pitt (3-4, 2-4), the conference’s ninth-place team, against Florida State (2-4, 1-4), mired even deeper in the standings at 12.

It will be Pitt’s first game after safety Paris Ford opted out. Given Ford’s love for the game, it’s fair to wonder what will be going through his mind while watching on TV. It probably won’t be easy for the 22-year-old Steel Valley graduate.

1. What is Pitt’s motivation?

Pitt has lost four games in a row, but it needs to win three of its final four to avoid a third non-winning season among the past four.

That should be enough motivation. Coach Pat Narduzzi believes his players don’t need to look at the ACC standings or have a coach or captain standing in front of them, waving his arms and shouting.

During the team’s devotional this week, defensive quality control coach Phil DeCapito offered up a quote from retired U.S. Navy SEAL and Iraq War veteran David Goggins, a record-setting ultra-marathoner who once held the Guinness World Record for pull-ups, completing 4,030 in 17 hours.

Goggins’ quote said, “Motivation is crap. Motivation comes and goes. When you’re driven, whatever is in front of you will get destroyed.”

Narduzzi liked the message because he believes it mirrors his team’s attitude of self-motivation.

“The motivation guy, the guy who talks, it goes in one ear, out the other,” he said. ”’Oh, it fired me up for 10 minutes.’ Does it last 24 hours? Does it last the entire week?

“If we have to have (All-ACC center) Jimmy Morrissey be the guy who’s a rah-rah cheerleader, we’ll get him some pom-poms. We’ll get me some pom-poms and a skirt. That would not be a pretty sight.

“Our kids come out every day. They don’t need to have their buttons pushed. That’s what I love about this football team.“

2. Self-scouting

With face-to-face recruiting banned by the NCAA during the pandemic, the off week gave coaches, who normally would have been on the road, a chance to look at themselves and their players.

“Little things,” wide receivers coach Chris Beatty said, “as far as some tendencies that we probably need to break. Some things on third down we need to do a little different. There are some things we probably needed to add to give ourselves a chance to throw the ball in the end zone a little bit more.”

The issue of double-teams on freshman wide receiver Jordan Addison also must get resolved.

“It’s kind of expected,” Beatty said. “Particularly when you’re playing with the second-string, or backup, quarterback. People know that you’re going to lock on some reads, maybe, a little bit longer than you normally would.

“(Notre Dame) did a nice job of taking away the first read and making him go through his progression.

“Jordan’s not one of those types to get too frustrated. I don’t even know that he knows any better right now, to be honest. He’s so young in the process. He’s a patient kid.

“He’s going to get a lot more of that as he goes through the next couple years, but to get it this early from a team as good as they are, flattering for him at the same time.”

3. What about quarterback?

Pitt’s passing game is one of many areas that needs to improve. But can it happen with a backup quarterback or even with starter Kenny Pickett playing on a sore ankle?

D.J. Turner caught eight passes for 186 yards against N.C. State, but he had a total of three for 18 in the ensuing three games (only two without Pickett).

“We have to get him the ball. We have to make sure our playmakers touch it,” Beatty said. “You have a backup quarterback in, you have to change some things as far as how much you can put in. So, you lose some of those installs that we’re trying to build toward getting him the ball a little bit more.”

Passing will be easier if opponents ever respect Pitt’s running game.

“With Joey in the game,” Narduzzi said, “we have to establish some type of run game to open up the pass game, period.”

4. Change at safety

Narduzzi made a point this week to build up Brandon Hill, who steps in for Ford at strong safety.

He compared him to Isaiah Lewis, a three-year starter and first-team All-Big Ten safety he coached at Michigan State.

“Same number (9), same type of bodies (5-foot-10, 205 pounds),” he said. “Really, the same type of motor. Hit you. Strike you. Energetic. The whole deal. He’s got that personality that people gravitate towards as well.”

Similar to Ford, too.

5. Pitt/Florida State through the years

Long before any of the current players were born, Pitt played Florida State eight times in 13 years from 1971-83. Pitt holds a 5-4 edge, including a 41-13 loss in 2013, the Panthers’ first ACC game. FSU won the national championship that season.

Pitt defeated former FSU coach Bobby Bowden in four of five tries. The loss occurred in 1980, 36-22, breaking a 14-game winning streak. Pitt had 23 future NFL starters and six first-round draft picks on the field that day in Tallahassee. Bowden said, “In all my years of coaching, that Pitt team was the best college football team I have ever seen.”

It was so noisy at Doak S. Campbell Stadium that Dan Marino asked an official to quiet the crowd of 52,894. He did, but coach Jackie Sherrill, quoted in Sam Sciullo Jr.’s new book “Golden Panthers,” said the official told Marino, “You will run the play the next time.”

Florida State coach Mike Norvell said he expects between 15,000-20,000 people in the stands Saturday. He said a similar crowd created a raucous atmosphere Oct. 17 when the Seminoles upset North Carolina, 31-28.

“You could feel the impact of our fan base,” Norvell said. “We’re hopeful for the same thing this Saturday.”

Seminoles player to watch: Wide receiver Tamorrion Terry, 6-4, 210. Terry had knee surgery earlier this season, so he isn’t a sure bet to play. Concerned with the size mismatch, Narduzzi calls Terry the best receiver in the ACC and “a legit NFL guy.”

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