Pat Narduzzi said Pitt loss was like hit 'in the stomach' to his players

In his 31 uninterrupted years coaching college football, Pat Narduzzi has seen a variety of reactions to defeat.

“I’ve walked into team meetings after you get beat by 20, and the guys are all laughing,” he said of past experiences. “Like, ‘Do you know what happened less than 24 hours ago?’ ”

Sometimes, coaches just shrug their shoulders and move on.

“That’s the age we’re in,” Narduzzi said, “and kids let it go quickly.”

Adults handle it differently, he said.

“As a coach, we have no life. This is our life. Players, they have a girlfriend texted them, someone tweeted this or that. They go back to normal life.”

Yet Narduzzi believes the players on this year’s Pitt team will react differently after their first loss of the season, 30-29 to N.C. State, on Saturday.

“It really hit our kids in the stomach,” he said.

He said he noticed it after the game in the locker room at Heinz Field. Not much changed, he said, when he met with the team Sunday night. By Monday, he said players had turned the page.

“The sun came up this morning. We’re still alive here after a tough 24 hours,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve seen a team take (a loss) as maturely (as Pitt did). The locker room was really quiet. I don’t know if I’ve been in a team meeting where they were as quiet. Quietest meeting I’ve been in, focused, locked in.”

After opening the season with a four-game homestand, Pitt (3-1, 2-1) is entering a difficult stretch of seven games to end the season.

All but two will be on the road, and three will be against teams ranked among the top seven nationally (No. 1 Clemson, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 7 Miami), plus No. 19 Virginia Tech.

“We’ll see how we respond,” Narduzzi said. “That’s going to be the key this week in practice. From our history, we always respond. I think we have great senior leadership.”

Yet in Narduzzi’s first four seasons at Pitt, his teams have not always followed up a loss with a victory. Pitt had nine two- or three-game losing streaks from 2015-18. The Panthers had only one last year, dropping the last two regular-season games before recovering with a 34-30 victory against Eastern Michigan in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Perhaps the loss to N.C. State will humble the Panthers defense after it had been praised during a 3-0 start. N.C. State quarterback Devin Leary mostly had his way with the Pitt secondary, throwing for 336 yards and four touchdowns.

“Sometimes, you need a wakeup call to figure out what’s real, what’s fake,” Narduzzi said. “Sometimes, you listen to the outside noise, and it can affect you.”

Narduzzi didn’t use the word “humbled” to describe his team’s demeanor, but he liked the serious way players went about their business Monday.

“It’s a good thing because they care,” he said. “I know how I feel, and you get (ticked) off. You’re (ticked) at what happened. I get mad when they don’t get mad.

“So, to me, it’s important to those guys. I talk about our senior leadership, talk about our captains. (The mood) was serious.”