The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

Chris Gates | The Pittsburgh Football Podcast

When Pitt’s defense plays well, it’s easy to give Pat Narduzzi the credit.

And that’s understandable.

Narduzzi built his reputation on defense.

It’s his scheme. It’s his philosophy.

And now in his 12th season at Pitt, we’ve seen enough Panthers defenses overwhelm opposing offenses to know what it looks like when everything is working.

But three games into the 2026 season, I think it’s time to give defensive coordinator Cory Sanders some credit, too.

Because Pitt’s defense hasn’t merely been solid to start the year.

It’s been one of the best units in the country.

Through three games…

• The Panthers rank No. 20 nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 11.33 points per game.
• They’re No. 10 nationally against the run, surrendering only 81 rushing yards per game and 2.2 yards per carry.
• Opponents are averaging 6.3 yards per play against Pitt, which ranks No. 31 nationally.

And the disruptive plays have been there, too.

Pitt has already accumulated eight sacks and 20 tackles for loss through three games while intercepting three passes. That’s nearly seven tackles for loss and almost three sacks per game.

This isn’t a defense that’s simply bending without breaking and keeping points off the scoreboard. Pitt is getting into opposing backfields, putting offenses behind schedule and creating turnovers.

And after watching the Panthers largely shut down Syracuse in a 27-13 win Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium, I’m ready to start the Cory Sanders hype train.

Do we have hype trains for coordinators?

Maybe we should.

Pitt’s Defense Has Given the Offense Room to Grow

Perhaps the most important thing Pitt’s defense has accomplished through three games is giving the rest of the team time to figure itself out.

The offense isn’t a finished product.

The running game took a significant step forward against Syracuse, but Pitt’s passing attack struggled. Mason Heintschel completed only 10 of 23 passes for 123 yards and an interception.

There are legitimate questions that Pitt needs to answer offensively before getting into the heart of ACC play.

But it’s much easier to work through those issues when your defense isn’t allowing opponents to score.

Pitt surrendered 13 points to Syracuse. Through three games, opponents are averaging just 11.33 points against the Panthers.

That’s an enormous luxury.

The offense doesn’t need to be perfect right now. It doesn’t need to score 40 points every Saturday. Pitt has been able to experience some early-season growing pains and keep winning because its defense has consistently given it a margin for error.

Against Syracuse, that continued.

Stopping the Run Remains Pitt’s Foundation

If there’s one thing we should probably expect from a Narduzzi defense by now, it’s an emphasis on stopping the run.

That hasn’t changed under Sanders.

In fact, Pitt has been one of the country’s best run defenses through the first three weeks.

The Panthers are allowing only 81 rushing yards per game, good for No. 10 nationally, while opponents have managed just 2.2 yards per carry.

Those are dominant numbers.

And those 20 tackles for loss help illustrate why opponents are having such a difficult time establishing anything consistently on the ground.

Pitt isn’t simply tackling running backs after short gains. The Panthers are regularly getting penetration and blowing plays up before they have an opportunity to develop.

Syracuse had more success on the ground than Pitt’s first two opponents, but most of that came late in the second half. For the majority of that football game, the Orange were completely bottled up at the point of attack.

For much of the first half and into the third quarter, Syracuse simply couldn’t establish anything consistently on the ground. Pitt’s defensive front repeatedly clogged running lanes and forced the Orange to find another way to move the football.

That’s exactly what this defense is designed to do.

• Take away the run.
• Put the opposing offense behind schedule.
• Make the quarterback beat you.
• Create pressure.
• Force mistakes.

And eventually, those mistakes come.

Pitt Is Creating Havoc

This might be the part of Pitt’s defensive performance that’s most encouraging.

Through three games, the Panthers have:

• 8 sacks
• 20 tackles for loss
• 3 interceptions

Those numbers tell us Pitt isn’t relying on just one method to disrupt an offense.

The Panthers are getting to quarterbacks. They’re creating negative plays against the run. And when quarterbacks put the football in harm’s way, Pitt has been able to take advantage.

We saw all of that against Syracuse.

There were stretches Thursday when the Orange started finding some offensive success.

That’s going to happen.

Narduzzi’s aggressive defensive philosophy has always carried some risk. Opponents are occasionally going to hit chunk plays. Pitt isn’t going to hold every team to three-and-outs for four quarters.

The key is what happens afterward.

Against Syracuse, Pitt answered by taking the football away.

Braylan Lovelace recorded an interception. So did Raion Strader.

Eventually, Syracuse made a change at quarterback, pulling Steve Angeli and turning to Amari Odom.

And Lovelace continues to look like one of the most important pieces of this defense.

He’s becoming the type of linebacker who can affect the game in multiple ways. He can make plays around the line of scrimmage, but he’s also demonstrated an ability to drop into coverage and make plays on the football.

That versatility matters in this defense.

Pitt wants to be aggressive. It wants to create pressure and force quarterbacks to make decisions quickly. Having linebackers capable of holding up in coverage gives Sanders more options for how he attacks an offense.

The Defensive Line Has Answered a Major Question

Coming into the season, one of my biggest questions about Pitt’s defense involved the interior of the defensive line.

So far, that group has provided a pretty convincing answer.

Nick James and Sean FitzSimmons both recorded sacks against Syracuse, and Pitt’s defensive front has been the foundation of that No. 10-ranked rushing defense.

When you combine 81 rushing yards allowed per game with eight sacks and 20 tackles for loss, you’re looking at a front seven that has consistently controlled the line of scrimmage.

That’s significant because everything Pitt wants to do defensively becomes more difficult if it can’t win up front.

Narduzzi’s system asks a lot of its defensive backs.

• Pitt wants to play aggressively on the outside.
• It wants to pressure quarterbacks.
• It wants to put offenses into uncomfortable down-and-distance situations.

You can do all of that much more effectively when you don’t need to devote additional resources to stopping the run.

Through three games, Pitt hasn’t needed to.

The defensive front is winning enough battles to allow Sanders to operate the defense the way it’s intended to be played.

The Depth Is Showing Up, Too

Another encouraging aspect of the Syracuse performance was how Pitt responded when players went down.

Cruce Brookins left the game with an injury. Shadarian Harrison also went down earlier in the night.

And Pitt kept playing.

That’s easy to overlook when looking at a final score or box score, but it’s important over the course of a college football season.

Players are going to get hurt. Depth is going to be tested. There will be Saturdays when Pitt isn’t operating with its ideal starting 11.

Against Syracuse, the Panthers had players leave the game and still held an ACC opponent to 13 points.

That speaks to personnel.

It speaks to preparation.

And it also reflects well on the coaching staff.

Sanders Inherited a Unique Job

That’s why I think Sanders deserves more attention.

He stepped into an unusual situation.

This wasn’t a defensive coordinator taking over a struggling unit and installing his own system. Sanders replaced Randy Bates, who had been Narduzzi’s defensive coordinator for years, while taking control of a defense that is still ultimately built around Narduzzi’s philosophy.

That can make the coordinator almost invisible.

When Pitt plays well defensively, the reaction becomes: Of course it did. It’s Pat Narduzzi’s defense.

And, yes, it is.

But somebody still has to coordinate it.

Somebody still has to prepare the game plan, make adjustments, identify tendencies and determine when to become more aggressive or when to pull back.

A new coordinator also brings a different perspective.

Maybe Sanders sees certain situations differently than Bates did. Maybe he’s willing to become aggressive in different spots. Maybe opponents that spent years studying how Pitt operated under Bates now have to account for subtle differences in how Sanders calls the defense.

The scheme doesn’t need to change dramatically for a new coordinator to put his fingerprints on it.

And through three games, whatever Sanders and Narduzzi are doing together is working.

The results aren’t limited to one statistical category, either.

• Pitt is preventing points.
• It’s stopping the run.
• It’s producing tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
• It’s getting to quarterbacks.
• And it’s creating turnovers.

That’s a pretty complete defensive résumé through three weeks.

The Bigger Tests Are Still Coming

Three games are still three games.

That’s important context.

Miami (Ohio), UCF and Syracuse aren’t the complete picture of what Pitt will face throughout an ACC season. There will be more talented offenses and quarterbacks ahead.

We’ll learn considerably more about this defense as the schedule progresses.

But early results matter, too.

And right now, Pitt is allowing 11.33 points and 81 rushing yards per game while producing eight sacks, 20 tackles for loss and three interceptions.

The Panthers have a defense capable of carrying them while other areas of the roster develop.

That’s especially important right now.

• Pitt’s passing game needs work.
• The offense needs to become more consistent.
• Penalties need to be cleaned up.
• There are injured players the Panthers would undoubtedly like to get healthy before getting deeper into conference play.

Meanwhile, the defense looks ready.

That doesn’t mean it’ll dominate every opponent. It doesn’t mean there won’t be difficult Saturdays ahead.

But through three games, it’s hard to ask for much more.

Pat Narduzzi deserves credit for that. The players executing his system deserve plenty of credit, too.

But let’s make sure Cory Sanders gets his share.

Three games into his first season coordinating Pitt’s defense, the Panthers rank among the nation’s better teams in several major defensive categories. They’re suffocating opponents on the ground, consistently creating negative plays, getting after quarterbacks, forcing turnovers and allowing barely more than 11 points per game.

If that continues as Pitt moves deeper into ACC play, the Cory Sanders hype train might start getting a little more crowded.