Usually, when you do a game preview there is a sense of the potential direction of the game. And then every once in a while, you get Wake Forest vs. Pitt and you are tempted to write, “Who knows?” and conclude the article there.
This is the first time the two schools have met since the 2021 ACC championship game, and both of them could not be further away from that moment just two years later.
Pitt Struggles
Pitt is 2-4 overall, 1-2 in conference and the Panthers have yet to win on the road this season. But they are coming off a surprising 17-point win at home over a Louisville team that had knocked off Notre Dame the week before.
Phil Jurkovec, the transfer from Boston College, was slated to be the starting quarterback this season for the Panthers. And he was. For a few weeks. But as has happened in a few places throughout the ACC, (seeing you Raleigh, NC), the transfer portal quarterback did not provide the needed results. He was throwing at a 51% completion rate, with less than 1,000 yards passing, six touchdowns, and three interceptions through week five. He was benched for the Louisville game and replaced by third-year sophomore Christian Veilleux, a transfer from Penn State.
While not exactly lighting up the scoreboard with 288 total yards, Veilleux engineered the win over Louisville. When the team is struggling, that is good enough. He was 12 of 26 passing for 200 yards and two touchdowns, and most importantly, no interceptions.
Earlier this week, head coach Pat Narduzzi made it clear he was mostly pleased with his new starting quarterback. “Christian threw some nice balls. He got the ball out quick [sic] as well. He made good decisions with the ball,” he said. “But he can do a better job on some of his out routes, which Coach Cigs (Cignetti) will fix his feet and do all those things, but I thought he had a really nice day.”
Panthers Defense Happy to See Wake Forest?
The strength of any Narduzzi team is always the defense, and he must love the Wake Forest offense he is seeing right now. The Demon Deacons are 87th in the country in red zone offense. And even that is only because Matthew Dennis has 12 field goals. Wake has not scored a touchdown on offense in the last two games. The Deacs are only two spots from last in the country in sacks allowed this season with 29. Even Narduzzi was surprised at that Wake stat. “I didn’t know that. I’ll go tell [defensive line coach Charlie] Coach Partridge. He’d better have seven or eight of them, I guess. He needs to look at what we’re doing defensively.”
And here is where it gets “interesting.” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson does not know who his starting quarterback is going to be on Saturday. Starter Mitch Griffis was pulled after the first quarter in Saturday’s loss at Virginia Tech. He has struggled all season with turnovers, scheme reads, and decision-making. Back-up Michael Kern came in with some decent throws if not acceptable results. But Kern injured his throwing shoulder in the closing minutes of the game. Griffis came back in to mop up.
Wake Quarterback Quandry
We know Kern is out for at least a couple of weeks. That is the extent of what we know. Tuesday Clawson described Griffis as physically banged up. “Mitch took some shots,” he said. “And we’re not 100% sure of his availability.”
If Griffis can’t go, the choices are Santino Marucci, who came to Wake as a quarterback but has been moved to running back linebacker, and safety. Marucci moved back to quarterback this camp. He has yet to play a snap in a game at any position in his two-plus years. The other options at quarterback would be freshman Charlie Gilliam, and walk-ons Troy Hoilman and Tyler Mizzell. Clawson said Marucci and “some of our freshmen” were getting reps this week in practice.”
That leaves a lot of question marks for a struggling offense. Asked to assess last week’s loss to VA Tech now that he had time to review the game film, Clawson’s response was, “We were bad.” While that may sound both obvious and glib, his further point was that it was not all one position or player. There were blown blocking assignments by the offensive line. There were correct blocking schemes, but the quarterback dropped too far back and beyond the protection. And there were pass route breakdowns by receivers. In essence, there is plenty of blame to go around.
“When you’re not playing well, you can’t compound your problems and we’re just on the wrong side of all those things now,” he said Tuesday. He said he can see players pressing and making mistakes as a result. “We’re on the wrong side of detail right now.”
Heavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown
Clawson was not hesitant to take the blame for the current three-game losing streak and this year’s slide in the program. He knows where the criticism is mostly directed. “I mean, it’s accurate. I’ve been here 10 years. I can’t blame it on the last head coach. Everybody in this building, I’ve hired. And every player on our roster, I’ve recruited,” he said. “It’s my job. It’s all on me. And It’s part of this and the position, right? And if you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be in it.”
Clawson has a knack for recalling very specific details and instances in his coaching history. He uses that ability to try to get his players to navigate the choppy waters. “I’ve been through this before. Again, there is no guarantee you’re going to come out the other end in great shape. But I believe we will and history has shown we really do.”
Which brings us back to the Pitt game. This will be the third time the two schools have faced each other as ACC opponents. Once was for a conference championship. Now it is for 2023 conference survival. That puts us back at “Who knows?”
