Pitt Football | Postgame at Cincinnati | Eli Holstein | 9.7.24

sorry about giving you a heart attack today that's on me behind that what was going on I was first half I was just thinking too much trying to do too much you know especially with the three High safety defense that they play I mean they're they're dropping eight pretty much every play and I was just thinking too much trying to do too much you know towards the end of this that last drive before we got that field goal I you know I was just playing football doing what my coach told me to do and you know just that's how I started playing the second half you know so I just wanted up apologize to coach dude and say hey man that that that that whole half's on me um that's not on the defense that's on anybody else but me I took responsibility for that and you know in the second half we came out played a lot better and you end up winning the game your field outo just the mindset um second half you know we were down what we like 276 and then you know I just I thought you know hey I got to play a lot faster you know I got to move the ball get completions you know completions over you know big plays those completions are going to turn into big plays I mean I threw the ball three yards to Desmond Reed and he took it about what 60 yards I mean just just stuff like that you know that's what I got to do I got to do that a lot more you know just taking what the defense gives me not trying to force anything how was your guys communication in the first half I know you playing on the road for the first half College you think that at all no not at all um me probably as you know as a freshman you know second game you know playing an atmosphere like that you know I got to handle that a little bit better um you know I'm going to play in some difficult uh places this uh this season you know and just getting a game like that getting a half like that under my belt I feel like it's going to help me a lot better uh in the rest of the season said that that everybody believed they were going to win when they down three touchdown was there ever a time when doubted in no not really you know those guys you know especially those leaders those seniors on offense you know they kept me up they they believe in me they helped me believe in myself uh to go out there and you know make plays just do what I do uh defense you know made some key stops my guys uh he and uh ghost over there you know they made some great plays for us they made they made some great plays for us you know giving us that momentum that we needed uh to go out there and win the game menz he looked like he was do little what can you uh I told y'all he was going to have a better game I told y'all last week I was like that's that's not even the best game he's going to have um he's a guy that you can just get the ball like I said two yards down the line and he's going to go get you 70 um he's gonna he's a dog I mean he's from he's from South Florida uh he's he's he was raised a little different um you know being from the south and everything and he's just he's a guy that's tough as nail he's going to do whatever his team needs him to do to end up winning the game scaming ability in the second that that's one of the adjustments I made in the second half was just realizing hey if it's not there don't force it and they're only rushing three so you know I can get out the pocket and make some plays um I feel like that really helped us uh continue drives just moving the ball down the field and that's one of the things I didn't really do last week and I knew how to do it at some point this week I wouldn't really doing in the first half just because I was just trying to force stuff you know make the big plays instead of just taking what the defense gives me you know on that that last Drive in the first half you know the second half half I really kind of just took what the defense gave me and ended up just running down the field you know getting at least eight yards 10 yards whenever I needed it what say to you he just told me to just play football you know drop back you know take what they give you the running backs there out of the back field check it down don't force anything um I I can play in this league I he's like hey man I I got the utmost confidence in you you got to have confidence in yourself just go out there play football you know we all know you can do it this team believes in you I believe in coaches believe in you and he just told me to go out there and play some football oh it's it's unbelievable last week he kind of got on me after he hit that 50 yard uh he got on me for not going up there and telling him thank you so as soon as he hit a field goal this week I went up there and I said appreciate that that one that's a big deal and especially that half or that field goal right before half just getting that just getting that momentum going to the second half and know hitting that game winner having a guy like that is Monumental and it's going to help us win a lot of games this year you kind talk about that connection in the second half with it Le it's huge you know the entire game even when I wasn't playing my best he was you know picking me up uh helping me the entire time telling me hey man you know next drive next drive next play uh we're going to get things rolling and you know we ended up doing that in the second half and just having a guy like that a senior guy who's you know who's been around for a little while uh has a lot of maturity you know his big leader I mean he's a captain on this team for a reason just the way he carries himself and he carries other people with him uh so he he helped me a lot um just picking me up saying hey man we got you you ain't got to worry about anything and he made two huge plays for us I mean he scored what two touchdowns you know just just always there for us um making a big play on that last drive to end up winning the game uh yes my like in high school I did uh we were down my boys back in Zachary West mon doesn't like us too much we were down 21 nut in the first quarter I think 247 at halftime end up going into double overtime and winning it uh so I've been there before but it's a little different atmosphere in college and everything with with some guys around you so it was a lot of fun backi go at the end of the first half you complete that pass over the middle Lo like you guys were lining up you had to get a play off there was one second left snap the ball uh and you guys didn't have any timeouts and their player went down did you see what happened there it LO like he was up and then down did they stop the clock for you yeah I'm going be honest with you I don't know why they did that I we were going to go you know run a play I mean we knew we couldn't spike it cuz we only had one second then I mean that one of those guys was talking trash and all a sudden went down um which actually ended up helping us I feel like um you know just killing the clock and having us go out there and kick a field goal a huge credit I mean those guys they've been you know giving me the confidence you know ever since I've gotten here uh Branson Taylor you know ly and Cooper those are some really really big leaders you know Ryan bear you know they've always believed in me since I got here you know they've been always you know helping me out asking me what I need um just there for me whenever I needed them and you know they were they were there for me this week or this game uh just keeping me up um and everything you know they they played a heck of a game uh we needed them and uh we're going to need them to play well if we're going to make a long run in this win a lot of games you excited for the back next week I'm we got a 24-hour rule whatever I'm gonna enjoy this week you know we're going to get ready for next week