As Christian Veilleux stood within the bowels of Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium Saturday night, he kept his head held high. He knew that he did what he could against Wake Forest.
And when he took off on 3rd-and-8 late in the fourth quarter, with under a minute remaining in the contest, he knew the exact yardage he needed to convert the first down. When he looked back on it, he felt like he had it. But it ultimately didn’t matter what he thought.
The officials marked Veilleux short, determining that he began his slide short of the line to gain, and Veilleux regrets how it played out.
“Just the basic run read, defensive end crashed, so I pulled it and I felt like I had my eyes on the sticks, I knew where I had to go, probably should’ve dove or just go out of bounds — gonna be hard to get over that one,” Veilleux said Saturday night.Â
Caleb Junko punted the ball away on the ensuing 4th-and-1, a poor 32-yard boot, on a night in which he struggled mightily, and Wake Forest needed to drive just 52 yards to walk off with a win. Santino Marucci, in his first career start, hit Cameron Hite six plays later for a 15-yard game-winning touchdown with seven seconds left.
I know it’s a subjective call, determined by where the referee thinks the player begins his slide, but I don’t think it’s a play in which Veilleux began his slide short of the sticks. And I’m not alone.
“I’m sorry,” ACC Network’s EJ Manuel said on a postgame show immediately after the game, “but that’s the worst call I’ve seen.”
Pitt did a whole lot of nothing in the 10 drives between its first 75-yard touchdown and its second, mustering just a 41-yard field goal from Ben Sauls, but that doesn’t change the fact that a subjective call changed the course of the game.
Pat Narduzzi said the Pitt booth thought Veilleux reached the line to gain. But he also said that Veilleux needed to find a way to ensure that he achieved a first down.
“Did he slide butt first? I thought he had it, it was a great call by Frank and the quarterback keeper was there,” Narduzzi said Saturday night. “You just gotta dive and get it. You gotta go headfirst and not make any doubt about it. And rookie mistake, something we’ll learn from and the game’s over if we get that first down, period.”
It, obviously, didn’t lead to a first down. Veilleux said that the third down call played out the way it was supposed to, with the Wake Forest defense playing him, so he tucked the ball and ran. He could’ve dove head first, could’ve just ran out of bounds or whatever, but he did reach the line to gain.
It just wasn’t ruled a first down by the officials, and it ultimately led to the Wake Forest game-winning touchdown. It wasn’t as if Pitt played a clean — or even a good — game. Pitt probably didn’t deserve to fly back to Pittsburgh with a win, but the decision to mark the slide short of the sticks was a game-changing decision nonetheless.
“I definitely felt like I had it, gonna have to watch the film, but it’s a tough one,” Veilleux said. “Just gonna have to get over it and move on. I’ll see the film, and then I’ll truly have a piece of mind.
“I just know the rule, when you start the slide that’s when they down you, so maybe I started early. To me, it felt like I had the sticks. But then again, I’ll watch the film then I’ll know.”
Veilleux finished his second career start with 302 yards and two touchdowns on 28-of-45 pass attempts (62%), and while he left some throws on the field, he also displayed a level of competitive talent that should have Pitt excited.
I know everyone is very upset and voicing their opinions on Pitt. But can anyone answer this question? WHY DON’T TEAMS PUT 2 GUYS BACK TO RECEIVE PUNTS? I see more balls hitting the ground and bouncing 20+ more yds, and some even bouncing into players, than good returns. A lot of balls are not caught by Pitt and some after it bounces, which is very risky. The PSU game alone saw a 72 yd punt and a ball bounce off a player’s leg recovered by the punting team. Both on balls that hit the ground. I was taught to… Read more »
Special teams Punting And Punt Receiving units are poorly coached.
Offense is poorly coached.
Narduzzi is afraid to take necessary action, firing Cignetti. Narduzzi is afraid of Cignetti.
It is practically the same Offense style at Michigan, Georgia, Utah, and Iowa. Smash mouth and ball control. Let Defense hold the opponent back.
Their Punter did great, great height spiral hang time positioning. Nulled out our Punt return. Their kickoffs were touchbacks. Their blocking held up our down four. We had to use nickel edge Rush to get two Sacks.
Gotta make Plays folks, like MJ did late and against Louisville, and Bub and Kenny did last week and this week off of great throws. Just not enough of them. Fleminster had great showing.
We lost because we had only one touchdown in the first 55 minutes of the game. We have talent. But there are serious leadership problems with this team starting at the top.
Narduzzi needs to resign.
It doesn’t matter how great ingredients are. You need cooks that can create recipes and execute. Need help in all aspects of “coaching”.
Ridiculous amount of penalties capped off by a narcissistic idiot taking two personal fouls at the end. Talented disciplined teams can overcome the game where the refs get you. This is not a disciplined team and appears to be slightly above average talent. If we keep this staff we aren’t taking the next step. Everyone talks about USC paying Addison but he did say that he didn’t like the coaching because it wasn’t tough enough. I dismissed that comment at the time, not so much now.
And Riley’s no defense team is tough… What a stupid statement.
Wtf does that even mean?
Only PITT can blow a game that it should have win with ease. This should have been a blow win by PITT.. We went into prevent offense & defense before the end of the half & at the end of the game.. Narduzzi never sees anything on the field.. The PITT player dragged the WF receiver quite a distance & then hit another WF for no reason.. This is a failure in coaching by someone who told the World that he spends 85 percent of his coaching time in the defensive room. Offensive coach should be able to teach QB’s… Read more »
Please take these feelings out on ND tomorrow.