Monday afternoon, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi held his weekly press conference to discuss this Saturday’s game against West Virginia. Here’s what he said about the Backyard Brawl versus the Mountaineers.

Thoughts on the Backyard Brawl

“Obviously a gigantic, a really, really big rivalry game here. There’s maybe not many more important rivalry games in the country. You guys can all talk about the River City Rivalry…we all know that’s not really a rivalry. This weekend, if you don’t know anything about rivalries, this is the one. This is the one that people in Pittsburgh live for. This is the one that people down south live for.”

Initial thoughts on West Virginia

“They got a heck of a football team. Neal Brown is a heck of a football coach. He’s calling the plays and schematically, he’s very similar to (Scott) Satterfield. I’ve got a ton of respect for him as a football coach, as a scheme guy. He does really good stuff. They will challenge you really in all three phases of the game. They’ll be multiple on defense running different fronts and coverages – none that we haven’t seen thus far. We may even see some three safety stuff, who knows?”

WVU’s offense

“Offensively, it all starts with their quarterback Garrett Greene. I think him and (CJ) Donaldson in the backfield with Jahiem (White) in the backfield as well, they like to run the ball, they’re going to throw RPOs. And I think they’ve got really talented receivers out there. They got deep ball guys, they got intermediate guys, they got guys that can make plays. We’ll see a bunch of RPOs, we’ll see deep balls, we’ll see it all.”

Teaching his players about the Backyard Brawl

“I think they know. I mean, 73 players on this team were on that trip last year or in that game. Probably got another 46 or 50 guys that were here in ’22 when we played them at home. But yeah, we’re going to educate them on the rivalry, what it is.”

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Good: The Hokie Defense

Defensive coordinator Chris Marve’s defense looked like a team reborn Saturday evening. While you may see 14 points given up to Marshall as a little disappointing, it is crucial to note that one of the Herd’s touchdowns came after a blocked punt that sat up the Herd inside the Hokie 10. Besides that, you saw much-improved performances from the Hokie’s pass and rush defense as they caused havoc, tacking 12 pass breakups, an interception, and forcing eight Marshall punts on the night.

Bad: The Hokie Offensive line

Kyron Drones was forced to scramble and try to make a play numerous times throughout the first half. So before we start to get ancy on Drone’s ability, rewatch those highlights and count the number of times Marshall gets free rushers aiming for the Baylor transfer. Also, this is not just a writer’s issue. Brent Pry marched to where the O-line was camped out multiple times in the first quarter, and each time, he looked like he was getting increasingly more frustrated with the lack of protection given to Drones.

The Ugly: Playcalling

Once again, much like at Vanderbilt, Tech was playing slow and things were far from effective in the first half, with the only touchdown being a Jaylin Lane punt return. It was previously stated that the reason Tech called so many horizontal passing plays was to open up the ground game up the middle.

Yes, it is good that the Hokies prioritize a strong run game; you can see that in Bhayshul Tuten’s 125-yard night. Where many Hokie fans get upset is that there is a real lack of what I call “natural explosive plays.” When Stephen Gosnell reeled in a 49-yard grab, that was a “natural explosive play” because it played to the strengths of Drone’s strong arm.

When several stale screens cause a melody of boos to rain down the concourses of Lane Stadium, that is not a “natural explosive play” because it forces wideouts and Drones to oftentimes put the ball well behind the first line stick, which, in turn, places all the pressure on the receiver to spin away from trouble and to wield themselves to the first down marker.