Many fans are already calling for Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi to replace Max Browne. Browne wasn’t terrible against Penn State but some worry about his mobility and throwing accuracy in general.
But after the game, Narduzzi acknowledged Browne was still the starter. On Monday in his weekly press conference, he elaborated and seemed even more secure with his selection of Browne.
“Obviously he’s not perfect,” Narduzzi conceded, “but there wasn’t one guy, coach, player, SID that was on Saturday. He had some — you look at it, and we look at accuracy as far as him throwing the ball, not a burn, which Coach Watson says throw away incomplete passes, but I think he had six incomplete passes that he was accurate.
“But I was pretty happy after watching the tape with him more than I was maybe after the game.”
Narduzzi, though, acknowledged there was room for improvement.
“You know, so does he have room for improvement? Yes. And so do I. So I don’t see it any different.”
Even though Browne is the starter, there seemed to be some conflict if Narduzzi would try to find playing time for DiNucci. When asked if he would look to get DiNucci into the game, he initially sounded like it would happen.
“No, we were looking for opportunities in the opener,” he initially responded when asked if they would look for ways to get him into the game. “Ben is a good football player. We’ve told you that, and he did some nice things in there. Ball security is still an issue.” But when pressed, Narduzzi seemed to change his mind a little.
“I would like to look for opportunities,” he said. “It’s easier said than done when you get in the game. It’s a hard call.”
So what did we learn here? Not too much. Browne is still the starter. For how long? That’s anybody’s guess. Now, if Pitt gets into a situation where they need some mobility at quarterback, I could still see Narduzzi giving DiNucci a look on some packages. But until Browne struggles, it sounds as if he’s the guy on a full-time basis.
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