7:30, ESPN.
Nippy, clear Thursday night.
North Carolina hasn’t had much going right with its quarterbacks and injuries. Out of nowhere, a week-and-a-half ago, they nearly upset Miami. So, there’s always the possibility.
Coach Pat Narduzzi has played up that UNC is better then their record. Stressing on the the near upset of Miami.
“I know some of you (reporters) will probably think it’s an easy game,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve stressed with our guys it will not be an easy game. I’ll guarantee you that.”
Narduzzi said North Carolina is “very similar to what we are,” in terms of losing top players from last season.
Quarterbacks Chazz Surratt, Brandon Harris and Nathan Elliott are trying to replace Mitch Trubisky, drafted in the first round and starting for the Chicago Bears.
“Are any of them Trubisky?” Narduzzi said. “Probably not, but none of our (quarterbacks) are (Nathan) Peterman yet, so that’s even right there.”
…
“They’re a team that just continues to get better,” Narduzzi said of North Carolina.Actually, Narduzzi isn’t far off with that assessment. North Carolina’s most recent game was a 24-19 loss to undefeated Miami, which climbed to No. 7 this week in the Associated Press rankings.
North Carolina, missing 22 players because of injuries, had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter, advancing as far as the Miami 34-yard line before losing a fumble.
“They should have beat Miami, in my opinion,” Narduzzi said.
Narduzzi also talked a little more about having players at the right spot and Trubisky that got some attention.
Yeah, I mean, again, playing good teams, the ACC is competitive, and sometimes you lack that guy in the back — if they don’t have Trubisky last year, they don’t beat us, so take him out of the mix and try to develop a new guy and really play three quarterbacks, which is what we’re playing, three quarterbacks, too, so I think they’re very similar to us. They’re dangerous and can beat anybody on any given day, but they’ve got to be on, and their young players got to make plays.
[Emphasis added.]
The question was about how UNC doesn’t look like a 1-8 team on the film. Narduzzi was talking about the struggles of developing/finding a QB. It was not a discussion about last year’s game. Seems weird that he tossed that in there, but the context was not sour grapes. And Narduzzi wasn’t wrong.
Trubisky was a 1st round NFL pick and he picked apart Pitt’s defense in those final minutes to win the game for UNC. He (and Switzer) were difference makers for that team.
Now, Pitt has to prove that without Trubisky they can beat UNC.
If he can’t move us in the first half, time to switch to Pickett in the second and let it rip.
And how can Heather claim the facilities are subpar?
Really?
Physical ability = B
Decision making = D
Overal QB grade = C (average QB, at best)
We can win 5-6 games a year for the next two seasons with him, including some dumb losses like tonight, or make a switch to someone with a higher ceiling.
He escaped two more should-of-been interceptions tonight, and threw into double or tight coverage again…not showing a lot of progress here. If he had a rocket arm or was super fast I might have a little more patience with the learning curve, but he doesn’t, and I don’t.
It’s time to find out if Pickett or MacVittie have a higher ceiling than this, otherwise hit the recruiting trail now and don’t let up until we get someone with more game than what we’ve seen this year from Dinucci. He’s got some decent athletic ability and seems pretty tough, but very limited passing skills it appears.
It is also time to put in Pickett and let him get some games under his belt as we have nothing to gain over the next two games. DiNucci is not the answer at quarterback.
We also need to start asking ourselves if Narduzzi is an acceptable head coach for Pitt’s long term future!
