	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 18, 2017

Pat Narduzzi

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Pat Narduzzi.

COACH NARDUZZI: Obviously week eight of the season and we have another great challenge in a very, very good Duke football team that started off 4-0 and has played three pretty darn good football teams since then.

And Coach Cutcliffe, I can't tell you how much respect I have for him and his program, what he does. You put the tape on, I don't care if it's offense or defense, you see a well coached, very detail oriented -- they don't do too much but what they do, they do very well offensively and defensively. And obviously Jimmy Knowles, I've known him for a long time, from back in his days in the Mid-American Conference. And Jimmy does a great job and has a top-ranked defense. I think they're in the top 20 in total defense and rushing defense.

And then Zac Roper offensively, I think they do a great job, and got a lot of respect for their offense and what they do. Daniel Jones is a guy we faced last year and their backfield is loaded with Shaun Wilson and Brittain Brown. And then you've got to contain T.J. and all the passing game and all the different stuff he can do in the kick return game.

So it's a great football team. It will be a great challenge for us this week.

Q. You mentioned the backfield of Duke with Wilson and Brown. What is it that those guys do that makes them so tough to contain? I think they're both averaging six yards a carry. And I guess especially Wilson, with all the ways he can hurt you in the return game as well.
COACH NARDUZZI: Yeah, they're both really good. We've had a debate in our room. It's not like they have the starting tailback and the backup. They both have similar carries. Shaun's got 10 more carries on the year than Brittain does. And you mentioned the yards per carry.

They're both explosive. I mean, they've got two starting tailbacks, in my opinion. And Brittain Brown seems like maybe he's a little faster, I don't know. They're both fast. We've had a debate on which is better because they're both very good football players and they've obviously done a great job recruiting that position.

They're slashing runners and they know what they're doing. I think I kind of said in my briefing, one of the things that's maybe unique is I don't think they do too much stuff. I think sometimes as coaches, coordinators, whether it's offense or defense, some people do so much that you can't get good at it.

And they are a team -- and Coach Cutcliffe is smart enough and the whole Roper family, you talk about a legacy of coaches in that family -- they're smart enough to know, hey, this is what they do. They know all the ins and outs of what they do. They know if there's a problem or they do this, we do that.

Very similar to an option offense. They do what they do but they do it really well. And I think that's what makes them special.

Q. How do those two guys compare to Nyheim Hines from NC State, who you guys struggled with Saturday?
COACH NARDUZZI: Well, you know, it's hard to tell. Again, I was very, very impressed with Hines. I don't know if they're there yet. But we'll find out Saturday.

I can just tell you this, I think Hines could be a Heisman candidate. I think he's like Barkley. I think these two guys are right there. How close are they? I don't know. We'll have a better feel after Saturday's game where those guys are.

So that's a good postgame question for me, I guess, more than -- because you have to see them live, and Hines was all that I thought he was going to be. And these two guys, I'm sure, when I get done Saturday, I'll have a lot more respect for them as well.

Q. I want to go back to the Syracuse game and in general with Syracuse obviously being a rival of Pitt, were able to get the victory in the Dome against your team and then go up against the reigning champion to defeat Clemson. Just what you could say about what Dino Babers has done with this Syracuse team and just what your takeaways have been the last couple of weeks from seeing what they do?
COACH NARDUZZI: It's interesting -- it's not Duke or Pitt, but I'll answer your Syracuse question. Dino Babers, I've got a lot of respect for him. He's a great football coach. He didn't just turn into a great football coach. He's got good players. You gotta give Scott Shafer a lot of credit for what he's done and some of the players he's brought in up there.

But Dino's a super football coach, a great motivator. He's a guy I'd like to play for, and he's my kind of guy. So they've done a great job up there. The dome is not an easy place to play, I don't think ever, and he's got his kids believing. And that's part of it.

Q. As far as consistency in the Pitt backfield for you, just what your takeaways have been through the first seven games of the season? And I know that sometimes the yardages come, sometimes it hasn't. Have you figured out kind of who is leading that backfield for you? Or what can you say about maybe your overall takeaways from the backfield through seven games?
COACH NARDUZZI: Every week it's different. And one week it's this, one week it's that. To me it's always -- and I mentioned to our local beat writers and TV people that every week it's this guy misses a block. The tailback misses a hole or he's got bad footwork or he bounced it when he shouldn't have bounce it.

I think we're a work in progress. I'm not disappointed with our tailbacks. Qadree Ollison, I have a lot of faith in him. Darrin Hall, A.J. Davis, hasn't had enough carries to say that he's the guy or not. And he's up and down sometimes even in practice. He's a freshman. That's what we expect a lot of times out of those guys.

But we need to get more consistency, period, whether it's the offensive line, the quarterback position or the running back position. We will sooner or later get on track and hopefully sooner than later.

Q. How about on the defensive side of the ball, what kind of areas of improvement are you stressing as you come off NC State to play the Duke team?
COACH NARDUZZI: I've always been one of those guys you have to stop the run. And we obviously didn't do that a week ago against North Carolina State. We kind of talked if you were listening about the Hines kid who I think is a great football player. Saw it on tape and what we saw on tape was what we got in the game.

But defensively, we focus on just really consistency. If you look at the 83-yard run, we gave up explosive gains. When you look at the 35 points they scored in that game, seven of them were on a punt return for a touchdown. So you look at that then you say, okay, our Pitt defense gave up 28 points. And take away the last touchdown which was kind of a four-minute, get-the-ball-back situation. We kind of loaded up the box and we got popped.

We didn't consistently defend it properly. We didn't do the little things right there. So really I look at it, we wouldn't have ever been in that defense had we not been trying to go all out to try to get the ball back to our offense in a desperation situation.

So defensively you gave up 21, but we gave up explosive plays, and again I give them credit because they got an explosive tailback. I give the receivers credit because they had some phenomenal catches, which was, like, wow, great catches by the corner.

What we're looking at is more attention to detail even on the big run. We're not lined up. I'm not talking like we're totally out of whack and we're in some crazy defense. But it's just the little things. Our nose tackle was supposed to be in an 2-I technique. Our Mike is supposed to be in a 10 away from the call, based on the formation they were and. And it's base stuff that they know.

We had a couple of backups on that play to give some starters a rest and give them an opportunity, and we got let down a little bit when you do that. And that talks and speaks to our youth that we have, not with just the 1s but when you put a backup in there. And it cost us in a big game. And every game is big.

So we're looking for consistency and we're looking to develop, continue to develop our depth.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297