Remember when Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi made a comment about Penn State’s offense not being as real as Pitt’s offense this offseason? That comment seems pretty fun to look back on now after Pitt’s offense struggled against an opponent Penn State opened the season with a bang against.
Narduzzi was discussing Pitt quarterback [autotag]Christian Veilleux[/autotag], who transferred to Pitt from Penn State in the offseason. Narduzzi suggested Veilleux would be in a better spot to thrive in what he referred to as areal offense compared to Penn State’s “one-word offense.”
“Christian is a guy that, well, things are brand-new for him,” Narduzzi said in a one-on-one interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “He’s coming from a one-word offense to a real offense.”
Narduzzi tried explaining he was not taking an actual shot at Penn State and was stressing the different offensive styles between the two schools. That’s a fair assessment, because it is clear Penn State and Pitt have vastly different offenses this season. And now we have a common opponent to compare and contrast the two, much to the chagrin of Pitt’s head coach.
Penn State opened the season against West Virginia and won by a score of 38-15. Starting quarterback [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] made his first college start and ended his night with 325 passing yards and 3 touchdowns in the win for the Nittany Lions. Allar also completed 21 of 29 pass attempts against the Mountaineers with no interceptions to show for it. Penn State’s offense totaled 478 yards of offense in the win as well.
This past weekend, Pitt got a chance to attack that same West Virginia team, although this time the Mountaineers were playing at home instead of in a packed stadium on the road. So how did Pitt’s “real offense” do?
Not well.
Pitt starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec struggled all night long. Jurkovec completed just 8 of his 20 attempts for a grand total of 81 yards. He threw no touchdowns and was picked off three times, and Narduzzi was left in a tough spot defending his quarterback and starting quarterback decision after the game.
Could Pitt about to be making a quarterback switch in favor of Veilleux? If things continue down this path in western Pennsylvania, it could be happening soon. Pitt is 1-2 after their loss to West Virginia, and ACC play is about to get fired up.
Now, it is worth pointing out that this weekend also saw the least impressive showing by Penn State’s offense so far this season. Penn State struggled to get much going on offense in their first road game at Illinois, but Allar did not make any costly mistakes with a turnover-free game and over 200 yards of passing despite a mediocre pass-completion rate.
Drew Allar and Penn State’s “one-word” offense will prepare for a top 25 battle with Iowa this weekend in front of a whiteout crowd in Beaver Stadium on Saturday night.