Pat Narduzzi is one of the best college coaches in the country. Someone I admire and have a tremendous amount of respect for. He is one of the best defensive coaches in college football and has been both at Michigan State as defensive coordinator and at Pitt as Head Coach.
Coach Narduzzi runs a 4-2-5 defense with press quarters as the base coverage. Press quarters is an agressive zone concept with man principles. It allows 9 players to play the run, while having cornerbacks on the outside in man coverage using press bail technique unless your WR goes inside at less than 5 yards.
Your safeties are aggressive run defenders who key #2. If they read run fill. If they read pass, play off #2. If # 2 goes vertical at more than 8 yards, you play #2 man for man.
They also can give a solo call vs 3x1 alerting the corner to the 1 wr side he is locking on #1. We go over that in more detail below.
Here's a few variations of the base coverage and how Pitt will align:
VS 2x2 formations
You will see the following coverage: CB are 1 yard off and will bail while maintaining outside leverage. Some will argue it makes it easy to run slants but you have the Sam and the Will both being aggressive flat defenders. This makes it harder to complete those quick slants vs the defense.
The safeties are at 10 and keying #2 and reading his release. Depending on the call the Safety will fill C or D gap vs run or alley to the 2 wr side. If #2 goes vertical at more than 8 yards he becomes the responsibility of the Safety. It becomes a match up man situation.
Strengths of the defense
1. Solid vs the run because you have 9 players in the box
2. Aggressive and by alignment makes it tough to throw the quick game, short screens and free access throws.
3. Simplifies things for your CB. Expect fades an sideline routes vs the coverage as that is what most teams will run. In football, that is a low percentage throw so your CB's are well adapted to those type of throws. Understand that teams will try to hit #1 vertically quite often so expect that throw often.
4. Sam LB's are aggressive to the flat, no curl responsibility, Double Robber to both sides.
Weaknesses of the coverage that teams will try to expose
1. Teams will try to run the post/dig concept in college but it's not the NFL and a very difficult pass to throw and get time to throw. At the NFL level, you don't see as much of the coverage because teams can make that throw on a consistent basis.
2. Route combinations where #2 (either a slot or RB) will run a wheel. Probably the toughest route to defend in the defense. Very hard to defend. Thus, why you don't see the coverage as much at the NFL Level where QB's can make those throws consistently
3. The 6-8 yard out route by #2 as the Safety has to really drive on that route. (see below)
4. If they have better matchups on the outside they will throw some fades throughout the game. But as discussed earlier, if you are playing this coverage, you are confident in your corners ability. If they can't cover don't play press quarters.
1st play of the game vs Louisville, they run the fade concept to #1 off play action
5. Toss crack or just crack block in the run game, You will get a 2 for 1 on the outside when they crack because the CB will at times hang on the WR initially. here you see it vs Notre Dame. They get a 2 for 1 and a nice 10 yard game on the toss crack.
These are just a few of the issues. Like any defense their are a few weaknesses, but overall I love the press quarters concept.
Coverage Cover 4 examples
Here are some examples vs 2x2 coverages vs BC in 2020
vs 3x1
vs Louisville you can see the solo concept to the single wr side with press quarters everywhere else.The safety reads #3. Louisville tries to divide the 2 safeties but is unsuccessful with the concept.3 verts with a shallow are difficult vs this coverage.
3x1 defense vs Notre Dame
Here are some Clips vs BC where they play some press quarters vs BC
Here's another clip of them playing it vs. Louisville.Some teams will check out and maybe go to cover 2 but here Narduzzi stays with the cover 4 call vs 2x2. They have it played nicely but the safety jumps the 5 yard out on the bottom. If he played it right they would have had great double coverage on both vertical routes.
They also can play some cover 3 as shown below when they fool Notre Dame into an interception. They show quarters pre snap and rotate.
Base front alignment and run fits
Pitt will be in a 4-2-5 on early downs. They prefer this personnel grouping vs 11 personnel or 10 personnel. Here is the basic alignnment vs Notre Dame. 4-2-5 vs 11 and 10 is the norm. Where they set that front depends on the tight end and RB.
Here it is vs Louisville. They line up in 4-2-5 front again with the sam to the field.
Run game movements
You will see Pitt move on early downs and at times have 2 LBs at times be responsible for both the A and B gaps to their side. Here they are moving away from the strength and playing the run with 2 LBs in the same gap. They can move without blitzing or do it as part of their 2 under 3 deep package. Below they are in their 2 under 3 deep blitz scheme.
In the example below they are in their 4-2-5 vs Notre Dame. They are moving and you can see how disciplined they are playing their gaps. Notre Dame tries to run power and they blow it up.
As discussed They are a 4-2-5 base but will align in some 4-3 vs 12/21 personnel. Here you can see 4-3 vs BC when BC is is 12 personnel.
Here's the 4-3 vs Louisville when Louisville went 21 personnel
2 under 3 deep pressure package
Coach Narduzzi loves to bring pressure utilizing a 2 under 3 deep philosophy Here is my other post with in depth coverage on the concept: 2 under 3 deep article
Most coordinators won't dare bring 6 and play a 5 man zone coverage but Narduzzi uses the package several times throughout the game. This is a staple in his defensive package.
1. The advantage in this is in the disguise. You aren't showing cover 0 where you have to move your safeties over vs 3-1 and tell the whole world you are coming. The element of surprise is key.
2. You also can really bring pressure and use this as a good 2nd/3rd and long defense. Why sit back and play cover 4 when you can bring 6 play the seams and rally to the short stuff. How many teams throw hot in these situations so this is a great call.
3. These blitzes and coverages can be out of 3-2 , 4-2 and any other fronts. You can bring any 6 man pressure you want.
2nd and 9
Pressure double edge with both outside LB
Result: Throw hot to RB -2 yard loss
Here's the beauty of it: Sometimes the coverage may not be perfect but the pressure often can cause a bad throw and incompletion. Here's a perfect example as Lousville calls good route beaters but the pressure gets home before the QB can get set and throw the football. He is forced to throw early and incomplete.
2nd and 10
Louisville goes condensed and Narduzzi brings the boundary corner and will LB
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| Pat Narduzzi, 2 under 3 deep |
The Pitt Panthers run some very good 6 man pressures vs Delaware. They bring the cb and will on the first snap and run their 2 under 3 deep. You can see some of the other clips in the Delaware game. You will see other clips with different blitzes but the first one is shown below.
Please understand every 6 man pressure has 2 underneath defenders and a 3 deep secondary. Clips below.
They run a nice 2 under 3 deep vs Notre Dame in 2019 but the LB doesn't get his head to the right gap and it's a 6 yard gain. They have a slant away from the strength with a sam and mike blitzing the a and b gap. If they blitz the right gap, its a minimal gain. Nice design but a small mistake by the LB leads to a 6 yard gain
3rd Down Defense
On 3rd down you will often see them run their odd package. In the package they can run a multiple of pressures and coverages. The nice thing about it is they sub out 1 d lineman for a LB/DB and they can run all of their coverage concepts.
They have played man free, 2 man, some cover 3. a little cover 2 and other concepts in the film I have seen.
In 2021 they were very good in this category, holding teams to 33% efficiency on 3rd down conversions.
In 2020 they were 35% so they have done a good job in this category.
Here are some examples of the odd front discussed above.
Front odd 3-3
They disguise only send 4 and play cover 3 on the snap. Excellent disguise look causes confusion and they get the stop.
3rd down package film to go with the concepts discussed above
I hope you enjoyed this article and defensive study on Coach Pat Narduzzi and his defense over the years. He is one of my favorite coordinators to study and I enjoy watching his defense play.
Here are some other resources:
2 under 3 deep Narduzzi
http://www.blitzology.com/2020/07/2-under-3-deep-overload-pressure.html
press quarters 4-3 defense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X68WXhv27R8
Narduzzi and the aggressive cover 4
https://www.shakinthesouthland.com/2021/10/21/22736260/narduzzi-and-the-aggressive-cover-4
Narduzzi Defense Philosophy
https://grantland.com/the-triangle/michigan-state-oregon-pat-narduzzi-defense-breakdown/
Narduzzi Cover 4 principles
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