Eli Holstein injury update: Pat Narduzzi reveals Pittsburgh QB's status vs. Clemson

The status of Pitt Panthers quarterback Eli Holstein is still up in the air as the team prepares to host the Clemson Tigers. This comes after he left last week’s loss to Virginia early with an apparent head injury.

In the latest injury update for Eli Holstein, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi revealed that he’s not been cleared to play yet. With that in mind, he’s currently being looked at as a game-time decision for Saturday’s game.

Injuries have become a recurring issue for Holstein now. He previously left the Syracuse game with an injury in October. However, in that instance, he was able to return to action the next week for Pitt’s game against SMU. The week after was the Virginia game where he suffered the most recent injury.

When Eli Holstein left the game against Virginia, he was replaced by Nate Yarnell, who struggled. For the game, Yarnell completed just four of 12 passes for 44 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The Panthers ended up dropping the game, which was their second loss in as many games. Yarnell also replaced Holstein in the Syracuse game but had a better performance in that win, going five for seven for 36 yards.

The injury to Eli Holstein came in the third quarter of the game against Virginia when he slid but took a high hit from Trey McDonald. That earned McDonald a targeting call and ejection. Meanwhile, Holstein stayed down and was attended to on the field before he went into the injury tent.

Pat Narduzzi doesn’t like to share the exact details of injuries. However, he did feel as though Holstein would be okay after the game.

The game between Pitt and Clemson is an important one within the ACC. While the Panthers have lost two games in a row, both conference games to knock them off the pace in the ACC race, the Tigers already have one conference loss. So, a win over Clemson would mean Pitt jumps them in the standings. At that point, they’d be another Miami stumble away from taking second place in the conference come down to tiebreakers.

Getting to the ACC Championship Game is going to be massive for teams. The winner of the conference is, essentially, guaranteed to get a first round bye in the College Football Playoff. Nobody else is guaranteed a spot in the Playoff at all.