I have read the tweets. I have seen the comments. I have heard the pleas.
So has Pat Narduzzi.
The thing is, I don't have discretion over who starts at quarterback for Pitt.
Now at 4-3 overall and 1-2 in conference play, the defending ACC champion officially has its back against the wall. There is a very realistic -- and at this point, likely -- possibility that Pitt loses both of its next games, at No. 21 North Carolina on Saturday, and against No. 16 Syracuse the following week. That would totally eliminate the Panthers from title contention and place them inside of a mid-tier bowl game.
That is, should they win two more games, which sounds like more of a chore than a forgone conclusion, the latter sentiment being felt during the preseason.
When Kedon Slovis arrived via the transfer portal from Southern California, the thought of an ACC title defense seemed realistic enough. Slovis had two solid seasons at USC and at one point inched into the conversation as a dark horse for the Heisman Trophy.
How things can change in fewer than two seasons.
With the Panthers' offense struggling to do anything remotely consistent and putting up a measly 10 points on the board in a 24-10 loss against Louisville, the former transfer portal sweetheart is now being thrown into the slammer by the court of public opinion.
I can't blame the public for commencing that trial.
But, like any good attorney, Narduzzi is defending his guy until the final thwack of the gavel.
If you thought Narduzzi was going to go away from Slovis and insert Nick Patti or Nate Yarnell against the Cardinals, think again.
"We can do whatever we want to do, but you mess with a football team when you do that," Narduzzi said at his press conference on Monday on the South Side. "There's psychological effects when you do stuff like that, I think. What do you move him for? I watch practice every day. We're playing our best football player right now at quarterback. I've got no doubt about Kedon. He's our best quarterback to help us win a football game right now. ... Right now, that's kind of where we are, and we can start all over if you guys want to, but that's not something I'm very fond of as a football coach. We believe in our guys at every position, and it's our job to coach them and get them better."
And that's that.
Narduzzi biting the bullet for his quarterback's poor play is ... fine.
But there is absolutely no hiding from the fact that, ever since he sustained a concussion against Tennessee in Week 2, Slovis has not been the same passer.
"But he doesn't seem shaken," Narduzzi said. "That's the big thing. He's a quarterback. They've got a lot of stuff on their mind."
His passer rating has declined in every game since returning to face Rhode Island in Week 4. In those four games, Slovis' passer ratings have checked in at 132.9 (vs. Rhode Island), 132.3 (vs. Georgia Tech), 97.4 (vs. Virginia Tech), and 87.1 (at Louisville). He has thrown for a ratio of three touchdowns to four interceptions while averaging 211 passing yards over his last three games. That YPG mark would rank 77th in Football Bowl Subdivision. In total, his 127.0 passer rating for the season has him tied for 94th in FBS.
Narduzzi, and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, Jr. definitely did not sign up for that.
And you can understand why Narduzzi wouldn't run away from that, either. This was the guy which Narduzzi pulled from the transfer portal to replace Kenny Pickett, to compete and battle with Patti for the starting nod (so we were told), and to take control of an offense which lost its two best players.
There is a factor of Narduzzi proving that choosing Slovis was the right call, and he will do anything he can to make good on that pledge, to himself, to Slovis, and to the Pitt faithful.
Pitt's head coach is in a precarious position now, because of the offense's struggles. If the offense doesn't show tangible improvement over these next two games, does he go against his word from Monday and make the switch to Patti or Yarnell? Or does he stick to his guns and ride-or-die with Slovis?
(To be clear, Narduzzi will not be fired over this, nor should he necessarily be, regardless. So let's calm down on that.)
For better or for worse, I wouldn't expect him to waver on his words.
Slovis completed 16 of 29 passes for 158 yards and two interceptions, and he was sacked twice against the Cardinals.
In Narduzzi's words:
"Kedon played above average, OK? Above average," he said. "I thought he played good. Matter of fact at one point he was 9 of 11, which I didn't realize. I wasn't counting those things, but 9 of 11 at one point. But he played really good in the first half. I'm not just talking throwing the ball. If you just go back and watch the first half, watch how -- he's, you know, he's making great decisions in the run game, as well, getting the right checks.
"In the second half, didn't play very good. Why is that? I don't know. At the end of the half he took a couple of shots. Not to the point where he got a concussion, but those shots -- we've got to protect our quarterback -- and I think it affects every quarterback in the country. We know defensively we're trying to get as many hits as we can and try to affect him, because it affects their mindset and getting the ball -- just get it out of there. They just want to throw it. So we've got to protect our quarterback. We know that. That's a key every weekend. But he played really good in the first half, and didn't play so good in the second half. And even in the run decisions that you guys won't see watching it."
For an offense which actually had a Heisman finalist running it last season, Slovis being "above average" isn't going to cut it. But Narduzzi isn't going to outwardly point the finger at him. He attributed it to coaching, as any good coach would do.
On Monday, he took the liberty in breaking down every turnover Pitt committed:
"We all want to talk about the turnovers, and rightly so," Narduzzi said. "The first one -- here's the rundown ... The first interception, it's second-and-10 and we're at the plus-29-yard line. I mean, we're in field goal range already. We're just thinking points. We've got to protect the ball, we've got to make better decisions. (Daniel) Carter's open in the flat. Just a bad decision. Wanted to throw it down, thought he had the shot. You've just got to throw a better ball if you're going to throw it deep.
"Next one, it's first-and-10 at the plus-18-yard line. I mean, we're moving the ball down, we're down in the red zone. That's what hurts the most, is you're down where you need to (be). First-and-10, plus-18-yard line. Five-play drive to that, we fumbled the ball doing some of the wildcat stuff.
"First-and-10 on the plus-28, we throw another interceptions. But we move it down the field. It's not like it's fourth down and you're turning it over on downs. ... We're down there. It's not like you're turning it over in your own territory. We've moved the football, which is what the offense is supposed to do. We're just supposed to hold onto it and put points on the board.
"Then the last one, really, it's a first-and-10 at the plus-35. There's 4:21 left to go in the game, it's a 17-10 ballgame. This is what it comes down to. As crappy as you could say we played, and turnovers, and all those things, we've still got a chance to win the game with 4:21 to go in the game. We don't make good decisions, so we get the ball down. ... We're striking. I'm already in my head thinking, 'We're on the road, do we go for two or not?' Are we going to get home at 4 o'clock in the morning, or 3:30 in the morning? What are we going to do?' So we get an illegal procedure, so it's first-and-15 at the 40, and that's when we throw our pick."
That's an awful lot of words to ultimately loosely describe four plays. While Narduzzi makes somewhat of a point regarding getting the ball into Louisville territory, isn't that just the minimum expectation and requirement from any offense?
Slovis had done more negative things for Pitt this season than he has positive, though each ends of the spectrum are reached within those parameters. We saw the drive near the end of the Backyard Brawl in which he was perfect on, and guided the Panthers down the field nearly with ease. That's the Kedon Slovis which excited the masses and put any early questions of him replacing Pickett to the side.
Then there has been the negative: Saturday.
(And the Georgia Tech game.)
Coaching does have something to do with this. Cignetti dialing in a couple of wildcat plays over the bye week was a cute idea -- for two of the 66 plays that Pitt ran against the Cardinals. Slovis still has to be put into position to succeed, and when he is, he has to deliver.
Lately, he has not been put into many positions to succeed (See: His receivers struggling to get open often, and facing five situations of third-and-10 or longer, out of 11 total third-down situations).
But it's obviously also on Slovis.
I watched the tape after I landed after attending a wedding in Texas between a couple of close and dear friends, and I paid attention to Slovis. He is still clearly holding onto the ball for far too long, he is making incorrect decisions, and he is clearly not seeing the field as well as he should be or could be, or like he used to.
It was become a recurring theme as of late, and while Narduzzi is doing what he believes is best, in the worst case, that could cost Pitt its season.
