October 12, 2015

 Pat Narduzzi Press Conference 

Georgia Tech Week

 PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO: Narduzzi Georgia Tech Preview

PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO: DT Darryl Render

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT (HTML LINK): Narduzzi Text Transcript

ACC DIGITAL NETWORK VIDEO LINK: Pitt 2015 Defensive Highlights (have fun with this one at work)

 Opening Statement:

“We obviously have a huge challenge this week defending the spread option. We’re playing a team who was picked to win the Coastal side of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They’re a well-coached team, Georgia Tech. Paul Johnson does a great job coaching, a very intelligent guy. I have a lot of respect for him both administratively and as a football coach just [from] sitting with him in ACC meetings. Obviously they’re struggling a little bit and it’s not because they aren’t a good football team, that’s for sure. They lost four games to some pretty good football teams—they’re [a combined] 19-3. So if anyone wants to sit there and think they aren’t a good football team, I would argue with them. You go through struggles. They’ve had some injuries, as we have, so this will be a challenge for our football team.  I think we’re 0-3 against [Paul Johnson] and we get to go against them on the road again even though we had fun at Heinz Field this weekend. We’re looking forward to getting our guys coached up and going on a business trip.”

On how this week’s practice looks different because of Georgia Tech’s offensive scheme:

“It looks a lot different. They line up in a different formation. There’s motion and they are chopping you. There’s a lot of different things that they can do to you so it’s not an easy thing to defend. It’ll look totally different.”

On how the scout team will be utilized this week:

“Well, we’ll have a little bit more walk-throughs for them, probably practice it. I’m not sure if it pays to have them sit in here and watch tape. I think they need to go walk through and understand how the timing is. We’re going to have to chop block and get our guys on the ground. So we’ll try to do that and it’s a more realistic way to get it done. So we’ll do some of that and that’s the way it is. We have to give the best [look] we possibly can.

“That first quarter will be the best look we get. Hopefully we’ll settle down and figure out what it’s like.”

On his feeling on chop blocking:

“It’s part of the game.”

On if he thinks it’s dangerous:

“It’s dangerous but it’s going to happen in any game you play in as long as it’s not a high-low. Inside, there’s some high-lows and at times that’s dangerous. I don’t have a really good feeling about that. There is going to be chop blocks and they do a good job. James [Conner]’s big run this year against Youngstown was because of a great chop block by our fullback and I liked it a lot.”

On the last time he defended a triple-option team:

“The last time was 2003 against Ohio University when I was at Miami-Ohio. The exact offense. In the past we defended it at Rhode Island when we played against Delaware and they called it a ‘Wing T’ but I think, Wing T, spread option, and triple option, it’s all the same.”

On if it affects his personnel decisions on playing time:

“No question about it, it certainly does. You have to think about who’s out there and who would play this better and who will play a chop well. Obviously it’s a run game—they’re number one in the ACC for rushing.  I think they’re in the [national] top 10 as a rush offense. Defending the run will obviously be number one and we have to get our 11 best run-stoppers out there. Not necessarily worried about covering a big spread-type offense where they try to throw the ball down the field. The guys that defend the best this week will play. Defensively, just put a bunch of “ORs” on the depth chart even though they aren’t listed.”

On if he believes safety Jordan Whitehead will be more crucial this week:

“Everybody is crucial. We need 11, not just one guy. But Jordan has had a great year so far and I’m not sure if I could ask him today to see if he saw that offense in high school or not. He’s had a good year but we need 11 guys to have a great game.”

On what kind of defensive players he looks for against a team like this:

“Football players. First of all I think you have to be intelligent but there is no ‘different player’ we’re looking for today as opposed to what we looked for last week and the week before. We’re looking for guys that can make plays but you’re looking for guys who are a run-stopper. Maybe it’s a bigger safety, maybe it’s Jevonte Pitts getting a few more reps this week and I think he’ll lay the wood. But our starters are our starters but there are some other guys who you can go and say ‘Hey, this is their type of game.’ Probably more with the back end than it is with the front. The defensive line is the defensive line, I think, and linebackers are linebackers. There are certainly some guys who we think are better run guys than we think are pass guys. We knew that last week and the week before that.

“But we have football players that can do both—I think we do.”

On watching the Virginia tape and if he found mistakes that could have put away the game earlier:

“Yes we did, no question about it. We like to make you guys hang out and not get the story out too early. Keep everybody in suspense. There’s six plays on offense and six plays defensively. The defense [gave up] two runs. Offensively, a dropped touchdown pass, a fumble on the goal line…that snap over the quarterback’s head. It’s those plays that you have to eliminate. This is a game of inches and if you lose inches, sometimes it doesn’t get you this week, but it’ll get you the next week. We fumbled six times against Georgia Tech last year and lost six. That’ll get you. We have to have ball security.”

On how much Michigan State spent preparing for Georgia Tech in anticipation of a possible bowl game:

“Well the G.A.’s [graduate assistants] did a lot of time preparing for them. They broke all of the tape down and we probably spent two days and one practice on them before we got moved over to the Cotton Bowl. So, we spent a day on them and had a good feel for them. I was able to pull out some 2003 Miami of Ohio-Ohio University tape and look at that stuff, and used to study it while we were on an airplane or on the road, thinking that’s who we’re going to go with.”

On if that will help him this week:

“Oh yes, no doubt about it.”

On if he pulled up the Ohio University tape:

“I had it pulled off of VHS—just to see what you did right and what you didn’t.”

On how much time has been spent prepping for the triple option before this week:

“Very little. Very little. A drop in the bucket for what you need to do. But you know what? We had to focus on what we needed to. It’s tough in your first year because you have so many other things, and that’s one game. You have all of these other games, so that’s why it’s so hard because if you play three or four teams you expect more time. But as a coach, you’re going to put more time into what you’re going to see most of the time, and that’s what people do.”

On if he’s surprised that more schools don’t run the triple option:

“No, I’m not surprised. It’s tough to run, it’s tough to defend, but so is every offense. It’s what you do. Paul [Johnson] has been doing it for so many years that he’s the guru. That’s what he is. He’s Tubby Raymond, and it’s Paul Johnson. Those are the guys, and he’s a guru. But you better know what you’re doing. I’m sure people who’ve worked for him are doing it somewhere, and there’s people who haven’t. I can’t see Coach [Jim] Chaney saying, ‘Hey, let’s put it in this week because it’s hard to defend.’ He hopes his offense is hard to defend, too. So, there’s lots of different ways to skin the cat.”

On Jester Weah’s play translating from practice to games:

“It comes with time. He’s still young. As a staff, we have to stay with him and just lead him along and not get negative with him. And he’s got to feel it, you know? It’s like I told him yesterday, ‘I think we have more confidence in you [than you do].’ So he needs to step up and have more confidence in himself, and I think he will. It’s just a matter of time.

“We need to just stay with him. That’s our job as coaches, stick with him. I think he’s the best guy for the job right now and he’s just got to go make plays. Once he makes that one play, watch out because he’s going to make more, I think. He’s just got to see that he can do it.”

On his team’s resiliency:

“Well, we’ve had it in a few games this year. At Iowa we fought through adversity. We haven’t blown anybody out yet, so it’s been there. Every week it’ll be different with how you handle it. What’s your mentality? How healthy are you? It’s something that goes week to week. Our guys have done a great job so far and we’re expecting them to be strong at any point in the game or the season.”

On who is Pitt’s “get back” coach:

“[Strength] Coach [Dave] Andrews. Club Andrews, he is. Him and Freddie [Walker] and Austin [Addington-Strapp] keep those guys back. They pull me back by my belt and yank me back. He was bad on one play the other day. [Laughter] But sometimes that happens and it’s a game of emotion. They probably threw the flag on me. I don’t know who they threw the flag on. I think they threw it on the whole sideline, but the kids are excited and you don’t want to take that away from them. We just can’t have two or three of them.”

On if the coaching staff is working on ball security with Qadree Ollison:

“We’ve talked about it. We’re just making the turnover drills we’ve been doing a little more realistic. Coach [Andre] Powell is going to carry a bat out to practice and if he does put the ball on the ground just hit him with it. [Laughter] I mean, what are you going to do? It probably reflects on the ‘OR’ next to his name. You know, who’s going to hold on to it? You’ve got to secure the football, and after last year and the nightmare we had there [against Georgia Tech] it can’t happen. I would say we get probably the complete opposite.”

On Chris James’ performance Saturday:

“He ran hard. He was productive and Darrin Hall will be back as well. Darrin could’ve payed last week. I think one thing we do is play it safe with our kids. I think Freeze [Nicholas Grigsby] could’ve came back if we wanted him to, but you want to keep them healthy and you don’t want to put a kid in danger. Same thing with Darrin. Last time he got a little dinged it took him a week just to come back. He was okay last week, he was ready to go. If the other guys were going good, then he wasn’t getting in. If they weren’t, then he probably would’ve went in. It just gives him another week to be even healthier, and I think that helps us.”

On if Nicholas Grigsby will be limited in practice this week:

“He’ll be limited a little bit because we’re going to be smart with him. But he’s good.”

On if the players are looking forward to Georgia Tech given the results the past two years:

“I haven’t asked them. I hope they are. They better. It’s too early, I haven’t asked them yet. They better be cranked up and ready for them. We talked briefly last night about what it meant and where we’re going and what we need to do. I’d imagine they’d be fired up for every game. You’ve only got so many opportunities. Only seven to go, that’s it, seven guaranteed.”

On Georgia Tech quarterback Justin Thomas:

“By yards [gained] he’s the leading rusher on the football team, so he can carry the ball. He makes good decisions. When you’re running the option, is he going to hand the dive off? With all of the different looks we’re going to see on defense, is he going to hand it off? He does a great job of ball handling with pitching the ball and not throwing it behind people. So he’s a football player. He’s a guy that’s going to have the ball in his hands every snap. He’s got to get them in the right check and look to the sideline and be in the no-huddle or the spread option. He’s the key to the offense.”

On if the offensive game plan changes at all when facing a team that runs like Georgia Tech:

“No. We’re going to play to win and play to score and do what we have to do to win. It depends on how they’re playing us. If they’re playing the pass, we’ll run the ball. If they’re stopping the run, then we’re going to throw the ball. We’re going to set up what we need to set up. Maybe in the fourth quarter it could change, but it’s not going to change early. That’s for sure. We have to get after it. We have to attack them just like they’re going to attack us. We’ve got to be on the offensive, not defensive.”

On if he’ll point out the late hit on Nate Peterman from Saturday’s game to the league office:

“I didn’t send that play in. The guy was down and they should stay off of him, but, you know, what are you going to do? He didn’t get hurt. They should stay off of him. They should respect the quarterback.”

On Phillipie Motley and the secondary rotation:

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Phillipie. It wasn’t just all Phillipie’s fault on that [touchdown] play. It was a double move by the [Virginia] receiver and he did a nice job, but the pressure on the quarterback wasn’t good enough. So we were unhappy with the pressure. And Pat Amara has been playing really good football, so we wanted to spell him in on either side. T-Webb [Terrish Webb] has had a great year as well so far. It’s really a matter of just getting T-Webb a little breather as well. It wasn’t because T-Webb wasn’t playing well, let’s just put it that way. We’ve got faith in what Pat Amara can do. Terrish is a just a little bit banged up as well, so it was kind of keeping him fresh.”

On Reggie Mitchell’s status:

“Mitchell is day-to-day right now and we’ll just keep evaluating him.”