There's no hiding it. After starting the season 7-0 and getting off to its best start in over 40 years, Pitt has played its worst football over the last two weeks. But, now, with No. 20 Clemson coming to town, the Panthers are looking to fix several mistakes and bounce back in a big way.
While the Panthers have struggled defensively at times, the offense has not been itself since their 17-15 win over Cal on Oct. 12. During that game, the Panthers lost starting left tackle Branson Taylor to a season-ending knee injury and left guard Ryan Jacoby suffered an ankle injury. That's where the problems started.
Jacoby has returned since then, but he hasn't been 100% healthy. Kade Bell said earlier this week that they held Jacoby out against Virginia to try and get him fully healthy. That caused a lot of shuffling along the offensive line. After trying Terrence Enos Jr. at left tackle for a few games, the Panthers decided to slide him into left guard against Virginia and move Ryan Baer from right tackle to left tackle. Isaiah Montgomery then earned his first career start at right tackle.
"To me, we have to find our five best guys right now with what we're going through with injuries and that's what we're trying to do right now," Bell said. "We're going to try and find our five best and as an offensive line, you have to be cohesive. Cohesiveness matters. We had those five guys all throughout camp and the first five games of the season and now we're trying to get that type of bond back."
The experimentation across the front five has come with its downfalls though as the Panthers were heavily penalized against Virginia. The Panthers committed a total of 11 penalties for 75 yards and several of them were holding or offensive procedure penalties with Montogomery and Baer being two of the main culprits.
If Pitt is going to have success in its final three games of the season, it starts with cleaning up its unforced errors.
"It's hard to play football when it's first-and-15," Pat Narduzzi said. "You play behind the sticks, then you can't run the ball, then you're throwing it, then they're rushing you, then you're getting a holding call. I mean, you have to stay two-dimensional, as I say all the time. That's why I like when we can make someone one-dimensional. You have to have a run game. But when you hurt yourself and you shoot yourself in the foot, you're going to have issues."
The offensive line and penalties haven't been Pitt's only issues. A lot of focus has fallen on redshirt freshman Eli Holstein as well. It's unclear whether Holstein will play Saturday against Clemson after suffering a vicious blow to the head against Virginia. Narduzzi said Thursday that Holstein would be a game-time decision on Saturday as he hadn't been cleared to play yet. Narduzzi added that Nate Yarnell has taken more snaps in practice this week to be prepared in case he has to play.
But, after throwing for 1,567 yards and 15 touchdowns in the first five games of the season, Holstein has passed for just 610 yards and two touchdowns over the last four. He's also thrown three interceptions and has completed just 56% of his passes. Holstein's struggles stem from the decimated offensive line in front of him as he's been taking his eyes off receivers downfield and has been worrying about the rush. Defenses have also been challenging him with different looks. Teams, such as SMU, have been switching out of their normal defensive approach and have been playing more zone to stifle Bell's fast-paced offense and force Holstein to think more.
"When you look at it, as a young kid, defenses are always going to try and figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and the one thing that they usually do to young quarterbacks .... is they blitz you," Bell said. "He handled the blitz awesome the first six games and then it was like, well the blitz isn't working because he gets rid of the ball and he makes plays, so now he has a whole different mindset of 'How do I beat the defense when they are playing a million different coverages?' So, now he's having to take his mental game to another level and he works on it every day."
Bell, Narduzzi and the Panthers can help in that regard, and they will. Whether it's Holstein or Yarnell under center, Bell said they plan on trying to help the quarterbacks by building their confidence up earlier because when they play fast and ahead of the sticks, they become a dangerous offense.
"The way to get in a rhythm is by doing the little things right and we gotta go out there and make plays early in the game and give ourselves confidence," Bell said. "When you have a young quarterback and a bunch of new linemen, that we're trying to figure out, we gotta create confidence early in games. So I gotta find ways, whether it's easy throws or easier ways to get positive plays so we can get confidence because once we can get first downs, I feel like we play with confidence."
That will be crucial against Clemson, but the Panthers also need to play better in all aspects of the game. If they can clean up their penalties, shore up protection along the offensive line and catch easy passes -- they dropped around nine passes against Virginia -- they should put themselves in a good position. But, that's where it starts.
THE OPPONENT
Coach: Dabo Swinney (177-45, 16th season)
Record: (7-2, 6-1 ACC)
Players to watch: Cade Klubnik, QB, Jr.; Phil Mafah, RB, Grad.; Antonio Williams, WR, R-So.; T.J. Moore, WR, Fr.; T.J. Parker, DE, So.; Wade Woodaz, LB, Jr.
Through their first nine games, the Tigers have dominated at times but have also had a few hiccups. They lost their first game to Georgia and recently dropped their second game in a 33-21 loss to Louisville. Before that, they had won six straight in convincing fashion by outscoring their opponents 291-127. During that stretch, the Tigers allowed 21.2 points per game and scored 48.5.
Offensively, they've hit a roll and it's been led by quarterback Cade Klubnik. He's thrown for 2,275 yards and 24 touchdowns while completing 63% of his passes. He's also only been picked off four times. But, part of that success comes from the Tigers' offensive line.
"I think their offensive line is probably the best offensive line I've seen this year without a question," Narduzzi said. "... These guys are big, fast and physical."
That has also paved the way for running back Phil Mafah who has garnered a load of the carries for Clemson. He's 6-1, 230 pounds and Narduzzi compared him to North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton because of how he's always on the field but is also a very physical runner. Mafah has tallied a team-high 161 carries for 981 yards and eight touchdowns. He's averaging 109 yards per game and Clemson is averaging just under 200 yards per game on the ground.
Clemson has had just as much success through the air as Klubnik has a lot of targets to throw too. Redshirt sophomore Antonio Williams has been Klubnik's top target as he's caught 40 passes for 468 yards and six touchdowns, all of which are team highs. But, Klubnik also has four receivers with over 330 receiving yards.
So how do the Panthers stymie an offense with so many weapons?
"This is Power Five, Power Four football, there are good players at all positions every single week, so you have to be locked into your position every single week and who you are going against and win that one-on-one," Assistant head coach/secondary and safeties coach Cory Sanders said. "So they do do a good job of spreading it around and they do have a few young receivers that have made plays this year. They have Antonio Wiliams on the outside, they move him around a lot, they have the other slot receiver (Troy) Stellato, they have some good weapons and they do spread it around. But, at the end of the day, in football, you have to win your one-on-one and we're still going to continue to do what we do and we have to excel at our one-on-ones to be successful."
Defensively, Clemson has given up 23.1 points per game and opponents have rushed for an average of 128.9 yards per game while passing for around 207.8 yards per game. In Clemson's loss to Louisville, the Cardinals only passed for 156 yards but tallied 215 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. So if the Panthers can find a way to get Desmond Reid or Daniel Carter going early, they might be able to open up the passing game.
Junior linebacker Wade Woodaz is a key piece of the Clemson defense. He leads the team in tackles (65) and also has 6.5 TFLs, two sacks and nine quarterback pressures but defensive end T.J. Parker has created a lot of problems for opposing offenses. He leads Clemson with 8.5 TFLs and five sacks and has also tallied 36 tackles and seven quarterback pressures.
"We're heading on to Clemson, maybe the best football team we've played this year. I shouldn't say maybe. They are," Narduzzi said. "They're 315 across the line on their defensive line. They've got some big dudes. They're athletic, a bunch of first-rounders on defense and offense."
Saturday's game is Pitt's final at Acrisure Stadium as the Panthers finish out their 2024 slate with trips to Louisville and Boston College.
