Yarnell gives Pitt quality play in debut, victory at Western Michigan taken in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Pitt)

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Nate Yarnell throws during Saturday's game against Western Michigan at Waldo Stadium.

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Yarnell gives Pitt quality play in debut, victory at Western Michigan

By Corey Crisan

Sep 18, 2022 β€’ 1:10 am

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- It didn't have the feel of the classical "Moonlight Sonata," but what Nate Yarnell orchestrated under the lights on Saturday at Western Michigan was a work that even Ludwig van Beethoven could appreciate.

It was an "Ode to Joy" of sorts, at least for the No. 23 Pitt team which was seeking some revenge on the Broncos after last year's stunning upset at then-Heinz Field.

But, without Kedon Slovis under center, Yarnell stole the spotlight and gave way to a Pitt defense which found ways to make plays down the stretch and suffocate the Broncos to 180 total yards, as the Panthers avenged that loss with a 34-13 victory at Waldo Stadium in Kalamazoo on Saturday.

"What a special day for him," Pat Narduzzi said of Yarnell. "He led the guys in the fight song, and I couldn't be more proud of the performance he put out there. Does it surprise me? No. I've seen that guy for a year and a half on scout team. You look at a guy that hadn't been through spring ball. He was the fourth-string quarterback coming into this game, and he's cool as a cucumber. 

"You talk about relaxed. He's in the hotel this morning playing -- I don't know -- Beethoven, or something. I was like, 'Woah.' Who is that? It's Nate Yarnell. Just relaxed. Like he'd been there before."

By the way, Narduzzi wasn't talking about Yarnell "playing" Beethoven's classical music on a speaker. He meant "playing" the music in a LITERAL sense:

"Great composure, great composer."

Narduzzi was talking about his quarterback, not the 18th and 19th-century composer. 

But, he summed it up well. On and off the field.

Now, breathe.

It didn't happen again.

Were you nervous that Pitt would succumb to Western Michigan for the second straight year?

Yarnell wasn't. At least once he got rolling for the first time as a starting quarterback at Pitt.

"I was definitely nervous," the redshirt freshman said, "but as soon as that first snap (happened), all of that goes away, and all you're focused on is playing football."

If you wanted sexy, air-it-out, high-scoring football, this wasn't the game for you. And, it wasn't going to be.

Pitt's game plan on Saturday was straight out of Central Casting from Narduzzi. Run the ball down Western Michigan's throat, wear the defense down, and strike when the opponent is weakened.

It worked. And the Panthers (2-1) forced the Broncos into a knock-'em-down, drag-em-out affair. A fight which the Broncos simply weren't equipped to handle.

Narduzzi said after the game that Slovis was cleared to play, but "I didn't want to play Kedon," and said he didn't know if Slovis was truly "100% right." He said this week's QB1 competition was between Yarnell and Dartmouth graduate transfer Derek Kyler. He said the coaches told the team Friday about Yarnell getting the nod.

"Throughout the week, I started Tuesday at No. 4," Yarnell said. "It would've been the backup (for) this week (if Slovis was cleared). I just took it one day at a time, I was going to play the best football I could play, and just go from there."

It was almost as if Narduzzi was at first worried or overcome by the notion that he didn't want the inexperienced Yarnell to go out and have to force anything too soon, given some of the early conservative and Sunday-sundae-vanilla play calling. Perhaps that was to get him comfortable, but the running game was leaned on heavily to start -- 14 out of Pitt's first 15 plays were all running plays.

In the end, Yarnell did the opposite.

You can make the case that Yarnell was the primary reason for the Panthers' successes against Western Michigan. Even with all of the circumstances he faced.

And, yes, that includes the self-inflicted ones.

It almost felt like Narduzzi and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. were doing everything they could to make sure he didn't torpedo the game away early, and all they wanted was for him to do the bare minimum -- take care of the football, hand it off to Israel Abanikanda, and let the defense win the game for Pitt.

But, Pitt won this football game, in part, because of the plays Yarnell made, when he was given the opportunities.

He cashed in 9 of 12 passing attempts for 179 yards and his first collegiate touchdown, and, just as Slovis did in Pitt's first win in the Backyard Brawl, Yarnell didn't turn the ball over.

His first completion was to a crossing Konata Mumpfield for 19 yards that brought the Panthers across midfield, and later led to a Ben Sauls 48-yard field goal to give the Panthers the first points of the game in the first quarter.

Pitt's defense then did its job, just as it would for the rest of the night. 

Western Michigan's first drive: Three plays, four yards, one punt.

Pitt then pounced on Western Michigan QB and Norwin High School product Jack Salopek for the first of his three interceptions. Marquis Williams jumped a route intended for Corey Crooms on the near sideline, picked the ball off, and walked it 22 yards and into the endzone and a 10-0 Pitt lead with 2:39 left in the first quarter.

The pick-six gave Pitt a defensive TD in the fourth of its last five games. Erick Hallett II gave an ACC Championship Game-like performance by intercepting Salopek twice, including his second inside the endzone which negated a scoring opportunity for the Mid-American Conference foe.

Including last season, and including the ACC Championship Game, in his last six games, Hallett has registered four interceptions, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, and one touchdown.

"When we were going back to the drawing board Sunday (after the Tennessee game), we were just -- we've got to get it up another level," Hallett said.

Pitt's defense was next level.

Here are some of the nuggets of futility from last year's loss to Western Michigan: 44 points allowed, 517 total yards allowed, 160 rushing yards allowed, three offensive turnovers.

Here are some of the nuggets of domination from Saturday's win in Kalamazoo: 50 rushing yards allowed, holding WMU to 2-for-11 on third down, 4.6 offensive yards per carry, 238 offensive rushing yards. And, again, zero turnovers from Yarnell.

Western Michigan (1-2, 1-0 MAC) had to pull out the book of tricks in the third quarter to earn a touchdown, as a double pass from Salopek to Anthony Sambucci to A.J. Abbott led to a 31-yard score, and that cut the Pitt lead to 20-13 with 23 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Yarnell and the Panthers turned it up in the late-third and early-fourth quarters in scoring touchdowns on three straight drives. The second pick by Hallett in the endzone resulted in a seven-play drive that included an 18-yard deep strike to Bub Means and the mirrored play of what Gavin Bartholomew turned into a "SportsCenter" Top 10 play against Tennessee, which went to him for 37 yards. Abanikanda punched in the next play, a 4-yard rush, to give Pitt a 20-6 lead with 1:30 left in the third.

Yarnell then found Mumpfield for his first career college TD, on a bootleg rollout and on a high laser in the back of the endzone on the far side for Pitt's second score in as many drives and a 27-13 lead with 8:16 remaining.

The third and final straight score was a 3-yard rush by Daniel Carter with 3:03 left. Pitt dialed up eight running plays, and Yarnell did not attempt a pass on that drive.

"I told (Yarnell) before the game, I got you," Abanikanda said. "No matter what, I got you. So, you've got no need to be scared of nothing, and he showed that he's tough. I was proud of him. I told him after the game that I was proud of him."

MORE FROM THE GAME

β€’ Abanikanda was special again for Pitt, having notched his second consecutive 100-plus-yard game with 31 carries for 133 yards and a TD. This follows his career-high 154 yards last week against Tennessee.

"I'm just going to keep going every week, keep going every week," Abanikanda said. "That was great blocking, for sure. Every week is great blocking, but I know that it can even go better."

β€’ Yarnell took his first competitive snaps in a game for the first time in a long time -- since 2019 -- as he was sidelined for his senior season in high school with a broken hand. The Austin, Texas, native and product of Lake Travis High School spent time backing up Hudson Card, a four-star recruit who is now starting at Texas in place of the injured Quinn Ewers, and he missed Pitt's spring camp.

"It was just really exciting," Yarnell said. "Everyone that plays this game -- I love it, and to step on that field again, it was really special."

β€’ This is important to keep sight of: Per 247Sports, Yarnell was a three-star recruit, at a composite rating of 0.8519. While he may be Pitt's QB4, he also would have been Western Michigan's top-rated recruit EVER. Per their rankings, running back Zahir Abdus-Salaam (class of 2021) is their top guy with a 0.8146 composite score.

Why point this out? Because it's a reminder of what Pitt is and what Western Michigan is. Pitt routinely pulls in talent that's at minimum on Yarnell's level, and even with having to start a fourth-stringer, he was still, by this metric, better than every single player on the field opposite him. Here's the other thing about Yarnell -- as reader carl.wonders pointed out in the Live File -- he didn't make a bad throw. 

Not a bad one, at least. Not all of them were Beethoven symphonic masterpieces, but there were some -- I.E. the two 30-yard, tutorial-video, rainbow bombs to Jared Wayne -- that made him look like he had been in this moment before.

β€’ While Yarnell didn't attempt a copious amount of passes, he chose his spots. Pitt averaged 19.9 yards per completion, and Yarnell's first bomb to Wayne was Pitt's first completion of the season which registered 20 or more air yards -- his flew 21 yards in the air before Wayne hauled it in.

"We knew we could take shots," Yarnell said. "If we saw press outside, we knew they were going to come with pressure this week. When I saw it, I just delivered it to him."

THE HIGHLIGHTS

"      "

THE ESSENTIALS

β€’ Box Score
β€’ Live file
β€’ Top 25 scores
β€’ Schedule
β€’ ACC Standings
β€’ Statistics

THE INJURIES

*cracks knuckles*

β€’ DID NOT TRAVEL: QB Nick Patti, RB Rodney Hammond Jr., OC Owen Drexel, DE Dayon Hayes, DT Devin Danielson.
β€’ DRESSED, BUT DID NOT PLAY: QB Kedon Slovis, OT Gabe Houy, DE Deslin Alexandre.
β€’ INJURED DURING THE GAME: WR Jared Wayne, DB Marquis Williams, DE Nate Temple, DE Haba Baldonaldo.

Wayne left after taking a pretty hard hit near the end of the first half. He didn't come back to the sideline at the start of the second half. The ESPNU broadcast said Williams was out for the second half with a foot/shin injury. Each returned to the sideline in the second half in street clothes.

Baldonaldo went into the injury tent after walking off under his own power with 8:40 left in the third.

Jake Kradel started at center in place of Drexel, and Blake Zubovic slotted in at right guard.

THE SCHEDULE

β€’ Pitt returns to Acrisure Stadium for a noon tilt on Saturday against Football Championship Subdivision foe Rhode Island, better known as Narduzzi's alma mater. That is the final primer before ACC play begins on Oct. 1 against Georgia Tech at Acrisure Stadium.

THE CONTENT

Visit the Pitt team page and my Twitter page for more from Kalamazoo. Gary Morgan and I are recording a new H2P Podcast Sunday morning before I drive back from Michigan, but to hold this space over, here is our last episode following the Tennessee game:


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