Argh.

There’s an exquisite pain from a loss that was there to be grabbed as a win.

Head Coach Pat Narduzzi hasn’t shied away from making it an important game over the last few years. He makes it clear how important it is with his closed media access. And again, I’m not going into the weeds on that matter either. I’ve said before I think that’s  a stupid approach, but so be it. Narduzzi at least understood how much the game matters and does stuff to play up it’s importance. And in that, I agree with him.

It’s the 100th and last meeting of Pitt-Penn State. At least for another 10-20 years. I’m not going to go off into the weeds on that matter. It is a game that should be played with at least some regularity, but isn’t.

It’s just that if there is ever a game to go flat out for broke. To leave nothing behind by the players and coaches. This is the game.

And for the first 55 minutes or so of the game, that was what I saw from Pitt. It was a beautifully flawed, ugly and at times bad game. By both sides. Mistakes by the players. Questionable coaching moves. Some fantastic individual efforts.

There Pitt sat at 4th and goal at the 1 yard line. Trailing 17-10 with 4:54 left. On the road. Against Penn State.

Pitt got there thanks to a ballsy 4th and 1 play that went for 36 yards two minutes earlier.

Pitt’s choices were:

1) Go for it. If you make it, tie game hope the defense can get the ball back for one more chance. Maybe you lose. Maybe you have to go to OT. Even if it fails, there is still a chance to get the ball back as PSU would be pinned all the way down at the 1.

2) Take the field goal. It gives you 3 points, so you would still need a TD to win. It again counts on your defense to get the ball back. Or you do the onside kick.

Statistically there should have been no doubt about it. It would take some real old, old, old-school thinking to settle for a field goal here. The defense has played a great game to this point, but it also was subject to giving up some huge chunk plays.

Yes, the offense was yet to score a second-half touchdown in its first two games (or a 1st quarter TD as well). But one way or another you were going to be counting on the offense to do just that.

Hell, there would be no one. I mean no one that would have questioned the decision to go for it regardless of the outcome. The only questions if it failed would have been the play call. Not the decision.

When Narduzzi sent out the kicking team the anger from Pitt fans was immediate, fiery and totally justified. Hell, the general watching populace — and as a noon ABC nationally televised game that was coming down to the wire, there were plenty — had the same reaction.

That the kick was doinked off the upright for a miss was almost too cliche. Too, “You have angered the Football Gods!” crap for my tastes.

I think a lot of head coaches struggle to move beyond the side of the ball they coached. It is the limiting factor for so many coaches who get the big whistle. In those big moments, those big games. They go back to their one side of the ball that they know best. It is safe and comfortable.

And you can be a reasonably decent head coach. Slightly above average. But not much more. More likely you end up back as a coordinator where you have that comfort level.

That was fifth year Head Coach Pat Narduzzi suddenly going back to being Defensive Coordinator Pat Narduzzi. Where he only trusts the defense and doesn’t want to trust the offense.

In the end, that’s all he may very well be. He seems to have made the decision to define himself as such in that moment.

Okay, now for the pile on and more crap.

Here we go.

Even more baffling than Narduzzi’s felonious game management was his reasoning for it. Instead of admitting his mistake or even acknowledging one was possible, Narduzzi said, “you need two scores to win,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

While correct in spirit, someone may want to send an abacus to the Pitt football office. Or perhaps some game-management flashcards. Or at the very least, all the coaches on the headset should grow the cajones to tell their boss he’s going to be the laughingstock of college football for the rest of the day if he makes that decision.

A field goal meant that Pitt would still need another touchdown to win the game, and the Panthers’ sporadic offense wasn’t exactly producing chunk yardage plays with abandon on Saturday.

Pitt hadn’t run the ball well all game, as they finished with 24 yards on 25 carries. But there are plenty of play calls available from the 1, and any failure there would put Penn State in the precarious position of running its offense from its own goal line. Which would have set up good field position to potentially score another touchdown.

Narduzzi’s football sensibilities come from the Mark Dantonio tree, which is rooted in a defiant belief in the kicking game and field position. (Narduzzi punted from the Penn State 37 early in the game.) But his end-game decision defies even the most stringent beliefs of conservative football. The analytics companies that cover such decisions each week are going to skewer Narduzzi like a Maureen Dowd-on-Donald Trump screed.

It will be interesting to see if Narduzzi walks back his feelings on the decision this week. Much like his old boss, they can be defensive in both their football sensibilities and to anyone second guessing them.

Oh, I have the answer to this one. He’s going to dig in and never back down from the decision.

Ralph Russo with the summation after shredding that choice:

It wouldn’t be fair to say Narduzzi’s call cost his team the game, but he did not put the Panthers in the best position to win and that’s inexcusable.

Yep.

So what about some of those other choices.

If you’re thinking “could Pitt have really won?” please know that they:

• punted from the Penn State 37 in the first quarter,
• had third-and-goal from the two, threw a pass that lost five yards, and had to settle for a field goal,
• punted on fourth-and-two from the Penn State 48 in the fourth quarter,
• and had first-and-goal at the one, threw an incomplete pass, had the QB run for no gain, threw another incomplete pass, attempted a 19-yard field goal even though they were down seven, and missed that field goal.

I’m on record as an unabashed Pitt supporter for reasons I do not understand, but I want to be clear on one thing: Pitt beating better teams isn’t enjoyable because the Panthers suddenly play perfect football. Pitt beating better teams is enjoyable because they do shit like this and still wind up winning.

Not this time.

Final thought about the “what if” Pitt had gone for it and tied.

There would have been about 4:45 left and PSU would have the ball. We are talking a team coached by James Franklin in a big moment in the final minutes. Of a big game that his fans really, really would not handle losing well. We’ve seen him lose it in those moments in his time at PSU. Against tOSU, Michigan, Michigan State. In bowl games. Hell, even in the waning moments yesterday. Pitt got the ball back because of their playcalling.

This is going to linger regardless of moving on to the next game.