Takeaways | Pitt football’s offense lost its juice

Pitt football lost a controversial game to a Virginia team that lost three consecutive games before Saturday. As much as Pitt fans want to complain about the officials’ debacle, Pitt should have never put itself in the position it was. 

Offense is not the same

Pitt scored 19 points against one of the worst defenses in the ACC. Coming into the game, Virginia allowed 27.6 points per game which is the fourth worst in the ACC. In the Cavaliers’ last two games against Clemson and North Carolina, the Virginia defense allowed 89 points.

The only teams to score less than the Panthers against Virginia were Boston College — who has the No. 13 scoring offense in the ACC — and FCS school Richmond.

Virginia is most vulnerable against the pass. On average, it allowed 275.1 yards per game before Saturday — second worst in the ACC. Pitt threw for just 165 yards. That’s inexcusable against a putrid pass defense. It shouldn’t have mattered who the Panthers had under center — either QB should have torched the Virginia defense.

Richmond was the only team to throw for fewer yards than Pitt did against Virginia. Coastal Carolina lost its star quarterback to the transfer portal this offseason and still threw for more yards against Virginia than Pitt did. As a matter of fact, the Chanticleers passed for almost double the amount Pitt could throw against the suspect Virginia defense.

The Panthers only had two effective drives all game long. One was a 12-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:41 and ended in a touchdown rush for sixth-year running back Daniel Carter. The other was a 12-play, 86-yard drive that took 4:21 and finished in a touchdown catch for senior tight end Gavin Bartholomew. 

“That’s what happens when we run an efficient offense,” Bartholomew said on the last touchdown drive. “Everyone gets lined up fast, that’s the biggest thing for us … continuing at a good pace, cause that throws a defense off. We play our best when we are fast. We just got to be better at that.”

Pitt fans have heard about how fast offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s offense moved ad nauseam. Bell’s offense moved how it was supposed to for only two drives on Saturday. 

If the offense wants to figure itself out, it needs to start moving quickly. When it slows down, the offense often stalls out.

Penalties

After a blowout loss to SMU, Pitt came out and elected to receive on the opening kickoff, something head coach Pat Narduzzi doesn’t usually do. He showed confidence in his offense to get the Panthers off to a hot start.

Instead, his offense committed two penalties, and the punt team then committed a false start to add insult to injury. On one drive, the Panthers went backward 12 yards because of stupid penalties. The Panthers finished the game with 11 penalties for 75 yards — not the response Narduzzi was looking for, but he took responsibility for it. 

“I wish they were more focused, for sure,” Narduzzi said. “Put that on me.”

The Panthers needed to respond after a crushing loss last week with a clean football game. Instead, the opposite happened. 

What now?

The College Football Playoff is now out of the picture for the Panthers. But they still have important games in front of them. Senior night against a ranked Clemson team is this week. Pitt will play another ranked opponent in Louisville the following week, and the team has a chance to earn Pitt a 10-win season — something Pitt football was desolate of since 2009 prior to the 2021 season.