Pittsburgh quarterback Eli Holstein (10) looks to pass during the first half of an NCAA college football game against SMU in Dallas, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson, File)

Pitt quarterback Eli Holstein was pushed out of the pocket and scrambled to his right. Before heading out of bounds, Holstein heaved the ball downfield to wide receiver Raphael Williams for a 48-yard touchdown. It was Holstein’s highlight on a four-touchdown day.

After the win, Holstein became 12-3 as a starter at Pitt after transferring from Alabama. He’s the second of a long stretch of impressive and athletic quarterbacks that West Virginia’s defense will face. He could arguably be the best out of the high-profile group that consists of Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Ohio’s Parker Navarro and Utah’s Devon Dampier.

“He’s a great player,” Rich Rodriguez said. “I think he’s an NFL guy. He can make all the throws. He’s, I think, one of the top quarterback prospects in the country coming out, and I don’t know if he’s ever lost a game as a starter. He’s off to a great start.”

Defensive coordinator Zac Alley has his work cut out for him again. Last week against Ohio, Alley’s defense in the second half shut down the talented Navarro and turned him over a couple of times. Navarro hurt the defense a couple of times, taking off and scrambling for a first down, but compared to his other games, Navarro was kept pretty in check.

Holstein can take off, too. During his 48-yard touchdown pass, Holstein rolled out to his right. He doesn’t rush as much as Navarro, but Holstein can take off and hurt defenses with his legs.

Rodriguez doesn’t think the two quarterbacks are the same, so it’ll be a different strategy for Week 3.

“Last week was different because Parker Navarro was such a unique guy,” Rodriguez said. “He would jump passes and make you miss and scramble around, get first downs, and did a bunch of things… Last week, we missed a few opportunities. Let them get some first downs, some key plays. This week, we can’t let that happen. He can move. Eli can move around a little bit. He’s not just a stationary target.”

Holstein punishes teams more with his arm, and Pitt throws the ball a lot. Holstein threw 28 passes against Central Michigan, and star running back Desmond Reid only got 10 touches. Most of Holstein’s passes are deep shots to his favorite target, Williams.

Alley wants to take away the deep shots, so the pass rush will be important Saturday. Rodriguez said pass rusher Jimmori Robinson, who’s been dealing with eligibility issues, could play. He could help in that department.

“I think it’s huge,” Alley said about pressuring the QB. “They want to take vertical shots and try and push the ball down the field, obviously. If you can get the pass rush there, it’s hard to throw when you’re on the ground. Hopefully, we can get the guys in a position to win and have some success that way.”

There was some pressure on Navarro last week. He didn’t really take deep shots, except for the blown coverages. The issue was when Navarro’s read wasn’t there, he’d take off.

This week, Alley wants to throw multiple looks at Holstein to confuse the sophomore and hopefully bring him to the ground.

“Changing the look on them, moving the pocket, doing a bunch of different ways to blitz different guys and attack them,” Alley said. “I think that’s always a positive. I felt like we did that last week, and trying to get some guys one-on-ones across the front line and just create pressure. I think that the disguising, the moving, the stemming, those type of things are big for what we want to do, and we want to give those guys problems to tell what the presnap picture is going to be.”

It seems easy in concept that if you pressure Holstein, the defense should succeed. But, when you send the house, Holstein can dump it to his tight end, Josh Altsman, for a quick pickup, or check it down to All-American, Reed, who can take a screen pass for 70 yards. Pitt’s offense can hurt you in multiple ways. Alley’s defense has another big challenge on its hands.

“They’re really good,” Alley said. “Really good team. Great quarterback who can throw the ball all over the place. Big, hard to tackle. When he gets out, he scrambles… There are very few weaknesses as far as their offense.”