Narduzzi: Pitt ready for Austin Peay's triple option taken on the North Shore (Pitt)

PITT

Pat Narduzzi

Don't tell Pat Narduzzi that Austin Peay poses no threat to Pitt. Even with the 0-1 Governors coming to Heinz Field to play 4 p.m. on Saturday as an FCS team, they present more than enough football challenges.

Last year Austin Peay finished 11-4, going on a seven game win streak from October to December before eventually losing in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. They lost 17-24 to Central Arkansas on August 30, but during the game they had a 75-yard touchdown run out of a triple option offense from running back C.J. Evans.

Narduzzi said via Zoom on Thursday that Pitt is familiar with facing such an offense, recalling the program's recent matchups with Georgia Tech and Duke.

"We've gone against those teams before in the past," Narduzzi said of Austin Peay's offense. "We've beat Georgia Tech three out of four years, probably should've been them four out of four. We have to go into a different mode where we slow down a little bit. Our stances will help us. We'll be in these little froggy looking stances because we don't want to attack. You have to play lateral in that game and keep linebackers as clean as you can. But we've been pretty good at doing it. It's not foreign to our coaches and players. We did it just last year against Duke too. It's a little different because it's all shotgun, but I feel good about our package."

Offenses like Austin Peay force defensive fronts to be more disciplined and be more mindful of working laterally. Here's an example of how Evans broke his 75-yard touchdown against Central Arkansas on the first play of the game. The objective of the formation is to create misdirection chaos to slow down defenders and give the offense the chance blow past them.

Notice how the edge defender for Central Arkansas gives up the outside, opening up Austin Peay's left sideline. The offense even pulls their left guard to the right side of the play to confuse the linebackers:


Pitt held Georgia Tech to rushing 86 yards on 29 carries and Duke to 123 rushing yards on 44 carries last season. Between the two offenses that were the most similar to these concepts from Austin Peay, that means they allowed an average of 2.9 yards per carry. If Pitt does that Saturday, they'll be in a very good spot.

Narduzzi talked about a few players that stood out to him who his team will be prepared to face, including senior defensive back Kordell Jackson.

"Kordell Jackson is a football player," Narduzzi said. "He pops off the tape and popped of the TV in their opener. He can probably play anywhere in the country. He really stands out. Josephus Smith, No. 44, they're defensive tackle is really tough and didn't play last week so he's biting at the bit."

Narduzzi says his team is ready after a strong week of practice, emphasizing the program's efforts to make sure players are as ready as possible to step into an empty Heinz Field.

"We had a good week of practice," Narduzzi said. "Our kids are excited to get this thing started and find out what kind of football team we have. There's always some anxious moments prior to a game where you just don't know what you have and how these guys will react to an empty stadium. The pregame is going to be quiet and different. We haven't had a chance to get into Heinz Field yet, and some freshmen who haven't even set foot in there yet. We've got a little walkthrough rehearsal tomorrow so they can get used to their surroundings. We're ready to roll."

Knowing that a lot of the discipline to stop Austin Peay's offense will be focused on the guys up front, Narduzzi noted his younger defensive linemen have been practicing well and taking on the first game week of the season in stride.

"They've done a nice job," Narduzzi said of his young defensive linemen. "Devin Danielson's been good, David Green's been good, and Tyler Bentley's been really good. Kalijah Cancey, you might see him more on third downs. He might not be a run stuffer right now but he's definitely a pass rushing specialist kind of like Jaylen Twyman. He's got a twitch to him. Those guys had a good week of practice. They adjusted to a game plan. I tell them, 'you're not playing Pittsburgh.' This is game week. It's game conditions and it's adjusting to a different offense every week. Even though they're an 11 personnel team, they're always doing something different. There's always an adjustment and different things our defense has to listen to weekly there to watch pre-snap."

Narduzzi Notes

• Narduzzi noted on Monday how Pitt will have four sessions of COVID-19 testing on Sundays, Wednesdays and two on Friday. On Thursday, he provided more context on the testing and how the first week has worked out, explaining the anxieties of both the players and coaches before their first game.

"Sunday's tests went really good," Narduzzi said. "I'm going to talk about all the results. We feel good, but it's still scary. I hate going into another test where we test on Friday and we're sitting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, are we going to know? I don't like that at all. We need some rapid testing because there's going to be some anxious players. I don't think it's good for anybody. I'm going to have an ulcer after game two. I'm a worry-wart, this is one thing we never had to worry about and now we have to worry about this."

Part of the anxiety for Narduzzi is that question of a rapid turnaround. As the team practiced Thursday, they still don't have the results from Wednesday's tests. Something that looms on his mind, but can't afford to slow the program down and won't be something he discloses right away.

"We're still waiting for results on Wednesday's tests," Narduzzi said. "We're hoping to get something in the next 24 hours. We test again tomorrow between noon and 2 o'clock. I've wondered how we're going to do this, because I don't talk about injuries. I don't want to announce anything until game time. One of the reasons we don't talk injuries is because we don't want to feed into gambling since its been legalized more than its ever been and we don't want our kids gambling."

Narduzzi also noted how the testing worked. Coaches would be tested first very early in the morning, then players, alternating between offense and defense.

"Wednesday's test was in the morning," Narduzzi said of the team's COVID-19 testing. "Between 6:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. all our staff is done that has to worry about practice. Then we would put the players in and that would let us flip our meetings. When the offense tests, the defense meets. That was all done before 8 a.m., and we still don't have those results. That's through Bio-Reference in New Jersey. Friday's test will be through MAKO. It's a fast turnaround, but I guess we test, they throw them on a private plane and they're zipped away."

Narduzzi further explained how Bio-Reference is the company Pitt and the Steelers use, while the ACC contracted MAKO for the Friday tests.

"MAKO is through the ACC," Narduzzi explained. "Friday's test is an ACC test that everybody has to do. Austin Peay will test in the hangar at the Pittsburgh airport when they get here. Each university has their own testing agency. We tag along with the Steelers. If you drive by the Steelers' building you'll see there's a lab right in front of their building that their players use from Bio-Reference. We go along with that. But each university for the Sunday and Wednesday tests pick their company they want to use."

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