Who would have thought the Pitt football team which tested Kedon Slovis and Nick Patti for its starting quarterback position in the spring and summer would find itself in a quandary by Week 3?
This one, however, is not by choice. Rather it stems from unfortunate circumstances which has Pat Narduzzi shuffling for answers ahead of Saturday's first road game at Western Michigan.
As it goes, hindsight is 20/20.
With 21 seconds left in the first half and the ball on Pitt's own 37, Slovis dropped back to pass, was hit and sacked, and his fumble led to a Tennessee field goal before halftime.
Instead of taking a knee and going into halftime down 21-17, Pitt went down 24-17 and lost its starting quarterback for the remainder of the game.
When asked about the play which knocked Slovis out of the game at the end of the first half against Tennessee, Narduzzi took the blame for putting his quarterback in that position in the first place.
"I'm a dumb---. Yes. Thank you. There's no doubt about it."
He noted that Slovis had Bub Means "in the flat wide open" on the play, and "if we just throw it there and take that, we're probably feeling pretty good right now. But that's not what happened."
Instead, Nick Patti had to enter the game, and he came up limping on a sack taken early in the fourth quarter.
A source told DK Pittsburgh Sports on Sunday that Slovis was diagnosed with a concussion, and Patti with a high ankle sprain, which leaves the Panthers in a sticky situation at the position entering Week 3.
Derek Kyler was seen warming up on the sideline after Patti sustained his injury, but he did not come into the game. The graduate transfer from Dartmouth, however, has not been listed as the Panthers' third-string quarterback for this week. That designation belongs to redshirt freshman Nate Yarnell.
Should neither of Slovis nor Patti be ready for Western Michigan, Narduzzi has options in the veteran Kyler or the inexperienced Yarnell, but nonetheless it's a problem the Panthers likely didn't envision being in at any given point in the season, let alone it happening this early.
Per usual, Narduzzi won't tip his hand or go as far as to speak of the status of the injuries his quarterback room.
"Like I always say, guys, I'm not talking personnel," he said. "On Monday we all know what we know. I know nothing. How about that?"
But, when it comes to who his third-stringer is, Narduzzi noted the situation is fluid, which could indicate that will be heavily weighed in this week's practices, should Kyler or Yarnell have to step in as QB2 or, in a worst-case scenario, QB1.
"I would say it's still unsettled," he said. "I would say it's unsettled. Kyler's been good. Nate Yarnell has been good. Nate Yarnell gives us most of the -- probably two out of three team periods, Nate's given us a look.
"Because he's done it before, that's the guy we pick. Like, defensively, we want that guy. So he's played more ball than Kyler has as far as just playing ball. Derek's paying attention and locked into the offense because he's on that end. I would say it's a toss-up who the third guy would be."
Patti was limping throughout the fourth quarter on Saturday -- tight end Gavin Bartholomew said post-game that "there were some plays you see and (Patti) could hardly walk" -- but Narduzzi never pulled him in favor of Kyler or Yarnell.
He said, however, that he didn't think Patti looked to be in bad shape, at least on film.
"First of all, Nick's tough," Narduzzi said. "Nick doesn't like to get hurt. Nick's going to say, 'I'm good,' and we're going to believe what Nick says.
"If he's not good, we're going to pull him out of there for health and safety reasons. I don't see what you guys see just from watching the game tape. On tape maybe in between snaps; we don't watch that. You guys are watching the in-between. We're worried about getting the next call and personnel. When he was out there he moved around well."
Frank Cignetti Jr. notably adjusted the offense in the second half to benefit Patti's strengths. Namely, he put Patti under center more often than he did Slovis, and he utilized more two-tight end sets.
When Patti sustained his injury, though, his mobility also took a hit, which forced further adjustments.
"We weren't moving the pocket or running nakeds or anything like that with him, so we knew we didn't feel that good," Narduzzi said. "But that had nothing to do with (taking him out). We had a third ready to go."
Kyler went 18-2 as a starter at Dartmouth, and ended his Big Green career with a record-setting season and an Ivy League title.
Last season, he completed a school-record 70.7% of his passes for 1,972 yards and 17 touchdowns, while ranking second in the Football Championship Subdivision in completion percentage. His 162.66 rating was fourth in FCS.
"He's smart, number one," Narduzzi said. "He can operate the offense. We've got to trust he can operate the offense, like Yarnell. We know he's had the experience in games. As you know, we lost two guys that have played in games before. We needed to get somebody just that had been in there, which it was needed. He's obviously got one year of eligibility. And he can operate."
Yarnell arrived to Pitt in 2021 as a three-star recruit out of Austin, Texas, and he was the 52nd-ranked QB in his class, per the 247Sports rankings. He spent time at Lake Travis High School backing up Hudson Card, who is now the reserve QB at Texas behind top 2021 recruit Quinn Ewers.
