Pitt football struggled immensely on offense in its last two games with quarterback Kenny Pickett out due to an ankle injury. There is little known about the status of Pickett going forward, outside of head coach Pat Narduzzi saying, “Hopefully sooner rather than later,” when asked about Pickett’s return. This brings up a lot of questions for the remainder of the season as the Panthers' offense has performed poorly without their senior signal caller. In its 45-3 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday, Pitt fielded three different quarterbacks with Joey Yellen getting the start, Davis Beville coming on for one drive and Nick Patti closing out the game for the Panthers. Not a single one of these quarterbacks put up an
Author: Dalton Miller
Pitt football can’t get offense going in loss
Pitt football suffered its third straight loss Saturday, falling to Miami 31-19. With this loss, the Panthers are officially in panic mode, as what started as a promising season is now in jeopardy of becoming a train wreck. Pitt was forced to rely on redshirt freshman Joey Yellen at quarterback, as Kenny Pickett was unavailable due to an ankle injury. Yellen did not put up an overly impressive performance completing only 22 of his 46 passes for 277 yards. Although Yellen did not put on a spectacular performance, he did not receive much help from the rest of the offense. The Panthers’ receivers again struggled with drops, costing them a number of first downs. These drops once again came back to bite
Pitt Football plagued by penalties and drops
Pitt football suffered a 30-29 upset loss to the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday. After pulling ahead with less than two minutes left, the Panthers only needed to keep the Wolfpack out of the end zone. With no timeouts left, quarterback Devin Leary led NC State down the field, completing a touchdown pass to Emeka Emezie with less than 30 seconds left, which proved to be the fatal blow to the Panthers. This is a crushing defeat for Pitt, which had a chance to achieve a 4-0 record for the first time since 2000. Instead, the team moves on with a 3-1 record with a bad loss to a team it was favored to beat by over two touchdowns. The Panthers
Pitt football newcomers making big impact
Pitt football has seen success so far this season, and several newcomers have had a big impact. Pitt has seen a number of players who earned their first shot at playing this season making the most of their opportunities. Offense On the offensive side of the ball, freshman receiver Jordan Addison stepped in and filled the role of Maurice Ffrench, who is now signed to the Kansas City Chiefs practice squad. Ffrench led the Panthers in catches and yards last season with 96 catches for 850 yards and four touchdowns. This left a big hole to be filled, and Addison has done an excellent job stepping up and getting the job done. Addison currently leads Pitt in catches and yards with 169
Pitt football needs to be more aggressive
Over the past two seasons, Pitt football put its offense into safety mode whenever it took the lead. Instead of continuing to run the offense the way it had through the earlier parts of the game, Pitt becomes ultra-conservative, mostly running the ball and occasionally passing short. This leads to a lot of quick drives and three and outs, which do not give the defense much of a rest and give the opposing team more opportunities to come back. The Panthers even went with conservative calls in situations when they were down, most notably against Penn State last season. Pitt trailed by seven and had the ball on the Penn State 1-yard line on fourth down. Instead of going for the
Pitt Football rocking the best defense in college football
Pitt football has one of the most talented defenses in the nation, loaded with players that can make an impact at both the college and pro level. The defensive line for the Panthers is the best in the nation and is supported by some excellent linebackers and defensive backs as well. Pitt’s defense is stacked even with the loss of one of its top players, defensive tackle Jaylen Twyman, who opted out of the season. Twyman was named as a first-team preseason All-American and will certainly be missed, but this defense has shown it can fill in holes when it loses players, as a number of players stepped up last year to cover the loss of Rashad Weaver and Keyshon Camp.
Pitt football running game is back
After the struggles Pitt football had running the ball in 2019, there were a lot of questions as to whether it would get back to the excellent ground game it had in 2018. The Panthers went from having two 1,000-yard rushers and over 3,000 yards on the ground in 2018 to only 1,544 rushing yards in 2019. It was clear the Panthers needed to get more of a run game going if they hoped to round out the offense. After their game against Austin Peay on Saturday, it feels safe to say that the run game is back and that it will be here to stay over the next few years. Austin Peay is of course not exactly the best team
Pitt football: Kenny Pickett set to make big jump
After leading Pitt football to an upset win over No. 2 Miami on Thanksgiving of 2017, fans thought they had found their quarterback of the future in Kenny Pickett. Pickett threw for 193 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another two in his first start at Pitt while knocking off the undefeated Hurricanes. This was far more than any fan could have expected from the then-freshman quarterback and had Panthers fans expecting great things from Pickett in the years to come. Many were hoping that with the emergence of Pickett the Pitt offense would look a bit more balanced going into 2018, but it quickly became clear that would not be the case. Pitt stayed with the ground and pound
Meet Pitt football writer Dalton Miller
Hello all. My name is Dalton Miller and I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in English Writing and minoring in Classics. I grew up on the other side of Pennsylvania rooting for Philly sports teams, with about zero interest in Pitt sports or any of the pro teams in Pittsburgh for that matter. Upon arriving at Pitt, I immediately had a passion for Pitt athletics and of course, a hatred for all things Penn State. Although both the football and basketball teams were struggling a lot when I arrived here in 2017, I was still attending almost every game. I stuck by my Panthers through those rough times and now I feel optimistic that those years are