ADVERTISEMENT

Stewart Mandel mailbag question about our friends in Oakland - enjoy

A

anon_is9z1n0h3zblb

Guest
Stew: Pitt is the definition of mediocrity, winning between six and eight games all but one year for the last decade. But during that time they have also produced high-level NFL talent like Aaron Donald, James Conner and Tyler Boyd. Why are the Panthers perpetually stuck in neutral? — Aaron, Pittsburgh

Oh man — where to begin?

First of all, a couple unavoidable bigger-picture issues have made life much harder for that program than in the glory days when Tony Dorsett was leading the Panthers to a national title (1976) and Pitt was a Top 10-20 fixture well into the ‘80s. Most notably, the talent base in Western Pennsylvania — about as ripe a hotbed as there was back then — has declined precipitously. A 2018 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story found that the area regularly produced around 20-25 power-conference recruits annually up until the mid-to-late ‘90s. Now it’s about half that. In fact, last year, Power 5 schools only signed about 20 players in the entire state of Pennsylvania, per 247Sports’ database. Of those, only hometown DE Dayon Hayes signed with Pitt.

Also, Pitt in its heyday was a respected independent annually or regularly playing the likes of Penn State, Notre Dame, West Virginia and Ohio State. It now plays in the lightly regarded ACC Coastal Division. I’m not sure elite recruits are lining up to play a schedule that, when it won the division in 2018 while going 7-7, included Albany, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia and Wake Forest.

Still, as you said, no shortage of great players has come through there recently. In addition to the three you mentioned, I’d add Tampa Bay Bucs safety Jordan Whitehead, All-American receiver/return man Quadree Henderson and two-time All-ACC linebacker Ejuan Price. There just haven’t been enough of them. In particular, at quarterback. Can anyone outside of Pittsburgh name the last great Pitt QB? Or any QB for that matter? (The correct answer is of course Tino Sunseri. … Or Dan Marino.)

Pat Narduzzi has gone an underwhelming 36-29 to date. This, his sixth season, feels like a make-or-break opportunity. He should have his best defense, led by big-time linemen Jaylen Twyman and Patrick Jones and S Paris Ford. But he has to get something more out of QB Kenny Pickett and the offense if the Panthers are finally going to get over that eight-win hump. Narduzzi has shown he can win big games, knocking off eventual national champ Clemson in 2016, 10-0 Miami in 2017 and ending UCF’s 27-game regular-season win streak last season. But he has to stop laying eggs like last year’s 16-12 home loss to mediocre Miami and 28-0 whipping by Virginia Tech.
 
If a full slate of games is played this upcoming season, I predict Five Loss Pat will live up to his name.
 
ADVERTISEMENT