I’m sure the following information could be used as bulletin board material in the Pitt locker room.
While the local media are somewhat optimistic about the 2019 Panthers, the same can’t be said for the out-of-town and national media.
Pittsburgh Sports Now got the following thoughts from various media members when asked them to predict a record for Pitt.
Dan Wolken, USA Today: “I think 6-6 is about right with their schedule.”
Zach Barnett, Football Scoop / College Football Talk: “I’m going to go with 5-7.”
Cam Mellor, Pro Football Focus / College: “Just ran the numbers and looking at 7-5 as a comfortable spot for our predictor.”
Dennis Dodd, CBSSPORTS.com: 5-7
Matthew Hatfield, Rivals / Analyst for ACCSports / ESPN Radio 941: 5-7, 3-5 in the ACC.
Mike DeCourcy, The Sporting News: I think 6-6 seems about right. Once again, the schedule is more difficult than is worthwhile — that could cost the Panthers a winning season.
Bill Bender, The Sporting News: 7-5. The Virginia game sets the tone. Win that, and the Panthers will be on course to get back to the ACC championship game. Lose, and it’s going to be a long September against Ohio, Penn State and UCF. The back half of the schedule features road trips to Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. There are not many guarantee-games on this schedule. The Panthers will get to eight by beating UCF and Miami. That’s the key.”
Brett McMurphy, The Stadium Network: 8-4
David Teel, Daily Press/Virginian-Pilot: 6-6
Alex Kirshner, Banner Society: 6-6 A.J. Davis as a breakout player. I liked him a lot as a recruit and trust this program’s ability to turn out really good RBs. And there’s certainly a void to fill.
It’s not like the old days when Johnny Majors, Jackie Sherrill and Jimmie Johnson offered 95-scholarships for the 1974 season. The powers to be (think Alabama) don’t want upstarts spoiling their parade. I think though it’s taken 5-years (or 6) that Narduzzi finally has his team. Particularly the coaches, Bates, Borbely, Partridge, Whipple, etc. And the players now have back-up and freshmen behind them. See ya Saturday.