At the dawn of WVU week, undefeated Pitt still has significant clean-up duty

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s main thrust Sunday at the start of West Virginia week is to wash off the euphoria of a big victory and get ready for another difficult test next Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.

There was so much good about the 28-27 comeback victory against Cincinnati that some of the negative items could get lost in the celebratory mood.

But not in Narduzzi’s mind.

“We made our mistakes, trust me,” he said.

First on his list probably will be fixing the run defense that allowed Corey Kiner to rush for 149 yards and the Bearcats to hold onto the football for more than half the game.

Actually, it’s a tribute to offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s hurry-up system that Pitt snapped the ball 68 times (nicely balanced at 35 passes, 33 rushes) while losing the time of possession battle. Cincinnati held the football for 36 minutes, 25 seconds.

Pitt trailed Cincinnati 27-6 in the 3rd quarter on the road...

Then WENT OFF for 2️⃣2️⃣ unanswered points in a wild comeback win ???? @Pitt_FB pic.twitter.com/FVirWHYlBb

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) September 8, 2024

Narduzzi also isn’t pleased that special teams forced Pitt to start two first-half drives at the 14- and 10-yard line. In fact, there were two holding penalties on one kickoff in the second quarter by Jordan Bass and Tymon Lynum. Cincinnati declined one and enjoyed the benefits of the other. Overall, Pitt was penalized only five times (largely because the offense runs smoothly), but coaches are perfection junkies. Narduzzi is no different.

Without naming names, he said, “I’m going to get the guys off (special teams) who can’t get it done and go with guys that will. Special teams have got to get better.”

Also, the secondary struggled in the first half, a big reason Pitt fell behind 27-6. There aren’t going to be 22 unanswered points scored in the second half every week.

Narduzzi acknowledged in-game improvement, however.

“We played much better at the corner position in the second half,” he said.

The coach also must recognize the element of good fortune that helped Pitt on its winning field goal drive.

Getting ready to face fourth-and-4 from its 26 with 1:59 left in the game, Pitt got a break on a delay penalty against the Cincinnati defense. The 5-yard penalty was good for a first down, and three plays later Eli Holstein found Konata Mumpfield for a 34-yard completion to the Bearcats’ 19.

Ben Sauls took care of the rest.

So there’s plenty to clean up while Pitt (2-0) tries to get ready for WVU, a 2 1/2-point favorite, and build momentum for its first ACC game Oct. 5 at North Carolina.

After losing at home to Penn State, 34-12, West Virginia pounced on Albany of the FCS on Saturday, 49-14.

Of note, quarterback Garrett Greene was efficient, completing 17 of 23 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns.

Of greater note, C.J. Donaldson and Jahiem White ran for 125 and 100 yards, respectively. The Mountaineers amassed 553 yards of offense, 305 on the ground. Yes, it was Albany, but that won’t matter to Pitt’s coaches during video review this week.

You may recall Donaldson ran for 102 yards on 18 carries last year while Pitt lost 17-6 to backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol, who was subbing for an injured Greene in Morgantown.

Climbing to 3-0 will be just as difficult for Pitt as getting to 2-0.