Narduzzi wants early spark to ignite Panthers vs. Georgia Tech

Rashad Weaver mentioned Wednesday how Pitt's players felt the need to celebrate more during games, even for their smaller victories, as a way of generating energy to keep making plays against Florida State.

That energy helped the Panther turn a 14-3 deficit into a 41-17 win that snapped the Panthers' four-game losing streak. Pat Narduzzi took his pre-game media availability as an opportunity to address Pitt's energy.

"In the first five minutes of the game, wasn't much energy was there?" Narduzzi asked rhetorically on Thursday. "I talk with my leadership council everyday and we had a similar conversation recently. It wasn't as emotional early against Florida State. There are natural ups and downs of a football game. When it comes down to it, somebody has to make a play. When A.J. Woods made that interception, that's when our defense got lit up. Then the offense felt it and we feed off each other."

He's right about Woods' interception being a catalyst for the team's comeback. After the pick, Pitt took just a little over a minute to score with the short field, capping a 32-yard drive with a quarterback draw on a two-yard touchdown by Nick Patti. Both the offense and the defense made more plays as the game continued, allowing Pitt to assert control in the game.

Narduzzi sees playmaking as the key to those kinds of turnarounds, rather than any motivational speech or show of support on the sidelines.

"It doesn't come from some halftime or pre-game speech because that can go away fast," Narduzzi said. "It comes from our players making plays. If you constantly go through a game and you don't make plays that change the tide, you're in trouble. That pick lit us on fire and our offense started scoring."

Pitt's offense was responsible for 34 points, the most it had scored since the season opener against Austin Peay. The defense tacked on another seven points with Brandon Hill's pick six. But all of it sparked from the defense's making big plays early on to stop Florida State's momentum and allowed Pitt's to take control.

"It's like what you see in California with the wildfires, once it gets started it's blazing and it's hard to stop," Narduzzi said. "That's kind of what happened on Saturday, but someone's got to light the fire. We'll feed off each other offensively and defensively. Those are the emotional things that happen for a football team that get a team going."

Narduzzi should avoid comparing the momentum of a game to a series of natural disasters that have led to the deaths of 32 people and done billions of dollars in property damage. 

But removing that, the concept that football teams compound smaller victories into bigger ones that lead to wins is a common theme among coaches and players.

Building on success is what got Pitt three wins in a row to start the season, back when the defense was ranked as the best in the ACC and the Panthers' offense was averaging over 100 rushing yards per game. That trend stopped during the team's losing streak, but Pitt had the second-most rushing yards in a single game this season.

Pitt's next opponent is Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium this Saturday at 7 p.m. Georgia Tech's defense allows an average 202.7 rushing yards per game, ranked 13th in the ACC. But Narduzzi sees the battle to build on last week's success stemming from what Pitt's offense does right, rather than what Georgia Tech might do wrong.

"There's just details we need to address," Narduzzi said of Pitt's run game. "The longer I'm a head coach, the more I see players learn from coaches but also coaches learn from players. We tweak things that we're doing to make it better, but sometimes it's about blocking, or the cuts of the back, but a lot of times it comes down to the details of whether it's the back's alignment or so many other tiny little details. That's where coaching has to come in to play."

Pitt's rushing offense has been led by Vincent Davis with 313 yards on 104 carries and A.J. Davis with 140 yards on 35 carries in 2020. Neither's average has been impressive, but Narduzzi plans to stick with them because they've done better with those minor details in the practice reps each week.

"We need to feel comfortable with them," Narduzzi said when asked why Israel Abanikanda and Daniel Carter haven't gotten more time at running back. "It's just like quarterbacks. Sometimes you can't get that many ready during week because of the limited practice reps. Sure, you'd like to have more players get reps but if everyone splits practice reps by a quarter, nobody gets the 50 percent. You're working too many so that the starters can't improve. We have to go with where our guts is and right now that's with Vincent and A.J."

But with all the seriousness that goes into football, Narduzzi does want to make sure his players and his staff enjoy the game.

"Since I've been a defensive coordinator at Michigan State, I could show you every key to victory and vantage point," Narduzzi said. "But if you're not having fun playing this game, something's wrong. I would tell our guys on Friday nights, 'this is how we beat this team.' But at some point, the advice is going to be 'play loose and have fun.' That's part of the game. If you're playing tight and worried about mistakes, you'll make mistakes. You better have fun. Whether it's a regular season game, the Rose Bowl or the ACC Championship, you have to enjoy this game."

His reference to the Rose Bowl was a personal one from Narduzzi's last year as defensive coordinator at Michigan State in the 2014-2015 season, when the Spartans won the Rose Bowl in a 24-20 win over Stanford.

"Sometimes it becomes so big you forget to enjoy it, even as a coach," Narduzzi continued. "There was one time Mark Dantonio reminded me to have fun before a game. I forgot about doing that because I was so worried about grinding and trying to win a football game. We talk about having fun all the time here, because I want our kids to have fun with what they're doing. Our kids have fun on the practice field, during the game, and after the game. Sometimes I think I don't like how we celebrate and that we need to celebrate together more."

• Paris Ford released an official statement on his Twitter account, thanking Pitt fans, his coaches and his teammates for their support during his collegiate career. He said his reasons for opting out of the season stemmed for concerns for his family, something that contradicted what Narduzzi said last Monday when he first discussed Ford's decision to opt-out:

• Narduzzi noted that Kenny Pickett should be good to play Saturday night against Georgia Tech.

"Kenny was outstanding this week," Narduzzi said. "He gets better every day and he came out of Florida State clean. He was in good shape this week and not limited at all. He came out of the game healthy and that's a positive. He will start this week."

• Good news on the injury front for the defense too, as senior defensive tackle Keyshon Camp looks like he could play for the first time since the team's win over Louisville in September.

"We do expect to have Keyshon Camp," Narduzzi said. "He's practiced more than he has this week over previous weeks. Past weeks he's been moving around during the week but then he's had a setback. But this week, there's been no setback."