Pat Narduzzi thinks twice about moments that led to Pitt's loss to Miami

Mistakes were plentiful during Pitt’s loss to Miami on Saturday, and Pat Narduzzi made a list.

He wasn’t shy about talking about them Monday during his weekly news conference, perhaps hoping that getting the angst off his chest might be therapeutic.

The second-guessing included:

• A better gameplan against Miami’s bubble screens that netted the Hurricanes 108 yards.

• His failed decision to go for it on fourth-and-3 from the Miami 45-yard line that led to a Hurricanes touchdown.

• Failure to allow his scout team to “talk more crap” in practice to prepare for similar trash talk from the Hurricanes. (Maybe he was kidding about that one.)

• Not emphasizing tight end Lucas Krull’s option to run into the end zone if Kenny Pickett was covered on the Pitt Special.

• Overall, just coaching better to overcome mistakes made by others.

The Miami bubble

“We didn’t have a great plan as coaches to have a changeup to what we were doing (in the past),” he said.

“(No.) 31 (free safety Erick Hallet) is weaving to find out where he’s going to fit on that bubble. We didn’t do a good job of making it clear for him of where to go.”

He also said his gameplan underestimated the strength of tight end Will Mallory, who caught a 57-yard touchdown pass off the fake reverse.

A gamble gone awry

With the score tied 7-7 in the first quarter, Pitt was faced with fourth-and-3 from the Miami 45-yard line. Instead of punting, Narduzzi put the situation into the hands of Pickett, but Miami’s Tyrique Stevenson broke up the pass to Taysir Mack.

Miami was pushed back to the 30-yard line by an unsportsmanlike penalty, but the Hurricanes scored three plays later on the reverse pass to Mallory.

“Maybe I should have sky-punted and made them go 90 yards,” he said. “Dumb decision on my part, but that’s what we do as head coaches: make dumb decisions.”

The touchdown was part of a blitz where the Hurricanes ran 10 plays, averaged 20.5 yards per snap and scored three times.

‘Video game talk’

Among the nine penalties for 107 yards was an unsportsmanlike conduct on senior defensive end Deslin Alexandre.

“When Deslin gets a personal foul, you know something is wrong. About the calmest, smartest guy on our football team,” the coach said.

Narduzzi said he heard a lot of “video game talk.”

“I don’t know what that means. I didn’t get some straight answers about what ticked some of our kids off. We talked about composure and poise all week. We let them get in our heads. The disappointing thing is they didn’t really listen. We knew it was going to happen.

“I always point to myself, ‘What could I have done to prevent that?’ I should have had our scout team talk more crap during the week and cause some fights in practice. That’s something that will happen next year, for sure.”

Run it, Lucas

The Pitt Special that won the game against Central Florida in 2019 didn’t work in the fourth quarter Saturday. Miami covered Pickett as he leaked into the secondary.

Krull was the designated thrower, but when he saw everyone was covered, he threw the ball out of the end zone. There were blockers in front of Krull, however, and Narduzzi said he could have run it into the end zone.

“(Running) is an option,” the coach said. “I can’t tell you we practice that option. You have to be a football player at that point and say, ‘What’s my best option?’ He scores a touchdown if he just takes off running. Old pitcher (at a previous school), I think he was thinking, ‘I’m going to throw a touchdown pass.’

“Count that to coaching error. He scores a touchdown, without question, as athletic as he is. One of those, ‘What can we do better as coaches?’ Probably should have practiced that scenario. Can’t practice everything. We have limited hours on the field.”

Pitt settled for a field goal and a four-point deficit instead of a tie score.

Coaches coach, etc.

Of course, a question came up about the safety that wasn’t a safety, and Narduzzi said the side judge told him he couldn’t see if Miami running back Jaylan Knighton made it out of the end zone. Nonetheless, the ruling on the field was Knighton crossed the goal line before his progress was stopped. No safety.

“Side judge, or head linesman, whoever was on my side, said he couldn’t see it and he called him out of the end zone where he gained, I guess, 2 inches past that white line,” Narduzzi said. “Coaches coach. Players play. Officials officiate. Can’t control everything. He said he couldn’t see. How do you make that decision? I don’t know. I’ll just try to keep coaching better.”

Narduzzi said he has submitted some plays to the ACC office for review.

“It’s not going to change anything,” he said. “They’re not going to let us go play that fourth quarter over again. It doesn’t really matter. It’s gone.”

Note: Wide receiver Mack was in a sling in the second half because of a shoulder injury, and Narduzzi said he is under “evaluation.”