NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Sometimes the quiet part is accidentally said out loud.
This was Pat Narduzzi said after Pitt's 58-7 beatdown at the hands of No. 14 Notre Dame Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium: "Obviously, the team's going through a tough situation right now. We're not playing as good, we've got a lot of young football players out there. We'll stick together as a football team, we'll lock back in. ... When you lose like you lost today, you had a tough one last week, why is it? I'll go back as a football coach ... you lose a lot of football players a year ago, you think as a coach you're going to replace them, we obviously haven't. It starts with me. I didn't do a good enough job of coaching today. Put it on me. We've got to make plays. It comes down to making plays and doing a better job of coaching."
The full video for full context:
Calijah Kancey, SirVocea Dennis, Brandon Hill, Erick Hallett, Haba Baldonado, and Deslin Alexandre are not coming back. And, it is crystal clear that any of the six-plus players trying to replace them are not good enough to do so.
It is crystal clear from the standpoint of what was just displayed here.
Throw the stats and the boxscore out of the window. There is no questioning the collapse of this Pitt program from its days of the 2021 ACC Championship. The developmental pieces that Narduzzi has made a living off of are not developing for these 2023 Panthers. The employment of the offensive coordinator needs to come into question. Narduzzi's recruiting and the players he sought to replace those ACC champions have to be reviewed closely. This is a far, far removed program from being champions of the ACC two years ago.
No matter how much Narduzzi wanted to try to save face, his spoken comments are what needed to be left unsaid. Throwing players under the bus is not OK anywhere, professional or college. He took what is typically an unorthodox and zany approach o his program and cranked the dial up to one million by saying what he said.
And, then, on the X app nearly an hour after the conclusion of his press conference, he felt it apropos to walk his comment back:
I am 100% responsible for today’s loss. Like I said after the game, it starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job coaching today. Put it on me! I remain committed to finishing the season strong with our team!
— Pat Narduzzi (@CoachDuzzPittFB) October 29, 2023
Too late.
A reporter on the scene tweeted a misquoted version of Narduzzi's point about losing "a lot of football players" and how "we obviously haven't" replaced them. A fair amount of Narduzzi's current players re-posted that reporter's erroneous tweet with their own commentary:
• Rodney Hammond: "? Crazy world"
• M.J. Devonshire: (eye-roll emoji)
• Bub Means: "Damn kuhh dats flaw" (Translation: That's tough.)
• Gavin Bartholomew: "……."
• Solomon DeShields: "dam bruh" with a broken heart emoji
• Javon McIntyre: "huh" with a thinking emoji
• Daniel Carter: "Wow" with an eye-roll emoji
• Jordan Bass: "..."
Redshirt senior Brandon George took the high road after the game.
"They're great players. Obviously they're fulfilling their dreams playing at the next level, but you've just kind of have to focus on the here and now, what we can improve upon here," George said. "The diligence in practice, we've got to make sure we continue to be diligent in practice, attack every day like it's our last day playing football, really focus on the fundamentals.
"... I think they're a great group of young guys. I think they've helped us a lot along the way, especially with the depth portion of it. They've gotten in and made some serious plays for us. Really it's all about, for us, so far, it's a lead-by-example. There's not a lot of stuff that needs to go into it. They're always paying attention, they're always focused, their attention to detail is great consistently and they always attack the day like it's their last."
The Panthers had to replace a Heisman trophy finalist in Kenny Pickett, the 2022 ACC rushing champion Israel Abanikanda, Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison, 1,000-yard receiver Jared Wayne, and NFL left tackle Carter Warren on offense over the last two seasons. On defense, in addition to the six aforementioned players, cornerback Damarri Mathis was picked in the 2022 NFL Draft.
So, yes, there actually is some merit to what Narduzzi said. The 2021 ACC championship roster was built. As in, literally built. This era of college football demands quicker builds than when Narduzzi started his tenure at Pitt. The transfer portal is not the end-all, be-all for college football recruiting, but it sure has transformed how winning programs are built. Taking the time to recruit, sign, and develop players is Narduzzi's calling card. This era of college football zigs differently while Narduzzi zags.
The case in point is right at the top of the depth chart. The post-Pickett era kicked off with two failed transfer portal grabs in Kedon Slovis and Phil Jurkovec, and now Narduzzi has been forced to go against the grain by playing redshirt sophomore transfer Christian Veilleux sooner than he wanted to.
Veilleux threw four interceptions Saturday. Two of them were directly to Xavier Watts, and a third was outright his fault.
"Didn't play the type of football, the level of football that I want to showcase," Veilleux said. "I think I've got to go back and watch the film. Made too many mistakes today and a lot of it I should've just either taken a sack or scrambled. It's all on me and I take full responsibility for it, but just got to move on, get better, and just learn."
Credit to Veilleux for owning up to his mistakes -- ones he has time and room to grow from -- but too many of these Panthers made too many mistakes in front of a hungry and elite Notre Dame team.
And, to make matters worse, it appeared that Pitt's players quit throughout the second half. Notre Dame scored 41 of its points in the final 30 minutes as evidence of that.
Even when Pitt wanted to punch back on Sunday, it couldn't. There was no oomph behind the swing. Anything Pitt wanted to attempt was destined to fail. This Notre Dame team is just that talented. This Notre Dame team was one play away from beating Ohio State on this same field, and it is the same Notre Dame team that blew out Southern California by 28 points two weeks ago on this field before going on an open week.
Then it went from bad to worse:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSvideos) October 28, 2023
A muffed punt by Devonshire, one of the heart and souls of this team and one who is proud to represent his home town Panthers. Touchdown Notre Dame. A 37-0 lead against a packed-in Panthers. Then came 21 more points, even with a backup quarterback in the game for the entirety of the fourth quarter.
"Just one thing after another," Narduzzi said. "It snowballs a little bit but we've got to make plays. They did a good job on defense. Give them credit. They beat down Southern Cal two weeks ago, had an open week, had two weeks to prepare for us, and were fresh."
Credit is due to Notre Dame, but he said what he said about his own players.
Now, the consequences are sure to follow in some fashion. Whether that is through current players jumping ship into the transfer portal as early as this midseason or current commits pulling their names out of the Panthers' mix, some repercussion will be felt because of this earthquake of a comment made in a post-game moment.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Team feed
• Scoreboard
• Schedule
• Standings
• Statistics
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Out for the season: G Ryan Jacoby (leg), OT Matt Goncalves (foot), DB Rashad Battle (foot).
THE SCHEDULE
There is no time for Pitt to lick their wounds. No. 4 Florida State visits Acrisure Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. I will have you covered.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page for more from Notre Dame Stadium.
