New Scheme Bringing Balance, Confidence to Pitt Offense

Frank Cignetti's recommitment to the run has brought confidence to the Pitt offense's ground game.

PITTSBURGH -- A change in philosophy came before a change in personnel for the Pitt Panthers. Head coach Pat Narduzzi said publicly and in no uncertain terms that he wanted his team to run the ball more. Pass-happy offensive coordinator Mark Whipple resigned and head coach Pat Narduzzi brought in Frank Cignetti to fill the vacant position. 

Cignetti was tasked with bringing more balance to the Pitt offense and through three games, he's done just that. The Panthers have found ways to score points through multiple different avenues. 

In the win over West Virginia, quarterback Kedon Slovis threw for 308 of the Panthers' 384 total yards while seven different players caught a pass. 

Against Tennessee, running back Israel Abanikanda was the focal point, particularly after Slovis went down with an injury at the end of the first half. Abanikanda ran for a career-high 154 yards and the Panthers scored 27 points.

Abanikanda reprised his role as the featured tailback last weekend. With a redshirt freshman making his first start under center, he and the Pitt running game mauled Western Michigan to the tune of 238 total yards on the ground. 

And the players have bought fully into Cignetti's new scheme which they claim has been easy to pick up. Particularly along the offensive line and in the running backs room, the balance is a welcome change from last year's nearly 40 pass attempts per game. 

“It’s good that we’re not one-dimensional," running back Daniel Carter said. "Everybody knew last year that we had a Heisman candidate at quarterback and they knew we were going to throw the ball 40 times. Now, we can do both and they don’t know what we’re doing.”

Center Jake Kradel, who made his first start center this past week, said the new approach hasn't just been effective, but fun too. He relished the chance to play downhill and with aggression against the Broncos, particularly in the second half when Pitt gained 136 yards on the ground. 

"We were running the same play over and over again," Kradel said. "It was great to just establish the run. Because in past years, we weren’t really establishing the run. This year we’re having a great time. The offensive line is having fun and that’s what it's all about.”

Carter and Kradel both said the transition has been smooth as well. Cignetti's concepts resemble what the Panthers were running under Whipple and the differences are primarily in the terminology. 

“That’s the thing, we’re just taught concepts," Kradel said. "We just plug it in. They give us a different structure but it’s the same concept and we just run with it. That’s what made the transition so easy was that we could say ‘Oh, it’s this concept so we’re just going to block it this way’. There really wasn’t much to it."

Carter, who's scored twice this season against West Virginia and Western Michigan, said that balancing the offense out has created a boost in pride for his unit as well. The team made a promise to themselves that they would run the ball better and an average rushing total of 190 yards over the past two games has given them confidence in addition to points.   

“It feels so great, knowing what we always preach in the offseason and during camp and now in season," Carter said. "It feels great knowing we can run the ball and have that balance.”

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