The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Pitt is 3-0. The Panthers are 1-0 in the ACC. They just beat Syracuse by two touchdowns, 27-13, in a game where the defense was excellent and the running game piled up nearly 250 yards.

This is not a time to panic.

But when it comes to Mason Heintschel and Pitt’s passing game, I’m starting to get a little concerned.

There’s an important distinction between those two things.

I still believe Heintschel is a very talented quarterback. We saw what he’s capable of when he burst onto the scene last season, and we saw it again in Pitt’s season opener against Miami (Ohio), when he threw for more than 450 yards and seven touchdowns.

But the last two weeks have looked different, and Thursday night’s performance against Syracuse was difficult to dismiss.

Heintschel finished 10-of-23 for 123 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. The interception was particularly costly, but the overall performance was more concerning than any individual play.

There were too many missed throws.

There were multiple occasions when Pitt’s scheme appeared to do exactly what it was designed to do.

• Receivers got open.
• Heintschel had opportunities to make throws.
• And the ball either sailed over the intended receiver or ended up in the dirt.

There were also times when Heintschel appeared to hold onto the football too long despite adequate pass protection.

That’s when the concern starts to creep in.

We Can’t Blame the Weather This Time

A week earlier against UCF, I pretty much just threw away the tape. It was hard to really take much of anything seriously.

• That game was played in miserable conditions.
• It poured.
• The football was soaked.
• Players were dealing with poor footing, and simply throwing and catching the ball became considerably more difficult.

Trying to evaluate a quarterback under those circumstances isn’t easy.

So I wasn’t particularly concerned when the passing offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders.

Thursday night was different.

Pitt was back home. The weather wasn’t a significant factor, outside of a quick 15-20 minute sprinkle. And Syracuse gave us an opportunity to get a better look at where Heintschel and this passing offense currently stand.

What we saw wasn’t particularly encouraging.

There were some similarities between what happened Thursday and some of Heintschel’s previous struggles.

Dating back to last season, it has been a while since we’ve seen him consistently perform at a high level against Power Four competition.

Notre Dame and Miami obviously didn’t go well in 2026. The bowl game against East Carolina didn’t go well, either.

He played well on the road against Georgia Tech in a big game against a ranked opponent, but that seems to be the outlier lately after what we’ve now added from the UCF and Syracuse games.

That doesn’t mean Heintschel suddenly isn’t a good quarterback.

But I think it does mean the trend is worth watching.

Have Defenses Adjusted to Heintschel?

This might be the most important question moving forward.

When Heintschel initially took over Pitt’s offense last season, he was tremendous. He provided an immediate spark and helped completely change the trajectory of Pitt’s season.

But college football eventually adjusts to you.

Defensive coordinators get more film. They identify what makes a quarterback comfortable and what makes him uncomfortable. They figure out which concepts he handles well and which ones create hesitation.

Then it’s up to the quarterback — and his offensive coordinator — to counter.

Against Syracuse, it appeared the Orange were comfortable dropping defenders into coverage and forcing Heintschel to process what was happening in front of him.

At times, he seemed hesitant.

• He held the football.
• He missed throws.
• There were receivers open that Pitt simply couldn’t connect with.

That doesn’t mean everything falls on Heintschel, either.

Pitt was without Malik Knight, who has emerged as one of its primary targets.

There were drops.

And there were also a couple of instances where it appeared receivers weren’t finishing routes with the expectation that the football might come their way.

An effective passing offense requires everyone to be in sync.

But the quarterback is always going to be the focal point, and Heintschel simply wasn’t good enough against Syracuse.

Now It’s on Kade Bell, Too

This isn’t only about Heintschel.

I think we’ve seen enough from Kade Bell to know he can design an offense.

There were open receivers Thursday night. Pitt created opportunities in the passing game. The Panthers simply weren’t consistently taking advantage of them.

The next stage is figuring out why — and fixing it.

That’s where quarterback development becomes important.

Bell has shown an ability to identify and recruit quarterbacks who can execute his system. We’ve now seen both Eli Holstein and Heintschel step into his offense and experience immediate success.

The question is what happens after defenses adjust.

Can Bell help his quarterback make the counter-adjustment?

That’s where Heintschel appears to be right now.

Perhaps part of the answer involves getting him out of the pocket more often.

One of the things that continues to stand out to me is how comfortable Heintschel looks when he’s moving. He’s a better athlete than he sometimes gets credit for, and he rushed for 41 yards and a touchdown against Syracuse.

We’ve also seen him make throws on the move.

If he’s sitting in the pocket and struggling to decipher a defense that’s dropping seven or eight players into coverage, maybe Pitt can manufacture more opportunities to move the pocket, use his legs and put him in situations where he’s more comfortable.

Whatever the solution is, Pitt has some time to find it.

The Running Game Could Help

There was one major offensive development Thursday night that could eventually make Heintschel’s job considerably easier.

Pitt ran the football extremely well.

Damon Ferguson rushed 10 times for 102 yards and a touchdown. La’Vell Wright added 81 yards on 14 carries. Pitt averaged 6.6 yards per rush as a team and finished with nearly 250 yards on the ground.

That’s significant.

Last season, Pitt wasn’t consistently capable of punishing defenses for dedicating extra resources to stopping the passing game.

If that changes, defenses have a much more difficult decision to make.

Want to drop additional defenders into coverage and make Heintschel patiently work through his reads?

Fine.

Pitt needs to be able to run the football.

If Ferguson, Wright and eventually Ja’Kyrian Turner can consistently produce behind an offensive line that looked excellent against Syracuse, defenses won’t be able to devote all of their attention to slowing down the passing attack.

Eventually, something has to give.

That’s what a truly balanced offense can provide.

Concerned? Yes. Panicking? No.

Ultimately, that’s where I land after three games.

I’m not hitting the panic button on Mason Heintschel.

Not even close.

He’s already demonstrated that he has the talent to be a very good college quarterback, and Pitt has enough pieces around him to build a productive offense.

But I’m also not going to ignore what we’ve seen.

The Syracuse performance was concerning. When you combine it with some of Heintschel’s struggles against Power Four opponents dating back to last season, there’s enough there to start asking questions.

Fortunately for Pitt, those questions are coming while the Panthers are winning.

• The defense has been outstanding.
• The running game just produced its best performance of the season.
• Special teams has been solid.
• Pitt is 3-0 and already has an ACC victory.

And now Bucknell comes to Acrisure Stadium.

The result of that game shouldn’t tell us much about Pitt. What happens within the game might.

I’d like to see Pitt use it as an opportunity to get Heintschel comfortable again.

Get the ball out quickly. Find some easy completions. Let him use his legs. Get the receivers involved.

Reestablish the timing and rhythm that made this passing attack look so dangerous when everything was clicking.

Because after Bucknell comes a trip to Blacksburg and a much more significant test against Virginia Tech.

If Pitt has aspirations of competing near the top of the ACC, the defense can’t be expected to carry the entire load.

The running game appears to be coming along.

Now Pitt needs its passing game to catch up.

And the next couple of weeks will tell us a lot about whether Heintschel and Bell can make the adjustment.