Pitt bumbles way to loss against Western Michigan

Pat Narduzzi and Kenny Pickett offered the obligatory praise for Western Michigan, and it was undeniably well deserved.

Yet, on this day, it was not the point. Not even close.

After Pitt (2-1) stumbled to a 44-41 loss Saturday before an announced crowd of 40,581 at Heinz Field, some of what was said does not reflect well on how the Panthers prepared for the game. And, perhaps, sends a warning of what is to come for this team with such high ambitions.

“Felt like we didn’t have any juice or energy,” said Narduzzi, who had praised his team two days prior for a good week of practice. “I don’t know what it was, but we’ll look at it. Starts with me. Obviously, I didn’t have them ready to go.”

Then, there was something Pickett said after he threw for 382 yards and six touchdowns (one short of a school record) and moved past Dan Marino into second place on Pitt’s all-time passing yardage list.

“We’ll see how tough we are, right?” he said. “When things are smooth sailing, it’s easy. So, now, we have a loss we should have won. Hats off to Western Michigan. They came in ready. We knew they would.

“We’ll see what we’re about.”

Narduzzi promised some serious investigating — maybe even with the volume turned up — into what led to his first loss at home to a non-Power 5 team in seven seasons.

“There will be a strong message delivered. It was delivered after the game here, and we’ll address it as coaches,” he said. “Again, it starts with the coaches. We got out-coached.”

Sifting through the rubble of the Panthers’ poor performance reveals what caused the loss, only the third time in 29 games a MAC team has come into Pittsburgh and won.

On top of the list is Pitt’s defense that allowed Western Michigan 517 total yards, 160 on the ground, 28 first downs and — the real killer — 40 minutes and 15 seconds of possession time.

“They were able to find the holes, something we have to clean up in practice,” linebacker SirVocea Dennis said. “They did a good job picking us apart.”

How Pitt managed 41 points in 19:45 might be an even bigger question, but it redirects eyes from the real problem: Pitt couldn’t stop Western Michigan’s RPO (run/pass option) offense.

“They were running it, and your (linebackers) are getting sucked up,” Narduzzi said. “They’re throwing skinny posts (slant routes), and that’s stuff we practiced all week.”

Added Dennis: “We have a lot of teams that run RPOs. We have to fix these things so they don’t happen again.”

Western Michigan quarterback Kaleb Eleby completed 23 of 35 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns. Plus, running backs Sean Tyler and La’Darius Jefferson added 84 and 78 yards and three more scores.

Western Michigan coach Tim Lester, who was Syracuse’s offensive coordinator in 2015 when he matched up against Narduzzi, said he knew what to expect from Pitt.

“I’ve watched that game 300 times and where they’re going to come and how they’re going to fit and what our matchups are going to be and what variety of matchups we’re going to need to keep the safety off balance,” Lester said in his postgame interview.

As a result, wide receiver Skyy Moore, a Shady Side Academy graduate, caught 11 of his 13 targets for 124 yards and a touchdown. Corey Crooms added eight catches for 161 and a score.

Crooms’ touchdown broke a 27-27 tie in the third quarter when strong safety Brandon Hill collided with free safety Erick Hallett, leaving Crooms free to turn around and run into the end zone for a 54-yard score.

“Just can’t happen,” Narduzzi said, adding Hallett was injured on the play. “Friendly fire”

Pitt recovered to forge a 34-34 tie on Pickett’s second touchdown pass to tight end Lucas Krull, who has four scores in three games. But Western Michigan (2-1) counter-punched with a 12-play, 75-yard drive. Jefferson scored from the 3 to give Western Michigan a 41-34 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Parker Sampson added a 29-yard field goal, the decisive blow, after Pitt failed to convert fourth-and-6 from its 44 when Pickett was sacked for a 14-yard loss.

“Near the end, it seemed like, in the second half, we didn’t have as good a protection,” Narduzzi said. “He’s scrambling out of there, and we’ll see what happened on tape, but wasn’t good enough.”

Overall, Pitt had 490 yards of offense, but the run game failed miserably. Pickett was the leading rusher (49 yards), but he lost two fumbles. A high snap from center led to his second fumble, giving Western Michigan possession on Pitt’s 9 and an easy touchdown in the second quarter.

Running back Vincent Davis managed only 38 yards on 11 carries, and Izzy Abanikanda lost 1 yard on his only carry. Narduzzi had said Abanikanda was not well at Wednesday’s practice.

Asked if he didn’t give the run game enough time to gain traction, Narduzzi said, “We’ll go back and look at the tape. I couldn’t tell you.”

But he added, “Minus 1, it seemed like, every darned time.”

In the end, he gave credit to Western Michigan, but not really.

“It was more about what we did than what they did. We didn’t make plays. That’s it.”