Pitt Will Face Different Sam Hartman This Year

The Pitt Panthers have faced Sam Hartman before, but not like this.

PITTSBURGH -- The last time the Pitt Panthers saw Sam Hartman, they had him completely rattled. Trailing by just three at halftime, the then-Wake Forsest start quarterback threw four interceptions - three on consecutive drives in the second half - as his team fell 45-21 in the 2021 ACC Championship game.

Hartman lone game against the Panthers was a resounding defeat but he'll get one more shot at them before the end of his college career. But the Sam Hartman that wears navy and gold is very different from the one 

Narduzzi believed the reasons behind Hartman's decision to transfer from Wake Forest, where he left behind a storied career as one of the school and conferences' best passers, were clear. He wanted to maximize his odds of playing in the NFL and commanding the pro-style offense the Fighting Irish run is one way for him to do that.

To that end, the Panthers' players and coaches have largely ignored film from the 2021 ACC Championship Game, when they picked off Hartman four times and ran away with a 45-21 victory after shutting the Wake Forest offense out in the second half. 

"If we’re focused on what happened in ’21, we’re nuts," Narduzzi said. "We’re not focused on that at all. Why would you be? It’s a totally different offense. We defend offense; we don’t defend people."

Hartman showed some extremely admirable traits as a Demon Deacon, some born from natural talent and others developed by playing in Wake Forest's "slow-mesh" offense, an RPO-heavy system. He plays with serenity in the pocket, something he developed while making careful decisions about whether or not to give a handoff or pull the ball out for a pass with a furious defensive line bearing down on him. 

Hartman thrived with the Deacons and is playing well again this year for Notre Dame. He's made the adjustments well and the Panthers will face a quarterback that's carried his talents into an extremely different system, so it might as well be a new quarterback. 

"He’s calm in the pocket. He doesn’t get antsy in the pocket right now," Narduzzi said. "But you’re seeing play-action pass and him taking shots more, so I think it’s a totally different offense that he’s adjusted to pretty well."

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