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DR PEPPER ACC FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: CLEMSON VS PITTNovember 25, 2018Pat NarduzziCharlotte, North Carolina THE MODERATOR: I'd like to turn it over to Pat Narduzzi. Coach, please give us an opening statement, then we'll take questions. PAT NARDUZZI: First of all, it's obviously I guess time to talk about this Coastal championship that we were able to accomplish this year. It's an honor and a privilege to be able to take Pittsburgh to the championship game and take on such a great football team and great coach in Dabo Swinney, the Clemson Tigers. We know it will be a heck of a football game. We know we're playing one heck of a football team in Clemson. It will be our first trip there. Clemson has obviously been there before. This will be nothing new to them. I think it's going to be important for our football team to obviously stay focused and locked into why we're there, what our job is. It's truly an honor to be there and represent the Coastal Division. Questions. Q. After all your film study, what is the biggest difference between Clemson of 2016 and Clemson now, and your team 2016 and now? PAT NARDUZZI: You know what, I can talk probably more about our team. I can tell you more about their team maybe later on in the week. I apologize. We're kind of cleaning up really what we did this past weekend against Miami, so I'm not prepared to really say who they are right now. I know they got a younger quarterback that's obviously done a phenomenal job as a rookie. They're very talented. Christian Wilkins on defense, recruited him a few years ago. I can't believe he's still there playing. They're obviously very talented, otherwise wouldn't be the No. 2 team in the country. I think we've come a long way since we played them a couple years ago. I think our depth is better. Are we a better football team? I don't know. That's still to be determined. It's hard to gauge that. Sorry I couldn't answer that question a little bit better. Q. Shockey, he's playing a lot already. What does he bring to your team? Could you describe him as a player, what he gives you guys. PAT NARDUZZI: You said Shockey, right? Q. That is correct. PAT NARDUZZI: He's going to be a great player for us. He's fast. He's quick. He's fun to coach. He's one of those kids that's got that personality that you love to have and coach. But again, he's only going to keep getting better. He has the speed. We haven't been able to give him the ball as much as we'd like to with the way our run game has gone. He's a heck of a football player. Q. What does this mean for you, for western Pennsylvania, going to this ACC title game? I know you got ready for Miami, but what does it mean for you knowing that you're representing western Pennsylvania, going down to Charlotte to hopefully win a title? PAT NARDUZZI: First of all, it's an incredible accomplishment that we clinched a week ago. I think, like I said to start off this press conference, it's an honor to be in this position. Our kids have worked hard. Our coaches have worked hard to go 6-2 in a tough Coastal Division. I think it's really everything. It's a dream to play in a championship game. I think that's what young men and coaches dream to do, is to play in those big games. I've been in a couple of them. They've been fun. It's something that our kids I don't think will have any trouble getting up for, compared to other games. We got to just maintain our focus and stay calm. But I think it's great for the city of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, really the state of Pennsylvania. Q. For Clemson, what do you use to get ready for a team you haven't played in two years? PAT NARDUZZI: Our GAs have started to break down their stuff. We haven't started to dig into it as coaches here. I should say our assistants have now. But I haven't had a chance to. Just trying to clean up this last game details for team meeting, all that, doing some all conference stuff this morning. The big thing is we're going to look at every game this season. We'll have bits and pieces of every game last season. We'll look at the 2016 game. We'll go back and look at any explosive plays they've had, trick plays, wheels, anything new that we haven't seen. We'll have really a two-year deal on them. We started that weeks ago. Q. Obviously you are going to be a big underdog going in. Do you play that card with your guys? Do you look at what you were able to accomplish at Clemson two years ago as a blueprint for you can really get it done? PAT NARDUZZI: What we did two years ago really won't have a factor. That was two years ago. We got different players, different coaches. Really what it's going to come down to is what we do this week. The underdog, I mean, I think our kids will know they're the underdog. I don't think I have to tell them. If you turn any TV station on, turn on ESPN, they'll find out by the time we get probably Wednesday that they're the underdog. I won't really have to play that role up. I think they'll have figured that out. Q. Obviously you came into Saturday's game with four straight wins, the last three by double-digits. How disappointing and deflating was to end the regular season on the note you did Saturday? What's the challenge for these guys to get their mojo back, that momentum back? PAT NARDUZZI: I think football players in general have confidence, period. It's not like we got our doors blown off. A tight game for most of the game. We let it get away from us at the end with a couple runs. I'm not so sure some of our kids weren't already looking forward to this game already. So I don't think we'll have much trouble trying to get them ready for the game. I think they've looked forward to it for a week, maybe too much. I think that's the main thing. Did I answer the whole question? Q. Yes. PAT NARDUZZI: Okay. Q. You said you really haven't started your Clemson scout, so to speak. What can you take away from yesterday's game playing against an athletic defense, Clemson having the same type of deal? PAT NARDUZZI: Yes, they are. I think that will be the first thing, is we're going to face a fast, physical, big team like we did yesterday. Miami played their tails off. Again, I give them a lot of respect for doing that. Coach Richt had them going, ready for us. I'm sure Clemson will be ready, as well. But I think what you take from it is you got to be ready and locked in to be able to block the best, to be able to tackle the best, stay in your gap against the best. This is not a bowl game, this is a championship game. We're playing the No. 2 team in the country. Q. With this being Pitt's first trip to the ACC championship game, have you had any experience with this extended season in the past? How do you practice during the week? Do you change anything, have extra meetings with your players to deal with the extra media scrutiny and hoopla? PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, you don't do much different. I've been in a couple of them, two Big Ten championships, played in some big bowl games. I think a Big Ten championship is a little different. More like a normal game week for our kids. Obviously they're still in school. We're still under the 20-hour rule, unless something has changed. Let me know on that. We still have a 20-hour-a-week rule with the NCAA. We can't have any extra meetings. Again, you got six days to prepare for a big game on Saturday night. We both have the same time to prepare for that football game. Q. Could you talk about the satisfaction of bringing a title to Pitt? You turned down jobs as a defensive coordinator, you turned down jobs as a head coach till I presume you found the right fit. PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, no question about it. When I took this job a few years back, one of the reasons I took the job is because I love the opportunity to compete in the ACC. I love the conference, love the division that we're in. I thought looking at the Coastal, anybody had a chance to win that division and have an opportunity to go play in a championship game. Really four years later it's coming to fruition that I was right in what I thought we could go through the division, have an opportunity to play in this game. Always felt like nobody in the division was going to be undefeated, winning that division, clinching it. It's a tremendous opportunity that our kids have to go in there and compete against the best in the country. Q. With respect to coaching being such a tough business, you turned down other jobs, found one that you liked, and it's paid off. PAT NARDUZZI: No doubt about it. It's definitely paid off. I love Pittsburgh. I enjoy being here. Q. In a general sense, what is your take on how this Clemson program has sort of become the powerhouse that it is. I know they're in the Atlantic Division, you don't see them every year. Their dominance has picked up since you got to Pitt. Your thoughts on the way Dabo has built it over there, how they've become the standard they are in the ACC. PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I mean, obviously Dabo has done an incredible job. He's not only a football coach, but he's a businessman. He's got the tools he needs down there, the facilities, their slides, movie theater outside, backyard barbecues they have. They've got a unique place down south. They're able to attract a lot of talent. They've done a great job winning football games which has helped the consistency of bringing more talent there. They got a ton of tradition. Like I said, Dabo really has done that. He has some Alabama ties. He's doing a little bit of the Saban way. He's building another powerhouse there in the Atlantic Division of the ACC. Q. With the recent changes on your offensive line, the trouble they may have had yesterday against Miami, do you have any concern about them going against Clemson's defensive line, plays pretty athletically as you said earlier? PAT NARDUZZI: I appreciate it, understanding that game plan part of it. It's really obviously too early to decide that. With the injury of Jimmy Morrissey, which I was asked after the game, you didn't really know as much as you saw when you watched the tape. There were certainly some concerns as far as what we did, how we did it. I think you always get your best performance from game one to game two at the beginning of a season. I think, again, we're right back to where we are in game one. How are we going to adjust from game one to game two, with a new starting offensive line, new parts in there, not only with Connor Dintino, but Hargrove at the guard spot. It's different. It causes some communication problems that we'll have to fix and make better this coming weekend to have a chance. Q. Darrin Hall had a couple of big games against Virginia and Virginia Tech. It's been tougher sledding for you running the ball against Wake Forest and Miami. What did those teams do to give you a hard time in the run game? Just a matter of putting extra hats in the box, forcing you to throw? PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, they put some extra hats in the box. Obviously some good D-lines. Again, Wake Forest put more guys in the box. Miami didn't put as many guys in the box, but they did some twists and stuff that we hadn't really seen a whole lot of. They did some different things to maybe confuse our guys up front. You add the confusion with some really talented football players up front for Miami, it was a recipe for a disastrous game there. Q. While the game two years ago with Clemson won't bear much on this, how much did it have to do with you and your program getting to where it is today? Josh Conklin, are you following what he's doing at Wofford? PAT NARDUZZI: I guess they're 1-0 in the playoffs. I did notice that, was told that on the way home. I'm fired up for Josh. He's a great person and a great football coach. Does not surprise me he's having the success he had down there with a great Wofford program. Back to how we got where we are. That Clemson game, any time you can go beat one of the best in the country, I think it gives your kids that belief that what we're doing is the right stuff, that if we have that focus, we continue to work our trade, you have an opportunity to win a lot of football games, beat anybody when you do that. The stars have to be aligned, you got to do a lot of things right, have a little luck along the way. Being able to do that obviously helps a program with success they're going to have in the future. Q. What is the root of the confidence you seem to have? Does it come from growing up, where you grew up, your father, or from the team you're coaching right now? PAT NARDUZZI: I think it's life. I guess maybe it's growing up. Growing up, we always have an opportunity to do whatever we want to do, period. We control our own destiny. I truly believe that. We controlled our destiny last week in the positive or negative way. We control our destiny this week. Our kids have got to be ready to go, locked in. We can do whatever we want to do, just have to put our minds to it. I've always lived my life that way, whether wanting to go to college, getting a degree, marrying my wife. I mean, I say, I think I'm going to marry that girl there, that's the girl I want. That's kind of what happened. I think it's an attitude. Q. You played in a couple of the Big Ten championship games, coached. Were you able to take anything away from those experiences that you feel like have helped you with preparation, things to say to the guys this week before this game? PAT NARDUZZI: I think all your past experiences as a football coach or player or AD, whatever it may be, a writer, I think you're always going to draw from past experiences you've had, things you'd like to continue to do, things you'd do differently if you were put in the same position. That's what we do as coaches, is collect data, collect things you like, move on with it. I think that's kind of what you do. Q. Were there some specific things you looked at from the first time you played in the Big Ten championship to the second that you did differently at Michigan State? PAT NARDUZZI: There were some things we did differently, for sure, schematically as well as structurally with how we structured the weekend. Q. You haven't had a lot of reason to focus or pay close scrutiny to Clemson this year. Do you have any thoughts as to the reputation the new quarterback has garnered with you and other coaches? PAT NARDUZZI: Like I said, I think I watched a little bit against Clemson-Syracuse in a previous game early in the year. Again, our offensive side of the ball, watching that. I watched more of Clemson's offense against Syracuse's defense and vice versa. I think Trevor has done an unbelievable job. He's leading the No. 2 team in the country, maybe the No. 1 team in the country, to an undefeated season. He obviously has all the tools. Dabo has named him the starter a long time ago, and rightfully so. I think his work speaks for itself, the victories speak for themselves. I'm going to get a chance firsthand to watch a ton of tape, watch and see what makes him so special. Q. Is there a memory from the 2016 Clemson win, one that jumps in your mind, a certain play, something that happened off the field, the image you think you'll have of that when you look back? PAT NARDUZZI: I think one play, I'm a pretty simple guy, but the one play that stands out the most is watching Chris kick the field goal through the uprights at the end of the game. I think that's the final play, the final part that you remember, most about that football game for me. There were a lot of great plays, Saleem Brightwell's interception. A ton of great plays. Jaymar Parrish going down the sideline, catching a wheel route. A ton of plays in that game. Nathan Peterman was on fire that day. There was a ton of great plays in that game. That last one would probably be the one. Doesn't happen without that one. Q. With Clemson and Pitt being in different divisions, not playing often, seems like there are ACC coaches that don't have a lot to do with each other. How well do you know Dabo, your thoughts on the job he's done at Clemson? PAT NARDUZZI: He's done an unbelievable job. As coaches, whether they were in our division or not, we don't spend a whole lot of time as coaches together. The times you do are at ACC Media Days where you spend time with them. Dabo has done an incredible job. I think he's a great guy. I'd like to be like Dabo someday. He has a great personality. He's a player's coach. I just think he does everything the right way. I got the utmost respect for Dabo and the job he's done there. Besides all that, I think he's a great person. Q. Far-off perspective, he was not known as an X's and O's guys, never had a job as a coordinator. What do you think is maybe the key to his success as a coach? PAT NARDUZZI: He's a teacher first of all. He's a teacher. He's a motivator. He's a businessman. He's the CEO of Clemson. I think that's all you have to be. You hire other coaches to do those other things maybe that you haven't done or care to do. Whether you've been a coordinator on offense or defense or special teams, or haven't, doesn't mean you couldn't have done that. Talking enough football in life with Dabo, he's a smart guy, can do anything he wants to do. I'm sure he has a lot of ideas in that office with what should be done or why don't you try this. But he's a great football coach because he can lead a team. The kids believe in him. Again, he understands the psychology of the kids. Just the way he deals with his kids I think is the key. They play their tail off for Dabo Swinney. THE MODERATOR: Coach Narduzzi, we'll let you go. Well see you Friday at the press conference. PAT NARDUZZI: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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