Earlier this week, Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi said he would wait until Thursday to name a starting quarterback for a game Saturday at Iowa.
By the time Thursday arrived, whether out of indecision or gamesmanship, Narduzzi balked, saying his selection of either Chad Voytik or Nate Peterman will be a “game-time decision.”
“We might know before then, but you guys won’t know,” Pitt’s first-year coach said. “They’re both going to play. We’ve had a plan the last two weeks, and we’re going to have the same plan this week.”
Voytik entered the season as Pitt’s starter after occupying the role in 2014, but the junior has struggled thus far, throwing for just 104 yards in two games and averaging 4.7 yards per attempt. With the Panthers struggling to score points Saturday against Akron, Narduzzi began having Voytik and Peterman play on alternating possessions.
Peterman ultimately seized the job, going 12-of-17 passing for 148 yards and one touchdown while leading the team on three touchdown drives in a 24-7 victory. Voytik did not take a snap in the second half.
Regardless of who starts against the Hawkeyes, the backup likely will enter the game around the third series.
“We’ll go from there,” Narduzzi said. “The hot guy is going to play, just like the hot guy is going to play at safety and the hot guy’s going to play at tailback.”
Given the quarterbacks he’s deciding between, Narduzzi isn’t sure whether Pitt gets any kind of schematic advantage by not naming a starter.
“If we had RGIII [Robert Griffin III] and Chad Voytik and they didn’t know which one they had to defend, I would say so,” he said. “But we have two very similar quarterbacks. I guess that’s for them to decide which one did something better that they’ve got to worry about.”
Pitt open to Conner’s return
Though he has been ruled out for the remainder of the season, the topic of star running back James Conner and his injured knee has continued to hover over Pitt.
After Conner’s surgery on a torn MCL in his right knee, Narduzzi said if Conner and his family want him to play and he has been medically cleared to return, then he wouldn’t prevent his prized tailback from taking the field again this season.
“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” Narduzzi said. “I’m not going to shut down a kid’s dream if he wants to go.”
Walk-on earns scholarship
Narduzzi said junior long snapper Pat Quirin, a Central Catholic High School graduate, has been awarded a scholarship.
Craig Meyer: cmeyer@post-gazette.com and Twitter @CraigMeyerPG.
First Published: September 17, 2015, 7:03 p.m.
