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This is exactly what the final two games of a season going nowhere should be utilized for.
Even through the pomp and circumstance on a senior night, where those who paid their dues as part of a 2021 ACC Championship were sent off in their final home game as members of the Pitt football program, Pat Narduzzi moved forward with a business decision that could impact and shape the ebb and flow of the offseason he is about to begin in 10 days time.
It was Nate Yarnell, not Christian Veilleux or Phil Jurkovec, who commanded snaps under center in Pitt's 24-16 victory over Boston College Thursday evening at Acrisure Stadium. It was Yarnell who earned the nod in a "meaningless" game with one more remaining in this 2023 season. It was Yarnell who was allowed to put together his second start of in-game tape as means for analysis over the offseason.
In a short week, nonetheless.
"Hey, we can regret and we can look back and all of that, but there's no regrets," Narduzzi said. "We all can look backwards and it's part of the game. It's what it is. Nate's a good football player, as we know, and he's 2-0 as a starter. I told you all along, since August, we had faith in, really, all three quarterbacks, but guy's got to protect the ball and give us a chance to win. It was Nate tonight."
With the performance from Yarnell Thursday, all eyes are now on Panthers offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.
For the wrong reasons.
Here is the crown jewel of Yarnell's night. This Ben Roethlisberger-like pump-fake, look-off, and 61-yard bomb to Bub Means to put Pitt ahead 17-13 in the third quarter:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) November 17, 2023
Yarnell looked the most confident a Pitt quarterback has looked in 11 games this season. He was poised, withstood pressure, took his time to survey the field, read through his progressions, and threw the ball with a fearlessness and decisiveness that had been lacked from Veilleux or Jurkovec.
To be clear about this: Yarnell was not or is not the second coming of Tom Brady. Yarnell didn't have to be that in his first start since Pitt's game at Western Michigan last year.
In his second career start, Yarnell completed 11 of 19 passes for 207 yards, zero interceptions, and a 166.8 rating against the Eagles. He guided Pitt's offense to gaining 7.8 yards per play, 18.8 yards per completion, and 6.0 yards per carry.
"Short week of preparation, I just did my job," Yarnell said. "Coach got me ready, coach Cignetti and the whole offensive staff got me ready, I felt confident in this game."
Perhaps the only thing holding Yarnell back was Cignetti's oftentimes-conservative play-calling, especially in the second half. If not for a season-long 66-yard touchdown from Rodney Hammond with 4:29 left, this offense would have, again, been marked with struggles in allowing for Boston College to potentially mount a sustainable comeback.
But, don't mix together the coordinator's ability with Yarnell's performance. Yarnell engineered three offensive touchdowns Thursday. The Panthers scored three in their three previous games combined entering Thursday.
Starting Yarnell was a move that was anything-but-meaningless. Especially so because, according to a pregame report from the Post-Gazette, it was Narduzzi's call to insert his redshirt sophomore and the longest-tenured quarterback on his roster over Veilleux, the Penn State transfer who had started the previous five games and guided Pitt to its lone win over a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season entering Thursday. At the time, it appeared Veilleux would be the solution, but he struggled in the four games to follow.
Narduzzi said it was a "group decision" to start Yarnell. But ...
"It was pretty clear cut, and so Cignetti, myself, the staff (made the decision)," Narduzzi said.
So, yes, Narduzzi had to sign off on it. Narduzzi said in mid-September that he spends 80% of his time "in the defensive side of the room," and that Cignetti makes the final decision on the offensive personnel, including the quarterback.
Two things need to be thought of with this move.
One, if Narduzzi is the one who made this decision -- not Cignetti -- then the tea leaves read bad news for Cignetti's future at Pitt.
Two, if Narduzzi prefers Yarnell over Veilleux, then he has to commit to Yarnell for the season finale at Duke a week from Saturday.
And, it should be rubber-stamped by Narduzzi, just as the decision to Yarnell was ultimately made by him. After the game, in response to a direct question asking if Yarnell will start against Duke, Narduzzi somewhat played it off.
"I guess we'll see, right?" he said. "I would say he probably would, right? I mean, it's pretty simple. You protect the ball and you've got a chance to win."
If protecting the football was truly the nexus and the end-all, be-all of this decision, then that minimally seems shortsighted for a 3-8 football team with uncertainty going into the offseason. Narduzzi's original point of reasoning for starting Yarnell over Veilleux Thursday was rooted in that.
"Just protecting the ball. We've still got a lot of confidence in Christian, and he'll be ready to go. he's got to learn from his mistakes," Narduzzi said. "On Sunday we said we're going with Nate. Nate took all the snaps with the (first team) all week. Just felt like he'd go in and make really good decisions, which he did today. Protected the ball and gives you a chance to win the football game."
After all, this final game of the season coming up has to at least be a bit about setting up the offseason.
Logic would dictate this: If Narduzzi had the full confidence in Veilleux's ability going into the offseason, wouldn't it benefit him to have another game of staring experience under his belt?
This waffling over Veilleux and Yarnell doesn't suggest that with respect to Veilleux.
Yarnell also got the call over Jurkovec, the Boston College transfer who couldn't cut mustard as a quarterback at three FBS schools and will be remembered for his conversion to third-string tight end after failing to produce as hoped as a quarterback. This whole quarterback conundrum was complicated in the offseason when Jurkovec was brought in to -- in Cignetti's words -- compete with Kedon Slovis. Slovis wanted nothing to do with it and left for BYU, leaving Pitt stuck -- for a lack of a better word -- with Jurkovec.
Jurkovec sank. Veilleux floated with the win over now-No. 10 Louisville but lost four straight and showcased an ugly regression in Saturday's loss to Syracuse in Yankee Stadium.
Credit to Veilleux, though, as Yarnell considered him "phenomenal" in helping him prepare for Thursday's start.
"It's my job, doesn't matter if I'm fourth, fifth string, to be ready to go in the game," Yarnell said. "All season I made sure I was prepared for this moment ... That whole room (is) just a bunch of team players. We're all there for each other. I love those guys. (Veilleux) was nothing but helpful this week, and I couldn't be happier with the way he treated me."
Repeating, but more directly: Yarnell is a Narduzzi guy. Veilleux and Jurkovec are Cignetti guys.
The tea leaves are becoming clearer to read. Cignetti has been Pitt's offensive coordinator for two seasons. In both of those seasons, Pitt started three quarterbacks throughout the season. In 2022, Slovis, Yarnell, and Nick Patti started at least one game.
This also happened in 2017 in the Narduzzi era. Ben DiNucci, Max Browne, and Kenny Pickett were the three. Shawn Watson was the offensive coordinator in 2017 and 2018 before he was replaced by Mark Whipple.
Don't expect Watson or Whipple to walk back through that door, but don't rule out the idea of Cignetti being shown it, given the trends.
Remember that whole conundrum from last year? When Patti started the Sun Bowl and led Pitt to a win over a ranked UCLA? Yarnell was just inserted in favor of two Cignetti guys and has at least a chance to start the season finale.
That's a trend. Narduzzi benching Cignetti recruits Jurkovec and Veilleux in favor of Yarnell, who was not recruited by Cignetti, could be construed as coincidence or as an override.
This feels like, in moment, the latter.
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
Pitt (3-8, 2-5 ACC) concludes its season at Duke (6-4, 3-3) Nov. 25 in Durham, N.C. at a time to be determined at the conclusion of this week's ACC games. The kickoff time will either be at noon or 3 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium. I will have you covered for the finale a week from Saturday.
THE CONTENT
• Visit the Pitt team page for more from Acrisure Stadium.
