Here are the Louisville Highlights:

Pat Narduzzi Press Conference 

Miami Week

 Opening Statement:

“Good to see you today. Another short week here. We’re getting used to this. We had a really crisp, mental practice this morning, trying to keep our guys fresh. We put to rest the Louisville game yesterday that probably looked better on tape than you saw in the second half at least. Our kids played hard, with great effort, and it seems like our kids continue to execute better week in and week out. So if we continue to get the great execution down going into Friday, it’ll be exciting stuff.”

On elaborating on what he meant by “looking better on tape”:

“I think Louisville did things a little different that you have to give them credit for. They made some plays and when you look at it, you’re [Pitt] just a hair away from making some other huge plays on offense. So a little bit of both but you’d like to always execute to perfection but it never happens. When you look at it, I think it looks pretty good. Again, Louisville is a good football team too, so now we’re moving onto the next game.”

On what challenges Miami presents:

“Every team has challenges for you. Miami has great speed and talent across the board. They’re talented from the front end to the back end. Their offensive line is athletic. They have guys in the backfield that will make you miss. They have receivers that can run by you. They have a great passing game and Coach [James] Coley looks like he likes to throw the ball a little bit. Defensively, again, Coach [Mark] D’Onofrio has been working out of a 3-4, very similar to what we saw this week [from Louisville]. So it’s really a good carryover for our offense. Three-four and some similar stuff with a linebacker that’s big and physical and can run. It’ll be a challenge and we’ll have to focus on what we need to do and execute.”

On facing a team led by an interim head coach:

“I haven’t thought about it. This will be the first time I’ve ever went against an interim head coach, I think.  I don’t think there’s anything different. Our guys have to go out and play the game of football. I don’t think it matters. The interesting thing about as coaches, we never even get to make one play. We just stand there on the sidelines with our arms crossed, sometimes you yell a little bit. But players play the game and we just get to coach it. So I don’t think the interim or head coach has anything to do with it.”

On how important it is to have an aggressive mindset:

“I think it’s important to be aggressive. We need to talk about our mindset going into every game: are we conservative? Are we gambling? What do we need to do? What’s our mentality going into a game? I’m a gambler period. I like to play to win. I think I mentioned after the game we’re going to be aggressive. Coach [Josh] Conklin has called a lot of pressures. Coach [Jim] Chaney is calling different runs and passes and we’re going to take shots down the field at times. We’ve taken more shots later in the season but we had to get our run game going—that’s what we like to see in the city of Pittsburgh. But we’re playing to win.”

On if he stuck to his defensive principles against Louisville:

“We stick to our principles every week, yes. We haven’t veered off from it. We play it the same as we normally do. Again, we’re going to tweak it every week a little bit based on what they do, how they do it, and who they are as an offense or defense. You can ask our kids afterwards, ‘How much does the defense change weekly?’ They would say it doesn’t. There’s little tweaks here and there, doesn’t matter which ones they are, it just depends on what tools you’re using. If you need a Phillips head, you use a Phillips head or a flat head then you use it. You don’t want to go on the job with just one screwdriver in your toolbox.”

On if he’s a gambler by nature:

“No, I’m not a gambler by nature. I don’t gamble at all. I hate to gamble, that’s why I’m a gambler as a coach. I think when you play you want to go out there and be aggressive. I don’t gamble off the field at all. At all. I hate to do that, I’d rather go eat.” (laughter)

On if he was told before the season he’d lose James Conner and still have a 1,000-yard rusher, would he have believed it:

“Yes, because we’re going to be a team that runs the football. We’re going to find a way to get it done. I think any time you put your mind to something you can get that done. It doesn’t surprise me at all. I didn’t know we’d get it done before the end of the season. I thought it might take us 12 games. I was kind of shocked looking at that knowing we were playing one of the top run defenses in the country last week. So I thought maybe by the time we got to this game. So that was the only thing I was surprised about. Here at Pittsburgh, we’re going to be able to run the football and we’re going to be able to stop the run. If we can’t do those two things then we have problems. That’s what I love about Coach Chaney—he’s going to continue to pound that football.”

On the continuity of personnel on the offensive line:

“To have that continuity up front is huge. I still think we have a very, very good football player with Alex Bookser sitting on the sideline, watching those guys. But you know (knocks on wood), we stayed healthy for the most part. I think a couple weeks ago Dorian [Johnson] kind of limped off with a little pain in the ankle but then he comes right back. So we’ve stayed healthy and that next group of guys are ready to go if we need them too. It really helps when those guys are making calls and talking to each other and they know who they’re lining up next to. On the field, it’s nice to know what that guy does for you or what he doesn’t do for you. If he’s not going to give it to you then you have to go someplace else. So continuity is important, not only for the offensive line but really everywhere. It’s that linebacker knowing that that safety is going to give him a call. If you get a new safety in there, then who’s going to give the call? Is he good? Does he say it louder? Does he say it too late? Too early? What is it? Anytime you’re in a team game there’s communication that’s incredibly important. If you don’t have it, or don’t have continuity, you need to find it.”

On the 2015 seniors:

“They’re all your children, doesn’t matter if they’re with you one year. We’ve spent so much time together and you love these guys. It doesn’t matter if it’s one year. I’ll be talking to these guys forever because they were my first class. It’s almost more special because it is the senior class. It’s senior day for them and it’ll be an emotional day with their families before the kickoff. They’re my guys because they embraced me when I came and walked through this room—a little different looking room—as a head football coach. I look back and they bought in to what we’re doing. That’s important to me.”

On if he would like Pitt to replicate its offensive performance in the second quarter against Louisville every game:

“Of course. I’ll take that [Avonte] Maddox [interception] for a TD, too. We’ll take offense any way we get it. Of course, when you play like that. Really, when you take that into the second half of Duke and then match that with the first half of last week, there was an offensive explosion there really. You’ll take it any time you can get it, and you’d like to have it every week and every quarter, every minute—but it’s not realistic.”

On what a coach can do to keep a team focused when a championship is out of reach:

“What can a coach do? I mean just talk about the things that are important. Don’t talk about things you can’t control, and that’s what we do. You know, just focus on the things we need to do to win the game, and you stay positive with it. I think our kids, I don’t think they look back. I think they’re looking at it like, ‘Hey, we shot for here, but maybe we got here, and we’re trying to get there.’ You just motivate them with what you have.”

On if the offense emphasized getting the ball to Tyler Boyd last week:

“Every week has an emphasis to get number 23 the football. So it wasn’t something where we were trying to put it back on. It’s just a matter of is he catching it or carrying it? So you say he broke out because he only had three catches maybe over the last couple of weeks, but I don’t know. How many catches did he have last week? He had 11? Really? I didn’t even know that. It didn’t even look like it. I was impressed that Tyler Boyd can carry the ball. He had some tough carries there where he put his head down and got some tough yards, which he doesn’t always do. But I think he’s getting even more comfortable running the football, as well as catching the ball down the field. You say he had 11 catches, then he should be the receiver of the week with that many catches. I mean, golly. Again, I don’t look at those stats, the final score is good enough for me. But that was not a focus, but it’s something we want to do every week. I can’t say that this week we said don’t give it to Tyler. Sometimes also it’s Tyler doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing to get open, too. We always want to get Tyler the ball. If we could get him 11 every week through the air, and then another six or seven rushing it through the backfield—we’re not very smart if we don’t try to.”

On defensive lineman Connor Dintino getting reps in the goal-line package:

“You know he’s been in there for like the last four weeks or something like that, right? Even in short yardage, Connor has been getting in a lot, and he’s been doing a heck of a job. I mean we’ve changed his number [to 84] maybe for the last four weeks. I forget, it had to be four or five weeks that we’ve put him in there. He’s fun to watch. I mean that guy is a load and he can throw his body up in there. I mean he’s done a great job. He’s pounding some people inside and created some great holes for [Qadree] Ollison to run through. Actually, on that third down and one on the goal line at the end of the game, if Ollison would just trust [Dintino]—as you watch the tape, Connor was in the end zone and we want Ollison to follow him into the end zone and lay right on top of Connor—but he didn’t. [Dintino] has done a nice job for us in that part of the game, and that’s his role. He’s done a great job there.”

On if Dintino will play offense or defense moving forward:

“Probably a little bit of both. I mean he’s been able to do both and he’s very smart. When I play a defensive guy on offense the first thing I think is, is he going to jump offside? They’re not used to a cadence. They’re waiting for that ball movement instead of on the hike or if it’s on two or three. That’s the first thig that scares you, but he’s really smart and he gets on the right guys. So he’ll continue to go.”

On if he views Tyler Boyd’s NFL decision as a recruiting job to get him to stay in school:

“No, no. Not at all. You’re never going to recruit a guy to stay. The first thing we’re going to do is focus on the team we have to play this week in Miami, and then move on from there and find out where our destination is after that. We haven’t had one word about it yet. He’s been focused, and that’s what he needs to be. You should be focused, too, on what’s important. There’s no talking into it. It’s a matter of doing what’s best for him and his family, and that’s something you don’t know until the end of the game. If he goes out there next week and drops five balls and they say he’s not going to be a first rounder, then that’s a decision he has to make.”

On having an aggressive mindset:

“You want to go after people. I don’t sit back and wait for them to come after me and catch everything. I want to throw, too. I want to throw some punches. You don’t just dance around the ring. I don’t know. Just a personality, I guess. It’s being competitive, I think. Our kids take on that as well. We compete in everything we do on the field. So it’s just being competitive and going after somebody’s weakness.”

On Ejuan Price’s huge game against Louisville and his growth this year:

“Ejuan keeps getting better and better. And I said this a long time ago, but I wonder what would’ve happened if he played that second half of Iowa. He got a little dinged up, I don’t know if it was an ankle or whatever it was. It was so long ago. But he can rush the passer, he can stop the run, he has a motor, he’s fast. He’s not the tallest guy in the world, but he can move and he’s not easy to block. I think he has confidence, number one. I don’t know how many sacks he has, but he has a bunch and he’s probably up there in the country and it wasn’t just off of one game. But he’s been active and he just continues to move those feet and continues to go toward the quarterback. He’s impressive and I knew that when I got here. I was like, ‘Wow, that guy can go.’ The great thing is he stayed healthy all year, too, which was really what we needed to do.”

On if he reached out to Scott Shafer at Syracuse:

“I made a phone call to him—I heard the news when I got off the field—just to see if he needed anything. But this is a tough profession and he’s a heck of a football coach and a better husband and father. He’ll land on his feet. I guarantee that. He’s a great football coach.”

On the instability of head coaching jobs:

“Never thought about it. You coach for your life every day. That’s what you’re doing. You talk about being competitive, I mean that’s the world you live in. There’s not much security in it.”

On if he spoke to any of his players or coaches at Michigan State after they upset Ohio State on Saturday:

“Yeah. I know all those kids over there. Coach [Mark] Dantonio and I talk just about weekly or text weekly. I talked to him after the game just to congratulate him, and he didn’t have any love lost for Louisville either. So it’s kind of we were both following each other. But I’m happy for all of those kids and what they do over there.”

On if he has heard anything about Ejuan Price being granted a sixth year:

“No, and you can’t even apply for it until after the season is over. So we have to wait until after the bowl game is over to put it on paperwork to get that done. I might hand deliver that to the NCAA and take a walk to wherever they are.”

Tribune Review

Emotional Send Off for Seniors 

Re: J. P. Holtz:

The result probably will be that Pitt will play in a more prestigious bowl game, garner some national attention and perhaps become more attractive to high school recruits. “We had bowl games (in the past), but guys really weren’t into it,” Pitts said.

Tight end J.P. Holtz, formerly of Shaler, has the distinction of never missing a game or a practice in four years. Prodded to talk about it, he said softly, “I’ll brag about it. I’ll tell my teammates.”  But tight ends coach Tim Salem knows Holtz better than that.

“He has expanded his chest and thrown his shoulders back,” Salem said. “J.P. understands this is a great opportunity to finish with a nine-win regular season, which is a big deal, and go out and fight for a 10th.

Here are the Seniors we will be losing:

Nicholas Grigsby Linebacker, J.P. Holtz Tight end, K.K. Mosley-Smith Def. tackle, David Murphy Long snapper, Lafayette Pitts Cornerback, Jameel Poteat Linebacker, Ejuan Price Defensive end, Darryl Render Def. tackle, Artie Rowell Center, Mark Scarpinato Def. tackle, Matt Steinbeck Linebacker

Artie Rowell’s Journey

A Pitt official sat down with me in advance of Friday’s regular-season finale and mapped out where each of the Panthers’ 11 seniors falls on the family tree. That is, which guys played for which coach over the course of their careers.  The tree quickly became a forest. The official used a green pen for some players, a red pen for others and a purple one for Khaynin Mosley-Smith, the only senior who can say he practiced under Dave Wannstedt.

I probably should have gone with a pie chart instead of a column, but I decided to focus on one senior: Mr. Artie Rowell, a gregarious, 23-year-old center and team captain who has called seven men “coach” — as in head coach — since he verbally committed to Wannstedt in 2010.

Has any player in the 146-year history of college football (besides Mosley-Smith, of course) called seven men “coach”?

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Darryl Render’s an artist but the P-G can’t afford space to show his artwork properly.

The latest honor for Ejuan Price comes from the Maxwell Football Club of Philadelphia, which named Price the Chuck Bednarik Award National Defensive Player of the Week.

Previously, Price was recognized as the AutoNation National Defensive Player of the Week by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), the Athlon Defensive Player of the Week and the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Defensive Lineman of the Week. He was also given a Helmet Sticker by Joe Tessitore on Saturday’s ESPN College Football Final.

Price was an unblockable force in Pitt’s 45-34 triumph over the Cardinals. The senior collected 10 tackles, six tackles for loss and five quarterback sacks. His sack total was the highest by a Bowl Subdivision player this year and fell one shy of the national record. He is the first Pitt player with at least 4.5 sacks in a game since 1987.

Price (Rankin, Pa./Woodland Hills) spearheaded a defensive effort that limited Louisville to minus-one yard on the ground, the first time Pitt held an opponent to negative yards rushing since 2002.

“When you get five sacks you’re doing something special,” Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. “He’s explosive. Early in that first quarter I was like, ‘They can’t block Ejuan.’ I mean he was just staying low, coming around the corner with the speed rush. He’s fast. He’s feeling it. So five sacks, that’s a giant man’s game right there. I’m proud of him.”

This has been a resurgent season for Price, who was limited to only six games the past three years due to three different injuries. An unknown at the start of fall camp, he is now a driving force behind one of the country’s most productive defenses.

Price is fourth in the nation and first in the ACC with an average of 1.05 sacks per game. He has 11.5 total sacks, the most by a Pitt player since 2000. He has compiled 18 tackles for loss on the year, ranking sixth nationally in that category and second in the ACC (1.6 TFLs/game).

Pitt (8-3, 6-1 ACC) hosts Miami (7-4, 4-3) this Friday at Heinz Field. The game will kick off at noon and be nationally televised by ESPN2.

What a Deal!!!  Actually I didn’t call but it could be great for a decent price.  I don’t go to BB games.

HAIL TO PITT!!!