Special Teams Continue to Spell Disaster For Pitt
SOUTH BEND -- The Pitt Panthers played better than the score would indicate but a crucial third of their team has persisted in their poor performance and played an outsized part in their latest losses.
Pitt special teams have been stunningly poor over the past two games, both losses - one close to Wake Forest and one not-so-close to Notre Dame - and their performance has sunk the Panthers to new lows when some hope had just resurfaced after an upset win over Louisville.
As the punter, Caleb Junko sees the field significantly less than the rest of the Panthers' starters, but he has had an outsized impact on the results of their game. Pitt punting has been bad for the past two weeks and it has cost them dearly, contributing to some of the rougher losses this team has suffered.
The numbers themselves don't paint a pretty picture. Junko averaged 41.3 yards on seven kicks against Notre Dame. The week before, he managed just 35 yards per punt against Wake Forest. Against the Irish, his longest punt went for 54 yards but netted just 29 yards because it bounced into the endzone for a touchback. Of his last eight kicks, five have netted 32 yards or fewer and two gave Pitt less than 25 yards of added field position.
The situations surrounding his poor kicks add another dimension to the ugly numbers. Against Wake Forest, his 32-yard punt with 40 seconds remaining made it that much easier for the Demon Deacons - led by a third-string quarterback - to drive for a fatal score.
But Junko wasn't the only member of the punt team to underperform. The Panthers were actually in a good place, locked in a scoreless tie midway through the first quarter, when his best punt of the afternoon was returned for a touchdown through the weak arm tackles of at least two Pitt defenders, if not more.
Panthers placekicker Ben Sauls didn't get any opportunities to make an impact on the game, but even when he did it ended in disaster. His lone field goal attempt of the afternoon - a 45-yarder in the second quarter that could have helped stabilize an offense that was spiraling - sailed wide left. After making nine of 11 attempts from 40 yards or longer last season, Sauls has made just three of seven kicks from that distance in 2023.
M.J. Devonshire's muffed punt in the third quarter, which turned into a touchdown for the Fighting Irish, only added insult to injury and put the Panthers down 37-0 early in the third quarter.
During an afternoon in which nothing went right for an offense and defense that is young, dealing with key injuries and struggling to find their way with a new cast of characters, the special teams provided them with no relief.
Blame spills down from the top, beginning with the head coach Pat Narduzzi who has allowed special teams play to deteriorate during his tenure, the special teams coordinator Andre Powell who makes personnel decisions and finally the players who missed the kicks and tackles themselves.
In a 58-7 loss, blame can rarely fall on just one person or one unit, but special teams deserve a healthy share of it because they have played a healthy role in these devastating defeats. Changes must be made and fast for Pitt. They need to try a new punter and address tackling issues at the very least before special teams disasters get even further out of hand.
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