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Pitt defensive lineman John Morgan III celebrates in the student section after defeating North Carolina in overtime, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021, at Heinz Field.
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Pitt was happy just to make the 2018 ACC championship. Now, the Panthers are a confident favorite

Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Pitt was happy just to make the 2018 ACC championship. Now, the Panthers are a confident favorite

Pat Narduzzi’s daughter, Christina, texted him earlier this week a reminder of what happened three years ago at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. No, she didn’t send him a box score of Pitt’s ACC championship loss to Clemson. That’d be cruel. His daughter’s message was more uplifting (and prophetic).

“After the game, you’re disappointed. You’ve got your head down. Like, what the heck happened? You know, Clemson was pretty good,” Narduzzi said Thursday of the 42-10 defeat. “But she wrote this on the grease board in the locker room.”

Narduzzi proudly held his phone out to a room of reporters, showing a picture of a whiteboard with four words written boldly in black marker: We will be back.

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“I thought that was beautiful. I thought that was pretty cool,” Narduzzi added, before repeating the message aloud. “We will be back. And we’re back.”

Pitt fans watch as their team warms up before taking on Wake Forrest in the ACC Championship game, Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021, at Bank of America Stadium.
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The Panthers return to Charlotte this weekend. This time, a championship is not only on their minds but within reach. Pitt is a different team than it was in 2018, and it’s favored against Wake Forest in what is expected to be a back-and-forth affair between two of the highest-scoring offenses in college football.

The Panthers (10-2 overall, 7-1 ACC) are ranked 17th in the Associated Press top 25 poll and as high as 15th in the College Football Playoff rankings. Wake Forest (10-2, 7-1) is ranked 18th in the AP poll and 16th by the playoff committee, setting up just the second meeting between ranked ACC teams this season.

It’s also the first ACC championship featuring two teams averaging 40-plus points per game. Wake Forest sits third among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams, averaging 42.9 points per game. Pitt is just a tick behind with 42.8 per game.

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That offense, guided by Heisman Trophy candidate Kenny Pickett and Biletnikoff Award finalist Jordan Addison, is the primary source of optimism for a Pitt team in the midst of a dream season. Pickett, as 2011 Heisman winner and ABC commentator Robert Griffin III said, has “played out of his mind.” He has 40 touchdown passes, two away from breaking Deshaun Watson’s single-season ACC record. Seventeen of those have gone to Addison, who leads the country in that category by a wide margin.

As Narduzzi pointed out, Pickett had only eight passing yards in a rainy, sloppy defeat to Clemson a few years back. This season, Pickett ranks third nationally with 67 passes of 20 yards or more. That eight-yard mark could be eclipsed on his first attempt.

But Pickett expects more from himself on the national stage than just stellar stats against the Demon Deacons. He wants to cap his Pitt career with a conference title.

“Everything we’ve worked for is right in front of us,” Pickett said Wednesday. “I’m really excited to have one more chance at a championship game. I know we’ve all been working hard for it, all been looking forward to it.”

Pitt student fans Katie McGraw, left, Matt Franco, center, and Maggie Schmidt at Brevard Court in Charlotte, N.C. before the game Saturday, Dec. 4, 2021.
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Super senior linebacker Phil Campbell added that this year’s Panthers have not only performed better than they did in 2018 — a 10-2 record takes the cake over 7-5 — but they also feel more confident a second time around.

“Last time, I felt like we were very happy just to be there,” Campbell said. “This year, we’re not fulfilled at all. We’re not just happy to be there. We’re trying to win. We know we can, and we know we should. ... Losing’s not an option.”

Narduzzi echoed that sentiment. He noted that, of course, his 2018 team prepared with the intention of beating Clemson. But the Panthers entered that game as four-touchdown underdogs. It wasn’t expected to be close, and it wasn’t.

Narduzzi compared Pitt’s loss and follow-up trip to when he was the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. The Spartans were 9.5-point underdogs when they faced Russell Wilson’s Wisconsin in the inaugural Big Ten title game in 2011. Michigan State kept it close but still lost, 42-39. Two years later, Sparty returned to Indianapolis and defeated No. 2 Ohio State en route to a Rose Bowl triumph.

In a similar sense, Pitt grew in its time away from championship spotlight. Pickett grew. The program grew. So much about Saturday is foreign to what the Panthers experienced three years ago. And they hope the final score is foreign, too.

“We didn’t handle the stage,” Narduzzi said. “But we’re a different football team than we were then. I feel good about our chances.”

Johnny McGonigal: jmcgonigal@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jmcgonigal9

First Published: December 4, 2021, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: December 4, 2021, 9:20 p.m.

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