ED Note: I have commitments tomorrow so here is an early Sunday edition of MMQB.
As disasters go it wasn’t on the Johnstown Flood level but it was horrid in its own self.
I don’t believe any of us would have thought we wouldn’t get even one touchdown last night. A lot of us assumed we would lose, but didn’t think it was in the cards that we would put only two field goals on the board. That led to a 17-6 loss to the WVU Mountaineers and a flood of complaints on how this 2023 Pitt team is being handled.
The blame lies mostly on the quarterback’s shoulders. Last night Phil Jurkovec was 8/20 which is a 40% completion rate for 80 yards with no TDs and 3 INTs. That stacks up to a 43.6 QB rating which is probable the worse single game QB rating in modern Pitt history.
Blame also sits on the head coach and the offensive coordinator with their horrible decision making and playcalling. The porous offensive line hasn’t been much of a help either. Even though there was only one recorded sack by WVU they had defenders in the backfield on a regular basis.
But truthfully those are secondary considerations regarding the quality of play we have seen over the last two weeks. Their decisions are still important, but what a QB actually does with ball in hand is paramount. So, what has Jurkovec done in two consecutive losses? This:
18/52 (35%) for 260 yards with 3 TDs and 3 INTS which gives him a 84.2 rating. Guys, a 84.2 rating in two losses where our offense was basically ineffective across the board (and it was) is a huge red flag in personnel decisions made by the coaches.
It is rather hilarious that even with those two poor showings Pitt fans do not believe that the coaching staff will sit Jurkovec down. Why? Well, HC Pat Narduzzi’s mindset of course. His misguided loyalty that allowed Jurkovec to start Saturday after the Cincy loss might be the reason but I’m inclined to think his huge ego might be more in play. Narduzzi hates to be second guessed especially when the obvious is slapping him in the face.
He stays on script though with his canned answers in his post game video. If Heather Lyke wants to make Narduzzi’s head explode she should tell him he can.t use the words “look at the tape” in public… ever.
Sports Illustrated had a spot-on article that is just what everyone but Narduzzi and his OC Frank Cignetti, Jr were thinking:
“Jurkovec’s miscues – each of which were certainly avoidable – became so apparent that even ABC play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough felt compelled to comment on it bluntly.
I am still shocked that Pitt hasn’t taken more shots down the field against a pass defense that’s been one of the worst in the country over the past couple of years,” he said in the middle of the broadcast. “But it seems like every time they try, Phil Jurkovec makes a bad decision.”
While you are at it take a look at these other media sites and their reactions to the game:
Pittsburgh Sports Now, Bleacher Report, The Pitt News, Panther Lair (Rivals) and check this out – the beginning of Chris Peak’s post-game video review is hilarious and boy is he pissed…
Narduzzi has a habit of going to the Transfer Portal for starting QBs. What that says is 1) his offensive recruiting pretty much sucks and 2) he has zero confidence that his coaching staff can, you know, actually coach standing roster QBs into prospective starters. What he does instead is go for the quick fix and that has given us three starters who came to Pitt when their play was dwindling after early successes.
We saw that with USC’s Max Brown and Kedon Slovis and now with Notre Dame and Boston College’s Jurkovec. Slovis transferred out when the handwriting was on the locker room wall that he was no longer welcome because a new, already named starting QB was coming in, and Slovis has done well at Brigham Young, but at Pitt he played average ball at best.
Max Brown was as blah a QB who could be found and now “Portal Phil” has made both those guy’s times at Pitt look like grand successes. That alone is saying something about the Jurkovec saga. But it is what it is as Pitt fans well know after seeing crap like this repeat itself time and again over the years.
Enough about the QB situation. How did the rest of the team play? Well, the defense did OK limiting WVU to a total of 211 yards and two TDs. Of course one of those TDs was a gimme when Jurkovec tossed an interception from his own 18 that the ‘Eers DB returned to the 7 yard line. One play later – TD!! But overall the D did pretty well. Holding a team to 17 should mean a “W” in the W/L box.
WVU’s second TD was from a long drive that should have been a short drive when they faced a 2nd & 18 situation. But, and there is always a ‘but’ isn’t there, our hugely overrated DB Devonshire had a holding flag that converted that 2nd & 18 to a 1st and 10 at our 36 yard line.
Devonshire didn’t stop his WTH? play there folks. Later on he went backwards on a punt return for a loss of 11 yards. That was bad enough as the clock was counting down and we really needed a TD to close the gap. But wait! There’s more! Pitt was also flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct that moved us way back down to our own 5.
Guess what happened next? After the only decent completion Phil made, a 27 yarder to TE Bartholomew, which gave us breathing space, we promptly did nothing at all and on 4th & 20 Jurkovec held the ball too long for a nine yard sack. That wasn’t the end of his debacle though. On the next series he threw his third INT that basically closed out the game.
We could go on and on about the crap show we watched last night. It was so painful to watch I grabbed a book at halftime and read while I had ESPN’s Gamecast running on my tablet. Did watch the game on ‘record’ this morning though (speeded it up greatly).
Talking about it much more would be like twisting the stick that you yourself thrust into your eye. SI had it right when they said WVU wasn’t all that good of a team with a sub-par (re: terrible) passing defense. Last year they gave up 267 ypg and two TDs per game and isn’t much better this year…until last night. But give credit where due. WVU’s pass defense still could have sucked last night but with Jurkovec behind center who would know? He makes pass defenses look good all on his own.
OK – on to play the 3-0 #20 Tarheels of North Carolina in Acrisure on home turf… another nationally televised game this time on the ACC Network. Boy, what fun!
HTP!!
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