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UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 3, 2018

Pat Narduzzi

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PAT NARDUZZI: It's a great Monday. Always a great Monday after a win. Great to start off the season with a W. Kids worked hard for it.

Some just good things about the game. I think the first thing is in three seasons here we have not been able to get our backups and some reserves in the football game. We had 55 players on the offense and defense, forget special teams, get involved in that game. Any time you get your backup quarterback in the game, get him a throw, get him some handoffs, checks some things, find out where he is, so he's not getting in some other time where it's a little bit more risky.

Just the opportunity for those kids to get in the game, everybody to get coached up. You walk in this meeting last night, guys are happy because, Hey, I got three reps, this is what I did. Coaches get to find out where they are fundamentally. I think it comes down to the attention to detail you either play way with or don't.

You earn reps. When you get the chance to get three reps, five reps, seven reps, whatever it is rep-wise, you're going to get more or less based on what we saw in those game reps. We can take scrimmages, you can throw those out the door. Now it's all about game reps, what you do when the lights go on.

We have to eliminate a lot of unforced things that drive you crazy. Fourth-and-one, we jump off-sides, have a stop, give it to them. That stuff can't happen this weekend obviously. First-and-goal on the five yard line, jump off-sides, first-and-goal from the nine. Those things will get you beat. We had another third-and-one late in the game where we jump off-sides offensively, put ourselves in a third-and-medium as opposed to a third-and-short. Those are all little things that I think we obviously got to clean up.

We didn't have a delay game, I used a timeout because we did a good job for the most part of saving our timeouts, but we're going to need all three of those near the end of each half. You hope you can save them and not waste them on a personnel issue where you have 10 guys on the field.

Those turnovers we had offensively, maybe the opportunity to get more on defense that we didn't take advantage of, are going to be critical in big games we have this weekend.

Obviously it's Penn State week. It's obviously game two. It's a big game because it is a rivalry game. They get to come to Heinz Field. I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I think our kids will be excited. I think the city of Pittsburgh will be excited.

They obviously got a great football team. You guys can say what you want, they're talented, got great players. They got a great program. We're looking forward to having them come to Heinz Field again.

Questions.

Q. You guys were fired up for this game last year, two years ago. Is that revved up a little bit more given what happened last season?
PAT NARDUZZI: I hope not. You want to teach the kids to get revved up for every game. Obviously it's sometimes hard to get up for Albany. It will be easier to get revved up, but you better play with a little anger I guess for every game, really be cranked up. You want to be cranked up for every game.

Hopefully it's just a few degrees, not like we were 70% last week, all of a sudden we're going to be 100% cranked up. You hope it's we were 93% cranked up, maybe we'll be 100%, 98%, whatever. But it's a game of emotion. You got to play with it.

Q. Is there a point when you became head coach a few years ago that you realized the intensity of this rivalry, how many people around here, fan base, really doesn't like that team?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I don't know about your 'like'. I knew a long time ago, wasn't something I had to figure out to be what a rivalry game is. I grew up with this game back in the day. I lived in Youngstown, Ohio. You grew up with this pit-Penn State rivalry. Going on 99 times, whatever. It's been a rivalry for a long time.

Rivalries are rivalries. Everybody's got one. Who is it against? Maybe there's two or three of them in your season. That's what it is.

Q. What is the importance of this game for your program?
PAT NARDUZZI: It's an in-state rivalry game. It's important in the state of Pennsylvania. We've said this all the time in these rivalry games, you either walk the streets or you're going to walk the alleys after the game. You're going to sneak out of Heinz Field, walk where you don't have to see anybody, or walk out with your chest up and chin up, walk right down the middle of everybody, say, Here we are, let's go.

To me it means a lot.

Q. Different perception approaching the program after you won two years ago?
PAT NARDUZZI: No. I don't notice anything, no. You may.

Q. Recruiting-wise?
PAT NARDUZZI: Not really, no.

Q. Knowing this might be the last time here, is that anything you throw out there to grease the fire a little bit?
PAT NARDUZZI: Not really. Not going to change the way we play. Anybody sitting in this front row goes, It's my last time, period. The guy in the second or third rows, I get two more times. Some of those guys back there, they don't know, have no clue. So it's not going to change the way we play. It's September 8th, it's time to go.

Q. Is this a game where you can sort of leave a legacy at Pitt? Probably remembered more than a big play against Albany.
PAT NARDUZZI: No doubt about it. Any time you make a big play, you look at Kenny Pickett, that touchdown run in the pylon. You drive up the street here, Bates, you see that pylon, what the heck was it. I was here in August, I didn't even really drive home. I kind of drove by one day, What the heck is that? I don't know who put that up.

So when you put your hand on that ball on a billboard, it makes an impression. If it's a big game, those plays are going to stand out, for sure.

Q. With respect to Albany, do you think we might see some different things, different people on Saturday?
PAT NARDUZZI: As far as personnel goes?

Q. Plays, people.
PAT NARDUZZI: Penn State is going to have a lot of new things for us. We may have some new things for them, who knows. People are going to do what they do best. Personnel wise, Trace McSorley is different than Testaverde. You have a Heisman Trophy candidate, maybe the frontrunner for it, because he can throw it, he can run it, he can make plays. He's an emotional leader, he's the leader. You got a lot of weapons whether it's Juwan Johnson out there, who looks 6'9". KJ Hamler, who we recruited out of high school, I know how explosive that guy is in the slot against jersey No. 1. You have Miles Sanders in the backfield, Shareef Miller who is an explosive end, a bunch of sacks, TFLs, that make plays.

Givens will play inside. Probably a little banged up coming in, they say let's save him. They got explosive players really all over the field. They'll be different players, that's for sure. We're going to see different schemes? Probably not. There is faster, bigger, strong guys running some of the same schemes. That's what college football is. The runs, inside game, RPOs, we're just going to see better people running it.

Openers, Albany didn't come out like they did last year, line up with two tight ends, run all their two tight ends what we call silver personnel. Glad they didn't do that because it would not have given us an opportunity to say, Okay, what are you doing wrong here?

Let me tell you what, the difference between a slot guy, it's not like it's, Oh, my God, this guy is coming in here. Covering Shockey or French, there's a lot of similarities. It's not like we have Mean Joe Greene and the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 1976 coming in here.

Q. (Question about McSorley.)
PAT NARDUZZI: McSorley? He's got a bunch of them. He has a great arm, makes good decisions, he loves to run. He's a football player. That's his greatest strength. He plays the game with passion. What else can you say? He's got it all. He'll play in the NFL. He's a leader, too. I'm sure those guys are following him around campus right now.

He's got it all. Tough guy to stop.

Q. Do you have to wear body armor if you told Alex he couldn't play in his last game against Penn State?
PAT NARDUZZI: It won't come down to body armor. It will come down to how he feels, how the trainers feel.

Q. Can he show you he can do this again, make another start as a redshirt freshman?
PAT NARDUZZI: No doubt about it. You're talking about a young guy, redshirt freshman, going out and doing what he can, I don't care who it is. He made some mistakes. Got those out of the way, he's going to be a better football player for it.

That's some of the most exciting things as a head coach, you line up with that guy in there. We had faith that he could do it, he did it. Made some mistakes. Think about how much more improvement that guy is going to make. Stefano, who is going into his fifth year, played how many games at left tackle? The degree of improvement that we're going to see out of Gabe compared to someone who started, Morrissey started for two years now. There's a difference there. So he'll make big improvements. I was excited for him.

Q. Do you feel more confident in your special teams? On the other side, Penn State (indiscernible) in return touchdowns?
PAT NARDUZZI: It's all matchups. It's a different deal. I don't feel any more confident than I would normally feel going into that game. Frenchy did a lot of that play all by himself. I can't tell you the blocking and setup was all that we wanted it to be. I give Maurice a lot of credit for what he did on that play. McAlone missed his first block, but was well-coached, turned around and earned his scholarship by running up there and blocking the kicker. Maybe messed up the first part, but really finished it off and popped that thing open.

But I don't feel any better about it. We got to punt twice. How much better can you feel about that? Didn't get to get much work there, unfortunately with Kirk. Then (indiscernible) was unbelievable kicking it in the end zone. He did a great job of touchbacks. We don't know how our kickoff coverage is yet until someone can really return it on it.

Q. Have an idea what happened on the extra point?
PAT NARDUZZI: No, not really. Just one of those times.

Q. Anybody step away (indiscernible)?
PAT NARDUZZI: The thing is, that depth chart may be taking some ups and downs in there. When you look at Mack, the catch he had, he did a nice job. Tre Tipton had a nice game. Obviously what RaRa did. Maurice French did some great things. Dontavius Butler did not get a catch, did some nice things, got his first game under his belt. Shocky, he went out there, it was like he was a third-year junior. You kind of wonder if they're going to have the deer-in-the-headlights look. He was the same as he was in practice.

For a lot of the young guys that went out there on the field that day, that hadn't played much, whether it's the offensive line that hadn't -- older guys, but haven't played a lot besides really Jimmy and maybe Herndon, but he played more on defense. He took more snaps on offense in one game than he took all year on offense last year. I believe that's the case.

Q. Despite playing the last couple years with McSorley, is this a little bit of a different offense, but considering how much they rely on Barkley, not having that, is that a little different?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know what, I mean, not really. I think it's about the same. You got different weapons maybe that they don't have in Barkley. Miles Sanders, don't sleep on that guy. He's gotten bigger and stronger in the off-season. Catching the ball out of the backfield.

Sometimes when you watch a guy for so long, you back him up, you start to look like him. He showed some flashes on tape. You're like, Oh, gosh, where is this guy going to be in another year? Is he going to be another Barkley? That's what he looks like right now. Made some major improvements.

First time he took a carry there two years ago, took a kickoff return, just a different Miles Sanders. It's called development. It's what we do as coaches. He's a good player, too. They got some other ones, too.

Q. (Question regarding Penn State being sharper.)
PAT NARDUZZI: I just think they know they're going to find a way to get it done. Doesn't matter if you win close or win by 50, they're going to make their improvements. We're going to make our improvements. We get to line up at 8:14 p.m. and get after it.

I don't think that really affects anything. They got the win, that's all that matters. Doesn't matter how you did it. Get some more confidence that they'll find a way in the end to get it done. Always nice to be in overtime. Close games are great because you find out what your teams are made of. I think they're better for getting in a tight game and coming out on the right end of it. I think that helps you.

Q. (No microphone.)
PAT NARDUZZI: I don't know what games you've seen on TV this weekend. I didn't get to see any of them. There's a mix of them. I think you'll start to see a little bit more of ACC versus ACC. Really don't care. There's going to be times we open with somebody that's got a bigger name than an Albany in the future. I don't know if it really matters because your kids are going to get ready for whoever you're playing. Really doesn't matter. Sometimes we don't dictate who we open up with.

Q. You alluded to it during some of your comments. Specifically with the secondary, how do you feel they performed?
PAT NARDUZZI: Just okay. A lot of little details we have to clean up. Again, I think any time you don't play well, that's what I consider -- again we stopped the run. We could have maybe destroyed the run if we had tackled a little bit better. We were in position. Our fits were darn good. Just have to clean up the tackle. Opener stuff usually.

Sometimes I think guys got their eyes closed. Again, put it this way. We live tackled maybe six times out of 24 opportunities. That's like your first live chance. That's our first time since the Miami game that we've tackled at Heinz Field. I think that's a different deal, too. At least we got one practice under your belt, if you want to call it that.

I don't think they were as sharp as they need to be. You can blame that on the players, but it goes right back to us as coaches. Starts with me getting them in better positions to make plays. We hope this weekend we'll be in better position to make plays with fundamentals.

Again, first time out there. We went out there probably, if you guys projected it, without three of our starting DBs. I don't know if we'll have them back this week. Dane Jackson wasn't there, Jason Pinnock wasn't out there, Phil Campbell wasn't out there. I think those are three guys that all started against Miami and Virginia Tech both. Three of those starters weren't out there. Devonte, he's in Philadelphia having fun, intercepting balls. We didn't have all four of them.

I think it was good experience for those guys that got reps.

Q. (Question about Paris.)
PAT NARDUZZI: He's still a puppy. He doesn't like to be called a puppy. He did some really good things. He got out there. I think Paris is going to be a great player. He got his opportunity. We're now not afraid to put him out there because we know what we got. He still has to clean up technique like the other guys. He's not far off.

Paris probably had limited coaching, too, in the last week and a half as far as just practicing. So I think that also... We didn't know if he'd be available or not. But he was available, which is a plus because we got that under his belt. We kind of know where he is.

That's the great thing about openers, getting 55 or whatever I said, 58, guys out there. Getting them reps, so now we find out where they are. Put them in there? Some guys you go, We can't put him in right now, he needs a lot more work. Not putting him in until this improves.

Paris is a guy you go he's going to fight you out there. I'm sure he was hyped up in his emotions. We'll get all that under control. A lot we can work with with No. 12.

Q. Did that show you why he wanted corner instead of safety?
PAT NARDUZZI: No, not really. I think he can end up playing both. He might fit better as a safety, but mentally right now I think it's a little bit less for him to get him out on the field. There's a lot of stuff going on back there. Even smart as Dennis Briggs is, there's times he makes little mistakes that will hurt us, what we do back there, the calls we're in conjunction with the backer and corner, sometimes he doesn't make the right call either. That's something we can put our kids in better position.

There's a lot of stuff that that safety not only physically has to do but athletically. We'll wean him into that. I think eventually that guy is going to be a heck of a safety for us.

Q. How did Kenny do decision making-wise?
PAT NARDUZZI: Really good. I told you he can be a lot better. Probably can. Everybody can get better. The one bubbly through there, a guy in his face. I didn't sit in his pocket. One bad throw. Played pretty good. As far as jumping up in the air, probably the worst decision he made. Hopefully get that corralled.

Q. Is toughness one of the things that sets him apart from other quarterbacks you've had?
PAT NARDUZZI: I mean, he's definitely tough. He definitely has an edge to him. I don't want to take anybody else's toughness away. He's tough like other good quarterbacks.

Q. With the kickoff being so late, such a big game, you have to give instructions on what to do?
PAT NARDUZZI: Before they get here? We'll have them Friday night, have them all day. We have a plan for what we do. Yeah, it's detailed out what we'll do and how we'll do all day Saturday as well as Friday night.

Q. Is there a fear in getting keyed up too early?
PAT NARDUZZI: Is there a fear? Hopefully we don't get them keyed up too early. They're going to be excited. I don't think anybody gets tired from being excited early. I'm sure it's bad on the kids. It's nerve-wracking sitting around in a hotel all day waiting. But they got to do the same thing.

I don't know if there's anything you can do about that besides try to keep your mind off it. I'm sure they'll be on their phones, tweeting, snapping, playing (indiscernible), all that other baloney, shooting people on video games. I don't get it.

Q. (No microphone.)
PAT NARDUZZI: Availability? I'm going to loosen it up that much. We'll have two players available tomorrow. We'll give you two players. Other than that we're going to keep it quiet, play football, let our guys focus on what is important. This game is important to the city of Pittsburgh. We want to keep the importance on what it is. Anybody wants to argue and say this is no different than any other week. Okay, it is. That's a fact. If you want to ignore that, you can ignore it. It's a big game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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