UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 13, 2026

Pat Narduzzi

Press Conference

Florida State 16, Pitt 10

PAT NARDUZZI: Another rough one-score loss. Three ACC games like that. I feel bad for our kids, bad for our seniors. I thought our defense played their tails off. 260 total yards. I put them in some tough positions going for it on fourth down a few times.

Got to get a yard. Called a timeout. Offense wanted to go. I wanted to punt. I said, Heck, let's got. We don't get it. That was a big one.

Really started in the third quarter when we threw that pick and gave them that seven points that put them up. Really had nothing to do with even the fourth downs where we didn't convert.

I'm proud of the way our guys played. They played their tails off, played hard. We just didn't make enough plays today to win a football game, whether it's dropped passes or not throwing it to the open guy.

Execution has got to be better. It starts with me. We'll bring 'em together. Our guys, we got a good football team in that locker room. Quarterback play is obviously very critical. You got a young quarterback out there trying to do his best. He made some great throws. Missed some guys like all quarterbacks do.

We got a chance at the end. We got a chance to win the game in a two-minute situation. We move it out from the two yardline all the way out to the 50. Don't find a way to make enough plays to put the game away.

Q. The third and two, what happened there? Looked like Corey couldn't get the play in in time, rushed it.

PAT NARDUZZI: That was the call. I think the tailback was lined up on the wrong side. You got to get 'em lined up right. We didn't execute it very well.

Q. You had a timeout at that point.

PAT NARDUZZI: After third and two, called a timeout, I believe.

Q. Before that play?

PAT NARDUZZI: Not, no, not before that play. Didn't want to call a timeout before that point.

Q. How would you assess Corey's second start?

PAT NARDUZZI: I would have to really watch the tape to really assess it. I can let you know on Monday for sure when I watch the videotape.

It's never easy for a freshman quarterback to go under in his second start. We thought Holden was going to be to be able to go. Had two weeks to get him going.

It's a tough situation to put a kid in. It's a good defense. Florida State has some athletes. Give them credit.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAT NARDUZZI: Not as close as I thought he was going to be. Woke up this morning, didn't feel as good as we thought he would. Wasn't as close as I'd like it to be.

Q. Just to be clear, on the third and two, it was a called run?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yes.

Q. La'Vell was on the wrong side.

PAT NARDUZZI: I believe so, yeah.

Q. Corey, he throws pretty hard on some of his passes. Did you feel like your receivers left catches on the field tonight?

PAT NARDUZZI: No doubt about it. No doubt about it. They got to help the quarterback. We have got opportunities there. Everybody has to play better around that quarterback. I don't think we ran the ball like we'd like. We didn't help ourselves there.

They did a nice job. Have some big dudes up front. We didn't run the ball like we needed to. Didn't make catches when we needed to.

You have to help a young quarterback like that. Can't leave plays on the field. It's a team loss. Shawn Lee has a chance to make a pick six. Don't convert that one. You lose the turnover ratio, you're minus one. That pick in the third quarter was a big one.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAT NARDUZZI: It's always beneficial to have Boosie back. He came out healthy as well. He had some catches. Didn't block good enough for him in the run game. But it's definitely beneficial to have Boosie back.

Q. You talked about how there's no substitute for in-game experience. No matter the result, how does this help Corey going forward?

PAT NARDUZZI: Every play, every snap. Same reason I took Holden out two weeks ago, took him out just to get him some game reps. Wanted to make sure Holden didn't get hurt. You do that for a reason. I yanked him after three plays after he threw a pick in that game.

Just try to get him that experience. There is no substitute for it. Every play is critical. I thought he had a good week of practice. But practice and games are two different things.

Q. (Question about interceptions.)

PAT NARDUZZI: In the first half, they threw a lot of screens, got into some quads, stuff we hadn't seen. We nailed that down.

You always want to get picks. We have a special emphasis to get picks every week, get turnovers. Thought we had a turnover early in the game that they blew the whistle dead on it.

We want turnovers. We unfortunately only got one today.

Q. 50/50 on run-pass. Did you come into this game hoping you'd be able to lean on the run more than you did?

PAT NARDUZZI: Ever since Mason went down, we've been leaning on the run. We're always going to lean on the run, try to minimize the opportunities that we're throwing the ball and putting him in a position where he's got to make all the plays with his arm.

Q. There were some struggles on the short yardage situations on third and fourth down, especially running the ball. What went into that tonight? What do you have to do to get better in the run game going more?

PAT NARDUZZI: We've had the run game going pretty good all year. Ran into some issues tonight running it. Fourth and one, we got to get it. We'll put that on the coaches number one. Got to find a way to get fourth and one. Then look at execution.

It's a team game. We did it all together.

Q. North Carolina over a month ago, they adjusted to stop the run against you guys. Did you see a similar adjustment by this team in the second half?

PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, I can't say I saw anything different in what they did than what we prepared for, to be honest with you.

We'll look at the videotape. What we saw on tape is what we thought they would probably do, and they did it.

Q. I think you mentioned Holden would be the starter going forward. Obviously with the injury, maybe wanting to get Corey some experience. How do you envision that going forward?

PAT NARDUZZI: Holden is our starting quarterback. If he was healthy, he would have gone today. We'll play that by ear and hopefully Holden will be ready to go. If not, Corey will be ready. He'll be one game better as the starting quarterback.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAT NARDUZZI: What did they do that I didn't like?

Q. That you did like.

PAT NARDUZZI: Again, I think that was a low total output, 260 yards. I thought they did a great job in sudden change. Had probably four sudden changes and we were probably successful on three out of the four. The one that got us is the pick in the third quarter. That was the killer.

We had some miss-executions even in that short little 27-yard drive, whatever that was for a touchdown. What was it, third quarter, what was it? It was a short drive, 32 yards. We didn't play particularly well there.

But they did a great job stopping the run and making plays on the ball. 260 yards, you should win a football game.

Q. Seemed like they were letting plays extend a little bit. Was there an adjustment you guys called for or was that something you knew was coming?

PAT NARDUZZI: Adjustment for what?

Q. They were letting plays go longer when the runner stood up.

PAT NARDUZZI: They always do that. Then they blew the whistle early on one earlier that they shouldn't have. Let you push the pile for five yards. Then there's one where they blow the whistle early, invert whistle. I don't know what it was. Probably should have had another fumble, had the ball on a short field for sure, 40 yardline, 45 yardline.

Q. (Question about Demetrice McCray.)

PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I think we ran it earlier in the game and gained like five yards on a short yardage. It was successful. We didn't block it up good. We'll see what we did wrong when we watch the videotape.

Usually when a play works, you go back to it. Obviously didn't work the second time.

Q. You mentioned another tough one-score game, rough conference loss. How do you rally this team to finish the last two games?

PAT NARDUZZI: Our guys live to play these games. Our kids love to play football. They have a passion to play football. That won't be an issue. Our guys will come ready to play.

We are going to have to score 10 points or more, more than 10 points, to go down to Louisville and beat them. We got to get in the end zone. We got to play better, execute better, got to coacher better.

Q. (No microphone.)

PAT NARDUZZI: Crucial football player, for sure. He plays at a high level. Love that kid. Got to score more points.