Pitt wins one for coach Pat Narduzzi in a big way, 73-17 vs. Youngstown State

Pitt’s 73-17 victory against Youngstown State on Saturday — more like a suffocation — was the product of superior athletes beating on inferior ones.

Also, you should not minimize the aggressive nature of the Pitt offense that scored nine touchdowns — the defense added a 10th — and amassed 644 yards of total offense, tied for fifth-most all-time. Pitt was scoring at will in the first half and the latter portion of the second.

“We wanted to put the foot to the pedal and show who we are,” coach Pat Narduzzi said.

“You feel like no matter what you call, it’s going to work,” said quarterback Eli Holstein, who completed 16 of 24 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. “It’s a great feeling.”

But there was more to Pitt’s fourth victory in four games than just numbers on the scoreboard or stat sheet. The victory was personal for Narduzzi, and his players knew it.

“There’s 12 games in a season,” he said he told his players, “11 are for you. Give me this one here. (I) just kind of challenged them to (do) that.”

Back story: Narduzzi’s father, Bill, was the head coach at Youngstown State from 1975-1985, coaching his son, Pat, who was a starting linebacker as a freshman.

“I asked them on Tuesday to go get one for my dad. Just try to make it personal,” Pitt’s coach said. “They took the challenge and went out there and tattooed them pretty good. I was proud of the way those guys went out there and played.

“My dad would be fired up as he was watching up there,” he said, glancing skyward.

Narduzzi was hit with a wave of emotions recently when his brother showed up with photos of his father standing on the Youngstown State sideline while wearing his signature short-sleeve shirt with a tie. To honor his father, who died in 1988, Narduzzi decided to wear the same outfit Saturday.

But why this specific game? Narduzzi’s Pitt team had played YSU in two previous seasons without the same motivation.

“I don’t know. It just hit me,” he said. “My brother came last week and brought me a bunch of pictures, and I saw him in that shirt and the cutoff (shirt). So that was one of the reasons, just out of the blue, opened up a box in the basement and found some pictures.”

Also, when Narduzzi spoke to his players in the offseason — “mentor meetings,” he called them — he told them about his hero, his father.

“We kind of talked about who your hero was, what your hardship was in life, and the hardships I went through growing up and losing your dad at age 51, six kids and all that.

”I just thought dad would want this thing done the right way.”

In a statistical oddity, Pitt’s victory gave the younger Narduzzi one more victory as a head coach than his father (69-50 vs. 68-51-1).

Pitt did almost everything the right way in front of a crowd of 48,437 on Saturday, achieving a victory that gave the Panthers their first undefeated nonconference record in history and first 4-0 record since 2000. The 73-point effort was Pitt’s highest total since scoring 77 against New Hampshire in 2021.

Pitt built a 42-10 lead by halftime with touchdowns on its first six possessions. In the first half, Pitt had 14 more points than offensive snaps (28), scoring five times at the end of possessions no longer than seven plays each, including two that lasted two plays and another that required only one.

In the second half, Youngstown State (1-3) punched back with quarterback Beau Brungard’s 44-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cyrus Traugh. Pitt responded with five more scores:

• Ben Sauls’ 49-yard field goal

• Holstein’s second 2-yard touchdown run

• Running back Daniel Carter’s 13-yard reception

• Cornerback Tamarion Crumpley’s 22-yard interception return

• Running back Che Nwabuko 57-yard run

Carter, a sixth-year senior, was Pitt’s leading rusher with seven carries for 109 yards and two touchdowns. He also caught a pass for six points.

“I feel like I’ve been trying to reach this point for six years now. I finally got my opportunities,” he said.

Derrick Davis started at running back in place of Desmond Reid, the ACC’s second-leading rusher who also sat out the final drive last week against West Virginia. Davis left the game with an injury in the third quarter after six attempts for 21 yards.

Holstein, who was replaced by Nate Yarnell in the fourth quarter, also ran for 93 yards, falling 7 yards short of a 51-year-old Pitt milestone. No Pitt player had passed and run for at least 100 yards each in a game since quarterback Billy Daniels (121/165) did it Nov. 3, 1973, against Syracuse.

Pitt built a 21-0 lead before the end of the first quarter. In the second, the Panthers made it four for four, five for five and six for six on touchdowns and possessions.

Holstein hit Kenny Johnson and Censere Lee for a 10- and 82-yard scores, sandwiched around Carter’s 43-yard touchdown run. Carter’s runs of 43 and 24 yards were the longest of his career.

The pass to Lee was Pitt’s longest touchdown reception in almost five years, since Kenny Pickett and Maurice Ffrench connected on a 96-yard score in the Quick Lane Bowl on Dec. 26, 2019.

Pitt was in command from start to finish, finally shutting down an opponent’s ground game — YSU averaged only 1.9 yards per carry — and getting two interceptions and a fumble recovery.

One nitpick: The Panthers played the entire game without recording a sack. That will be one source of angst during the upcoming off week while Pitt prepares to visit North Carolina on Oct. 5.

“We did pretty good,” linebacker Rasheem Biles said. “There’s still a lot more we can clean up.”