Pitt defense accepts share of blame for 18-point loss at North Carolina

When Pat Narduzzi was asked what most displeased him about Pitt’s 42-24 loss to a North Carolina team that climbed on the backs of the Panthers to No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, he said, “You know what, I’ll start with the defense.”

Then, he thought about how the game unfolded and changed his mind.

“I guess I’ll start with the offense because it’s probably less (in terms of problems).”

That’s how far Pitt’s fortunes have fallen: The offense takes a few baby steps forward, with no interceptions, only one turnover and three good quarters. Meanwhile, the defense (Narduzzi’s baby) gets the scrutiny this week after allowing 42 points, its most generous effort in 19 games.

In fact, the only three teams to reach the 40s against Pitt in the past four seasons are Western Michigan (44) a year ago, Notre Dame (45) and Clemson (52) during covid in 2020.

What most bothered Narduzzi about the North Carolina game was how quarterback Drake Maye’s scrambling ability affected all three levels of his defense.

Maye led the Tar Heels in rushing (61 yards), that threat taking players’ minds off their jobs elsewhere on the field.

“Once he started to scramble, our linebackers were all eyes in the backfield instead of eyes on the receivers and getting the re-routes and doing their deal,” Narduzzi said. “They started getting like, ‘We’ve got to stop this quarterback. We can’t let him scramble again.’

“Then when you do that, the D-line is hanging out the linebackers because they’re not containing the quarterback and making bad decisions trying to get sacks. And the linebackers are going, ‘OK, we’ve got to cover for the D-line,’ so when you cover for the D-line, you leave your DBs hanging out.

“That’s why it takes 11 to play great defense. We lost our faith that we were going to put pressure on the quarterback, and then it just goes from the front end to the back end.”

Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey’s ejection for targeting also might have contributed to the struggles on defense.

“I even heard (North Carolina players) after the targeting cheering saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance now. We’ve got a chance now.’ That’s something I heard from our guys on the field when that happened.”

Was it the right call?

“It’s hard to say. I’m not going to criticize the officials. The whole rule is tough. Before you leave your feet, if you knew he was going down, then you wouldn’t even do anything.”

In the end, Narduzzi said the 18-point defeat — largest since the 52-17 loss to Clemson in Death Valley in 2020 — wasn’t a true indicator of how the game was played most of night. Pitt, actually, carried a 24-21 lead into the fourth quarter (albeit for 52 seconds).

In the past two games, Pitt has not reacted well to hostile, end-of-game, night-time environments. Louisville and North Carolina have outscored Pitt in the fourth quarter by an embarrassing margin of 38-0.

That’s why the first game at Acrisure Stadium since Oct 8 — Syracuse at 3:30 p.m. Saturday — will be a bit of a relief for the Panthers, who are probably tired of getting home the past two Sunday mornings at 3:30.

“I’m going to change some things up in practice this week,” Narduzzi said. “So is that something we’re doing or is it something the other team is doing?”

While the defense wears much of the blame, the offense went scoreless when the game was on the line.

Why?

“Hard for me to say exactly,” Narduzzi said, “but a little bit of what they were doing, playing a little bit deeper, not giving us as much of the deep stuff.”

Pitt’s passing game has been out of sync for much of the season. Wide receivers Konata Mumpfield and Bub Means, who had success at smaller programs before transferring to Pitt, haven’t caught a touchdown pass from Kedon Slovis all season.

“You can say Konata played at Akron and not in a Power 5. Same thing with Bub playing down at Louisiana Tech,” Narduzzi said. “It doesn’t matter what they did in the past. What are they doing here? What are they doing now? It comes down to execution.”

He also mentioned a missed block after one of Mumpfield’s four receptions for 22 yards put the brakes on what could have been a longer gain. “It takes 11,” he said.

Narduzzi also was asked about the inability to get the ball to tight end Gavin Bartholomew, who is averaging 15.8 yards on only 16 receptions.

“(It) comes down to the down and who’s open and what they’re taking away and what they’re giving you and what you’re seeing,” he said. “When you watch videotape, you go, ‘Oh, that guy is open. Why didn’t he throw it to him?’ He can’t see it. Again, there’s somebody in his way.

“You know there’s a lot of things back in the pocket, whether you’re 6-foot-3 or you’re 6-foot. But nobody is 6-8 back there that can see over everything. When there’s linemen getting in your vision, you don’t see some of those crossing routes, which we missed a couple crossing routes or check-downs that maybe we should make.”

Narduzzi also explained the disappearance from the lineup of sophomore wide receiver Jaylon Barden. The coach announced two days before the game that Barden would start, but he didn’t even get on the field.

“He’s a great kid,” Narduzzi said. “To be honest with you, last Thursday I didn’t think that Bub Means would play. He was available game time. That’s the only reason. Again, I felt guilty kind of saying he’s going to play and all of a sudden, he doesn’t. He was ready to play.”

NOTE: Pitt’s game at Virginia will start at noon on Nov. 12 and will be televised by the ACC Network.