To Pitt's coordinators, Panthers are an unfinished product on both sides of ball

Pitt defensive coordinator Randy Bates quickly made it apparent that inside the Panthers’ 2-0 start, things have been far from perfect on his side of the ball.

Through two weeks, Pitt has allowed a combined 26 points against Duquesne and Central Michigan, moving past those nonconference foes without many issues.

Yet, for Bates, there are plenty of things that need to be addressed and improved.

He has no intention of being sloppy Saturday afternoon in Morgantown, when the Panthers visit West Virginia for the 108th Backyard Brawl.

“We’ve got a lot to work on,” he said. “We’ve given up too many points and too many yards. A lot of things to clean up, a lot of mistakes that we’ve got to get better at. I think the kids are playing hard, but we’re not anywhere near a finished product. We’ve got a lot of work to do to have a successful game Saturday.”

Notably, Pitt has had a difficult time forcing turnovers through two games.

The Panthers have yet to record an interception, and their lone takeaway came on a fumble recovery by linebacker Kyle Louis against Central Michigan.

“We’d like to have them every series, for sure,” Bates said. “There are times where we’ve missed punching at the ball, we had one fumble the first week we didn’t get and we’ve dropped a couple interceptions.”

For coach Pat Narduzzi, who said during fall camp his staff counted 19 dropped interceptions last season, his defense’s lack of turnovers to date isn’t concerning.

“We dropped (a pick) in the opener. We should have had that one. But the opportunities really haven’t been there, in my opinion. Opportunities are when the ball touches your hands. … The opportunity’s got to be there. That will happen. I think we’ll see what happens the rest of the season. I think our defense is one of the best at trying to get the ball out right now that I’ve been involved with in 10 years here at Pitt.”

Offensively, coordinator Kade Bell has had much to be pleased about after his unit put up 61 points in Week 1 vs. Duquesne and 45 the following weekend against Central Michigan.

Pitt is averaging 462 yards of offense.

Like Bates, Bell doesn’t think his players have reached their full potential.

“There’s no finished product,” Bell said. “I believe it’s just everything we’re preaching each week about getting better by week. Are we getting better from Week 1 to Week 2? Are we getting better from Week 3 to Week 4? … We’re never going to be a finished product until the end of the season. Our guys have to come out every week to get better because if we don’t get better, that’s how you lose a game that you’re not supposed to lose.

“I want to have that mentality that we’re going to come out and be better than last week. The next week we’re going to be better than that and then hopefully, by the end of the season, we’re in the ACC championship and it means we’re where we want to be and we reached our ceiling that year. That’s the mindset.”

Bell has had a hard time being displeased with quarterback Eli Holstein so far, given he has thrown four touchdowns in back-to-back games while completing 36 of 51 (70.6%) of his attempts.

Yet Holstein threw interceptions in each game, throws he likely wishes he had back.

In the opener, he was picked off in the end zone on fourth-and-3 from Duquesne’s 19-yard line, trying to find Poppi Williams.

Against Central Michigan, Holstein scrambled and was looking for tight end Justin Holmes but instead threw a ball directly at Chippewas linebacker Jordan Kwiatkowski, setting up a short scoring drive before halftime.

Holstein knows those kinds of mistakes could be crippling against more competitive foes. In both cases, Bell was impressed at how Holstein quickly grasped the specific error he made and shook off the mistakes.

“Those were preventable plays,” Bell said. “Those are plays that are my job to coach off of. … For him to come off the field and know exactly what he should have done, it just makes it so much easier to move forward to the next play. When things haven’t worked out the way we wanted — and it could be an incompletion — he’s done a great job of just moving onto the next play and next drive.”