Pitt's defense has had some tall tasks that have challenged its biggest weakness: defending accurate passers around the field.
After losing to Western Michigan 44-41 back in September, Pitt's defense was exposed as a unit that struggled to defend against the run-pass-option (RPO). Several opponents tried to attack that weakness shown on film, but no team has been able to exploit the Panthers the way Western Michigan did.
Pitt's come out on top against very talented quarterbacks like Virginia's Brennan Armstrong and North Carolina's Sam Howell. But neither of them work in an offense that uses RPO-based schemes like Wake Forest does with quarterback Sam Hartman.
The Panthers (10-2, 7-1 conference) and Demon Deacons (10-2, 7-1) meet Saturday, 8:02 p.m., in the ACC championship game at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
"We've gotten better at it," Pat Narduzzi said Thursday of Pitt's defending against RPOs. "But it comes down to making plays in the schemes. We're going to have our opportunities. They're the gurus of the RPO. They do it as good as anyone in the country. I've never see a guy ride the RPO for that long and you can't tell who he's reading, Hartman does a nice job."
Hartman leads the only ACC offense that scores more points than Pitt, as the Demon Deacons average 42.9 points per game over the Panthers' average of 42.8 points. Hartman's 309.3 passing yards per game along with his 34 touchdowns and only ten interceptions show his consistency this season at moving the ball for Wake Forest's offense.
Meanwhile, Pitt's passing defense averages 261.1 passing yards allowed per game, 12th-best in the conference. But that's balanced out by having the sixth-best rushing defense in the country with 92.0 yards allowed per game and having the second-most sacks in the country with 46 on the season.
When taking to Pitt's First Team All-ACC sophomore defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, it's clear the Panthers are going to rely on that defensive front to make the difference against Wake Forest.
"They've mastered the RPO as a program," Kancey said. "They use slow motion with how the quarterback walks with the play. But they haven't seen anyone run traps like our defense does. We have to knock back their offensive linemen to disrupt their play. We still look back on that Western Michigan game. It helps motivate us. We look back on how we struggled that day all the time. I think we're ready."
Even though Kancey makes it sounds as simple as dominating the line of scrimmage, it will involve more multilayered work than that. Wake Forest's RPO offense is unique for what it allows Hartman to do and how it forces defenses to consider multiple options for as long as possible. It comes from Hartman putting the ball in the belly of his running back long enough to freeze linebackers to create space for passes over the middle.
"What they do is a belly play," Narduzzi said. "It looks like their quarterback is blocking for a sneak, they're wedge blocking. We have to get penetration and that's not going to be easy. They're big and they know what they're doing. They don't do everything on offense, but what they do is really good. They execute and Hartman is sharp. They're unbelievable on third down."
Narduzzi's right, Wake Forest has the best third down offense that converts 51 percent of their attempts. But Pitt's third down offense is second-best at 47.5 percent, and has the second-best third down defense at 31.3 percent of attempts allowed.
Stopping the RPO offense is a big step to helping create more difficult third downs to convert. Here's an example of the mesh RPO Hartman uses. Watch how he holds the ball in front of his running back just long enough to get a one-on-one chance for his leading receiver A.T. Perry. Boston College gets called for pass interference, but you can see the matchup created:
That's going to put a lot of pressure on Pitt's secondary, with Damarri Mathis, Marquise Williams, M.J. Devonshire, Brandon Hill and Erick Hallett II, all liable to get one-on-one matchups with Hartman's targets.
Narduzzi acknowledges that defensive linemen getting their hands up could help, but emphasizes that owning the line of scrimmage is Pitt's primary objective, much like Kancey stated.
"We'd like to get our hands up," Narduzzi said. "It's good to get batted down balls because he's not 6-foot-5, but you have to get penetration. If you start jumping and putting arms up before it's time you'll get knocked back. That's when you see him hold onto it until he sees what he likes. There's a fine line between getting your hands up and maintaining gap integrity."
If Kancey, Habakkuk Baldonado and company can't change the line of scrimmage, it will mean Hartman will get longer chances to pick at one-on-one matchups based off that RPO. This is an example of when the RPO mesh play led to a big touchdown for Perry:
"They run the RPO, but it's different," Campbell said of Wake Forest's offense. "The quarterback will ride the mesh all the way down the line of scrimmage and then he'll pull it at the last minute to throw it or hand it off. We have to have gap integrity in the box. The star linebackers and safeties have to be ready for the RPOs."
If Pitt can show that its defense has taken real steps against the RPO, it would deserve major praise for the coaching staff and its defensive players to take such steps. But Wake Forest won't just bring RPO plays in their bag of tricks, as the Panthers will have to watch out for plenty of quarterback options, play actions and schemes that will attempt to freeze Pitt's linebackers and cross up the Panthers' secondary.
Here's an example when Hartman had the option to hand the ball off to his running back, pitch it to a receiver on a jet sweep, or wait for his tight end Blake Whiteheart to leak open into the back of the end zone, resulting in a touchdown:
Plays like this will challenge the Panthers' defense on communication, leverage and attention to detail. If they can come out on top against this group, it will be a major step forward for the future of a defense that has plenty of returning sophomores and juniors for next season.