Following a disappointing 30-29 home loss to NC State Saturday, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi credited the Wolfpack more than he blamed his own team for the upset.

There was both good and bad from the Panthers in their four consecutive home games, but Narduzzi viewed it as a competitive game in which both teams showed a lot of grit.

"That was a hell of a ballgame," Narduzzi said. "Our kids played their hearts out. Don't question their effort at all. Anytime we win, we win as a team, and we lose as a team. But just overall we just didn't make enough plays. Give North Carolina State credit. It's a good football team, a talented football team."

Although the Panthers entered the contest as the highest-graded defense in Division I football according to Pro Football Focus, Narduzzi credited strong offense from NC State and missed opportunities on offense for the loss.

"They made some plays on some deep balls," Narduzzi said. "We had our opportunities, whether it was a two-point play, that would have won us the game. Kessman kicked the ball well again, but I'd like to score touchdowns when we're down there.

"To have a great drive in the second half and take it down to the one yard line. Had four downs from the one, we don't punch it in, and then to finish it off we left too many open receivers in the two-minute drill. I trusted our defense to get that thing done. We've just got to secure the win, and we didn't get it done today."

As for what went wrong for Pittsburgh's defense, which gave up 398 yards, the Panthers head coach had one clear answer.

"I think Devin Leary, number one," Narduzzi said. "The guy pulling the trigger obviously had a good game today, and he made the right decisions. He got the ball out pretty quick.

"We couldn't get as much pressure as we'd like. We'll look at the tape and find out exactly what happened, but we just didn't play good enough. We'll look at the tape and evaluate and I'll let you know for sure on Monday."

Narduzzi was also disappointed with the team's discipline when it came to penalties. Pittsburgh was flagged 13 times and forfeited a total of 125 yards Saturday afternoon.

"We'll look at the tape and evaluate it, but it starts with the offsides on defense," Narduzzi said. "They drove us off, they did a nice job, and we didn't have enough discipline -- that's where it starts.

"Some of those PIs, I don't know about. I'll watch the tape. But looked like it was both ways. There was a lot of pushing off, put it that way, and we'll look at the tape and we'll become a better football team from it."

He also mentioned Pittsburgh's failure to punch in a touchdown when it was able to get to the NC State one yard line in its first offensive drive of the second half. The Wolfpack stuffed the Panthers on four consecutive plays which forced Pitt to turn the ball over on downs when it could have taken a lead with a touchdown.

"There are things that we need to do better when we get down there and we've focused on it more than we ever have," Narduzzi said. "Give them credit now, they've got a good defense and they played well today. We had our opportunities, and we've just got to finish."

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