Pitt flushes West Virginia loss, prepares for undefeated Louisville's arrival

Washing away the sour taste of Pitt’s overtime defeat in the 108th Backyard Brawl will be easier said than done for Panthers fans, who have to wait until 2029 for the next crack at West Virginia.

Whatever disappointment exists among program supporters, internally, the sting of the 31-24 loss is felt even more intensely.

Yet for coach Pat Narduzzi and his players, the page has to be flipped, as an undefeated Louisville (3-0) squad that received 23 votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll is coming to Acrisure Stadium on Saturday in both teams’ ACC opener.

Narduzzi still feels strongly that the Panthers (2-1) were architects of their own downfall two weekends ago in Morgantown.

“We beat ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot. Nobody beat us,” Narduzzi said Monday at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “I say it to our kids all the time: It’s about what we do. It’s not about somebody else. You can talk about all the X’s and O’s and all the people playing on either side of the ball, but it comes down to doing what you’re supposed to do.

“We didn’t do a great job of that. You live and learn, you get stronger from it, build off it, ACC (conference games) are ahead of us. … Our goal at the end of the day is to win an ACC championship and our guys realize that. I think they learned a lot from last week’s game.”

Pitt has plenty to clean up before Saturday’s noon kickoff.

Avoiding a surplus of penalties — the Panthers had 14 for 118 yards against West Virginia — will be a good place to start.

The penalties came in all shapes and sizes two weekends ago, with young players and veterans alike guilty of frustrating infractions.

“We’ve just got to be smart,” Narduzzi said. “And I think it’s just being aggressive. We talk about aggressive penalties and unforced penalties and selfish penalties, but we’ve got to be smarter. We’re better football players. We’re smarter now.”

Quarterback Eli Holstein also will be searching for a bounce-back performance after missing several key throws vs. the Mountaineers and tossing an interception in the end zone to kill a promising drive.

While he threw for 303 yards, he posted a season-low 59.4% (22 of 37) completion percentage, while throwing an interception for the third straight game.

“He’s got to make the throws,” Narduzzi said. “You watch football on Saturdays, (quarterbacks) don’t always make all those throws. We’d like (Holstein) to be perfect. He’s not going to be, but big-time players make those plays in big-time games. We’ve got to make those plays. That comes down to execution.”

Judging by the pressure West Virginia was able to put on Holstein, his inefficient day can be attributed partially to lackluster play by the offensive line.

However, Narduzzi on Monday still expressed confidence in his starting five despite that unit allowing six sacks at WVU.

“The first thing we do is make sure we protect the quarterback,” Narduzzi said. “We know any contact on a quarterback affects a quarterback. It doesn’t help when you go out there the first play of the game and you have a max protection called and we don’t protect the quarterback. That’s where it starts.

“Again, (the) quarterback is always going to get all the praise when you’re 2-0 and when he doesn’t throw it good enough, but pressure affects people and we’ve got to do a better job making sure it doesn’t affect him and move on from it like we have.”

The Panthers have several health-related issues to navigate leading into kickoff.

Most pressing is the status of All-American tailback Desmond Reid, who suffered an apparent injury early in the Backyard Brawl before watching the remainder of the game from the sideline.

Asked directly if Reid was able to practice during the bye week and if he is currently, Narduzzi responded: “He was out there last week. What else you got?”

Narduzzi’s ability to keep the cards close to vest on Reid, plus tight end Jake Overman and cornerbacks Tamon Lynum and Rashad Battle — all three of whom missed the Backyard Brawl — will be reduced starting Thursday.

That’s because Narduzzi, along with the rest of the ACC’s coaches, must submit mandatory availability reports ahead of all conference games. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips announced the policy, which carries undisclosed fines for infractions, over the summer.

Per the policy, teams must submit availability reports at least 48 hours prior to kickoff for league games, followed by updates the day before a game and two hours ahead of kickoff.

Players are to be categorized as “available,” “questionable,” “doubtful” or “out.”

“We’ll give it a test run here on Thursday and Friday,” Narduzzi said. “This is not just a Friday or Saturday morning report. This is a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and a lot of things can happen in three days as far as the health of your players.”