There were topics Pat Narduzzi wanted to discuss with reporters Monday at his final regular-season news conference of 2024.
Eli Holstein wasn’t one of them.
But the manner in which Pitt’s starting quarterback suffered a lower-body injury was certainly up for discussion.
The last question of the 18-minute news conference concerned Holstein’s condition after he left Pitt’s game at Louisville on Saturday with what looked like a serious injury. Holstein’s game action ended at that point, but he did return to the field on crutches and watched the rest of Pitt’s 37-9 defeat.
Nardzzi offered no medical update on Holstein, but he did acknowledge the injury is not season-ending.
“We get a hip-drop tackle (on Holstein), which is illegal in the NFL,” he said. “That’s two in two weeks. You would think if the National Football League says it’s too dangerous, we (college football) would say it’s too dangerous.”
The textbook hip-drop tackle occurs when a defender grabs a ball carrier from the side and swivels his hips away from his opponent, elevates his feet and allows his unsupported body weight, including his hips, to land on the other man’s legs.
The NFL banned the hip-drop tackle in March after reviewing 20,000 tackles from the previous two seasons. The league said hip-drop tackles cause lower extremity injuries at a rate 20 times higher than other tackles. It’s also illegal in rugby and Australian Rules Football.
“I don’t know if people are coaching it. I know we don’t coach it,” Narduzzi said. “I haven’t seen one done yet by our football team. If it’s being coached, it’s bad for the game of college football.”
Narduzzi said the hip-drop tackle can become even more problematic next season under new roster limitations in the pending House vs. NCAA settlement.
If Holstein can’t play, Nate Yarnell is next in line. His backup in the Louisville game was walk-on David Lynch, not Ty Dieffenbach, who is on scholarship. Narduzzi indicated that Lynch, a redshirt freshman from East Greenwich, R.I., has made a more significant impact in practice than Dieffenbach, a redshirt freshman from Calabasas, Calif.
“When you get your snaps, you’ve got to make your snaps worthwhile,” Narduzzi said. “And it just seemed like we weren’t getting what we wanted out of Ty right now. I don’t care if you’re a walk-on or scholarship player.”
Narduzzi previously chose walk-on kicker Sam Scarton over Ben Sauls, who finally won the job in 2022 and has become one of the nation’s best this season.
“We’re playing the best players. We’re trying to win football games,” Narduzzi said. “We felt David gave us the best chance of winning right now. Doesn’t mean that Ty doesn’t have more talent. But you have to have talent on the field. You have to have it between the ears and (have) work and effort into it to be that guy. When you get three snaps in practice as a backup or third-team guy, you’ve got to make them mean something.
“I feel bad for Ty. Love him. He’s a great kid. But you’ve got to be ready. Maybe he would have been a gamer, done a better job. I don’t know.”
On the subject of his team’s fourth consecutive loss, Narduzzi blamed poor run defense, interceptions (one thrown by each of the three quarterbacks) and his two failed decisions to convert fourth-and-short.
The first interception by Holstein was on the goal line at the end of what Narduzzi called “just a beautiful drive.”
“This is what it’s supposed to look like. It’s a game of emotion and momentum and we got a little deflated there.”
Of his decision-making, Pitt’s coach — as he has done many times during the losing streak — shouldered the blame after defending the decisions immediately after the game Saturday.
“The days go by and 48 hours later, I’m a knucklehead,” he said. “I should have just punted the ball, played field position. You’re playing a top 20 offense (No. 15 now). We knew Louisville was talented on offense. Don’t put our defense in that position.
“I told our team (Sunday) night, that’s on me. I have to know that maybe we’re shorthanded on offense (by injuries). Don’t want to say wave the white flag, but be smart and punt it away and make them go 90.”