UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 29, 2025

Pat Narduzzi

Press Conference

Miami - 38, Pittsburgh - 7

PAT NARDUZZI: Obviously not the outcome that we wanted here as we started the kickoff at 12:07 or whatever it was. I'll take those guys in the locker room. We've got a good football team. Of course nothing good happened in that game. They've got a good football team as well, and they outplayed us today, they out coached us today, and it falls on my shoulders.

Q. You had, I think six of your drives end with punts and another turnover on downs. What do you think they did to slow you guys down?

PAT NARDUZZI: They're pretty good up front, but we knew that coming into the football game. They've got close to the best defense in the country. They've got some dudes up front, and they outplayed us today at the line of scrimmage.

Q. What was your message to the defense after those two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in the third quarter?

PAT NARDUZZI: It's sad that you start the second half like that, both on third downs. You just look at the tape. There's a lot of stuff going on out there. I don't know what to tell you.

Q. There's a lot of stuff going on, but do you kind of hold your guys to that standard, though, that they need to not put themselves in that situation? After that drive I think Shadarian and Tamon were both out there on the next possession. Do you kind of tell your guys they have to hold to a higher standard?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yes, we talked about it. They probably got more unsportsmanlike conducts in the country than they got called against us today. I don't know how that happens. There's a lot going on both ways, and the flags just got thrown against us today.

We talked about composure and we're going to play Pitt football. We didn't want to play their game. So that was the message is to not get baited into it, and we got baited into it.

Q. Did you see anything you weren't expecting from Malachi Toney today? Malachi Toney today?

PAT NARDUZZI: I saw everything I expected, one of the most dynamic players in college football. Obviously we've seen that the last eight weeks. He's really come on. For him to throw a fade, he's throwing the ball well. He's a special player. He's hard to stop. We shoulda, coulda done a better job of stopping him.

On the one touchdown pass he had down there, we didn't get the right coverage check when he motioned out of the backfield. Things happened fast. That was disappointing because he was Waldo this week and we had to know where he was at all times. It's an execution mistake there.

Q. On the passing rush from Toney, I don't know, was there a lot of presnap checks defensively today, or was there some confusion out there as well?

PAT NARDUZZI: I'm not sure which one --

Q. The passing touchdown from Toney where he passed aloft and he went out the back end.

PAT NARDUZZI: No, there wasn't. I think we had pressure at that time. I think the corner there -- down at the Pitt end, right? The corner just bit up on the reverse, and he's in thirds, and he's got to stay in his thirds. No coverage check, no issue there. It's just a matter of having better eyes.

Q. What was their defensive line doing so well that caused your offensive line to struggle?

PAT NARDUZZI: Did you see what they looked like out there? They're really talented. It's an expensive group up front, and they're talented. That's what they did.

Q. It seemed like there was a long exchange after the game with Mario.

PAT NARDUZZI: I just told him he's got a good football team, go win it.

Q. All things considered, this is a pretty young football team. When you look at this stretch, obviously it didn't go the way you wanted against Notre Dame and Miami, got the win over Georgia Tech. What do you think young guys like Boosie and Mason and other guys can learn from this stretch here?

PAT NARDUZZI: We've got to learn. We've got a lot of young guys out there, but there's no excuses. Boosie was young last week when he rushed for 201 yards. We'll learn from it. That's a good football team. Malachi Toney, he's a young guy too.

Q. Think they only had seven third downs in total today. How were they able to be so effective on first and second and just move the chain?

PAT NARDUZZI: They put you -- we knew one of the goals was we had to stay ahead of the sticks. After the first two series -- I think the third series we looked pretty good moving down the field, but we didn't make enough plays. We didn't do a good enough job getting them open and blocking up front and getting first downs, period.

When we lost the time of possession by over ten minutes, so our defense is on the field, you know, that's what it is.

Q. It looked like Mason had some tape around both of his ankles when he came out after halftime. Is he limited at all in the second half?

PAT NARDUZZI: He didn't look like it. He got a little tweak. He'll have some time to get healthy, but he's fine.

Q. You knew that their pass rush and their defensive line was strong. What kind of things can you do to mitigate that? What did Kade try to do this week to mitigate that?

PAT NARDUZZI: It's hard because they're going to play man coverage with it. What could you do? There's a lot of things you can do, but they're so good in coverage as well. They're going to man coverage, and you can throw screens, and you can run draws, but those are dangerous too.

Q. Dez looked like he was going to play. What kind of went into that?

PAT NARDUZZI: It was kind of game time, and he just couldn't go. He's a Miami guy, wanted to go, but just didn't feel good. Didn't feel like he could help the team based on how he felt.

I was disappointed. You've got one play in you? It's his Senior Day. He said, Coach, I don't think so. It's sad. Sad for Senior Day.

Again, our seniors were great. I wish the field was clear at the end, but our seniors are great. Love those guys and appreciate everything they've done here for this football team. We get one more opportunity to go out as a football team.

Q. You punted twice in the fourth quarter. Was that in consideration of going forward in those situations?

PAT NARDUZZI: I thought about it. Just didn't want to put our defense -- we were on the field so long to begin with, I didn't want to put them in a short field. At some point, watching us move the sticks, it's almost suicide, right? Let's punt the ball. Junko, I thought, did an outstanding job punting the ball where it needed to be.

You've got to know what you're up against, and you've got to know when to punt the football -- or fake it.