Penalties Cost Pitt Against North Carolina

The Pitt Panthers committed 11 penalties for 83 yards in their loss to North Carolina on Saturday.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers have a multitude of issues to work through, but cleaning up their penalties should be near the top of their board. 

Pitt committed 11 penalties for 83 yards as compared to North Carolina's three for 29 yards in the 41-24 loss to the Tar Heels, putting the Panthers at a disadvantage throughout the course of the game. 

Blake Zubovic believes that correcting those mistakes will come down to being more focused and disciplined both in games and practices moving forward.

"We have to have laser focus for all four quarters. You can’t go out there and hurt yourself because a lot of the time it’s not the other team, it’s you," Zubovic said. "You can’t hurt yourself. You can’t inflict these penalties. We just have to attack practice and games with continued and increased mental focus all the way through. You can’t get lost and get in a daze. You have to stay locked in the entire game.”

Donovan McMillon was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty at the end of the second half, which propelled the Tar Heels towards midfield and helped them take a 28-17 lead into halftime. David Green spoke with him afterwards and echoed the sentiment of staying disciplined and to not let it affect him. 

"I just told him to keep his head. Just try to stay disciplined," Green said. "I know there were a lot of emotions flowing through him when he got that call. I just told him don’t let that penalty affect the game and really just stay locked in and keep playing your ball.”

Head coach Pat Narduzzi took note of the excessive number of penalties and believes his team needs to fix that issue, but also was of the mindset that some of the calls were erroneous. 

"From my observation, there were some calls that were made that I didn’t really care for," Narduzzi said. "I’ve seen it go both ways, but Pitt got called today, so I guess that’s on us.” 

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