Same Old Pitt?
No.
That is being way too kind.
It's true, Pitt is a mediocre college football program that routinely disappoints its fans at the worst possible times. It has been doing that every season since the glory years in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. It didn't matter if the coach was Paul Chryst or Todd Graham or Dave Wannstedt or Walt Harris or John Majors (Part II) or Paul Hackett or Mike Gottfried or Foge Fazio. Pitt almost always has come up very small in the bigger moments.
But the 30-29 home loss to two-touchdown underdog North Carolina State on Saturday was much worse than most of the galling losses before it. It's enough to make you wonder if Pat Narduzzi _ in his sixth season as the latest failing coach _ ever will get Pitt over the hump. Wannstedt had the program further ahead than Narduzzi and rightfully was replaced after his sixth season in 2010, a season that included brutal home losses to Miami (31-3) and West Virginia (35-10). How much longer will Narduzzi get unless Pitt makes a miraculous recovery?
"We can point to all kinds of different things, but it starts and ends with me," a despondent Narduzzi said late Saturday afternoon. "I've got to have 'em better-prepared."
It's hard to argue with that.
Pitt came in 3-0 Saturday and was ranked No. 24 in the Associated Press poll. Sure, the wins were all at Heinz Field and came against ridiculously inept Austin Peay, lousy Syracuse and middling Louisville. Pitt and its fans knew the schedule was going to get much more difficult after North Carolina State with games against Miami, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and No. 1 Clemson. But Narduzzi and his players had big plans. They might have been delusional, but they talked as if they believed they were capable of more than just becoming Pitt's first team since 1981 to lose fewer than three games. Clearly, they were thinking ACC championship because of their lights-out defense and tough, experienced quarterback Kenny Pickett.
Did I mention they might have been delusional?
"Kids are hurt. Kids are hurt bad," Narduzzi said.
Pickett did his part and nearly won the game. He took a couple big hits _ temporarily leaving the game for two plays in the second quarter _ and ended up throwing for a career-best 411 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown pass to wide-open wide receiver Jordan Addison on the game's second play.
But Pickett couldn't overcome Pitt's running game. I know, what running game? Pickett was the top rushing threat with 40 yards. The other ball toters combined for 52 yards on 22 attempts.
Pickett certainly couldn't overcome Pitt's defense, which was exposed as fraudulent against a North Carolina State offense that had 398 total yards. You tell me when the defense was worse. In the first half when it jumped off sides five times, committed three pass-interference penalties, had a face mask infraction and allowed consecutive scoring drives of 75, 60 and 69 yards? Or in the fourth quarter when it allowed North Carolina State to go 72 yards in seven plays for a touchdown that wiped out a 23-17 Pitt lead and then, after Pitt regained the lead at 29-24, an eight-play, 79-yard drive for the winning touchdown with 23 seconds left.
All of it was bad, right?
No again.
All of it was awful, including that allegedly rugged defense producing just two sacks and forcing no turnovers.
So much for Pitt's cute little game of Turnover Basketball on the sideline after big plays.
"They made one more play," Narduzzi said. "You don't look at it and say we got blown off the field out there. It's a good team, and they made one more play than we did. That's what it comes down to. We left a lot of plays on the field. That's the thing that hurts the most."
How many times have you heard that from a Pitt coach over the years?
Narduzzi was reaching now.
"Sometimes, the best medicine is really to get humbled," he said.
Pitt has had a lot of practice with that over the years.
It's funny, the medicine never seems to work.
