UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2026

Pat Narduzzi

Press Conference

Pitt 34, Georgia Tech 11

PAT NARDUZZI: Feels good to come in here and get a win. Hat goes off to our guys. Played hard. Played tough. I thought we had to get out there and be physical.

Really impressed with our defensive performance today. I think they were 83% win on third and fourth downs. Made a major emphasis this week getting back to who we were defensively.

We had some missed opportunities on offense. Three turnovers some just kill you. Two fumbles. One down by the goal line at the one. I think he was inbounds. I don't know how that even gets called, to be honest with you. They looked at it upstairs.

Then we put Corey in there. Just wanted to make sure Holden was safe and clean. Felt like we had a pretty good lead. Get the backup some reps, get him better.

Disappointed on the throw he made. That's why he needs more reps. Go from there.

But overall it's a win. Excited for our guys. Need an open week. Open week at a perfect time.

Q. What went into the plan for Damon today?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I mean, Damon had a heck of a game. He's a beast. La'Vell played well, as well. I was happy with the rush game. Obviously we need that. That's part of taking care of your quarterback, making sure we're helping him out. There's nothing better for a quarterback than to have a running game.

Q. What went into 83% stopping on third and fourth.

PAT NARDUZZI: Just details. Focusing a little bit more on details. Wasn't Malachi Toney went out there. I'm going to throw that at you, too (smiling).

Our guys executed like they should do. There were a lot of PBUs, guys making plays. Defensively they played outstanding. We got I guess two fumbles. There were three prior to that that we didn't get. Ball is on the ground, great job by our guys stripping the ball from the quarterback. We got to find a way to get five of them, not just two.

Q. (Question about Holden.)

PAT NARDUZZI: I though Holden was good. He's getting better. He's a young quarterback. I wish he would have made of those throws down in the red zone. He's got to complete those things.

We have to go look at the tape of why, his feet and stuff. When he threw to it Gavin one time, kind of low and right, he had a guy open in the back of the end zone. He's got to see it better.

Again, that's coaching. We got to keep making him, give him things. Again he throws a deep ball to Blue. That's why I said, Get his butt out of there.

I think he threw the deep ball well. We got to be better on the intermediate. Then guys got to help him. We had at least four drops. Malik had two before he was out. C.J. Lee has to catch a ball. You have to help the quarterback. Rushing game. Ferguson helping the quarterback. I think the O-line protected well again today. They did a good job run blocking.

Q. Seemed your defense picked you up when the offense came up short in the red zone. How important was that?

PAT NARDUZZI: I mean, that's what great defenses are supposed to do. They got to consistently do that, not just sometimes. I'm happy for them. Like Shawn Lee said coach, I told you, we're back, we're back. But we got to be back here for Florida State in two weeks.

Q. The defense had five sacks today. I believe the highest of the year. You had sacks from every level of your defense. Why were you so effective in that particular area?

PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I don't know. They come in streaks, I guess. Guys are playing good, executing. I think we did a good job blitzing. We missed some. We should have had seven, eight. So we still missed some sacks. We could make more.

Q. (Indiscernible) three straight penalties on one drive, added another one later. Did you say anything to him?

PAT NARDUZZI: Again, he had a couple during the week, too. It's uncharacteristic of him. He really had two penalties. The first play, the first holding, I mean, you guys watch the videotape. We get to watch it live. Again, I don't know about the hands to face. I thought it was whatever. We'll look at the videotape again and send our calls in.

I thought the holding was not so good.

Q. What did you like from what you saw from the freshmen?

PAT NARDUZZI: Dylan, we planned on getting him the ball on something like that. He's quick. He's fast. He's going to be a really good player down the future.

McRay came in and got some reps. T.K. and him were kind of subbing in for Malik's absence. Thought he was good.

Tony Forney should have had a pick-six on the fourth down. He's got to make plays.

The young guys are playing well. We had a lot of young guys in there at the end. We'll look at the tape and make 'em better.

Q. (Question about Russo.)

PAT NARDUZZI: I liked it a lot. He hit some bombs. Put them inside the five yard line a couple times. Shoot, he put another one down there at the one, I think. The guy took it out, got some yards on it. Have to look at the coverage. Coverage team has to be better, both kickoff and punt coverage.

Gabe Russo, he responded like we wanted him to. We talked about consistency all week. He ended up hitting a57-yard punt and then a 17 yarder. I was happy with his response to what we looked like a week ago.

Q. What was the explanation in the fourth quarter with the roughing the passer?

PAT NARDUZZI: I have no idea. They were discussing. I thought they were going to pick it up. Haven't picked a flag up all year. I've discussed it with Gary Patterson, who does a tremendous job running the officials. He would have liked to have seen fouls even the last two weeks.

Guys discuss it and say should it be picked up. I thought they were discussing it, were going to pick it up, yeah.

Q. You guys dominated the ground on both sides of the ball. There were a lot of mistakes with the fumbles, penalties. Where do you see this team right now headed into the bye as far as winning an ACC game, but wanting to coach them to be better?

PAT NARDUZZI: Every week's a battle. Every week is something different, whatever it is. We just got to clean it up. Again, every week is going to be a different challenge.

Florida State, a good football team, talented football team. We can't make the same mistakes. After the game I said we still have to clean things up. It's never going to be perfect. We want it to be perfect. It's not going to be. We played well enough to knock out a 34-11. Shoot, we gave them a field goal before the half because of a fumble, I believe. Shouldn't have had that. Really probably shouldn't have that other touchdown. Two turnovers, what did they get, I think 11 points off of turnovers. We can't do that.

Q. Do you have any updates on Knight or Fitzsimmons?

PAT NARDUZZI: Knight will be fine. Fitzy will be fine. I feel good with both those guys.

Q. Is Damon Ferguson earning the bulk of the carries moving forward?

PAT NARDUZZI: I don't know what videotape you've been watching. He's been getting the ball.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAT NARDUZZI: I think when Boozie ends up coming back, Ferg is still going to be a guy. We'll take him, too, when we can get him back. He's electric, too.

Q. What is the importance of becoming bowl eligible, if at all?

PAT NARDUZZI: No importance at all. I could care less. It's not our goal to become bowl eligible at all. Really could care less about a bowl game.

Q. As far as getting this team to finish strong with three final ACC games?

PAT NARDUZZI: First thing is to get them fresh. I think they need it. Nine games, we got the fourth quarter. I like to split the 12-game season into quarters. We got an open week. We got an open week before the fourth quarter.

We have three tough opponents, Florida State, Louisville, go on the road to Cal. It's number one getting healthy, then coaches getting the guys coached up, making them better in this open week. See what we're doing well as far as self-scout goes. Then putting a good game plan together for Florida State.

It's late. Happy Halloween, too.