Pitt is coming off a three-win season that no one was happy with, and with a new-look coaching staff, the onus is on Pat Narduzzi to right the ship.
The early betting odds don’t expect much out of Pitt, but the expectation has been set at 5.5 wins by FanDuel. 5.5 wins is the third-lowest win projection in the ACC — only ahead of Stanford (3.5) and Wake Forest, Virginia and Boston College (4.5).
Clemson, Florida State and Miami are tied for the highest win projection at 9.5 points.
New offensive coordinator Kade Bell will lead basically an entirely new offense, which will feature new position coaches at every position. Jeremy Darveau (offensive line), Lindsey Lamar (running backs), Jacob Bronowski (tights end) and eventually a new wide receivers coach will be tasked with helping Bell teach and install a new offense this season.
It’s the first time in a long time that Pitt will have replaced its entire offensive coaching staff, but in the new age of college football, it’s just the reality of the situation facing college coaches.
Nate Yarnell is in place as the starting quarterback entering the spring, and there are some talented rushing and receiving options returning for the 2024 season. It will be interesting to follow the progression of the offense through spring ball and see who exactly emerges in the new up-tempo offense.
There are losses to replace across all three levels of the defense, especially on the defensive line and at cornerback, but the Pitt coaches have done a good job adding defensive reinforcements from the transfer portal. It will be difficult to replace Charlie Partridge, but again, it’s just the reality of college football.
Pitt currently sits well over the 85-scholarship cap, and there will be additional arrivals and exits in the coming days, weeks and months ahead. The idea that the Panthers will be a basement dweller in the conference for the second straight season is just that at this point in time. An idea.
It’s still too early to realistically project what will happen in the ACC in 2024, but it’s clear that Pitt will not be viewed very highly by the national media or betting outlets.
FanDuel ACC Win ProjectionsÂ
Clemson — 9.5
Florida State — 9.5
Miami — 9.5
Louisville — 8.5
North Carolina State — 8.5
North Carolina — 8.5
SMU — 7.5
Virginia Tech — 7.5
Cal — 6.5
Duke — 6.5
Syracuse — 6.5
Georgia Tech — 5.5
Pitt — 5.5
Boston College — 4.5
Virginia — 4.5
Wake Forest — 4.5
Stanford — 3.5
Cal wasn’t very good last year, and SMU scored a lot of points and had an 11-3 record last year, but those three losses were to the only Power Five teams on their schedule, which included a bad TCU team and a mediocre Boston College team. I would hope Pitt could beat both those teams. If they can’t, something’s gone very wrong. They also need to win at least one of the OOC games against WVU and Cincy.
It wouldn’t be an official preseason projection without the perennially overrated Miami Hurricanes
An annual exercise….The U….ad nauseum.
Lucky if they win that many with dizzy running the show!!!!!!!!!
Love the youth movement with the coaching staff. One more to go after this year…
Use the projection as locker room motivation. Print it out for all the kids to hang in their lockers and look at each day. Digest how these people view your program and make them eat their words when the football season concludes.
Use it as fuel.
I personally don’t think the cornerback issue or the defensive line issue will be all that much of a factor. I think they’ll be alright there. My concern is at linebacker. Hopefully this Keye Thompson can make a difference in the middle.
I personally feel they’ll do better than expected if the linebacker play is where it needs to be.