Pat Narduzzi, C'Bo Flemister Share Moment After Notre Dame Loss

Pat Narduzzi appreciated the effort the Pitt Panthers' starting running back showed in the Notre Dame loss.

SOUTH BEND -- The Pitt Panthers had just been manhandled. Notre Dame players sang their alma mater on the opposite side of the endzone from the tunnel to the visiting locker room, where Pat Narduzzi and his team walked following a 58-7 defeat at the hands of the No. 14 Irish.

But before he took those steps off the turf and out of the lights, Narduzzi stopped and turned around. C'Bo Flemister, a former Notre Dame running back, was the last Panther to jog off the field after greeting some old friends. Narduzzi waited for him to reach the tunnel, and brought him in for a hug and a short message as Pitt fans in the front rows told Flemister to "keep his head up." 

Pat Narduzzi and C’Bo Flemister share a moment on the field after #Pitt falls to Notre Dame. Narduzzi waited for Flemister, who was the last to leave the field, before heading to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/RimspuyO7L

— stephen thompson (@stephenethom) October 28, 2023

"I love C’Bo and I love everybody in that locker room, I can tell you that," Narduzzi said. "I just thanked him for his efforts. That’s who we got. They’re trying hard and I don’t fault their effort. We’ve got to do a better job coaching and we’ve got to find a way to muster some first downs early." 

Narduzzi has been endlessly complimentary of Flemister over the past couple weeks, during which he's worked his way into a starting role while taking on a bigger leadership role for this team. 

The coaching staff wanted to pull Flemister from the blowout early and protect their starting tailback against injury with four more games left on the schedule. But Narduzzi said that depite the lopsided score, Flemister wanted to finish out the game. 

"He would not come out. He said, ‘I’m going coach, I’m not coming out’ and I just said, ‘If you had gotten hurt I would have whooped you’, but I probably would have gotten my butt whooped," Narduzzi said. "I just didn’t want him to get hurt because it was late in the game and it was not worth it. If he had gotten hurt at the end I would have shaken my head and said, ‘Coach Powell, why is he still in there?’ And he said, ‘Coach he won’t come out’."

Flemister, like the rest of the offense, had a rough day. He rushed eight times for 24 yards after racking up 230 yards and three touchdowns on 48 touches over the previous three weeks. 

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