Pitt announces times for first two home games

Pitt announced on Tuesday that it finalized times for its first two home games of the 2020 season.

They will open the season at home against Austin Peay on Saturday, September 12th at 4:00PM. Their second game against Syracuse has been announced to be on Saturday, September 19th at 12:00PM.

Austin Peay lost its season opener 24-17 in an away game to Central Arkansas. Pat Narduzzi commented on Tuesday via Zoom on the urgency felt by him and the team with their opening game less than two weeks away.

"You get a little bit of a wakeup call when you watch some ball on Saturday night at nine o'clock," Narduzzi said about how he's been feeling lately. "I've really felt good for the last week since the NCAA gave a free year for our guys and eliminated questions as far as how many games they could play. That helped our kids feel a lot better about this season. The urgency is there, I see it in practice. We gave the players an introduction to their opponent with some Austin Peay periods in meetings as we worked out their depth chart, who they are and what they do. Preparations have begun."

After watching Austin Peay play last week, Narduzzi made his observations from what he saw from his first opponent in their opening game.

"They're very athletic" Narduzzi said of the 0-1 Governors. "They fly around and play hard. Their offensive coordinator is a guy from Youngstown, Ohio, Tim Zetts. He was at Mississippit State prior to that. Their roster is full of transfers, it looks like they got a slew of transfers from Mississippi State and a transfer running back from Ohio State. They're talented all over the place, don't let FCS fool you, they're a tough football team."

The transfer he mentions is Brian Snead, who played for Ohio State in 2018, running for 37 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. He transferred to Iowa Western in 2019, where he recorded 364 yards and eight touchdowns on 92 carries over eight games. He had the most carries for Austin Peay in their opener, taking 13 rushes for 43 yards.

Narduzzi continued about Austin Peay's offense and how Pitt's already been preparing for their offensive schemes.

"He's done a great job on offense," Narduzzi continued about Zett's job as coordinator. "They're playing fast and using the triple option which is something we worked on today. It's very similar to Georgia Tech, except for the quarterback being in shotgun and not under center. But I see an athletic, hungry, aggressive football team."

As protests for civil rights and social justice continue to be highlighted in sports, Alabama head coach Nick Saban led a march with his Alabama players across their campus.

When Narduzzi was asked if his team would be taking any action, he said nothing's been finalized but that they will have a statement of some sort ready for the opener.

"We'll have something gametime" Narduzzi said. "I wish we had an answer already as far as what we're going to do as a football team. I want to be unified as a team and have one message. We'll have something, whether it's from the NCAA, ACC or Pitt. That's all we have planned right now but we take it day by day. It's not a thing on a calendar, but if things start to change and our kids have ideas, I'm going to support them 100 percent."