The 2022 Pitt football team didn’t accomplish their ultimate goal of repeating as ACC champions but by no means does that mean it was a bad season. In fact, the Panthers were able to accomplish something else that was very important.
Pitt proved many doubters wrong as despite losing first round talent in quarterback Kenny Pickett and wide receiver Jordan Addison, they put together another 9-win season and once again should have a number of players selected in the 2023 NFL Draft.
It was important to show people outside the program and future recruits that the ACC Championship wasn’t a fluke, and they weren’t a flash in the pan. Thanks to the hard work over the previous years by Pat Narduzzi and his staff establishing a winning culture and bringing in talented players, 2022 was more evidence that Pitt football is program that’s here to stay.
The win over No. 18 UCLA in the Sun Bowl was Pitt’s ninth of the season, which allowed them to reach an important milestone.
This season combined with last season’s ACC Championship year gives Pitt 20 combined wins over the last two seasons. That’s the first time that’s happened since back in 1981-82.
I know they’ll be some that will brush that off and claim that’s not such a big deal but you’re the glass half empty crowd.
Take a look at how many Power 5 teams were able to accomplish that 20-win feat and the win total of some of some other notable programs.
WIN TOTAL LAST TWO SEASONS
Georgia 28
Michigan 25
Alabama 24
Ohio State 22
Clemson 21
PITTÂ 20
Notre Dame 20
Oregon 20
Utah 19
Tennessee 18
Ole Miss 18
Penn State 17
UCLA 17
Oklahoma 17
NC State 17
Michigan State 16
North Carolina 15
Florida State 15
LSUÂ 15
USCÂ 15
Texas 13
Texas A&M 13
Florida 12
West Virginia 11
Here’s another interesting stat courtesy @ADavidHaleJoint. Take a look at the recruiting rankings from these teams with the 20 teams. This is their average recruiting ranking from 2018 thru 2022. The point of this is to show that Narduzzi and his staff are still winning, despite not getting the 4 and 5-star recruits. It also shows that they’re able to identify and develop talent.
AVERAGE RECRUITING RANKING (2018-22)
Georgia: 2.0
Alabama: 2.4
Ohio State: 5.4
Clemson: 7.0
Notre Dame: 11.8
Michigan: 12.4
Utah: 34.6
PITT: 50.4
I marvel that PN has kept most of his coaching staff. In the past, Pitt was raided regularly. Credit goes to Heather for having the foresight to come up with the money to keep them.
The receivers coach had his own agenda and is now at Texas. I believe we upgraded with the new coach.
Image if we had more 4 & 5 start recruits. It’s time to go out and get them!
H2P!!!
Recruit rankings don’t really mean that much because those rankings do not always translate into success in college.
PN gets criticized for bringing in a lot of 3 star kids, but those kids aren’t coming in and playing right away. They redshirt the vast majority of the time, and pretty much don’t see the field until year three in the program. By that time, they’re developed well past just their athletic ability and it’s why this program puts a lot of kids into the NFL.
Pretty interesting rankings listed above. Narduzzi starting to remind me of successful coaches like Matt Campbell, Kyle Wittingham, Chris Petersen and Bill Snyder as coaches that were able to build winning programs without securing highly ranked recruiting classes. Not an easy thing to do.