Earlier this week, Pat Narduzzi asserted Pitt beat itself in the Panthers’ deflating Backyard Brawl loss to West Virginia two weeks ago.

After his team’s 34-27 defeat to Louisville to open ACC play Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, Narduzzi can conclude the same thing.

Pitt went up 17-0 after the first quarter and led 27-17 at halftime, but a pair of special teams fiascoes in the first half gave Louisville a jolt of energy, leading to two touchdowns, and Eli Holstein threw two second-half picks as the Panthers were shut out in the final 30 minutes.

Narduzzi eventually benched Holstein in favor of Cole Gonzales with about seven minutes to play, but it didn’t make a difference as Louisville (4-0) stayed perfect and the Panthers (2-2) saw another winnable game slip away.

“We’re up at the half, it’s a back-and-forth game against a good football team, ACC competition, but we didn’t execute well enough in the second half,” Narduzzi said. “We talked about finishing, and we didn’t finish. We had two turnovers in the second half, which put the game away. … We’ve got to play better and execute better.”

Holstein’s physical skills contrasted with his mental errors Saturday, as the redshirt sophomore started off hot, threw a pair of touchdowns and had several big-time completions to his wideouts.

But upon being benched in the fourth quarter, he had thrown picks Nos. 4 and 5 on the year, one of which came at the Louisville 2-yard line a play after a 56-yard completion to Blue Hicks.

When Holstein was intercepted again with about 10 minutes to play, throwing a ball directly at Cardinals linebacker TJ Quinn, Narduzzi went with Gonzales on Pitt’s next possession.

Holstein finished 14 of 26 for 228 yards, and Gonzales was 3 for 6 for 31 yards, also throwing an interception with only 4 seconds to play.

Louisville ran 85 plays to Pitt’s 55, dominating time of possession, 39:22 to 20:38.

“Eli was fine,” Narduzzi said of telling Holstein that Gonzales would be taking over behind center. “He’s a team guy, he gets it. He’s hard on himself, and he understands what we expect.”

The first sign of trouble for Pitt emerged early in the second quarter, when officials ruled Kenny Johnson muffed a punt.

Upon recovering a loose ball that was ruled live after Johnson touched it, Louisville set up at Pitt’s 3-yard line and quickly scored, making things 17-7.

Johnson had signaled for a fair catch at the 20-yard line and was ruled to have been interfered with by Louisville’s Antonio Meeks.

However, moments later, the call was reversed as Meeks was instead ruled to have been blocked into Johnson.

Narduzzi and special teams coach Jacob Bronowski were incensed on the sideline, but the call stood.

After the game, Narduzzi didn’t have much to say about the explanation he received.

“I don’t know,” he said after a long pause.

With 3:54 left in the first half, punter Caleb Junko fumbled a routine snap from Nilay Upadhyayula, leading to a turnover at the Pitt 25.

Louisville quarterback Miller Moss, who was 33 of 51 for 339 yards and three touchdowns, needed just one play to make it 17-17, hitting Chris Bell for a 25-yard score.

Between the two special teams blunders, Louisville kicker Cooper Ranvier hit a 35-yard field goal, making it a 17-10 score at the 5:03 mark of the second quarter.

Despite playing without All-America tailback Desmond Reid, Pitt couldn’t have asked for a better start as a 30-yard Trey Butkowski field goal made it 3-0 less than four minutes into the game. On the Panthers’ next drive, Holstein found Hicks for a 39-yard touchdown.

Then, with about two minutes remaining in the opening quarter, Rasheem Biles picked off Moss, taking it back 75 yards for a touchdown to push the lead to 17-0.

After Moss’ touchdown pass to Bell, which tied the score, Pitt seized back momentum, with Butkowski hitting a 37-yarder to put his team up 20-17 in the second quarter.

When Pitt got the ball with 48 seconds left in the half, Holstein orchestrated a touchdown drive as he hit Poppi Williams from 38 yards to head into the locker room up 27-17.

From there, Pitt was held scoreless as Louisville chipped away with a 57-yard field goal by Nick Keller in the third quarter before scoring 14 more points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s not fun,” Pitt offensive lineman Ryan Baer said. “You have to finish games. Double-digit (leads) — we have to keep our foot on the gas. Mistakes, little mistakes that we make keeps bringing these teams back in.”

Even when Louisville made the game 27-20 early into the third quarter, Pitt had plenty of opportunities to solidify its lead and put points on the board.

Most prominently was when Holstein connected with Hicks for 56 yards two plays after a missed Cardinals field goal try.

But moments later, Holstein was picked off. Despite Pitt’s defense holding firm and forcing a punt, the Panthers’ next drive stalled out at Louisville’s 39-yard line.

Facing fourth-and-7, Narduzzi opted to go for it, with Holstein firing a pass into the flats where Ja’Kyrian Turner awaited with space.

But Turner, who split tailback duties Saturday along with Juelz Goff, failed to catch the ball.

After that drive, Holstein threw his second pick of the game on Pitt’s ensuing possession before Gonzales took over.

Turner ran seven times for 32 yards, and Goff had six carries for 36 yards.

Hicks paced Pitt with 113 yards on four catches with a score, and Williams had four grabs for 57 yards and a touchdown.

In all, the Panthers’ five second-half drives resulted in a punt, three interceptions and two turnovers on downs.

Despite a promising start on the ground, Pitt’s run game largely stalled out as the game went on, while third down was a disaster, as the Panthers were 0-for-9 with Holstein at quarterback and only converted for the first time with 5:11 to play and Gonzales under center.

That third-down conversion breathed life into Pitt’s late attempt to tie the game score, but following a timeout near midfield with 2:52 to play, a fourth-and-7 try came up empty.

Pitt got the ball back with 18 seconds remaining, where Gonzales was picked off to seal things for Louisville.

“We need 60 minutes of execution,” Narduzzi said. “It’s coaches and players — it’s (on) us as a team. We’ll stick together. It’s one ACC game. … All our goals are still in front of us. That’s how we play. Gotta get better.”

Notes: Starting left guard Keith Gouveia was carted off the field with a right leg injury in the third quarter, not to return. Safety Javon McIntyre also left the game in the first quarter, replaced by Kavir Bains-Marquez.

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