Madden Monday: Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi is ‘as much at fault as anybody’ for Phil Jurkovec’s problems
The Backyard Brawl may have ended up providing the knockout punch for Phil Jurkovec’s benefit of the doubt with the Pitt football fanbase. Even if it has only been three games. It sure did for Mark Madden during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast. The Pine-Richland alum was just 8 of...
Analysis: West Virginia defense knew Pitt QB Phil Jurkovec ‘wasn’t that good at his job’
When random fans complain about Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec or rain boos upon him from high above the playing surface, that’s never good. If Jurkovec continues to struggle next Saturday against North Carolina, you can imagine what Acrisure Stadium will sound like. Yet no matter how hard the fans scream...
West Virginia backup QB Nicco Marchiol displays cool nerves in Backyard Brawl victory
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — About midway through the first quarter of the Backyard Brawl, West Virginia coach Neal Brown suddenly was working with a highly condensed playbook. His starting quarterback, Garrett Greene, had left the game with an apparent leg injury, and in Greene’s place entered Nicco Marchiol, a redshirt freshman...
Phil Jurkovec struggles in Pitt’s Backyard Brawl loss to West Virginia
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Pitt tried to be the bully Saturday night in the 106th renewal of the Backyard Brawl at Milan Puskar Stadium. Instead, the 17-6 loss to West Virginia ended with questions about Pitt quarterback Phil Jurkovec from everyone but coach Pat Narduzzi. Whether he’s ready to acknowledge it...
Before their teams do battle, Pitt and WVU fans keeping things friendly in Morgantown
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Before Pitt and West Virginia took the field Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium, an ocean of tailgaters helped create a college gameday atmosphere about as good as it gets. That much was predictable. Saturday’s contest between the Panthers and Mountaineers, the 106th installment of the Backyard...
Backyard Brawl Take 5: Pitt players unconcerned with West Virginia fans’ venom
Bring on the hate. The Backyard Brawl will be contested Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pitt players M.J. Devonshire and Konata Mumpfield are hoping Mountaineers fans will be loud and annoying. “I take it as a blessing, being able to play in those environments,” said...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi: Team ‘locked in’ for WVU after better practices this week
Pat Narduzzi is in a profession where he’s expected to speak his mind. Actually, that’s probably how he got the job as Pitt’s head coach nearly nine years ago. It’s easy to see him going into the interview with university officials in December 2014, sure of himself, full of ideas,...
WVU players, coaches expecting 106th installment of Backyard Brawl to be a dogfight
Last weekend, violent lightning storms in the Morgantown, W.Va., area brought on a delay of nearly two hours that paused play between the Mountaineers and Duquesne. By the time the weather calmed to a light drizzle, only a fraction of the 50,037 fans who originally filed into Milan Puskar Stadium...
Seeking fixes, Pitt offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. looks at everyone, himself included
Frank Cignetti Jr. has many issues specific to Pitt’s offense that need to be addressed before the Panthers venture into hostile West Virginia territory Saturday night, where the Mountaineers and nearly 60,000 fans are ready to pounce. At least one problem may have been of his own making during the...
West Virginia eager for the chance to host a rebooted Backyard Brawl against Pitt
The Backyard Brawl between Pitt (1-1) and West Virginia (1-1) returned a year ago in Pittsburgh. Both teams have already lost a game this season. But enthusiasm for the next chapter of the rivalry, set to be written at Mountaineer Field on Saturday night (7:30 p.m.), hasn’t waned at all....
WVU coach Neal Brown recalls salute from Pitt fans last year at Acrisure Stadium
Neal Brown gets it. He knows all too well — from personal experience — that the passion triggered by the Backyard Brawl is real. It was a year ago at Acrisure Stadium when Brown, the West Virginia coach, walked onto the field before the game against Pitt. His son, Dax,...
Tim Benz: Shifting college sports landscape blurs lines between how ‘amateur’ and pro athletes are treated by fans
Of all the angles to the San Francisco 49ers’ 30-7 beatdown of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday afternoon, here’s one that didn’t get any play: “Was the crowd out of line for booing the Steelers during their poor performance?” Maybe that’s because the Steelers were so lousy...
First Call: George Pickens denies Instagram shot at Kenny Pickett; Pitt product shines on ‘MNF’
Tuesday’s “First Call” looks at the George Pickens-Kenny Pickett Instagram drama. An ex-Pitt star shines on “Monday Night Football.” Former Pittsburgh Steeler Chase Claypool has yet to find himself in Chicago. And more trouble for Adam “Pacman” Jones. I know. I know. Try to contain your shock. Instant Instagram denial...
Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi spreads blame to everyone, but he emphasizes it starts with him
Win or lose the day before, Sundays are pretty much the same at Pitt’s training facility. Truth be told, they’re probably the same at most schools across the nation at every level of college football. Coaches start early, sometimes mere hours after the end of the game. In some cases,...
Pat Narduzzi on Pitt players being heckled: ‘It doesn’t really matter’
There were people among the nearly 50,000 at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday night who were disappointed with what they were watching. It was Pitt’s second game of the season, and it turned into a 27-21 loss to Cincinnati, an unexpected result for many people. It also was quarterback Phil Jurkovec’s...
After loss to Cincinnati, before facing tough road ahead, Pitt must find answers in a hurry
After Pitt lost a game no one inside or outside the program expected to lose, there is an unmistakable and somewhat misplaced tendency for fans to overreact. • Hire a better coach. • Change quarterbacks. (Coach Pat Narduzzi offered a definitive “no” to that one.) • If Pitt (1-1) can’t...
Pitt swallowed up by mistakes in loss to Cincinnati
Phil Jurkovec’s footwork was bad. He was not in rhythm. He failed to trust the things he learned playing quarterback for three teams and six seasons. He either left the pocket too early or held onto the football too long. He was sacked five times. Those points could have been...
Pitt Take 5: Teams haven’t met since 2012, but Panthers still stoked for River City Rivalry
There is no reason to suspect that any couches were burned in Cincinnati when Pitt lost to the Bearcats in 2012 in the most recent installment of the River City Rivalry. A crowd of 27,112 — 71% of capacity — showed up at Nippert Stadium on the second week of...
Young Pitt ‘gunners’ go to school after failing to down punt in opener
Pitt only punted twice in its opener against Wofford last week, and the first one triggered some angst on the sideline. Pitt had fourth-and-20 on the Wofford 45-yard line in the first quarter when Caleb Junko placed a punt near the goal line. Three Pitt players — they’re called gunners...
Pitt notebook: Jake Kradel at center of chaos when Panthers meet Cincinnati’s ‘Godfather’
After lining up either as a guard or center over his six seasons at Pitt, senior Jake Kradel finally came to his coaches with a definitive choice. Kradel (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) is a center and, he hopes, that will be so for a long time. “Jake really wanted to do...
Tailgate turmoil: North Shore development cuts into game-day experience for Pitt, Steelers fans
Dustin Helm arrived on the North Shore 90 minutes before parking lots opened for the first University of Pittsburgh football game of the season, as he has done for the past seven-plus years. When the lots opened last weekend, Helm attempted to turn left in Lot 7C and make his...
Pitt freshman forward Papa Amadou Kante injures knee, lost for the season
Jeff Capel’s roster rebuilding efforts suffered another blow Thursday with the announcement that freshman Papa Amadou Kante, a forward who might have provided a rebounding and defensive presence off the bench, will miss the entire 2023-24 season with a knee injury. Amadou Kante suffered a non-contact injury during a workout...
Running, sticking to disciplined diet pay off for Pitt tight end Karter Johnson
For a year when he was thirsty, Pitt tight end Karter Johnson drank nothing but water. His regimen for a long time included waking up most mornings and going on runs of between 1 and 5 miles. “On days I didn’t run, I would go and work out,” he said....
Pitt linebackers coach Ryan Manalac learned the game while working side-by-side with Pat Narduzzi
Imagine, if you can, Pat Narduzzi as a mortgage banker, sitting alone behind a desk, shuffling papers, pecking at a calculator, working the boring 9-to-5 daily routine. Makes no sense, right? It’s been said that Pitt assistant coach Ryan Manalac mirrors Narduzzi in many ways. They both played linebacker in...
Pitt assistant Andre Powell considers several factors when assembling a rotation for running backs
Running to daylight never has been enough for Pitt’s running backs in their quest to please Andre Powell, their position coach. They can penetrate the first wall of defenders, and that’s good. But after getting past defensive linemen, they must make a linebacker or safety miss (better yet, run him...
