Pat Narduzzi admitted to being witness to a little bit of “dancing and celebrating” in Pitt’s Kenan Stadium locker room after the 34-24 victory towards North Carolina.
He even made point out on his postgame interview — by way of 93.7 FM — of the topic he repeatedly averted within the days main as much as the sport: Pitt’s 0-7 report in Chapel Hill, N.C., earlier than Saturday, now shoved into meaningless historical past.
“I made sure I mentioned it after the game in the locker room,” he stated, relaying what he stated to his gamers after they improved to 5-0 of their ACC opener. “To come down here and finally get a win, it’s been awhile.”
Then, there was this important admission from a coach who beforehand insisted, at 4-0, his crew hadn’t achieved something.
“We have a (heckuva) football team.”
Pitt and quarterback Eli Holstein are beginning to hit milestones that point out this is likely to be extra than simply one other unremarkable season.
Holstein, a redshirt freshman, accomplished 25 of 42 passes for 381 yards and wasn’t sacked. Plus, he was his crew’s main rusher with 10 carries, 76 yards and the decisive, tiebreaking 3-yard landing run early within the fourth quarter.
“They were playing some man coverage, and nobody was really accounting for me,” he stated of his willingness to run.
Meanwhile, Holstein broke a 45-year Pitt freshman single-game report for passing yards (Alex Van Pelt towards West Virginia in 1989).
Perhaps much more spectacular, he turned the primary Pitt quarterback to win his first 5 begins “since one Dan Marino,” as govt affiliate athletic director E.J. Borghetti remarked throughout Narduzzi’s postgame information convention.
Said Holstein: “I guess I’m in pretty good company. Hopefully, I can keep doing what he did.”
Pitt is 5-0 for the primary time since 1991, however let’s not get carried away, regardless that Holstein was accountable for 457 of Pitt’s 523 complete yards (87.4%) and all 4 touchdowns in his second street victory towards an influence convention crew. When the offense stalled, Ben Sauls kicked two subject targets to run his season streak to 9 for 9.
Holstein accomplished passes to seven gamers, led by operating again Desmond Reid (11 catches, 155 yards, one landing).
Another victory for Holstein within the eyes of his teammates: He threw a pick-6 within the first quarter and took full blame for it.
“My fault,” he stated. “They performed zone (protection). I used to be sort of pondering man. I pressured it, man (UNC defensive again Kaleb Cost, who took it 84 yards) made an ideal play and undercut it. Bad reads.
“I have to learn from it. Bad stuff is going to happen. You have to move on. It’s not the last play. The next play is the most important play.”
“The quarterback is real good,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown stated of Holstein. “Made all the difference in the world.”
Narduzzi took the adjectives a step additional.
“Eli is spectacular. Threw that pick-6 early, didn’t faze him at all,” he stated.
Narduzzi referred to as the sport a “complete team win,” noting the protection reached its purpose of permitting solely 17 factors. Although North Carolina (3-3, 0-2) recorded 416 yards (147 on the bottom), the Pitt protection made probably the most clutch play of the sport.
With Pitt clinging to a 31-24 lead after the rating had been tied 3 times at 10, 17 and 24, North Carolina was in search of a fourth tie with 9 minutes, 14 seconds to play. Facing fourth down on the Pitt 8 with lower than a yard to go for a primary down, Brown turned to a participant he believed was his finest guess — operating again Omarion Hampton, the main rusher within the ACC.
Pitt’s protection, which had no interceptions and didn’t report a sack till linebacker Kyle Louis obtained one with 1:11 left, stepped up when it mattered most. Hampton, who completed the sport with 106 yards on the bottom, crashed into the center of the road and was stopped for no acquire. It was North Carolina’s sixth play on fourth down and its fourth failure.
Middle linebacker Brandon George and Louis obtained credit score for the cease on the official play-by-play sheet, however there have been many our bodies resisting Hampton’s advance.
Among them was defensive deal with Sean FitzSimmons (Central Valley), enjoying for the primary time this season after getting harm in coaching camp.
“I just did my job,” he stated. “Good things happen.”
What his job?
“Cause havoc.”
After an official overview, Pitt took the ball and picked up six first downs earlier than the drive stalled on the North Carolina 19. Sauls kicked a 37-yard subject purpose for a 34-24 lead with 2:01 remaining. Louis’ sack sealed it.
With the sport on the road, Pitt’s offense burned greater than seven minutes off the clock.
“You have to love that tick-tock on that drive,” Narduzzi stated.
It was a departure from Pitt’s earlier tendency to attain shortly. The Panthers’ first two landing drives within the second quarter — ending in 7- and 30-yard receptions by C.J. Lee and Pappi Williams — took 93 and 76 seconds, respectively.
After the sport, Holstein talked to ESPN2 and credited everybody from Narduzzi to the gear guys.
Aware that Pitt has received three tight video games towards energy convention groups and discovering new methods to win every week, the quarterback simply smiled and stated, “We like to keep it interesting.”
Jerry DiPaola is a TribStay reporter overlaying Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a duplicate editor and web page designer within the sports activities division and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He may be reached at [email protected].
