Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi has had a lot of success against Georgia Tech since landing the Panthers head coaching job going 4-1 against the Jackets after Pitt dropped their first two ACC games against their coastal rival Yellow Jackets. Pitt won 20-10 last year in Atlanta, but COVID rescheduling has the two teams playing in Atlanta again this year and Narduzzi spoke about his team coming off a blowout win over Florida State ending a four-game losing streak.
"Got a great challenge on the road again, headed down to Georgia Tech, and I think a tough football team," Narduzzi said at his presser on Monday. "When I watch tape on them, really all three phases you see a physical team. You really do. They've got a young football player in Jeff Sims that's athletic. He's a freshman from Jacksonville, Florida, that we recruited a year ago, so we know who he is. I know what he looks like; I know he's not six-foot; I know he's probably more 6'4"-ish. I know he's athletic, he's got a great arm. And then defensively, again, Geoff Collins is a defensive guy and they play hard on defense. They're sound, and they make plays."
Narduzzi said that Tech's offense has made major strides compared to last year when they were struggling to make the transition away from the triple option.
"I mean, you see the -- you see a transition for sure, and they're a lot better football team than they were a year ago," he said. "Obviously, they gave us issues last year. I think they're tough. I think he's got his culture built there. He's still recruiting, but when I look at their offensive line -- because defense is defense. It doesn't matter, nothing changed for the defense except their defense gets to play against normal offenses during summer camp. But the biggest change was what they've done with their offense, and I think they've done a great job offensively as far as what they do, how they do it, what they're trying to do. Like I said, the Jeff Sims kid is a young guy. I think he's going to be sharp, and he's got a nice arm. He's smooth. He knows he can read coverages. You see him look off stuff, he'll go over here and go from one, two, three, so you see him reading the field. He's not just throwing RPOs. But they will throw some RPOs for sure this weekend."
In three of his four wins against Georgia Tech, Pitt won two on game-winning field goals at the end and another by just four points. Last year's 10-point win in Atlanta was the largest margin of victory by Narduzzi against the Jackets and that was a close game as well. Returning to Bobby Dodd Stadium is not something Narduzzi was excited about.
"It'll be a tough game. It was a tough game a year ago when we went down there, and I guess we have to go to Georgia two years in a row. I don't know how that plays out with the ACC scheduling in the future, but I hope they have to come to Pittsburgh two years in a row, as well."
Pitt just had a long trip to Tallahassee and they will make another long trip to Atlanta something the ACC has tried to avoid on back-to-back weeks for most schools during COVID.
"We like going down there anyway, so just another long road trip and our kids have done an outstanding job with that, preparing for it and taking care of business before we leave, and obviously on that trip last week having all our meals in a tent was interesting to say the least, and our kids just kind of didn't matter. We came down there for a reason, to win, so we'll travel wherever we've got to go to go play the game," he said.
During the skid, Pitt was without Kenny Pickett their starting quarterback who made his return last week against FSU. Narduzzi said he was still not 100-percent.
"When Kenny Pickett is in the game, it's a different ballgame whether he can scramble or not. Again, he wasn't full go, and I think he came out of that game feeling really good, which is a positive, so he'll be a week healthier this week as we go, and then maybe there's some opportunities to run him a little bit more if we have to," he said.
