The importance of this game, other then numbers in the W/L stats, is debatable. To my mind it was nothing but a glorified scrimmage that, while the competition on the field was game-like, was a result that surprised no one.
Aside from padding the O and D stats the play on the field was not all that impressive. Not that this was because the Panthers didn’t do what was needed to win, but that games like this mean almost nothing in the long run (again, except for the “W”).
I watched the first half and was a bit nervous after the first series on offense as the mighty Terriers moved new QB Phil Jurkovec and his on-field 10 friends backward to a 4th and 20. After that the game was well in hand as we scored on our next six possessions save for a knee to run out the 1st half. Thank goodness that there was only six seconds left in that half as the Wofford punter put us on our own 7 yard line after a 51 yard punt.
All in all it is what it is… a chance for our players to get out onto the field and actually play a game. I did like that HC Pat Narduzzi and his coordinators rotated in the second and third string kids to get them a taste of live play so they can be ready if needed.
Especially our QB2 Christian Veilleux, who had a decent showing with 5 for 9 with 60 yards (6.7 ypc average) and one TD. I have a sneaky hunch we’ll be seeing maybe more than we fans want of him in the weeks to come as Jurkovec is heavy and slow of foot (at least to my eye and contrary to popular belief before the season started) and our O Line seems suspect at this point. Not to project negativity but we need to keep our fingers crossed that the bruisers in blue and gold in front of PJ get better quickly or we may be in offensive trouble with injuries down the road.
We rolled up a total of 491 offensive yards but I wonder if we’ll reach that lofty number again in ’23. Here are our O stats:
Defensively who knows what we have as a unit in terms of quality? An opponent like Wofford is no test to either sides of the ball. We did have four sacks and six tackles for loss (TFLs) and held the puppy dogs to 126 total yards but what does that even mean really? Nothing. However, I feel that the D will again be well above average (cross those fingers again) even if not the dominate unit we saw last season.
Now, lets get to the important stuff – we have a brand new Pitt fan and tailgater. Fran’s friend Nick brough his son Nolan to the pre-game tailgate. Afterward Nolan echoed many Pitt fans’ thoughts about Jurkovec as he blubbered “Is this the best QB we have on the roster?“
We have a tough next four games to play. Cincy beat Eastern Kentucky 66-13, WVU lost to a good PSU team 38-15, NC beat a P5 school in South Carolina handily 31-17 and VT handled Old Dominion 36-17.
Hey, 1-0 at this point is good. However, I see a loss or two coming in the next four games. Hope not, but could happen. OK – have at it in the comments section as always. We’ll have Richard’s Cincy preview/predictions up soon then something else (maybe?) and another Game Day Thread on Saturday.
HTP!
pittpov.com 
I wonder if Phil thought his playing days were over and let his body go?
He looks and runs like he is 270 LBs.
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agree, lumbering QB who’s NOT prepared for the season like I’d hope, not enough pushing away from the training table and far from enough agility and sprint workouts
optimistically will be like a Ben with at least good pocket awareness but the O-line will be key to Pitt’s success and I am NOT impressed
if Baer is all that and he’s not a starter with this group, we have issues
multiple times needing to QB sneak against any Terrier is a very bad omen for when we face real D-lines
Reed is quite optimistic imo and I’d be far more shocked if we go 4-0 as opposed to 0-4 over the next month 😦
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The POV is tough. Lol. Phil looked good. Y’all are crazy. I’m old enough to remember when a lot of the POV was hoping Kenny would graduate so we could move on … Pitt has holes but QB play should not be one. Will he be a Heisman candidate? There are only 4 or 5 QB’s nationwide with that honor … so, likely, not … he also doesn’t play in an offense that will promote a QB for the Heisman.
He’s not perfect but neither are 99% of the QB’s out there. He’ll easily be in the top half of the ACC at the end of the year if he’s healthy … health is something to be concerned about.
… and he’s not fat. Lol.
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Agree on all points, TT.
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Exactly. Phil ran and moved in the pocket impressively. Apparently many on here only watch Pitt games and don’t see other big QBs in college and the pros.
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And can we all say together “vanilla offense” regarding our performance? Let’s wait a game or two to judge too harshly—-or are we trying to up the odds on the Bearcats prior to making a bet on the game?
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Agree, TT
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—I thought the OLine looked okay, and with Collier now having his feet wet (or perhaps getting subbed for more with Baer), they should be better this week…
—The play calling with Phil running the ball was bonkers. What in the world was Coach Cig thinking? Or did some fan win a contest and get to call the plays for the first series?
—Nice to see the ball spread around in that game, but which WRs will be the “go-to” guys?
—Malcolm Epps sure has the body to be a player…
—Lot of pressure on Pitt against Cincy. We lose and we could easily start 1-3. We need to win to turn some of the current gloom-and-doom around…
Go Pitt.
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Phil wasn’t touched in camp so I’m sure he wanted to get some hits on him. I’m okay with it. He’s a football player. He’s going to get hit a lot this season.
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A number of folks concerned about the designed runs…. why? Are we afraid he will get hurt? I think the designed runs might actually be safer than sitting in the pocket and taking a late shot to the knees. They have it on game film now that he’s not Kedon Slovis and opponents need to account for that.
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The better QB’s play fast and have good fundamentals. It took Pickett a few years to get that all figured out (and by all accounts he worked hard at it).
Jurk seems more average than that but perhaps he’ll improve quickly as sometimes that happens in game 2.
I was watching the game poolside drinking margaritas in honor of Jimmy Buffett so I won’t assess his game too much but to say I had hoped for a bit more but agree realistically that he has some capabilities.
Looking however at a 7-8 win season at best unless he can elevate his game by playing a bit faster and anticipating open receivers. Of course they also need to get an open window.
H2P!
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Agree that it’s tough to take a lot away from this matchup. In any case, maybe I need to go back and watch a tape but … PJ didn’t seem that “big” to me, at least not like I think of Van Dyke from Miami who is listed at 6’4″ 224. I’m not yet ready to turn pessimistic. Let’s see how this week goes. H2P !
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We should always play a game like this for the first game of the season. Since the college game doesn’t have exhibitions, this game could be labeled that, every team needs it otherwise teams are ready. As far as PJ, he ran as fast as he needed.
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Didn’t watch due to family commitment. But gosh if you read the articles elsewhere it’s like “hey Pitt took care of business and dominated”. “Jurk was good except 1st series”
And then Reed (and a couple other ppl) are like “eh actually not that good”
Waiting for condensed game to come out so I can judge for myself
From the stat line and highlights here is what jumps out (agains sans eye test)
Penalties – sure seemed like we had a lot. I guess some things never change..
Hammond looked quicker than I remember him
Run blocking – at least in the couple of TD runs I saw looked good
Note – lot of DUZ commentary in yesterdays presser about pressure from Wofford up the middle. THIS WOULD BE A PROBLEM
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For what it’s worth … One thing the commentator kept mentioning is that the O-Line was not pancaking and dominating guys that were much smaller/lighter. He said they were standing to tall and weren’t getting leverage.
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Did anyone consider the fact that maybe they were told not to hurt anyone unnecessarily? The other smaller/lighter guys still have a whole season ahead. For some, it might be their last time playing the game they’ve grown up loving. Why drive them into the turf if you know you’re going to win anyway? Just to impress commentators? Sorry. I suspect our Pitt men are better than that.
H2P!!!
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Don’t think that would ever happen especially if the 1st string O line wants to stay 1st string.
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Yikes!! You can’t be serious.
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Going easy is a recipe for disaster for your own self. If you’re not playing 100% you can get hurt. Now, you can do certain things like not chop block … I’m looking at you Navy … but if you’re between the stripes you go 100%.
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Agreed – 100% – no chops, pancakes, driving into the turf. That’s all I meant. Sorry if I was less than clear. And respect the comments and opportunity to clarify.
H2P!!!
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“Didn’t watch due to family commitment.” That never happens in Columbus, where weddings are never on game Saturdays.
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Condensed game out…stay tuned for more meastro uneducated commentary
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You missed a Pitt game because of a family commitment?
Sounds like you need to change families.
H2P!
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All of the talk about PJ’s weight brings me to the thought that maybe we should follow boxing and have a weigh-in. How did Big Ben last so long? Jurkovec needs to play smart, foot steady and hopefully throw with some zippity Doo on his passes. Is Cig up for this game..or are we headed to another season of mediocre play calling?
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“are we headed to another season of mediocre play calling?” …. Not the first time that sentiment has come out since Saturday. I cringe every time!
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Agree with Tossing that Jurk needed to get hit a few times to get experience protecting the football when being hit. A QB fumble when hit at a critical time in a big game could be a disaster. Jurk is fast and strong enough from what I saw to be a threat in a third and 3 situation. That is all that matters..
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Wait, Phil is in his 5th or 6th year of college ball and he needs the experience of getting hit?
He did look really good on those QB sneaks….
Go Pitt.
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Narduzzi seems to be downplaying it, but the Cincy game is a “must win” for the season to be successful. And like many other teams the transfer portal has injected a lot of talent into their team and makes it extremely unpredictable as to outcome.
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The only must wins are conference games.
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If you want to move into the upper echelon every game is must win.
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Phil looked neither heavy nor slow of foot, and the OL looked unsuspect. Reed’s takes are gimmick level and have been for some time.
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It’s called tongue-in-cheek writing. After all, what do you expect when we play a team like the Mighty Wofford Terriors?
Serious journalism when the scheduling and opponent is a joke?
Did you think PJ looked like the running QB hype that Pitt, the media and the fans were raving about during the spring and fall?
I didn’t.
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Agree. He absolutely didn’t. Anybody who watched him in high school can tell you, after watching that game, that he has literally lost 2 steps. I don’t know how you can have watched that game and not thought his feet were slow and that his throwing mechanics, at times, looked bad. And if the O line is going to be a challenge, slow feet and weak throws will be a huge problem. Holding out hope that it was first game jitters and getting on the same page with the rest of the offense, but good stats or not, paint me concerned.
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Watch Press Conference Video
September 4, 2023
Pat Narduzzi Cincinnati Preview Press Conference Transcript
PAT NARDUZZI: Good weekend. Came out as planned. Again, everything I kind of said after the game, I kind of feel like I saw the same thing on videotape. Just saw it in slow motion as opposed to fast motion.
Great team win. Obviously the offense did a great job holding on to the ball and sustaining drives. I think 41 minutes time of possession. Defense only had 36 plays. It was a little scrimmage for them, I guess. Should be fresh for this week, practice, and for game days.
Just good stuff. Then obviously we get into Cincinnati week, which we turned our focus last night after the team meeting, and (get ready to face a) really good Cincinnati team.
I think they’ve got the No. 5 offense in the country, coming in here. Scored a lot of points, explosive at the tailback spot and at wide receiver. Emory Jones is a quarterback transfer, Florida to Arizona State. So much for one-time transfers. I guess he was a grad transfer I’m guessing, and Cincinnati is his third school.
But great player, athletic. I don’t know if he’s Malik Cunningham, but really athletic.
Again, we know Scott Satterfield who we’ve faced a couple times already, and really, really good coach that will be another challenge. They do a good job scheming you on both sides of the ball, and defensively they’re a 3-4, so kind of some carryover from this past week, which is good.
They’ve got this nose tackle, Dontay Corleone, I believe, nicknamed “The Godfather.” It starts with him and that defensive end, Briggs, are two really good players for them.
Questions?
Q. After having a chance to watch the tape, do you have any further analysis on Phil’s play?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know what, I really liked Phil’s play a lot, and so did our staff. He played clean.
Again, I’m just a not-very-smart defensive coach, but when I sit in, I continually learn from Coach Cignetti when I’m sitting in there listening, like ‘Hmm, makes a good point.’
But I know some people will complain about an incomplete pass. Everybody wants him to complete every pass, but when you watch the tape and you watch the end zone tape and you watch everything — again, you talk about an educated quarterback guy for me, you watch and you hear Coach Cignetti coach and what a good coach he is and just talk the details.
Penetration inside for quarterbacks is an issue. When you see some of these bad balls, if you go back and look and rewind it, I know you’ll be doing that right after this, go back and rewind, watch tape, a lot of his throws are when there’s pressure and there’s someone in the “A” gap. You don’t mind edge pressure when a quarterback can step up in the pocket, but when he can’t step up in the pocket — overall I thought he had a hell of a game.
We’re happy with where he is, and we’re only going to keep getting better, not only at quarterback but at every position.
Q. With that pressure coming up from the “A” gap from a team like Wofford, is that something that you have to clean up?
PAT NARDUZZI: No question about it. It will get cleaned up. They did just a couple things that maybe we didn’t prepare for, whatever, but we’ll definitely be a lot better prepared for that.
Q. You brought up Scott Satterfield. Based on what you’ve seen so far from Cincinnati, anything stylistically match up between what he does now and what he did at Louisville?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, very similar. Very similar in year one of it, though, I would say. Big outside zone team, but I’m not sure they like outside zone against us, but it is their favorite run play.
They do a good job. They’re going to go back and look at games from the last three years. They did it at Louisville, and they kind of copycat some stuff that you can just notice, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a play that we saw against Miami back in this day,’ and kind of go back and look and go, they did a good job copycatting.
We’ll do a great job self-scouting and going back to every team that we played that has an athletic quarterback and kind of look and see, hey, what did they think they could get on us, where is our weakness, what are they trying to attack. So they do a good job like that.
There will be new stuff they see that they kind of take from other teams.
Q. Do you see them use any wide-shoot looks that you’ve seen from some teams that go after you guys?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, they did that last year. I don’t know if you remember, we covered it up pretty good. See, you’re on it.
They did that last year to us a little bit. That’s just one of those copycat plays that they took from Miami when Mallory went up the middle. Usually can get us once but usually you aren’t going to get us twice, so we do a good job of self (scouting).
Q. Coach, you always say that your biggest opportunity for improvement is from week one to week two, so what are some of the highlights of what you’re keying on to make those improvements?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, there’s a lot of things. I mean, I’ll start with the real obvious is making sure that our gunners when they go down on punt team, Caleb Junko had a great day, but we ruined his day by squandering an opportunity to have him downed inside the 5-yard line at least.
But just going back and getting better at that. That’ll get cleaned up immediately. Got cleaned up last night, and hopefully they get it.
But sometimes you have a good sky punt guy that goes down and does his job, and sometimes it’s new guys. We had a couple new guys in there that — like Tre Tipton used to be the best guy at that. You knew Tre was going to go down, and he did it really, really good.
We’ve just got to get back to that. That’s just one major thing that turned into a major play in my opinion, and we lost 25 yards of net punt.
But there’s so many things on the offensive line, on the defensive line, that we’ll just clean up. Way too many to get into.
Q. Is Jones doing designed runs or is he just scrambling?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, it depends if they’re copycatting or not, but he likes to scramble. If he doesn’t like it, he’s taking off and he can run.
They’ve got some quarterback draws, and quarterback draw is a new thing probably that they got in the off-season. They weren’t a big quarterback draw with Malik, but seems to be a lot of quarterback draws with having routes out there, RPO stuff.
So they’ve got some new stuff in there. We’ve seen plenty of draws through the years, so we’ll be okay there.
But not a ton of quarterback power and all that stuff, but we could see — they copycatted a little outside zone, quarterback outside zone that Georgia Tech ran against us last year, and they came up and did it and didn’t have a whole lot of success.
They’ll have a play off of a play.
Q. Their offense only returns one starter, their defense only returns three starters from last season. A lot of these guys starting for them now came in through the portal. How hard is it to scout teams like that when it’s an entirely new roster of kids from all over the country?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, they have three transfers on defense and then they’ve got eight on offense, so eight of their 11 starters are transfers, which is amazing. They’re good players.
They came from Miami, from Florida. Dee Wiggins is from Miami; we’ve played against him before. They’ve got a lot of talent. Kiner, their tailback, who’s a Cincinnati kid, transferred in from LSU, really good football player. Had an explosive up the middle. Nobody touched him.
Really good players, but you’ve got at least a game tape on them. It would be a lot harder if we opened up with them and didn’t know — you’re going back watching their old school or old high school tape, but kind of like an opener with a lot of those guys. You’re not sure how fast they are. You haven’t played against them before.
Never easy when you don’t get to play against guys and you don’t know who they are and what they do.
Q. What did A.J. Woods do to earn the top kick returner spot on the depth chart this week?
PAT NARDUZZI: He should have fair caught that one in the end zone, so I don’t know what he did to earn it or lose it, one or the other. But we’ll have a conversation with A.J.
He’s just been consistent. He can run. You’ve seen him take interceptions back (nearly) for touchdowns in championship games. Just a guy that we trust back there.
But that can be — we’ve got probably four or five guys. I would say probably our number one guy was Bub Means to put back there, but we didn’t really want to put Bub back there, just a receiver leading there. He maybe was the starter going into it, and then we just thought, what do we want to do here.
You may see changes there, too. Who knows.
Q. You’ve got four guys listed as starters at defensive tackle. What can guys do to separate themselves?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, if you watched long enough, and through the years, we do a good job — those guys are all — I could give you a bunch of “ors” right there. I don’t know if there’s “ors” on it or not, but it could be Jules or Devin or Bentley. There’s a lot of “ors” there. We’ve got five or five guys in there that are “ors” and that doesn’t mean we don’t know who it’s going to be. That means it could be either-or, just like Marquis and A.J. and Marlin (M.J. Devonshire). Those guys — Marquis, those guys are all starting corners.
The “ors” mean they’re all starters. We’re all good with all of them, but I’ve got to put something on there so they don’t look like a backup, I guess.
Q. You mentioned you would do some nitpicking yesterday on the video. What kind of things did you nitpick or talk about?
PAT NARDUZZI: I can’t tell you. I mean, I don’t know. We’ll see.
Q. How did your offensive line play on Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: They played solid. We rushed for whatever we rushed for. What did we rush for, 200 something yards? 217? Gave up one sack, which the linebacker came off the edge, and Gavin — we’ve just got to do a better job coaching. I would put it more on coaching than on Gavin, but Gavin — the guy he was blocking on the edge, sort of a gap protection, went inside. He could have let it go and then picked up the backer.
We kept the quarterback pretty clean all day.
Q. You were at Cincinnati for a few years, obviously with Coach Dantonio, when you go back to those days, what was the biggest point of emphasis that you took from Cincinnati to help you along your coaching career?
PAT NARDUZZI: Cincinnati is a great place. Cincinnati is kind of like a Pittsburgh. I don’t know what I took from there, it’s been so long ago and I’m so old.
But when you look at it, Cincinnati is a tough team. That’s what I take from it. Cincinnati is tough. They’re physical. They’ve got good football players. They’ll be hungry coming in here. That’s what I take.
I just know that the DNA is very similar to a Pittsburgh kid. It’ll be a hell of a game with them coming in here.
Lessons, I coached back in the old Wannstedt era, and Dave was 2-0, and they had some great players and made plays, and we didn’t make plays back in the day.
Q. How would you describe the River City Rivalry?
PAT NARDUZZI: I don’t know. It’s an old rivalry. I don’t know. It’s a rivalry, I guess, I don’t know. Or at least used to be when we were in the same conference. We’re not in the same conference, so I don’t know where that is.
I haven’t really thought about that. I was worried about their personnel more than a trophy. The trophy really doesn’t matter or will matter to me, but we’ll see. I don’t know if it’ll be here or not. I don’t know if our kids know what it is. It’s been a while since we played them, and just focusing on executing and playing well.
Q. How did Javon and PJ do at the safety spots, and how different will the challenge be this week against this offense?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, it’s like the competition just keeps getting better every week, I think, and Cincinnati has got talented receivers. If you had to look at one of their strengths, it’s going to be the receiving corps. They’re all new guys. They all can run. They’re all SEC or ACC guys that they transferred in, whether it’s a Louisville or Miami or Florida.
Their work will be cut out for them. But PJ I thought played — they all played well. PJ played well, into the boundary. I think Javon played well, as well.
Then when you look at Donovan McMillon played well. Those are the three guys that stood out.
Steph Hall, wish he could have made a tackle on that last play, which he didn’t get to that. But that’s the game, and that’s where you learn.
Q. How would you grade your safeties when a team like Wofford doesn’t take as many deep shots, when it kind of limits — you said they only had 36 plays. How do you grade them when you only have such a —
PAT NARDUZZI: Grade them on 36 plays. That’s all we can. I can’t grade them on 76 plays.
But you can grade them — it’s not deep shots, but you saw them run some out routes, and our guys are there making the tackle. If they’re running a 10-yard out, we expect that safety to go make the tackle. If he’s running a 10-yard out and turning up the field and getting 10 more, then we’ve got safety issues. So that’s how you grade it.
So we’re going to grade — every pass doesn’t matter if they threw it or the safeties were targeted or not. Like we know these guys like to run big boxes on our safeties, so we’re going to get tested this week. They like to run a slot receiver on fade routes, getting themselves a lot of space. So they’ll see those this week. That’s something through the years that they’ve liked. I would assume they’re going to continue to try to take some shots, whether it be out of 12 personnel or 11 personnel. Those are things you’re going to see.
Q. You spent a couple of years with Coach Manalac in Cincinnati. Did you see a future linebackers coach and defensive coordinator, see him rising through the coach ranks when you had him back then?
PAT NARDUZZI: No, I was hoping he’d rise through the depth chart and earn a scholarship like he did. He’s a competitor. He’s tough. He’s physical. He’s smart. He’s a Cincinnati grad.
I told some of the O-linemen yesterday as I talked in the team meeting, I said, you’ve got to get after Coach Manalac and find out if we can trust him this week or not, just jokingly.
You don’t know what these guys are going to do, but he was going to be a success no matter what he did. I didn’t know he wanted to get into coaching back then. I don’t think he did, either. He was just a football player that got around some good coaches and said, ‘I want to do that, too.’
Q. Can you just talk more about what Corleone brings to their defense and what makes him such a talented player?
PAT NARDUZZI: He lines up over the center in a zero technique and he just causes havoc in the backfield. He’s explosive. He’s — he’s only about 6’2″, maybe 6’2½”. He just causes havoc in the backfield. It starts with him. You’ve got to control the line of scrimmage, and it’s really a key to victory every week is really just to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football, and that’ll be a lot of focus on what he’s done in there.
Q. Does it say something about the maturity of your group, the way that they played on Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, it does. It’s something that we went into the game with. I threw it right up on these screens, just all our 1-AA scores in the first couple years. It was an overtime to Youngstown State, a 17-14 win at Delaware. I don’t have them all memorized, but then I kind of put a blank space and looked at the last three years of what we’ve done, and last year wasn’t a great one in my opinion.
But just the mature teams took care of business, and the immature teams kind of thought, well, this will be easy. That to me, I think I mentioned that in the press conference afterwards, just the maturity that they took, the buy-in to what we’re — they’re not going, ‘Okay, Coach, yeah, these guys are good, okay.’
Let me go back to tell you, I watch a lot of 1-AA football play other teams, and Wofford is a well-coached team on both sides of the ball. They are sound. They’re not like, what are they doing. They weren’t giving you anything.
They played deep coverage. They weren’t going to let — even though Bub ran through the coverage one time and we got a crossing route open, and again, you’ve got to hit it, but they’re sound. They’ve got two guys on the thing maybe they couldn’t run, but they’re still going to make you put it right there. The guys weren’t wide open.
Wofford was very, very sound, and I give them a lot of credit for taking care of business. They looked well-coached on tape. You’re not going, ‘What is that? That’s the most unsound…’ You didn’t say that when you watched the tape.
Q. Does that alleviate any concerns you might have — you’ve got an actual rivalry game next week, about your boys looking ahead at all?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I would say they were locked into game 1, and hopefully they’ll be locked into game 2, and again, my job, again, to make sure they don’t overlook anybody, but I don’t know how you’d overlook a team that was in the playoff just a couple years ago and is really a good football team, and they’ve got talent. They’ve got speed.
Again, state of Ohio, they get a lot of Ohio kids. They’re a good football team.
Q. At the end of the game or toward the end of the game, they had the deep ball that went up against Ryland. What are some coaching notes you have told him? How do you coach a moment like that?
PAT NARDUZZI: Stay on your feet. Stay on your feet, and then a safety is supposed to be a safety, right. He’s supposed to help that guy out.
It’s just one of those plays that could happen to anybody. You aren’t a corner unless you’ve gotten beat deep before. To me it’s like one of those check-the-box, okay, Ryland, anytime you step on that field and we go one-on-ones and we do deep ball drill every single day out there, every single one of those counts, and you can be good on 12 of the 12. That 13th one is going to get you.
I haven’t seen him do anything like that on the field, but just when he gets in the one-on-ones tomorrow morning, it’s going to be like, okay, here we go. This is my time to learn from that, and I’m going to stay on my feet. I don’t care if they throw you or grab you and throw you down to the ground. If they don’t call it, then we’ve got to stay up and we’ve got to make a play.
Q. If that had been in another game situation, would you have had that conversation with the official?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know what, I’m done having conversations. I thought M.J.’s was a good call, as well, and let’s get off the officials.
Q. I just thought of that question.
PAT NARDUZZI: They did a nice job, but it was not easy. It’s not an easy job at all. I thought they did a great job.
Q. You’re up big late and you had Christian throw the ball. Was that just, hey, look, we might need this guy at some point this season. This is a chance to get him to not just turn around and hand the ball off and end the game?
PAT NARDUZZI: No question about it. You’re looking to get reps and get your guys playing football. You just can’t sit back there and hand it off and go, ‘Hey, Christian, you didn’t do a good job.’ We wanted to get him an opportunity — he’s got to learn from it, no different than anybody else learning from what they do. You can’t learn as a quarterback to go in there and just — we want to see him operate the offense, and that’s going to help later on when and if that situation happens, we’re going to have a lot of faith in him, but we’ve got to coach him up, and he needs to improve, as well. That’s what games are for.
Q. Could Carter start again?
PAT NARDUZZI: I don’t know. This week in practice — we’ve got three starters. A lot of it’ll be based on practice. Again, Daniel’s (start) was really based on just I would say camp and just — he grinded it out and was there every day. Didn’t miss a day at all. That was probably an offensive decision.
Q. Coach Powell is always looking for somebody to emerge, and you said the same thing. Is it hard, though, when you — for somebody to emerge, doesn’t somebody have to get more opportunities than somebody else? Some guys get better — like Rodney is a guy I would think the more he gets the ball, maybe the more effective he might be.
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, there’s no question. Again, we’ll see that when — again, you earn your reps. You get out there. If you get 10 carries, you get 10 carries. What did you do with those carries? Did you make the right read? Did you hit it? Did you get hit? Did you fall down? Did you make somebody miss? Making somebody miss and being your own blocker is critical as a running back.
Q. Montravius Lloyd came out of high school as a receiver and as a running back, and against Wofford he ran the ball five times and caught a pass for seven yards. Do you like what you see out of him at both positions?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I don’t think he had a great day running the ball, but he got his five carries in. Again, he’ll learn. If we need him later on in the year, I think he’s explosive, he’s got hands out of the backfield. He showed that just by catching the ball.
But he’s fearless. He’s only going to get better. You get those game reps, and you look at it, and he’ll get that all cleaned up I think. He’ll be much better when he does get that next opportunity.
We’ll see where that goes. He’s got four games, and we can use one of those games there, and we’ll find out how that depth in that running back room goes and use him when we need to. You’d like to redshirt him, but who knows.
Q. Which one of the young guys stood out on Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know what, there just — Kenny Johnson had plays — they just played so deep that we couldn’t get what we wanted there. But I guess we’ll find out later on. We’ll find out more this week and next week, I guess.
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how many plays revealed bad footwork by PJ?
how about Villeaux?
imo, there were 2 plays PJ should have had better footwork but all the rest were his throwing earlier than the play called for to set up the first read(maybe he got there late lumbering) and all the others were throws where he moved his feet then threw(fairly accurately) as he saw the open man
PJ gets a C+ but for this otherwise average O-line and the O to have success, he needs to be A- at worst for Pitt to win any of the next 4 games
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Watched the Duke vs Clemson game. Clemson was horrible. They’ve lost their speed advantage. They aren’t even a Top 25 team.
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Again, I see no reason for hand wringing yet. Stop clutching your pearls at least until next Saturday after the game.
Cinci is an important game for a number of reasons and it will tell us much more about the quality of our team.
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What I saw….PJ started slow but gradually settled in. If he can pass like Slovis and run like Patti, should be good for 9 wins.
Nice to see lots of throws to all the tight ends, and to see so many play on both sides of the ball.
C Villeaux (QB 2) sure throws a purty ball!
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I did not think Phil was good! His footwork all game was atrocious. Several x he almost tripped after getting hike from center. I saw him play in HS, ND and BC. He does not look like the same QB!
But what I think absolutely does not
matter! His and Duzz/Cignetti performance vs Cinncy who is 4-1 vs Pitt last five games, is all that matters. Cinncy is loaded with talented upper class transfers. Pitt is young and untested. That tight line and pro set Cig runs is easy to defense. Just like last years L Ville game, Cinncy will go after our D backs on an island.
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PITT (1-0, 0-0 ACC) vs. Cincinnati (1-0, 0-0 Big 12):
Complete Game Release Link
September 9, 2023 ∙ 6:30 p.m. (ET)
Acrisure Stadium (68,400/Natural Grass) ∙ Pittsburgh, Pa.
The CW (WPNT-TV, Channel 22) ∙ 93.7 The Fan ∙ Pitt Radio Network
PittsburghPanthers.com ∙ @Pitt_FB
GAME STORYLINES
√ Pitt and newly minted Big 12 member Cincinnati renew ties for the first time in 11 years. The Panthers and Bearcats met annually as Big East foes from 2005-12.
√ The Cincinnati game begins a stretch of 11 consecutive “Power Conference” opponents for Pitt. The Panthers are one of just six teams that will play 11 such foes in 2023, joining Colorado, Louisville, Purdue, Utah and West Virginia.
√ Pat Narduzzi spent three years as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati (2004-06) under Coach Mark Dantonio, helping the Bearcats to a pair of bowl appearances.
√ Pitt linebacker coach Ryan Manalac was a standout player at that same position for Cincinnati from 2005-08, compiling nearly 200 career tackles and helping the Bearcats to the 2008 Big East title.
√ The Panthers have won six consecutive games dating back to last season, their longest winning streak since also winning six straight in 2009.
√ Pitt’s last seven-game winning streak bridged the 2001-02 seasons. The Panthers have not won eight straight since the 1981-82 campaigns.
√ Cincinnati is under the direction of new head coach Scott Satterfield, who previously coached at Louisville. Satterfield was 1-1 against Pitt as the Cardinals’ head coach.
√ The Panthers hold an 8-4 series edge against Cincinnati. The Bearcats, however, have won the past two encounters (2011-12).
√ Pitt will play Big 12 foes in consecutive weeks. In addition to Cincinnati, the Panthers travel to West Virginia for the “Backyard Brawl” on September 16.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television ∙ The CW (WPNT-TV, Channel 22 in Pittsburgh)
Tom Werme (play-by-play)
James Bates (analyst)
Treavor Scales (reporter)
93.7 The Fan & Pitt Radio Network (937thefan.radio.com)
Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play)
Pat Bostick (analyst)
Larry Richert and Dorin Dickerson (reporters)
SiriusXM Satellite Radio
SiriusXM channels 103 or 207 and on the SiriusXM App
WPTS Radio (Pitt Student Station) ∙ 92.1 FM
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Did Jurkovec lose his job at BC because of injury or because of ineffective play? I suspect some of the latter played into his demotion at BC. Anybody who saw PJplay in HS should be able to answer this question. Did he throw does same fluttering passes in HS that he did last Saturday? And if he did it puzzles me as to why he was so was so highly ranked.
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He didn’t lose his job. He transferred. He did get hurt, though.
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Phil had a strong arm coming out of high school or he wouldn’t have been recruited by ND. You watch ND in warm-ups, even the 3rd string guy is throwing bullets.
What has happened to his arm strength — or is Phil just trying to throw a more catchable ball – is the question. Coaches Duzz/Cig seem to be going out of their way to say this is the best they’ve seen Phil throw the ball…
What I find puzzling is that his deeper throws look fine, it’s the shorter throws that seem suspect.
Tis’ a mystery…
Go Pitt.
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That’s what I was thinking. No way ND would have recruited him if was throwing footballs in HS like he did on Saturday. I’m afraid he will be picked off many a time this season if he continues to throw with the same velocity I watched on Saturday. Actually he should have been picked off by the Wofford CB on that sideline pass last weekend.
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I don’t know what you are seeing that I’m not? The sideline pass that should have been intercepted was a bad pass but I don’t think arm strength was the problem. He also overthrew a guy in the endzone. I remember three passes to pretty tight windows, the td pass, the one to Bart and one to Bub.
I’d rather a guy with great accuracy than a guy that can throw a ball through a brick wall but can’t hit the broad side of a barn. I think his arm is plenty strong.
We will see if he is clutch and makes the big throws when they are needed, that’s the difference between winning and losing. That’s why I wasn’t a Big Ben Fan, when he got to the big games he was just as likely to throw an INT as a third down completion. Really a strong arm though.
I just hope that PJ takes what the defense gives him and doesn’t make the killer mistakes, and comes up big when the game is on the line.
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What I’m seeing is the same thing MajorMayors is seeing very weak arm strength. Veilleux’s passes showed very good arm strength and if you watched any of the PSU game Saturday then you got to see some excellent velocity on Allar’s throws. The question I’m having is what happened from his HS velocity to his current velocity on the throws?
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Maybe Collier and Carter got to start as rewards for five years of sticking it out with the team. Just sayin.
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Grizz above
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Grizz
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Narduzzi won’t say it but I will, we need Hammond to have an Izzy like season. He is a cut above the others and needs to stay healthy. Use the other guys to keep Hammonds legs fresh and to hammer those linebackers, but Hammond is special.
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accelerates as good as Izzy while top end speed is not as good
runs as hard as anyone and especially for his size,,,, but can’t drop passes like he did
if he doesn’t get injured, he’s the strength of the team all year and you’re exactly right as to how he should be featured with everyone else giving him breaks as needed
I will say that Carter looked to have some shake I wasn’t expecting
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Reason that many are concerned about Phil is that QB is massively important in college football. Look at Duke/ Clemson last night. Duke had a terrific second year QB who outplayed Clemsons QB big time. It was the difference in the game.
Many of us saw the difference in Spring game between Christians throws and Phil’s throws. And saw it again Vs Wolford. We saw the same the year before (Patti looked much better than Slovis) and look how that turned out.
We won’t have to wait much longer.
We may be screaming for Villeaux late Saturday evening.
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What do you mean look how that turned out? It turned out 9 wins and 3 losses. Phil is a very good QB. He has great pocket awareness, can run very well and has a good arm.
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Slovis is starting for BYU and Patti has gone on with his life’s work.
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I guess this as good a time as any to share this as it seems they are topics which keep coming up:
1) It’s all in the eye of the beholder. People see the same game and have totally different opinions. Good, that’s what we do here.
2) Playing a harder schedule in OOC won’t help us one bit. Teams playing cupcakes move up because they are media favo year in and year out.
3) If we lose one of these OOC games we will drop like a rock never to be seen again.
4) We better buckle up because it sure looks like the ACC is playing big boy football this year.
5) Phil’s fat, Phil’s slim, Phil can run,Phil can’t run, Phil has good footwork, Phil has bad footwork,Phil has a gun, Phil has a candy arm, Phil’s inaccurate, Phil is precision . Geez, it’s only one game, did I miss anything? Heck, I’m doing it and I’m a fan.
6) Finally, I saw enough of Pitt playing big time opponents in the late 60’s and early 70’s to last a lifetime. It was NOT enjoyable. And trust me, it did nothing for interest OR attendance getting our brains beat out.
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Big time opponents….I am a survivor of witnessing Panther Football from 1959-1963…no
Wofford’s, Youngstown States, Delaware’s MAC Teams, etc. The Nitters, Hoopies, Orange (great teams in those days), Army and Navy (very strong every year), UCLA, USC, CAL, Mich ST, Wash, Baylor, Miami (tough as nails)…no excuses the team had to be ready every game….a different breed of player…Western Pa kids, from steel and coal towns who played to get an education and many went on to become, doctors, dentists, lawyers, business leaders…NIL ??? When guys like Ditka were on the field at Pitt Stadium playing against the likes of Ernie Davis it was pure smashmouth football…..I am an old man and sports for me in those days was watching players in every sport…baseball, hockey, basketball, football who played because they loved the game and there was no such thing as being a holdout with your agent for a $32 million dollar deal. Bring’em on and if we are good we should win and if not…don’t give me press conference excuses.
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Well, you must have napped from 64-72 because we just got our brains beat out. Ya, all those tuff Western Pa steel kids, how many bowls dis they go to? While we were getting slaughtered and had 18,000 in the stands JoePa was playing those cream puffs and winning. And guess what, all those kids ended up going to Happy Valley because they liked WINNING. And somehow he played those cupcakes( of which we were one), and managed to get people to drive 3 hours into the middle of nowhere to watch winning football, regardless of who they played.
So, you either bring in Johnny and Jackie, spend the bucks like you have to today( in the 21st century) or go D-2. Cause that’s what the current landscape is.
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No, not napping,,,after getting my MA from Penn in 1965 and spending time in Uncle Sam’s Army I did not pay much attention to Pitt football. But, I do remember that when Johnny Michelosen was canned after the team went into a tailspin after the no bowl 1963 team that finished 9-1….Panther football crashed. I really don’t remember much about Hart or DePasqua..neither of them could coach or recruit. I think it was Chancellor Posvar who with one hire turned Pitt around to GLORY DAYS with Johnny Majors and one of the most amazing collection of talented players to ever wear Pitt uniforms in the 70’s. It will be interesting to see how the 19 + ND ACC Conference decides to schedule 9 or 10 games in Conference. My guess is that Pitt will stay continue to play a Dartmouth level team and at least one or two games against hopefully a WVU and/or eventually the Nitters…BIG MONEY GAMES! Beating Wofford is great at home because you get to see and hear the Band and if the weather is good keep your tan and enjoy Red 5A.
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Pitt’s administration killed football for the second time in its history from 1964-72. There were barely enough players to compete because the doofuses in high places made it mandatory to have two years of a foreign language to be accepted into Pitt.
Talk about creating a small pool in which you could recruit from. Certainly weren’t hitting Western PA as hard as it could. Frank Kush had a great line about Pitt and it’s high standards when he said “they don’t check your transcripts at the goal line.”
Posvar must have been flummoxed by that quote.
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Lol, now that’s funny.
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Nate,
“doofuses in high places made it mandatory to have two years of a foreign language to be accepted into Pitt.”
Yup at freshman orientation some guy in the front of the room says bla bla bla “two years of a foreign language” — Oh except engineers — now I want all the engineers to move to the right side of the isle” After 3 years of French in HS I’d rather have my fingernails pulled out so I got up and moved across the isle. It was a very small HS with 20 kids in college prep. After 3 years of French we had an option of French 4 or organic chem … 17 kids took organic chem. Stats tell the story!!! If I’d have known that BS I probably would have made out the stupid 28 page Psux application instead!
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Sorry, I went to Pitt during that period of time and there was no requirement that an applicant have 2 years of a foreign language to gain admission. and neither did my wife who also went to Pitt during that period.
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It was for football players. Not sure about the other sports but Beano Cook used to bring it up and it was even mentioned in the book, ‘Golden Panthers.
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Amen.
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Criticism of Jurk’s running is over the top. He is not a running QB but a QB who can run. There is a big difference, and a team that runs a pro style offense needs the latter not the former.
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Pitt men’s soccer drops to 0-3 on the season. Yes, I consider the PSUX tie a loss.
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Glad to see my critique of the WAYWARD Quarterback from Gibsonia catching on among PittPOVers.
Better than Slow-vis… but the limitations are obvious.
Standing by my prediction from the day he announced his decision to come back home that WAYWARD’s starting days are not for long.
Should have picked Pitt the first time around.
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OT. It was enjoyable watching the interview with Duke’s QB Riley Leonard after the Clemson beat down. During the TV interview Leonard pleaded with a Professor Leonard for extra time to turn in his homework assignment. The professor responded on social media noting that several linemen on the team had managed to get their assignment done in time, so “Great game Riley…but…no way, man. No extension.”
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AP poll – 32
Coaches poll – 27
Assuming I’m reading them right.
H2P!!!
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My first things I think I think:
– I’ll take a QB that throws accurate and catchable balls over a strong armed inaccurate thrower any day. Like golf, no pictures on a scorecard or on a QB rating
– I saw several plays where PJ threw to his second or third option, not something we saw much at all last year.
– PJ definitely knows how to use TEs
– If QB option runs are in the playbook run them, don’t play scared
– Our RBs may be pedestrian, but all of them seem to have the fortitude to fall forward at the end of the play, and that’s just hard nosed desire
– This year Bub “Means” business, if PJ had hit the long pass on the first play of the 3rd qtr, I think the conversation on this site would have changed
– RB and TE by committee looks to be the plan for 2023
– You gotta give it to HCPN/CP/Bates they know how to recruit and coach the front 7 on D
– Kamara will be drafted in the first 3 rounds at the end of the year if he keeps being a play-maker
– The DT committee had consistent pressure up the middle
– “Practice ain’t a game”, just ask Allen Iverson, so this was a good chance for PJ and the WRs/TEs to feel game day speed
– My disappointment was with a lackluster OL, hopefully Baer gets his chance soon
– An OOC schedule with Cincy, Hoopies, and ND is totally legit for any Power 5 team
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I’ll see you back here after Saturday’s game for an update Taxing. Note how many times Pitt likes to make a quick throw to the WR in the hopes of him getting loose down the sideline before the opposition can react. Try doing that successfully with a pass that flutters out of Jurk’s hand and gives the opposition plenty of time to react. No you don’t need to be the strongest arm in the ACC but you do need to be able to provide some zip on the ball on occasion. I’ve yet to see any zip on Jurkovec’s throws. Watch out for multiple interceptions over the coming next 3 weeks.
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“They Came to Play” is an excellent article about Coach Fisher and the volleyball team in the Fall 2023 Pitt alumni magazine.
(BTW, in Coach’s 10 seasons at Pitt, he has a .806 winning percentage — winning 258 games!)
Go Pitt.
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You can Google the title and Pitt volleyball to read the article.
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Again, not sure what game some of you watched. PJ throws were not fluttering.
First of all, he only had 3 or 4 throws he needed to throw hard, those were over the middle. The throw to Bartholomew is a good example. It had zip and was perfectly on target. He also had a twenty yard throw on the run. Can’t do that with a weak arm.
PJ is a good runner.
PJ has excellent pocket awareness.
PJ isn’t afraid to attack the middle of the field.
He’ll throw some picks only because he is aggressive and takes chances. Cignetti needs to unleash him.
CV will only play because of injury.
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I agree one one thing the only way CV plays is if Jurkovec is injured. No matter how bad Jurkovec plays he won’t be pulled much like Slovis wasn’t last season. I’m not advocating that he be pulled now but I’m expecting that question will arise plenty if we lose the next 3 games
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As I said before, Cincy is a ‘must win” game.,
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The two ACC teams with the highest CONFERENCE winning percentage will be eligible to play in the championship. Beat all ACC teams and you are golden.
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NRS, I get your point that the top two teams with highest percentage will make the championship, but the majority on this site believe a 9-3 record is most likely, and have penciled in potential losses to FSU and UNC . Pitt needs to prepare for a third or fourth place finish with a good enough record to get into a better bowl game.
Losing to WVU, which is a rivalry game, might be explainable at bowl selection time. But a Cincinnati loss might be more costly. Pitt needs to keep building its national image by finishing the season in the top 25, so OOC games are really important to win.
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Early thoughts on what I want to see Saturday:
1) What our offense will look like. Cig has a 6th year qb who had past experience in his system and is playing a team who may be a little weak on the defensive side. What we will see Saturday should tell us a whole lot.
2) Can the d-line run stop vs a legit offense
3) Can we contain a very mobile qb.
4)Can the secondary actually cover
5) Have they made a change along the o-line or were the mistakes just due to some initial confusion.
6) Who will win the turnover battle, think this will be a biggie.
7) If the rain comes as it might, what effect will that have and who will it hurt more.
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Good questions, JK.
I will add to that:
8) Will Hammond show us he deserves to be RB1?
9) Who’s gonna be at Red 5A?
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I know he still has a soft spot for the U of C, so Coach Huggins may well show up. I believe he was in the Red 5A vicinity when he had his most recent unfortunate incident.
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JoeKnew
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What some on here are missing is that we fans get hype about the Pitt players thrown at us first by recruiting sites, then the media and, most importantly, by the HC and his staff from the time a player is recruited (or most often now transfers in). In addition we fans build upon that hype with our own expectations of the kids coming season.
This gears up in spring drills and catches fire in the fall camp. So, that builds expectations on what we will see them do. How many times have we read here and elsewhere that ‘Slowvis is gone, now we have a QB who can run’?
Last point, many fans think PJ looks heavy and slow. Well, his first year at ND he weighed 204 lbs. Now he weighs (at least) 235. I don’t think he’s as svelte or as fast as some others do.
Well see as things go forward but I’ll stand by my thought that if our OL isn’t very, very good we’ll see more sacks this year than in a long time.
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He was never fast, LOL. Do you think all the Pitt LBs that put on weight from FR year are slower now? They are bigger and faster. They grow into grown men over those years, they train year round and they have nutritionists and trainers.
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One thing I liked in game one was hitting C’Bo in the flat with a couple passes. C’Bo can make that first guy miss better than our other backs – hitting C’Bo in the flat can lead to big plays, IMHO…
Go Pitt.
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OT – I saw where the Steelers had 4 players in for try-outs today. One was a 7th round CB who ran the fastest time in combine history – I think it was 4.23.
What I like is that the new personnel department for the Steelers seems really aggressive and committed in their efforts to improve the team.
Go Pitt.
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https://triblive.com/sports/pitt-linebackers-coach-ryan-manalac-learned-the-game-while-working-side-by-side-with-pat-narduzzi/
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https://triblive.com/sports/pitt-assistant-andre-powell-considers-several-factors-when-assembling-a-rotation-for-running-backs/
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Jurkovek was not perfect. He had some accuracy and touch issues and those were concerns we knew about going in … and they were still there. There is stuff to be critical of if you like being critical … But, he is not fat or heavy. Lol. Not even close. And he’s very mobile. He’s a big boy. He’s 6’6″ and around 240lbs. He’s not going to be Mike Vick out there. He’s also a pocket passer, first. But he can extend plays and run the RPO with the threat of actually running.
Pitt doesn’t want him to be Justin Fields and run for 1100 yards. What DB’s are going to want to tackle a 6’6″ 240lb dude running down the middle of the field? Not many. Just go look at Josh Allen in the NFL.
Phil has a chance to be a very good college quarterback for us. I feel like everyone expected him to look like a first round draft pick … he’s not … and won’t be. We won 9 games with 3 mediocre QB’s last year. He’s an upgrade across the board on them.
Let the season play out a little. It was a very vanilla game plan where Pitt got a ton of kids into the game.
I don’t get how people are “disappointed” watching a game against Wofford. It’s like calling your grandma’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes boring … well, duh, it’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
… it was Wofford, folks. It was meatloaf and mashed potatoes.
Tossing
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Cincy’s offense generating 66 points were not against a Power 5 team, and franky Pitt’s 45 could’ve been in the 50’s if they had pushed the passing game more. PN wanted to give his buddy Watson a break, and to be honest that shows some class.
This game will be decided by which team can play better defense, and usually Pitt’s defense shows up when it needs to.
With the one division ACC this year, the only must win games are ACC opponents, however if Pitt is looking for respect nationally, they’ve got to beat both the Bear Claws and Hoopies.
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Agreed. Only must wins are conference games. Polls don’t matter. The playoff does. And if a poll does matter it’s the playoff poll and that doesn’t come out until like November.
Tossing
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My friend in Johnstown says that his cable provider (breezeline?) does not carry the CW/ACC Network. WTH ? this is 2023, i can’t believe that a fan in western PA can’t get easy access to a Pitt football game. What are his alternatives ?
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Cut the cord and get Hulu or YouTube TV or any other streaming option … because, as you pointed out, it’s 2023.
Tossing
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Anon, Dish Network in Pittsburgh area does not carry the Pirate or Penguin games and recent)y dropped local NBC affiliate Channel 11 due to a “contract dispute”
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i found out that he has dish, not breezeline. crazy.
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The PG has an article “A closer look at Dior Johnson’s dismissal.” I don’t subscribe. Anything of interest?
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supposedly there was a Student Code Of Conduct complaint filed. it came from either the victim or the school. the writer couldn;t determine who. investigation had been ongoing for a while. there were hearings and a decision went against johnson. apparently he appealed but lost. ultimate recourse was dismissal.
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You don’t have to subscribe. The trick is opening the link in a private browser. It was very informative. I was originally not pleased with how the dismissal unfolded but it does sound like the University followed proper protocol.
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I will be publishing a new article later this morning.
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https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/Pitt/2023/09/07/a-closer-look-into-dior-johnson-s-dismissal-from-the-university-of-pittsburgh/stories/202309030082
If you don’t subscribe, open the link in a private browser and it will open up. You’ll get around the cookies.
Tossing
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After reading through this, the University handled it properly. They have to work on their PR though … it was a terrible way to announce it … on a Friday night with no context.
But, it appears, University policy was followed and the athletic department was fully aware throughout the process.
It also probably explains why Dior did not get much PT on the trip … Capel wanted to play guys he knew were going to be with the team and Dior was likely in the middle of his appeal at that time.
But, if you don’t follow University follower we’re no better than Penn State or any other program out there that has made exceptions outside the normal scope of University policy.
The decision to announce it the way they did was poor. I understand there were probably privacy issues with the announcement but you can formulate a better announcement than they did.
Tossing
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Also the original announcement that he was Reinstated “ was very incomplete and misleading.
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I read that as someone filed a complaint after he was reinstated. So, he was reinstated after the court case but at that time there was nothing filed by the victim against Dior through Pitt or by the Title IX Coordinator. At some point after his “reinstatement” that was filed. I’m guessing this all started after the 2nd semester ended and with appeals dragged on all summer. I think Dior knew before that.
On Aug 21st he posted this on his Twitter …
I’m guessing he knew he lost appeal then. Classes started on the 28th at Pitt and Pitt likely dropped the news before news sources would notice that he was not enrolled.
Pitt PR messed this up but this appears to all have been resolved in advance of the announcement. Dior and Capel both knew early in the summer, maybe even sooner.
Tossing
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Thanks for the work-a -round, it is a more thorough explanation but still leaves out a lot of details. The biggest being why did it take till two days before school starts and of course the specific accuser and accusation. If the accusation was the original incident it seems like the decision could have been made months ago.
In any case there was a thorough deliberative process, so the knee jerk, he should sue people seem to have over-reacted.
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That was addressed. It was the appeals process.
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He knew well before 2 days … likely, while in Spain or sooner … that he was being kicked out of school. I doubt he or Capel had high expectations of him winning the appeal. So, yes, the final decision was announced late but that was just the announcement. He may have been notified before that … about a week before he posted a weird non-Pitt related video of him playing basketball that had the feel of a recruitment video … The timing sucked and like I said the Pitt PR team handled it poorly … but reading through that a few times this sounds like it was started well in advance and was a time consuming process.
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A couple of Pitt News articles:
Wofford Game
https://pittnews.com/article/182087/sports/takeaways-the-panthers-are-1-0-and-thats-all-that-matters/?utm_source=TPN+Digital+Friday+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f95b8defa9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_09_07_11_55&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-f95b8defa9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D
https://pittnews.com/article/182055/sports/the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-the-acc-expansion/?utm_source=TPN+Digital+Friday+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f95b8defa9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_09_07_11_55&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-f95b8defa9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D
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If you believe Joan Gabel Pitt’s new boss, wasn’t involved in the Dior decision, I have a bridge to sell you!!
What the article described to a tee was the process. I’m a veteran of 7 corporate takeovers. When someone gets fired, it is never the person that actually fires you that’s responsible. Someone else always makes the bullet. You get fired by the person delivering the bullet.
Joan Gabel made the bullet. The rest is all Pitt CYA BS!
Are you trying to tell me that it’s a coincidence that the timing of this occurred three weeks after the new chancellor arrived??
I don’t think so….
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Sounds like the process was started before that per the article when factoring in the appeals process. I’m guessing this started in June, maybe earlier.
The University was definitely involved. It was either the victim (doubtful) or the Title IX coordinator (likely). So, yeah, it definitely could have been and likely was started internally. But the process appears to be fair after the initial complaining and filing.
I’m not a conspiracy theory guy. I don’t think people are smart enough to keep quiet. Something always leaks.
So, based on what I read, he was removed from the University using University policy. I don’t have a problem with that.
If you broke the law, I don’t care if there is a vendetta against you, you still broke the law (or rules). It is what it is. You put yourself in that situation.
I did not like the way the University announced it because it felt like a rash decision that blindsided the athletic department … but, it wasn’t. The athletic department was fully aware of what was going on.
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PITT Did not properly handle the DJ dismissal from a public relations standpoint and the timing was horrendous. But, what is being overlooked is the basic fact that he was DAMAGED GOODS from the get go. 8 or 9 prep school transfers and 2 prior college decommits is not a red flag…it is an enormous forest fire. Talent YES…maturity and character NO…a bad situation with Coach Capel hoping for a turnaround…NOPE!
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Definitely failed on a PR level.
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