Pitt Football | Postgame at Cincinnati | Pat Narduzzi | 9.7.24

first off uh thanks to the Pittsburgh media for uh coming today's game I'm sure you enjoyed it as much as our players did um it's a gutsy win by our guys couldn't be prouder of uh you know the effort they gave you know we came up in the fourth quarter and said we're going to win this thing broke down on win again our guys believed um again it shows your true character um you know come back from you know being 21 down you know players made plays you know we made plays in the second half on offense and defense you know Eli had a much better second half than he did starting off um but you know you kind of see some of that coming um the first half you I don't know what the time possession was but it was not good um you know um but uh you know we lost that field you know time possession probably by 12 minutes or so uh so they had the ball a lot um you know you know which didn't you know stay on the field offensively but we did in the second half and it's a heck of a win uh you got a happy football team in that Locker right now and again they believed and again just shows true character so questions what went into the adjusts you boed that you guys were great adjustments on Thursday you back up the 21 come what the adjusts on offense and get defense yeah you know defense was just you know making the plays you know I don't know if there was a ton of adjustments I mean they sat in there for a while at halftime and and uh and discussed a lot of things what they liked what they didn't like and you know you kind of clean up your game plan based on what they're doing what they're showing and and defensively that's what we do I don't know how many points we scored in the second half but we make adjustments every series of trying to F figure stuff out and and take stuff away but that's a good football team I can tell you that they were a lot better today than they looked against Morgan State last year so I give him a lot of credit sorbs SS's a football player he made a some great throws out you know out to you know uh the flats you know to to the receivers they did a nice job they got a good football team and um but we have a better football team today you know what uh again he he's he's shown you know uh in practice that uh that he's our guy right now and uh you know and again we know Nate can do it too uh we just felt like the scramble ability and and you know uh you know he didn't you know he didn't waver at all I mean I think if you look in in a kid's eyes and and you see any like you know dizziness I mean he was he was locked in and shoot he apologized to me after the game that'll never happen again I mean that's kind of who he is um so um you know glad we stuck with him because I don't think it happens at the end I mean you know canate mfield you know Desmond Reed you know I've kind of talked about him for you know a month now about what he is you know 100 yards receiving 100 yards rushing that guy's a football player um and um you know credit goes to the players players make plays you know team win obviously coaches did a nice job but the players make plays yeah um you know uh the recommendation you know on the you know when we were down 21 was to go for two and I didn't think momentum wise that was a smart decision so uh you know down 21 when we scored to go down I guess 15 you know the recommendation was to go for it there but I was like no you know momentum wise if you don't get it to me it didn't look good um but you know all the analytics tell you you need to go for it um and again if we get one of those you know you're possibly playing for the win at all so we're not playing to tie we're playing to win uh we know we have good kicker and and again our defense stepped up and and got to you know um you know the four minute get the ball back with I think 238 or whatever it was on the clock and and uh our guys made plays quies out yeah you guys say CL down got take those away clamp down I mean there was some you know some major you know stiff arm push offs you know that we just got to play better you know we we still got to get better at corner right now got a lot of young guys out there um but um you know um you know we'll look at the video tape but uh you know they played better in the second half but um you know sorby can make those throws out there so if they you know they're running a 10 yard you know comeback I mean he was putting them right on the money uh for the most part so um you know we got into some different stuff in the second half um you know on some of those sacks uh were big plays great calls by bats you know I already mentioned it you know Des M's a football player um you know um you know I can't say enough I don't know when the last time someone had 100 yards receiving 100 yards passing his performance is outstanding I'm sure he'll be the player of the week in the ACC if he's not something's wrong U but he's a football player you feel like you know um you know possibly I mean I told you they're dropping eight and you got to be smart with the football and and um you know he did better job even in the second half of scrambling and taking the yards they're going to give you I if you don't feel good take off off and run and he did that in the second half as well um but uh he obviously saw the field you know better you know there's a couple scrambled throws that were good as well you know he can throw on the run and and made some plays obviously Jason startan unifor unable to play today yeah Ryan was unable to play today and Jason Cary did a heck of a job filling in and then Jason kind of went down with a little injury uh we didn't have him at the end of that second quarter I'm not sure how much time in the second quarter and then he got it together and you know I give Jason CER a ton of credit man they came back and and fought through it um and um you know little hamstring we'll throw it right out there to you Jerry where's Jerry at he's not here he would have loved that um but he had a hamstring and and uh he came back in the second half he had a hold maybe in the third quarter uh but Jason did a heck of a job helping us win that football game the most important one was at the end of the game I mean that's a that's a game winner right there that's a big time play you we got a lot of faith in in in Ben SS he was over 90% during fall Camp uh he's he's money and um you know again points or points whether in the first half or second half you know you take the three when when that's what you got and and go with it talk drop saw a lot of times they had a second Defender a lot of you guys primary tets what went into Eli being able to settle down and that you know I think experience I mean you know you you can't you know you come into a you know great atmosphere in Cincinnati they got they got a good game day atmosphere um and um you know just experience I think I mean you can't you can't get that in practice just you know the experience is just going to make him a heck of a lot better here as we move forward he knows he's been there now he's been on the road and um it'll it'll make us better when you said Eli apologize to you that's just for not playing the way he wanted to in the first half yeah the way you know just like you know the first thing he said to me after the game it won't happen again um but yeah just you know sorry coach but uh you know hey it wasn't just him it was all of us it was coaches and players and and uh it's not just on quarterback you know he gets all the credit when things are going good and uh sometimes he's going to get you know um the minuses when he's not what's this do for a program you don't see comebacks this size that often what do you think it does for you guys well I think it gives them belief you know we talk about faith and belief all the time and you know our guys believed and there was never time on the sideline you talk about emotion and energy on the sideline there was never a Time on the on the sideline to where our guys didn't think they could get it done and I always talk about feeding off each other you know our offense scores and our defense you our defense got stronger our offense kept scoring they got stronger that's what we didn't have a year ago where we are feeding off of each other then the offense scores we go up and then we get into Victory defense and and and shut it down to win the game at the end so I mean it's like everything you know wented you know we had a four-minute stop we had a two-minute you know at the end of the half how about the two minute at the end of the half for the field goal you think that field goal was important with what it 33 seconds left on the clock at the half and we get in field goal range and kick a 53 y I mean that's you know he had a gamewinner at the end of the half and he had a gamewinner you know at the end of the game Ben SS seemed like in the second half defense really set Bas on what the line were think yeah I don't know how many pressures we had you know we didn't get enough but he got the ball out well I mean he did a nice job um but uh I don't know how many sacks we had today um but we didn't get enough but he's good with the ball he's he's a really good football player your defense allowed seven yard in the fourth quarter who did you see being the leader leading voice out there to keep that team keeps High Focus you know I don't I don't know I would say you know Brandon George would be one of them but I think you know coaches and players it takes you better be more than it better be more than one guy you know I think you know the coaches held it together and and we're positive on the sideline and that's all you can be you know you coach it up off the iPad what you see uh get things better uh I snapped a couple times you know when I see some stuff on the iPad you know between series you know and I you know that's not good you know it's it's you know valuable to have those iPads out there just to you know know who you're attacking you can't wait till Sunday to figure it out um but uh you know we played much better at the corner position in the second half and um and again we we made some plays and made some good adjustments anything final before we uh bring our players P when when you make a hire like you did with Kade and then you see an offense like this do this in the second half what's it do just for the belief of like hey yeah we we did a good job getting together um you know we've had a belief for a while wasn't just you know after last week or after this week you know I told our team last night you know I've got more confidence I've been you know coming into 10th season I have more confidence in what our guys can do in that room I told them last night before they went to bed that uh you know I couldn't be more confident about what we can do on you know in really all three phases and we made our mistakes trust me you know the the penalties uh we'll look at those I mean we started twice you know inside the 15 yard line again it's hard for anybody to to to go down there I think we started you know at the six yard line took it 94 yards for a touchdown as well um but you know we we didn't have the winning we didn't win you know the time possession and we certainly didn't win the field position those are two critical things and you know special teams has got to get better uh we've had two Holdings on kickoff return this season so far it's two and two that's not good and and it puts our you know we had some pretty good kickoff returns with Kenny Johnson you know uh you know hitting it up in there and you know they get called back for for a hold so we got to we got to clean that stuff up I'm just going to get the guys off that you know can't get it done and and uh and uh and go with guys that will