I am not going to predict Pitt will make the College Football Playoff field and play for the national championship.
I am not going to bet against it happening, either.
Have you taken a good look at Pitt’s remaining schedule?
Let’s start here:
Pitt is ranked No. 24, one of five ACC teams in the latest Associated Press top 25 poll. The others are No. 5 Clemson, No. 10 North Carolina State, No, 22 Wake Forest and No. 23 Florida State. Pitt doesn’t have to play any of those teams before the ACC championship game.
It’s good being in the woefully weak Coastal Division.
Pitt should be favored in all of its remaining games with the possible exception of the Miami game on the final regular season Saturday. Even that Miami game doesn’t look as difficult as it did when Miami was ranked No. 16 in the AP preseason poll. Miami, which lost at Texas A&M on Sept. 17, is coming off a 45-31 home loss to 25½-point underdog Middle Tennessee on Saturday. Star quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was benched in that game. Van Dyke had been considered a Heisman Trophy contender and No. 1 pick in next spring’s NFL draft. He outplayed Kenny Pickett in Miami’s 38-34 win against Pitt at Heinz Field last season when Miami was a 9-point underdog. Beyond that, Miami still must play Florida State and Clemson before its game against Pitt.
In other words, Miami is a mess.
Let’s look at Pitt’s next seven games before it goes to Miami:
Georgia Tech
Talk about a program that’s a mess. Georgia Tech fired coach Geoff Collins and athletic director Todd Stansbury on Monday after its 27-10 loss to Central Florida on Saturday left it with a 1-3 record. Collins is best remembered for giving Pat Narduzzi a drive-by handshake after Pitt’s 34-20 win in 2020. Narduzzi is 6-1 against Georgia Tech.
Virginia Tech
First-year coach Brent Pry, formerly Penn State’s defensive coordinator, is finding the going tough. Virginia Tech took a 33-10 beating at home from West Virginia on Thursday night and also has a loss against Old Dominion. Narduzzi has won three of the past four against Virginia Tech.
at Louisville
This could be one of Pitt’s two tougher remaining games. It will be Louisville’s homecoming game. Quarterback Malik Cunningham might be the best running quarterback in the country. Louisville beat South Florida, 41-3, on Saturday but lost a close game to Florida State and was blown out by Syracuse. Narduzzi is 2-0 against Louisville.
at North Carolina
This could be the other difficult game for Pitt, another homecoming for its opponent. North Carolina is 3-1 but coming off a 45-32 loss to a mediocre Notre Dame team. Narduzzi has won two in a row against North Carolina after losing four in a row in the series.
Syracuse
Forget its 4-0 record. Syracuse is still Syracuse. It has had only one winning season in the past eight years. It also must play North Carolina State, Clemson and Notre Dame before it plays Pitt. Narduzzi is 6-1 against Syracuse, which has beaten Pitt just three times in the past 20 years.
at Virginia
First-year coach Tony Elliott, late of Clemson, is finding it is much harder to win at Virginia, which is 2-2 with a bad loss to Illinois, a tight win against Old Dominion and a close loss to Syracuse. Narduzzi is 5-1 against Virginia.
Duke
Duke started 3-0 with a soft early schedule and was beaten by Kansas on Saturday. Narduzzi is 6-0 against Duke. New coach Mike Elko, late of Texas A&M, won’t end that streak.
Are you with me on this?
Pitt has a heck of a chance of making it to the ACC championship game for the second season in a row and the third time in the past five years.
Some experts think North Carolina State will make it out of the Atlantic division to play for the ACC title. I’m still thinking Clemson, although Clemson hardly looked unbeatable on Saturday in a 51-45 win in double-overtime at Wake Forest. It allowed Wake quarterback Sam Hartman to pass for 337 yards and six touchdowns.
I wouldn’t rule out a Pitt win in the ACC championship game.
What Pitt has to do, of course, is find a way to win its remaining games. It lost at home to No. 8 Tennessee on Sept. 10, a game it easily could have won despite losing quarterback Kedon Slovis late in the second quarter and playing with banged-up backup Nick Patti in the second half. Pitt can’t stumble again the way it did last season with that home loss to Miami and — worse — a home loss to 14½-point underdog Western Michigan.
And if Pitt goes 12-1 and wins the ACC title?
It will have a heck of a chance of being one of the four teams in the College Football Playoff.
Ron Cook: rcook@post-gazette.com and Twitter @RonCookPG. Ron Cook can be heard on the “Cook and Joe” show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on 93.7 The Fan.
First Published: September 27, 2022, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: September 27, 2022, 10:05 a.m.
