Joey Yellen made his starting debut at quarterback for Pitt in its 31-19 loss to Miami at Hard Rock Stadium last Saturday. He finished completing 22 of 36 passes for 277 passing yards, one touchdown pass while taking three sacks.
That wasn't bad for making his first ACC start against the No. 13 team in the country, but after Pat Narduzzi spoke Thursday, it's looking like he'll have an even tougher test against No. 3 Notre Dame 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Heinz Field.
Narduzzi likes to play everything close to the chest about who might start for his team any given week, not giving out much information about injuries and leaving questions about whether any starter might miss a game. That happened last week when Kenny Pickett was not listed on the team's travel roster before playing Miami due to an ankle injury despite no announcement of Pickett missing the game.
Pitt's head coach is trying to keep it a guessing game again this week, but it's looking more certain that Yellen will be the starter again this weekend.
"I'm going to back and watch practice tape from today, but I've got a pretty good idea," Narduzzi said when asked if he's settled on a starter at quarterback for this week. But the more Narduzzi spoke on the quarterback situation, the more it seemed like Yellen was his guy.
"I don't think it's a disadvantage this week because they've seen both quarterbacks in what they do," Narduzzi continued. "They know who Joey is and Joey's the guy. I think they have a pretty good idea of what they're going to see. I think the element of not knowing who it is and what it is, maybe it's Davis Beville? Maybe it's Kenny Pickett? Who knows?"
Whether or not it's official that Yellen is starting is still a guessing game. But based off what Narduzzi said about needing to watch today's practice tape over, you can guess for yourself who he's leaning to pick.
""He's doing a great job," Narduzzi said of Yellen's week at practice. "He looked pretty good last week and I'd say this week he looks just as good or better. He's confident. Joey is [even-keel] every single day. He doesn't throw many bad passes and when he does he stays after practice to work on whatever route he missed and hit it before he leaves the field. He's detailed and very conscious of what he's doing and how he's doing it. He's worked on ball security in the pocket because he knows that was a weakness last week and he wanted to be strong there this week."
Narduzzi also played down the idea of keeping it a secret this week that Yellen would start, saying that now with Notre Dame seeing him in Pitt's offense all last week that it's not as big an impact to conceal his starter. But that doesn't mean he's going to officially name anyone two days before the game.
"Not really," Narduzzi said when asked how big of a help it is to Pitt for opponents to not know the starting quarterback. "I don't think there's that big of a difference. It's just who it is. Don't make too much of a quarterback deal. It's just about knowing who they are in the pocket. As far as schematically, every week we've got different change ups. They still don't know what routes and concepts we'll have because that changes. Knowing who pulls the trigger is the trick. Sometimes the fear of the unknown can be a factor that keeps them guessing."
If Yellen is the starter, he's up against an even more aggressive defense than last week. Notre Dame ranks first in ACC scoring defense, third in total yards allowed and rushing yards allowed and second in passing yards allowed.
As Narduzzi mentioned earlier, Yellen's biggest mistake against Miami came when he held onto the ball too long. Here you can see him get sacked by Quincy Roche and Jaelen Phillips as he turned the ball over in the third quarter. He tried to step up in the pocket but didn't sense the pressure still coming and lost the ball:
One aspect Narduzzi hopes to help negate that issue comes from added protection from his running backs.
"Obviously Todd Sibley's the best back there and him and A.J. Davis are the best in protection back there," Narduzzi said of his backfield. "You'll probably see them more in passing downs as well. Vincent Davis is good in protection as well. He's a little guy but he's not afraid to chop you or stand up and take it. But it starts with the protection of the offensive line and knowing where you are and where the protection is being slid. If there's man protection, what type of it protection is it? We can obviously be a lot better."
The other aspect Yellen must consider is Notre Dame's coverage unit. Though the Irish only have one interception through four games, their 20 pass breakups show a unit that can move around and attack the ball to stop opportunities for big plays.
"They have a lot of breakups," Narduzzi said of Notre Dame's pass defense. "They break on the ball well and they'll play a lot of quarters to the field, half field to the boundary and sometimes all four quarters. Picks are not easy to get. Sometimes you don't get them while playing base and you can change it up and then get more, but then you open yourself to other vulnerabilities."
That may cause Yellen to have to hold onto the ball more, leading to the issue that helped Miami break the game open last week. But Yellen also showed several instances where he was confident moving his feet to extend plays while keeping his eyes focused downfield to find open receivers.
Watch how he works his way out of the pocket here to keep processing the field. His first read was running a comeback on the sideline but was taken away, yet he makes time to work through his progressions and find Shocky Jacques-Louis on a deep in route for a 19-yard gain. He even takes a big hit just as the ball comes out:
That's toughness and he's going to need that against Notre Dame as well. It's also something that Narduzzi expects to see with Notre Dame bringing a lot of pressure when Pitt's offense gets into the red zone.
"When we get down in the red zone we expect to see pressure," Narduzzi said. "We've got to pick it up, get the ball out and catch them off guard with some runs this week."
Yellen does look capable of dealing with pressure despite the three times he was sacked and the fumble he lost. Miami consistently brought pressure against him as the Hurricanes are more built on the pressure created throughout games. Miami's defense ranks sixth in the ACC in sacks while Notre Dame ranks 13th, which could be encouraging for Yellen to perform better against the Irish's pressure on Saturday.
Here's another example of Yellen handling pressure well, as Miami sends five rushers with an extra spy, but doesn't rattle Yellen. Instead he moves his launch spot to his right to get a better look at Jordan Addison on his drag route to convert on third down and keep the drive alive:
Yellen's game so far has been about not making the huge mistake that leads to an interception. Against a defense like Notre Dame that hasn't created as much pressure or forced as many turnovers, that might play into his favor.
But where Yellen has to avoid costly mistakes is if he feels Pitt in desperation mode because of how consistent Notre Dame's defense has been this season. Despite being low on interceptions and sacks, Notre Dame's defense has been the best in the ACC so far. That means Yellen is most likely going to have to put together long sustained drives to get Pitt on the board.
Like I said, another tough test for the freshman.
• Narduzzi did provide some positive insight when it comes to injuries saying that defensive tackle Keyshon Camp would be back and ready to go Saturday.
"Keyshon's had a nice week in practice," Narduzzi said. "You'll see number ten out there."
Camp had missed the three previous games due to injury and could bring stability to a young interior defensive line. Narduzzi also said that Israel "Izzy" Abanikanda should be ready to play Saturday.