	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

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 6, 2017

Pat Narduzzi

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PAT NARDUZZI: We've had a good, I guess, almost a week away. Just getting ready for a good North Carolina football team. I don't think you guys want to go back and talk about the last game. I don't even remember who we played to be honest with you. But it's all about North Carolina and who they are.

They're a good football team, and I think you look back, I think they're very similar to what we are, and I've told our kids the same thing. They lost a first-round quarterback to the Bears, who's playing pretty good for them. You know, Switzer, as you guys know, for the last four years, that guy has been a pain in our tails with punt returns and last year I think he had 17 catches, so they lost some good football players that are playing in the league, and that's just to mention two of the guys that I remember offhand, and I know there's more than that.

But they're a team that just continues to get better, I think. I mean, you look at the Miami game their last outing, they should beat Miami in my opinion. They take the second drive of the game, hit a couple big plays, get it down to the 1, they think they're in, they go back to the review, say they're not in. It's 2nd down and 1 at the 1. They get a TFL, it's third down. They run a little naked to the left, don't get in. They go for it on 4th down, so they get no points. They lose by six, get no points out of that drive, and the quarterback gets the ball tipped, the guy is wide open in the end zone.

Obviously Larry Fedora does a great job coaching. We've got a ton of respect him and his staff. Know a few guys on that staff, as well, and they just keep plugging away, and I think they continue to get better.

Their last few games, talk about Notre Dame; Virginia, who's a 6-3 football team; Virginia Tech, a 7-2 football team; and obviously Miami and where they are, being a top-4 team potentially. So our work will be cut out for us. I know some of you guys will probably think it's an easy game. We've stressed with our guys it will not be an easy game, I'll guarantee you that, and Thursday night should be fun.

Q. Seems like they have uncertainty about their quarterback or about who's going to be playing. What do you see from each of those guys?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I think they've got probably more clarity than you do or I do. If you looked at the last six weeks at least, they've had the same depth chart at the quarterback spot. You know, if you look at the last six weeks, they really don't tell you on a depth chart. But all three of them are good.

You know, when you look at it, just talk about the starter Brandon Harris for the year, obviously a transfer from LSU, a left-hander, good football player, can run. I mean, he was the original starter. They list him as the starter this week, so I don't know if he's back or not, but I'm sure they do.

And then Surratt, again, Chazz is another left-handed quarterback that I think is really good. I think he throws a great deep ball, which we've always going to be aware with our corners and pressing and giving him the ball out there, but I think he does a great job, and he's athletic and can run.

The guy that took over, I think, after the 27th play last week, Nathan Elliott, is a coach's kid from Texas. He's tough. His first play in the other day, they throw a pass that's a throw-back to him. So they've got three capable guys that I think -- are any of them Trubisky? Probably not. But none of ours are Peterman yet, either, so that's even right there.

Q. You build up some momentum with two wins in a row. How do you continue that when you're not playing a game?
PAT NARDUZZI: You go out the next time and win again.

Q. How do you keep the momentum going?
PAT NARDUZZI: How do you keep it going after six or seven days? It's no difference; if you make a big deal out of an open week and say, oh, my gosh, you had momentum going -- it doesn't matter. You've got more days to prepare, so the momentum should be the same. They've got the same days to prepare as we do, so it's just -- it's even. It's probably look at it -- we've played hard against each other out there. We've competed. So we've played the game. We've had some good periods against each other. You know, I don't think it's a factor. It will not be a factor, win or lose Thursday.

Q. Do you keep up the routine at all, practice on Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: No, but we did on Sunday. We gave the kids Saturday off. These guys have been going for, I don't know, 15 weeks so far, with camp starting when it did, the stresses of school. We gave them Saturday off. They lifted on Friday, had a great practice on Thursday. We practiced on Sunday. So we're Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, so we're right where we need to be.

Q. How do you deal with this week with the Thursday night game? Have you changed the way you prepare for the short week game at all now in year three?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, well, it's not really a short week. It's not like playing on a Saturday and then playing again on a Thursday, which was the problem two years ago in my opinion, and I didn't do a great job of making sure we were fresh. But we even freshened them up a little bit more this year, I think, and we've talked about it a lot. I thought we had a fantastic practice on Sunday. I thought it was another good one today, but just getting our kids' legs back a little bit, because when it's play on Saturday; Sunday, lift, meet; Monday, you get into that monotonous schedule of what it is. Now it's a little bit different, so I think change is good at times.

But we've kind of lightened up as far as how long we're going at this point in the season, and again, it's not like it was two years ago where, again, I hope we never have a schedule like that where you're playing on a Saturday. I don't think there's any way really to prepare for that. Either way after that game you're saying, well, we didn't practice enough or we practiced too much, so it's going to get you one way or another, so which one do you want to go with, being a tired football team or an unprepared football team. We'll be prepared and we'll be fresh.

Q. When you said lighten up, I'm curious what that means.
PAT NARDUZZI: Length of practices. Just not going out there forever. Just cutting back some of the periods. Instead of going 10 minutes of inside drill, which is a heavy run on run, cut it down to seven, just cutting it down. Not cutting down what we do but just slimming down the amount of time, and if the coaches want to get more plays on, you'd better go faster. But we just -- whether it's an ABC period, which you guys are out there for at times, just scrunching the periods down so we're not on our feet as long during the day.

Q. You mentioned all the guys that UNC lost from their offense. Who still stands out to you as far as a new wave of guys who are making plays?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, when you look at offensively, I think their wide out, No. 17, I wish I knew his name here, probably --

Q. Ratliff?
PAT NARDUZZI: Ratliff. I think Anthony stands out as a guy that will go up and get the ball, a deep-ball guy that Chazz has thrown to and has made some plays deep. I think when you look at their tight ends, the Fritts kid from Cleveland Mentor, again, is another football player that does everything that they want to do there. Defensively, you know -- and again, the quarterbacks are impressive, and the tailback, Jordon Brown, who's started every game for them, is impressive, as well. And then the Carney kid, defensive end, makes a ton of plays, No. 53, very active. But they've got a lot of football players all over the place.

Q. Damar and Dane, would you say they're two of the most improved players on the roster?
PAT NARDUZZI: I mean, Damar, it's hard to say he's much improved because you haven't seen -- I would say in a year, hopefully we can say he's even more improved than what he is. But I think you can certainly take Dane Jackson and say he's one of the most improved players that we had from a year ago. Taking over starting role, and he's just gotten better. You look at where our cores were a year ago, and you can say that we've made some major strides in that area for sure.

But Damar -- much improved from health purposes for sure. He feels much better. His attitude is much better because he gets to play.

But the product on the field, I think he can still be a lot better, too. Not that he's bad, but I think he will -- we're going to see, once he gets to practice, he hasn't had a preseason camp yet. He hasn't had a spring ball yet, so he's just playing.

Q. How much do you sort of remind the guys that North Carolina, no matter who's new on their team this year, that that's a program you guys haven't beaten since you've been here?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, we reminded them on Sunday, I think, and we don't need to harp on it. I think it's a fact, and I think it's something they know. Most of the guys in this room were here. They looked back and watched tape. We've watched extensive tape of the last two years of what they did, what they like to do, how they do things against Pitt. You know, I think they're well-versed on how that game finished up last year and understand what we're dealing with.

Q. North Carolina, is that a team, you look at 1-8 and then you look at the film and it doesn't quite line up?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I mean, again, playing good teams, the ACC is competitive, and sometimes you lack that guy in the back -- if they don't have Trubisky last year, they don't beat us, so take him out of the mix and try to develop a new guy and really play three quarterbacks, which is what we're playing, three quarterbacks, too, so I think they're very similar to us. They're dangerous and can beat anybody on any given day, but they've got to be on, and their young players got to make plays.

Q. There's a lot that's gone into your running game, of course, but Darrin specifically over the last two games, have you seen something different from him or maybe what you always thought was there maybe came through?
PAT NARDUZZI: You just see him making plays. I think he's playing a little bit faster. Sometimes it clicks -- you'd have to ask him to find out, hey, what's the difference in the last two weeks compared to the last year. But he's playing at a higher level. Again, that's what we talk about developing. You never give up on a kid after his freshman year or sophomore year or junior year. I've seen guys throughout in the fourth year, all of a sudden they start playing the best football that they've played. But Darrin is a good football player. When we recruited him, we knew he was talented, and we're kind of getting what we thought we'd have, and I think he's got confidence now.

But you know, as I said last week, you're great on what you do for us lately, and he's got to go out and have another one and stack another great game on top of it. Another 100-yard plus would be nice.

Q. Quadree Henderson's punt returns, it's sort of another reminder of what he can do, but getting him more involved offensively, what's it going to take to do that? Is it just a matter of him getting open more?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, in the pass game, you can't look for a guy. I think you get in trouble when you look for a guy. I think Ben got in trouble last -- I guess a Saturday ago, two Saturdays ago looking for a guy, trying to throw to Flanagan. You can't throw it to guys. You have to read -- you have to do what your quarterback coach tells you to do and read your coverage. I think you get in trouble when you do that. But he's got to get open. We've got to get him the ball in the run game, as well, but the look has got to be what we need it to be, and then we've got to find ways to get it in his hands and make it like a punt return. So we'll see. We've just got to keep trying to get it in his hands, and then he's got to make plays when he gets it. He's had opportunities to get the ball and stumbled around, so he's got to start to visualize some big plays on offense.

Q. Shane Roy called the Virginia game the defensive line's coming-out party almost. Did you see that as like a major step for that unit, that game?
PAT NARDUZZI: It was a coming-out party to him because he got his first sack, so I hope so. I hope so. Weaver had a nice sack, and like I said, they can talk all they want. I want to see it on Thursday night.

Q. Where have you seen their progression as a unit these last couple games?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I think the progression has been in the quality of depth that we've got. I mean, if you go back, and again, seems like forever, but Keshon Camp and Dewayne Hendrix didn't play in that game, so I think Coach Partridge has developed the depth in that room, number one. I think they understand what they're supposed to do, and I think, again, just like Darrin Hall, with a young football team it takes reps, it takes game reps. You can't just practice all day and become great players. It's like being great in history class all day and paying attention but you never have a test. The test is where you find out if you're better or not, and some guys get choked up on game day or test day and don't test well.

I think they've had enough tests that as they start to grow older, the game starts to slow down a little bit, things start to seem to become a little bit more comfortable for them, and I think that's what you're seeing.

They're no better athletes, okay. They're probably as strong as they were. We've hopefully maintained our strength. They're no faster than they were. Their fundamentals are getting better and their confidence and that game tempo.

Q. Speaking of the D-line, do you anticipate having Dwayne and Keshon back?
PAT NARDUZZI: I guess we'll get an injury report soon. I don't know.

Q. You talk a lot about the fine details, and sort of piggy-backing, in the secondary as a whole, do you see those finer things that you guys have been preaching, do you see the lightbulb starting to come on? What's an example of something that Dane did two weeks ago that he wasn't doing six weeks ago? Or not necessarily Dane.
PAT NARDUZZI: I mean, every year is different, and I look at -- shoot, Oklahoma didn't stop Oklahoma State, either. You sit there and think about Oklahoma State, it's like, God, who did stop them. Somebody did, I guess. But Oklahoma surely didn't. Watched a little bit of that game this weekend.

But I think every week, those guys are different. Dane is different because he's making plays. I mean, he's just more confident. And again, you can be there in the pass. Again, I just think it's game reps that make him better. I don't know if I'm going to pull out a certain play or this or that that makes him perfect. Same thing with Avonte; Avonte has got confidence; he's got those game reps that make him what he is. He's the most experienced guy in the back end. But I think it's just time behind the wheel.

Q. I know you are --
PAT NARDUZZI: I probably didn't answer your question. I apologize.

Q. I know you aren't a huge fan of Thursday night, but is there something fun about playing that game under the lights?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I think it goes back to that Friday night lights, the night game. I think night games are great. I'm not not fond of Thursday night. I'm not fond of Thursday night when you play the Saturday before.

But when you've got a little extra time to prepare for a Thursday night, I think it's great. I think it's a time for our guys to have a little bit of exposure and kind of show what kind of football team they are in a national spotlight on Thursday night on ESPN, so I think our guys will be excited. I think they'll come ready to go, and I think it's special to be under the lights, period.

Q. Obviously Shawn worked with Ben in spring camp, throughout training camp. Do you feel like the last three games he's kind of evolved?
PAT NARDUZZI: I think anytime you get a guy out there and you can see how he reacts in a game to find out what he does well, what he's not doing well, what do we change, what can we do better, it certainly helps you that way. I mean, again, he's not a finished product yet right now, Ben, and he still needs to continue. We can't just do what Ben likes to do; we've got to do what we need to do to win, too. So he's got to improve his game in different areas to be a championship-caliber football team.

Q. Are your guys talking about getting the sixth win to make a bowl game; is that important to them?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I don't sleep in the dorms at night. I can't tell you what they talk about anywhere else, and I really don't care. I hope they're not talking about that. I hope they're just talking about North Carolina and playing one game at a time. I certainly haven't mentioned it one, absolutely not one time in here about, hey, if you do this, you get this. No. Our goal is to go out every week and win a football game, and I think if you start thinking ahead, you're going to be in big trouble.

But you know, I can't tell you they don't sit in the dining facility down here and talk about it. I can't tell you at night they don't talk to their girlfriend about it. I don't know what they talk about. I hope they're talking about North Carolina.

Q. Big picture question: If you look at the conference, Mark Richt in his second year, Fuente is in his second year, Babers is in his second year, Mendenhall is in his second year. Those guys have had some success, have taken steps forward. I'm curious, the guys that you've played, what have you seen differently about those schools? As somebody who's just in the second year a year ago, is it maybe the chance to relax, you kind of got through that first year and --
PAT NARDUZZI: I think it's all about scheduling really when I look at it. Bronco has had success, and I think they beat Georgia Tech last week. I don't look and go evaluate, hey, what's Bronco doing or what's Fuente doing. It doesn't matter.

Q. Do they look like different teams?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I haven't watched Miami much. I haven't watched -- we haven't studied them. I'll let you know after the season, but I think it's what returning players do you have and how good a football team are you. I think it comes down to that. Those guys are all good coaches. I don't think they got better in a year or two. I think it's the players you have.

Q. You didn't watch Miami-Virginia Tech Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: Oh, yeah, I did. But I'm not going to grade them on one game, either. You guys are going to sit here and say Virginia Tech is no good now because they got beat by Miami? No, you can't evaluate a team on one game, but I did watch that game for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297