Pitt HC Pat Narduzzi Wants Change to Slide Rule

After the Pitt Panthers were burned by the slide rule this past week, Pat Narduzzi wants it to be reviewed.

PITTSBURGH -- There were many reasons the Pitt Panthers came up just short against Wake Forest in Week 8 and allowed what looked like a sure win to slip through their fingers, but head coach Pat Narduzzi was frustrated with one reason in particular as the week turned. 

Narduzzi believes the slide rule, which officials invoked to rule Pitt quarterback Christian Veilleux short on a third-down run that would have almost certainly iced the game with 45 seconds left and the Panthers leading by three, should be reviewed by NCAA and ACC officials. 

“I think so," Narduzzi said when asked if the rule, implemented before the 2022 season, should be reevaluated. "First of all, the slide rule is to protect the quarterback. Protect the quarterback who’s trying to protect himself. It’s not for an official to determine when he started his slide and all that stuff and it would have been nice if the official would go and look in a little TV there and go ‘Okay, let’s be sensible here.'"

Narduzzi said he thought it should have been ruled a first down and credited Veilleux, who he said following the game made a "rookie mistake" by not diving for the marker, for making the smart play to slide, stay in bounds and try to kill the clock. In hindsight, he wishes Veilleux had just taken a couple of more steps. 

he was just being smart. Did it the way it was supposed to be. He thought it was clearly beyond the line and it looked like he was so I’ll leave it as it is. There’s a lot of other plays out there.”

The irony of it all is that it was a now legendary Pitt quarterback's scramble against Wake Forest - Kenny Pickett's long "Fake Slide" rush for the opening touchdown of the 2021 ACC Championship Game - that forced college football officials to rethink how they judged slides. Two years later, it costs the Panthers in a big spot. 

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