Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Takes Blame for Kedon Slovis Injury

Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi called himself "a dumba**" for not running out the first half clock against Tennessee.

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers' last play of the first half in their Week 2 game against Tennessee proved to be one of the game's biggest plays. The defense stopped the Volunteers' attempt at a two-minute drill with a quick three-and-out and got the ball back at their own 37-yard line with just 21 seconds left, but a chance to pull within one point if they could get in field goal range. 

Pitt sought to be aggressive on offense and called for a pass on their first play of the possession. Instead, Taylor Baron came free and levied a devastating hit on starting quarterback Kedon Slovis, who fumbled back to Tennessee and left the game for good while holding his left shoulder. The Volunteers kicked a field goal to go up a full seven points at intermission. 

With the benefit of hindsight, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said he regretted not burning the rest of the half with a kneel down. He wanted to create some points before the end of the period and it resulted in disaster. 

"I'm a dumb***" Narduzzi said. "Yes, thank you. There's no doubt about it. We didn't put a returner back. We were really worried about it and you go back and look, that's the one."

Narduzzi said there were some other ways that the Pitt offense could have avoided the back-breaking fumble but he ultimately took full responsibility for the decision. 

"Sometimes our offensive line has got to get us out of it," Narduzzi said. "Sometimes our quarterback has to get us out of a bad play and redirect protections or whatever it may be. On the play before the half, we should have the tailback staying in to protect him, and we didn't do that."

Narduzzi had learned his lesson by the time a similar situation came up in the second half. In a tie game with 19 seconds left, back-up Nick Patti, already hobbled by an ankle injury, knelt to send the game to overtime.

"I certainly wasn't going to call a timeout at the end of the game. That's why we kneeled down in the fourth quarter and take it to overtime. We weren't going to take a chance and have something crazy like that happen there."

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