TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In a game where Pitt needed to play to its identity and strengths to stop the season from spiraling out of control, Pat Narduzzi's Panthers did exactly that behind a resilient performance from his aggressive defense.
The defensive unit led the charge that turned a 14-3 first-quarter deficit into a 41-17 rout of Florida State on Saturday at Doak Campbell Stadium. The first road win of the season brought the Panthers' record to 4-4, 3-4 in the ACC, and snapped a four-game losing streak.
The preview I wrote of this game noted for Pitt to get back on track, it had to reassert itself with its strengths. And that obvious strength is its defensive front, and it feeds into the success of the secondary.
That certainly was the case for a group that finished with seven sacks, tying the team's season high against Louisville and 14 tackles for loss. Pitt also produced three interceptions, tying another season-high, with one of those returned for a touchdown. The defensive performance sparked a comeback when the Panthers were on the ropes in the first quarter.
Florida State burst to a 14-3 lead after Jordan Travis took a quarterback option 88 yards for a score with 5:11 left in the first quarter. In the Seminoles' first two drives, they traveled 170 yards on 13 plays, finishing both with touchdowns.
After another three-and-out by Pitt's offense, the defense emerged with several big plays.
"Heck of a team win," Narduzzi said. "I'm awful proud of our football team. Things could've fell in and collapsed during that first quarter. But our kids played hard and played with energy. There are a lot of little things we have to clean up in that second half, but I'm awful proud of our football team."
The defensive effort that followed in Pitt's comeback was something to be proud of, as it changed the tone of the game. From the remaining 12 drives, Florida State only would gain 137 yards over 64 plays. Pitt's defense went from averaging 13 yards allowed per snap during the first two drives to 2.1 yards per play the rest of the game.
It took Pitt making big plays from all around their defense to create such a huge turnaround.
The first of which came from cornerback A.J. Woods making his second start of the season. He would play the top of a curl route, but on a misfire from Travis, Woods took advantage of it by snagging the interception and getting Pitt a short field that would lead to the team's first score:
The interception was Woods' first of his collegiate career, and Pitt's offense would follow up that play with another first for quarterback Nick Patti when he rushed for his first collegiate rushing touchdown.
"They did some things we hadn't seen, but we made some great adjustments from our defensive staff on the sideline," Narduzzi said when describing the first-quarter struggles. "That's how the game is played. They're always going to try something you're not prepared for, but our kids showed up and played their tails off. It's all about the players today."
After the interception, Kenny Pickett led the offense inside the 5. There, Mark Whipple drew up a spread formation in the red zone that forced Florida State to get thin in the middle of its defense, where Patti was able to charge in on a designed quarterback draw:
Patti would get another score like that later in the game, something that Narduzzi joked that Pickett wasn't happy about, but a necessary game plan drawn up by Mark Whipple.
"Coach Whipple knew we didn't want to run Kenny too much," Narduzzi said when asked who drew up the quarterback draw plays. "Kenny was mad at the end of the game when we put Nick in there on those two runs. He yelled at me, 'don't take me off the field!' That's what he's all about, but we're trying to keep him safe. We have a lot of faith in Nick Patti."
Pickett chuckled when asked about it, emphasizing that he's just a competitor who wants the ball in his hands in the biggest moments.
"It's just the competitor in me," Pickett said. "You don't want the ball taken out of your hands. You want the rock in those kind of moments. Nick did a good job with the plan we had for him. It was the plan we had all week -- get us down close and then let him run it in."
In his first game back since his injury against Boston College, Pickett completed 21 of 27 passes for 210 yards, including three rushes for 13 yards with a 10-yard touchdown scramble.
But it wasn't just an interception that sparked Pitt's comeback, it was the unrelenting pressure on Travis.
That charge was led by linebacker SirVocea Dennis, who finished with seven tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. He made sure to credit the Panthers' front four for being the catalyst of the defense.
"He was jumping around and all over the place," Dennis said of Florida State's quarterback. "We have a good front four and we try to get after him every play. That's what we do as a defense."
Playing behind Dennis was safety Brandon Hill who made his first collegiate start Saturday to replace Paris Ford, who opted out on the season during the week. Hill also finished with seven tackles, tying Dennis for the team lead, as well as a pass breakup and an interception returned for a touchdown. Hill credited Dennis and the players in front of him for helping settle the game down after giving up two quick scores.
"Those two first scores we gave up, they were going quick and up-tempo and that got us flustered a little bit," Hill said. "But as soon as we got the game going, we slowed it all down. We have a great group of guys on this defense. As the game continued, we got to playing our ball and that slowed it all down for us."
That's the essence of this Pitt team. It needs the defensive front to take over games with consistent pressure, stopping the run and setting the tone so that the opposing offense is unsettled. That hadn't been the case in the team's four straight losses, but it certainly took over this game.
"That was a big emphasis we had this week," Dennis said. "We had to bring the swag back to our defense. We had to be ourselves and have fun while doing it. That's what I felt we did out there once we got to make a couple adjustments."
Here's one of those sacks where you can see the initial pressure and the follow through of the Panthers' defenders flying to the ball and challenging the quarterback to move in the pocket.It forces him to take his eyes from looking downfield and be concerned with the pressure right in front of him.
Watch how Dennis starts this play with pressure up the middle. He forces Travis to bail on the pocket and scramble to buy time, but even after dodging Dennis, he has to deal with pressure from Habakkuk Baldonado. When the quarterback dips away from Baldonado, Dennis has already gotten back up from missing the sack the first time and finished the play:
And when the pressure comes up front, the solid and aggressive play of the secondary follows.
Pitt's secondary finished the game with three interceptions, tying the team's season-high from its win over Louisville. Those interceptions came from Woods, Damar Hamlin to open the second half, and then Hill for the final score that put the game away.
Both Narduzzi and defensive coordinator Randy Bates expressed their collective confidence in Hill replacing Ford, and he delivered in a big way.
Watch how Hill is able to work within the disguised coverage, and then adjusts back to the play. You can see he's lined up on the right side of the secondary, signaling he's covering the right side of a cover 2 deep zone. But at the snap of the ball, Hill drops into cover 1 to take away the middle of the field and quarterback Chubba Purdy took the bait.
What's significant here is that Hill performs each element of this play properly in the disguise alignment, the jump back to the middle of the defense, then recognizing Purdy trying to target the middle of the field he thought would be open against a cover 2. Hill jumps the pass and takes it all the way back for the score:
That's one heck of a way to make your starting debut, especially replacing a safety in Ford who is expected to be selected in the 2021 NFL Draft.
"It felt great," Hill said of the play. "Coach Bates calls up a great defense. He put me in the right position and the way the quarterback was throwing let me trust my instincts and then I got escorted to the end zone with good blocking by my teammates."
Part of what helped Hill settle into his first start was the relationship with his teammates, who he said helped him stay on the same page throughout the game.
"Everybody in that DB room is very talented," Hill said. "When the opportunity comes we have to step up. It's a great group of guys and we love playing together. I talk to Damar, I talk to A.J. and that really helps our communication. We've got a good relationship between us and it makes it easier to play together."
But again, his success and that of others hinges on Pitt's strength coming through in a major way. The defensive front set up the short fields for the offense, the uneasiness of the quarterback for the secondary, and the dominant tone for the players to get excited despite the reality they were fighting to end a four-game losing streak.
Both older players such as Pickett and younger players like Dennis noted the importance of the win turning the season around.
"I don't know how many short fields we had, but I felt like we capitalized on several that they gave us," Pickett said when asked about how the defense performed. "We played our best game of complementary football all the way around. Offense helped the defense, and defense helped the offense, that was great to see."
"This was something we definitely needed," Dennis said. "We were coming off the bye week and talking about adjusting things. But the real thing we needed was a win to get our chemistry back. Not just as a defense, but as a team. I think we did that tonight and it was big for us. I think we were here to play our game. We didn't feel any pressure so we played our game. And as you can see, when we play our game a lot of things can go our way."
A win like this can show the young freshmen at Pitt like Jordan Addison, Hill and Calijah Kancey how to be resilient in the face of adversity and what It takes to find answers when the team is struggling.
• Pickett said that although he played Saturday, he's still not fully recovered.
"Just not at a hundred percent yet," Pickett said when asked about his recovery. "Really had this game circled right after I got hurt and knew this was when I would back. Credit to our doctors and staff, Stacy, Rick and Dale, I can't thank them enough. I was pretty much living with them for awhile. Every day I was working towards this game and I was watching Florida State film early. I really dedicated myself getting back and it feels very rewarding."
The only player Pickett targeted more than twice in this game was Addison, who he completed all 11 targets to for 127 yards. Pickett said that the practice reps he worked on during his recovery were all with Addison, making it easier for their chemistry to return.
"He's a guy I've put a lot of work with during the offseason," Pickett said of Addison. "Like I said, in practice I got the reps I needed and they were definitely with him. I wanted to make sure I wouldn't miss anything when I got back."
• Pitt had its first game rushing for more than 100 yards as a team with 148 yards on 37 carries scoring four touchdowns. The effort was led by Vincent Davis who ran for 50 yards on 13 carries with a touchdown, and A.J. Davis who ran for 34 yards on five carries.
Narduzzi gave modest credit to his offensive line, noting the persistence in trying to run the ball despite the struggles in recent weeks.
"Our O-line did a good job, still not as good as we want, but good," Narduzzi said about Pitt's run game. "Obviously led by Jimmy Morrissey. We have to keep plugging away to get the yards we can. We had a couple of tackles for loss early, but we stuck with it and we were able to pop some big runs on them."