Narduzzi laments missed opportunities against UNC, preps for Marshall

Normally, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi likes to move on from a previous week’s game after 24 hours and focus his attention on the next match.

But after coming so close to a win over a quality opponent only to falter at the end for the second week in a row, he allowed time at his Monday press conference to reflect on what he thought went wrong.

Last weekend’s game was “another obviously tough loss on the road to a very talented football team in North Carolina,” Narduzzi said. “They made one more play than we did. There were a lot of critical plays in the game that could have gone our way.”

The offense racked up more than 35 points for the third straight game, but many thought it played too conservatively with a fourth-quarter lead while failing to pick up a first down on its final two possessions — a notion Narduzzi disagreed with.

“When you look at our offense, it’s really not conservative. There’s a lot of stuff going on and a lot of moving parts,” Narduzzi said. “The one thing [UNC] did well is they played great pass coverage. We wanted to take advantage of what they don’t do well, and I think we did. We ran the football well, just like we wanted to.”

Despite giving up 471 total yards on defense, the Panthers accomplished their goal of stopping the run to perfection.

Pitt held Tar Heels star tailback Elijah Hood to 25 yards on 11 carries and UNC to 18 rushing yards as a team. The Panthers’ defense now leads the ACC and ranks third in the nation with only 61.3 rushing yards allowed per game.

Narduzzi also seemed pleased with the way the defense played for the majority of the Tar Heels’ game-winning touchdown drive — just not with the way it ended.

“When you look at that 17-play drive at the end of the game — we always chart plays and mark each as a win or loss — 12 of those 17 plays were wins for us,” Narduzzi said. “They were really good. It only takes five of the 17 to be really bad.”

Narduzzi reiterated that North Carolina is a tough team to beat, especially at home, where the Tar Heels won their ninth consecutive game.

“That was a good football team. When a guy catches 16 balls, that’s not by accident,” Narduzzi said, referring to UNC wide receiver Ryan Switzer. “He’s talented — the quarterback [Mitch Trubisky]’s talented. We’ll just move on and go to the next.”

Narduzzi had no complaints about his team’s energy level during the game. If anything, he thought the Panthers might have been a little too excited to try to knock off last year’s ACC Coastal Division champion.

“We’re moving on to Marshall, but one thing I’d say about that game is that I thought our guys had a ton of energy,” Narduzzi said. “Pre-game, I thought some guys were going to get hurt. It was like they were going live pre-game.”

Pitt tight end Scott Orndoff said he doesn’t think that was a factor in the team’s loss.

“For our team, I don’t think there’s such a thing as being too hyped,” Orndoff said. “I thought everyone was locked in … The coaches didn’t need to get us fired up that day.”

Moving forward to Saturday night’s matchup against Marshall at Heinz Field, Narduzzi hinted that there might be some shuffling to the depth chart but didn’t specify where.

“You might see one or two [changes]. I don’t know if it will help things,” Narduzzi said. “There’s always time to shake things up a little bit, and we’ll shake things up.”

There should be at least one welcome change on defense for Pitt next week with the return of outside linebacker Mike Caprara, who missed last Saturday’s game with an unspecified lower-body injury.

“Mike is fine now. Maybe we could have used him [against UNC], but it wasn’t worth the risk to us,” Narduzzi said. “We expect him to play this week.”

Caprara’s return could provide a huge boost to the Panthers’ defense. The senior has been one of the team’s top defensive playmakers this season with seven total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and two forced fumbles in the Panthers’ first three games.

Narduzzi said he knows both Marshall offensive coordinator Bill Legg and defensive coordinator Chuck Heater well, having run clinics with Heater in the past. He expects a tough challenge from the Thundering Herd, who have averaged 11 wins over the past three seasons.

“[Heater is] one of the top minds in college football on the defensive side of the ball,” Narduzzi said. “They’re talented across the board.”