KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Derek Kyler or Nate Yarnell?
Pat Narduzzi said on Thursday at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex that the revelation on a starting quarterback for Saturday night's game at Western Michigan will be a "game-time decision," which partially involves a selection between Kyler and Yarnell.
But, he also did say that Kedon Slovis isn't ruled out altogether. When asked directly if Slovis is involved in that decision, Narduzzi gave us a short-and-sweet response:
"Yes."
OK, then!
Over at his end-of-week media briefing, Pat Narduzzi said Saturday’s starting Pitt quarterback at Western Michigan is a “game-time decision.”
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) September 15, 2022
Is Kedon Slovis part of that decision?
“Yes.” pic.twitter.com/uAkjy3HsJ6
Given the nature of the injuries to Pitt's starting and reserve quarterbacks -- a source told me on Sunday that Slovis was diagnosed with a concussion, and Nick Patti a high ankle sprain -- there is a realistic possibility that either Kyler or Yarnell can go under center when Pitt kicks off in primetime on Saturday at Western Michigan.
Is that such a terrifying thing after all? Or is there a legitimate cause for concern, as the 23rd-ranked Panthers try to get back in the win column following a loss to then-No. 24 Tennessee?
Does Pitt have nothing to worry about against a lesser Mid-American Conference opponent?
All of these are legitimate questions, with the offense at times sputtering and finding trouble finding execution in moments where they appeared ready to strike.
Plenty of points were left on the board against Tennessee, and the offense looked pretty vanilla in the season opener against West Virginia, until Slovis turned the jets on in the second half and was perfect on Pitt's game-tying touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter.
This is not to a total fault of Frank Cignetti Jr. and his play calling. A lack of execution in posting points down the stretch, especially when Pitt's defense did everything in its power to regain momentum time after time against the Volunteers, ultimately led to Pitt's first loss of the season.
Given this trend, and with a third-string quarterback potentially starting, where does your confidence level lie within the offense? If Slovis or Patti do not play -- save Patti actually traveling -- are you more confident in Kyler or Yarnell going under center?
Kyler is the more experienced of the two, having a three-year career at Football Championship Subdivision program Dartmouth. He completed 69% of his passes for 4,409 yards, 42 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 30 career games. His senior season in 2021 was his best of the three, as he set a school record with a 70.7% completion rate and led the Big Green to an Ivy League title.
As for the redshirt freshman Yarnell, he has not taken a collegiate snap, and he sustained a broken hand in 2020 while he was a senior in high school. Yarnell was a three-star recruit out of Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas, where he backed up Hudson Card, who is now the reserve QB at Texas behind top 2021 recruit Quinn Ewers.
On Thursday, Narduzzi confirmed each received more reps over the week in practice.
"They're both mature, and, you know, I think both of them got better (with) the more reps they got this week. Because, obviously, they got more reps. Just the maturity, and I think they got better with a couple more reps."
NARDUZZI'S RETURN TO ROOTS
Check out this wonderful piece of art, courtesy of Northern Illinois University athletics:
Northern Illinois Athletics
Pat Narduzzi while coaching at Northern Illinois, circa early-2000s.
That's a photo of Narduzzi during his tenure at Northern Illinois in the early 2000s. He spent three years as the Huskies' linebackers coach, before moving East to Oxford, Ohio, to become Miami's defensive coordinator in 2003.
Narduzzi, who played his football at then-Division I-AA Youngstown State and Rhode Island (the latter of which Pitt plays in Week 4), got his coaching start in the Mid-American Conference as a graduate assistant at Miami in 1990 and 1991. He was then promoted to become the RedHawks' wide receivers coach in 1992, before returning to Rhode Island as its linebackers coach and defensive coordinator from 1993-1999.
Saturday's game will be the first time a Narduzzi team has set foot on a MAC field since Sept. 12, 2015, when Pitt traveled to Akron in Week 2 and won, 24-7. The last time a Narduzzi team played against Western Michigan (excluding last year) was on Aug. 30, 2013, when he was the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. The Spartans beat the Broncos, 26-13, in East Lansing.
The last time Narduzzi coached in a game at Western Michigan was on Oct. 26, 2002, while he was Northern Illinois' linebackers coach. NIU defeated Western Michigan, 24-20.
Narduzzi isn't the only coach to earn his big break from the MAC, and he certainly won't be the last.
The quality of coaches on the sidelines parallels the level of the talent on the field. The recruiting pool is growing deeper by the day, and some prospects who have Power Five potential are trickling into Group of Five programs. Some of these players stick around at those programs, but a good number of them will transfer out once some of the fringe roster players are weeded out of the Power Five schools.
Some prominent Power Five coaches who have also spent time as a head coach in the MAC: LSU's Brian Kelly (Central Michigan), Minnesota's P.J. Fleck (Western Michigan), Urban Meyer (Bowling Green), and, yes, even the vaunted Nick Saban of Alabama (Toledo).
A perfect current example of this from a player's standpoint is Pitt wide receiver Konata Mumpfield, who started his career in the MAC at Akron after flying under the recruiting radar out of high school in Georgia.
The transactions throughout the transfer portal also can work in the opposite direction.
Western Michigan's roster is littered with Power Five transfers from the following schools: Pitt, Boston College, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, and Alabama. And, there's plenty more transfers which have arrived from non-Power Five schools.
I asked Narduzzi about how the MAC has grown as a Group of Five conference, and how it has changed from the time he spent in it. Here is what he said:
"I think it's changed a lot. With open transfer (rules) I think -- I was telling a recruit the other day -- the portal has opened up. I think everybody's getting stronger. I think you're seeing Group of Five teams beat people because they've got a stronger roster than they've had in the past.
"Everybody's weeding out their roster, getting rid of the weak, and they're finding guys that are better than what they lost. In the end there's a lot of people not graduating, which is a bad thing. Everybody jumps in, thinking, 'the grass is greener, I'm going to get something else.' I think college football is getting stronger as a whole, but I think there's a lot of kids losing out on scholarships and an education that they had. They thought they were going to still have it and didn't have it, so the weak are still in the portal, I think, if you do a good job of evaluating. It makes everybody stronger, I think."
2021 IN MIND
There is, no doubt, a revenge quotient to Saturday's game, after Western Michigan went into then-Heinz Field and shocked the Panthers 44-41 last season. Key returning players for the Broncos which had an impact on last year's game include wide receiver Corey Crooms, running back Sean Tyler, and linebacker Zaire Barnes, who tied for the team lead in tackles last season.
Crooms is Western Michigan's new No. 1 receiver, after Skyy Moore was selected by Kansas City with the 54th overall pick in this spring's NFL draft. Crooms torched Pitt last season, going for 161 yards on eight catches and a touchdown.
But, quarterback Kaleb Eleby (337 yards, 3 TDs, 0 interceptions against Pitt last year) has moved on, giving way to Norwin High School product Jack Salopek. In two games, Salopek has completed 58.2% of his passes for 423 yards, one TD, and one INT.
"No one likes to lose to anybody," Panthers safety Erick Hallett II said about last year. "Especially seeing that we're able to play them again, get revenge per se, so there's always a little bit of added motivation for that, but it's also the next game on our schedule, as well, so we're looking forward to it."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Who: No. 23 Pitt (1-1) at Western Michigan (1-1,1-0 MAC)
• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Waldo Stadium, Kalamazoo, Mich.
• Weather: 66°, Partly cloudy, 8% chance of rain, 5 mph. wind
• TV: ESPNU
• TV broadcasters: Clay Matvick (play-by-play), Rocky Bolman (analyst), Dawn Davenport (reporter)
• Radio: 93.7 The Fan, 92.1 WPTS-FM (Pitt student broadcast)
• The Fan broadcasters: Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play), Pat Bostick (analyst), Larry Richert (reporter), Dorin Dickerson (reporter)
• Streaming: ESPN app
• Satellite: SiriusXM channel 159 or 202; SXM App channel 965
• Media notes: Pitt (Western Michigan's currently unavailable.)
• Live stats
TEN TO WATCH
(EXCLUDING THE PITT QB)
• #2 Israel Abanikanda: How does Abanikanda -- the ACC's running back of the week -- follow up his career-best 154 rushing yards from a week ago? With as much uncertainty around the QB position, expect him to see another heavy workload in comparison to last week.
• #5 Deslin Alexandre: Pitt's two-time team captain missed last week's game against Tennessee, though he was dressed to play. We'll monitor his status. If he can't go, expect John Morgan to earn the start at defensive end opposite Haba Baldonaldo.
• #5 Jared Wayne: Pitt's leader in receptions and yards is also the team's most consistent target, and should be heavily relied upon for which ever QB goes under center.
• #11 Bangally Kamara: He has had a sneaky-good two games to start the season. Kamara's 16.0 total tackles are tied for second on the team, and his two pass breakups trail the team leaders by two.
I asked Narduzzi about linebacker Bangally Kamara, who is tied for second on the team in tackles and has two fewer pass breakups than Pitt’s leaders: pic.twitter.com/BerwYYr6D9
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) September 15, 2022
"Bangally's been good," Narduzzi said. "I think getting that first game under his belt was huge for him. I think I told you last week, he was like, 'Coach, it's a lot different in practice,' and it's like, 'Yeah, it is.' ... He's growing up in seven days, so that's the great thing. So I think he'll keep getting better. He's got great ability."
• #14 Marquis Williams: Expect him to draw the matchup on Crooms, who is the best weapon in the Broncos' offense.
More from Narduzzi on Crooms:
I asked Narduzzi about Western Michigan receiver Corey Crooms, who lit up Pitt last year for eight catches, 161 yards, and a TD. He is WMU’s new top target after Skyy Moore was drafted to the NFL: pic.twitter.com/XYaeGY8Y27
— Corey Crisan (@cdcrisan) September 15, 2022
"He's their go-to guy almost every down. He's the guy -- and they've got other playmakers, as well -- but, he's tall, he's rangey, and he catches the football. He's a playmaker. He's kind of like a Jared Wayne-type guy that they can count on. They're going to get him the ball as much as they can. We've got to know where number 4 is. Waldo."
• #14 Konata Mumpfield: Interpret this how you may: Last year while playing for Akron (with BAD quarterback play), Mumpfield racked up 11 catches for 122 yards and two touchdowns against Western Michigan. His touchdowns went for 17 and 11 yards.
• #15 Bub Means: Means has had a touchdown drop in each of Pitt's first two games. Against West Virginia, it was the Slovis bomb over the secondary that would have went for a TD, had Means been able to corral in the catch. Against Tennessee, it was the drop in the back of the endzone that was tipped into a Tennessee defender's hands.
• #24 C'Bo Flemister: After transferring in from Notre Dame, we haven't seen a lot of him. He carried the ball once against West Virginia and fumbled it (and recovered it) and didn't receive a carry against Tennessee.
Running backs coach Andre Powell told us this week that he has been looking to get Flemister involved:
"He's ready now," Powell said. "The last couple games -- the first game, Rodney (Hammond Jr.) got hot, and when a guy gets hot, you don't take him out of the game. This game, (Abanikanda) got hot. I had planned a play -- we talk about during the week how we plan on playing the players, and I had planned on playing C'Bo both games. C'Bo's game-ready. But sometimes it just doesn't work out like you planned. A guy gets hot, and you don't take him out of the game.
"He's eager. I feel for him, because I've been there, and I've been around other guys that have been game-ready and didn't get his crack, but when he does get his crack, he'll do a good job."
• #86 Gavin Bartholomew: His highlight-reel TD and his team-leading and career-high 84 receiving yards against Tennessee earned him the nod as the John Mackey Award Tight End of the Week.
• #90 Ben Sauls: Pitt's place-kicker missed two key field goals against Tennessee. If Sam Scarton isn't trotted out as the team's primary place-kicker this week, how does Sauls respond?
