Pitt football's revamped offense

After back-to-back tough losses for the Pittsburgh Panthers, head coach Pat Narduzzi called upon a true freshman to take over the reins of the offense.

Quarterback Eli Holstein had a very disappointing overtime loss against rival West Virginia, where he struggled mightily.

Holstein was sacked six times, had a completion percentage of 59.5 and also had an interception. He finished the game with a QBR of 19.9.

The stats don’t tell the whole story of Holstein’s struggles. In overtime, after a WVU touchdown, Pitt needed to go down the field and score a touchdown to stay in the game.

After a negative play on first down, Narduzzi put it on Holstein to take the team to victory. With the game on the line, Holstein threw a dangerous incompletion on 2nd down that should have been intercepted, was sacked and fumbled on 3rd down for a ten-yard loss and overthrew a wide-open receiver on 4th down to end the game.

The next game wasn’t much better for Holstein. Pitt went into halftime against Louisville up 27-17. In the second half, Holstein threw two interceptions and was benched late in the fourth quarter. Pitt ended up losing the game 34-27, not scoring a single point in the second half.

Narduzzi saw that a quarterback change was necessary. Against Boston College, he made a surprising change and started true freshman Mason Heintschel. His decision turned out to be a good one.

Heintschel balled out in his first collegiate start, throwing for 328 yards and four touchdowns and having a completion percentage of 75.0 in a 48-7 win over BC.

The following week, Heintschel led the Panthers to a 34-31 upset victory on the road against Florida State in a game where he threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns. Despite being sacked 5 times, he tallied 68 rushing yards on 16 carries, leading his team in both categories.

In their most recent game against Syracuse, Heintschel had probably his worst statistical game of the season. Nonetheless, he made up for it with a multitude of flashy plays, including a 36-yard touchdown run in their opening drive of the game that would ultimately lead to a 30-9 win on the road.

The Panthers are now on a 3-game winning streak, and they have some tough competition ahead of them. In their final three games of the season, they have to face No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 7 Georgia Tech and No. 9 Miami.

Pitt is currently 5-2 and has already suffered one ACC loss. If they want a shot at the ACC championship game, they could only afford to lose one more conference game.

Owen Buchholz is a first-year majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, please email obb5166@psu.edu.