Pat Narduzzi Blames Pressure for Phil Jurkovec's Struggles

Pat Narduzzi wants the Pitt Panthers to protect Phil Jurkovec better.

PITTSBURGH -- It's no secret that Phil Jurkovec struggled mightily in the Pitt Panthers' 27-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats at Acrisure Stadium in Week 2. 

But Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi saw a distinct reason behind Jurkovec's 10-32, 179-yard, three-touchdown stat line - pressure in his face coming from a talented defensive line through the Panthers' patchwork offensive line. 

"Again, when you get hit 21 times - any NFL quarterback can tell you, when you get hit 21 times in a game and you get hit early when you shouldn't, you're going to struggle," Narduzzi said. "So like everybody wants to point the finger at Phil, and again, that's why you try to not say too much prior to watching the videotape. ... As we talked a week ago, we've got to clean up our protections. We've got to keep it cleaner and it wasn't good enough versus better competition." 

Narduzzi claimed offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti identified 25 pass protection issues on 44 dropbacks, meaning the Panthers had some kind of miscue in blocking for the passing game on 56% of their pass plays. 

Pitt has had to mix up its offensive line throughout the early portions of this season. They lost redshirt senior Ryan Jacoby, the presumed starter at guard, to a season-ending injury in mid-August. Then Jason Collier Jr. was replaced by true freshman B.J. Williams in the starting lineup after Week 1. The line undoubtedly still has some growing and meshing to do.

But up next is a tough road game against a rival with a talented defensive line, so the Panthers will need to get their protection issues cleaned up quickly and Narduzzi believes they will. 

"We're going to see the same front out of West Virginia this week, and I'm sure we'll see a lot of the same blitzes," Narduzzi said. "So we'll be preparing for West Virginia's defense and we'll be cleaning up all the blitzes we saw against Cincinnati."

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