Pitt Football: 3 takeaways from shocking upset loss to NC State

Pitt football found itself down early and had to claw its way back into the game against NC State. What did we learn from this tough loss?

There have been plenty of people jumping on the Pitt bandwagon this season, but it nearly turned over on Saturday afternoon as the NC State Wolfpack came to town and put up a serious fight.

NC State took a 17-7 lead early on and it looked to extend to 24-7 after a Kenny Pickett pick-six, but it was called back for a late hit on the quarterback and targeting. Pitt would kick a field goal and then added another to make it 17-13 before taking a lead and adding a field goal. NC State would strike back and take a 24-23 lead in the fourth.

Pitt took a lead with under two minutes left in the fourth thanks to a Pickett QB sneak, but NC State made things interesting and drove the field before the Wolfpack scored with 23 seconds left to win the game in shocking fashion.

What did we learn from this Week 5 battle?

3. Pitt’s red zone offense needs major work

You would think that with Kenny Pickett and a solid offense, Pitt would have no problem punching the ball in when it’s inside the 20-yard line, but that hasn’t happened enough this season.

That continued on Saturday against the Wolfpack as they blew multiple opportunities to tie and take leads, even turning the ball over on downs after four straight plays for no gain at the 1-yard line after a first and goal. This almost happened later in the game when the Panthers needed a touchdown in the fourth from the 1-yard line to take a lead but Pickett’s sneak barely got in.

Pat Narduzzi has voiced his frustrations over this aspect of the Panthers’ game so far this season and that’s going to need to improve if this team wants to contend for a spot in the ACC title game.

If you can’t score touchdowns inside the 20-yard line against NC State, you’re going to struggle against the big boys in the conference.