Pat Narduzzi defends kicking a FG on 4th and 1 by giving puzzling answer after Pitt bowl loss to Toledo

Pat Narduzzi’s explanation was about as confusing as his play call during the second overtime of what would be a loss for Pittsburgh at 48-46 in 6OTs to Toledo in the GameAbove Sports Bowl.

In the second overtime, the Panthers, down three, had gotten down to a fourth-and-goal at the one-yard-line. However, rather than pushing it in for what would have been a winning score, Pitt kicked the field goal to tie it to continue the game for what would be four more overtime’s worth of two-point conversions that they’d go on to lose. Narduzzi then had to answer about that following the loss in Detroit.

“No. I want to put, you know – that’s great. Coach makes a call. I’m not for that. You know, I don’t care, on the road, at home? You know, I want our players to go make plays, you know. To me, they had the field goal in the first, you know, part of overtime, I believe, you know. I don’t even know how many overtimes there were, you know. I’m just focused on that moment,” said Narduzzi. “But, you know, fourth-and-one? If you don’t get it, you lose the game. I don’t want an end like that. I want our kids to make plays. To me, I aways put it in the kid’s hands. For the coach to make a decision to lose the game or win the game? I’m not for that.”

So, Narduzzi chose to let the Panthers decide the game in that moment by…not allowing them to decide the game in that moment?

Narduzzi is right in that the field goal allowed Pitt to continue the game rather than if they hadn’t converted on fourth-and-goal. Still, their offense had posted five yards a play on average and rushed at 3.2 yards a carry. If there was a time to let his own team determine the ending, it was that one.

Instead, Pittsburgh kicked for the three points and would go on to play four more overtimes against Toledo. They’d then lose on their two-point try in the sixth overtime with an incompletion.

With that, they finished at 7-6 overall on a six-game losing streak after a start at 7-0

“You know, that’s kind of the way it goes,” said Narduzzi.