It’s safe to say that RJ Young of FOX Sports doesn’t expect much from Pitt in the 2024-25 season.
Young ranked the 134 FBS football programs and slotted Pitt in at 91st in the country — 16th in the ACC. Only Illinois, Stanford and Vanderbilt are ranked below the Panthers at the Power Four level.
“After posting 20 wins in 2021 and 2022 combined, the wheels came off the Panthers’ Plymouth Prowler with a 3-9 2023 season — their most losses in a season since 1998,” Young wrote. “Pat Narduzzi went to Western Carolina to get Kade Bell to run his offense and light up the scoreboard. At the FCS level, Bell fielded a 2023 offense that put up 321.1 passing yards, 504.1 total yards and 37.5 points a game. In 52 games as an OC, Bell’s offenses have put up 500 yards or more 31 times.
“Bell brought 897-yard rusher Desmond Reid Jr. with him from Western Carolina. Former Alabama QB Eli Holstein figures to be competing for the starting job and could be the ACC’s breakout player of the year if he simply runs Bell’s offense. Expect the Panthers to move the ball in 2024.”
Pitt was voted as the 13th team in the ACC by the conference media, which is about where the Panthers have sat all offseason. And considering last season’s result, that’s fair.
Pitt is entering the 2024 season with a “Prove It” mantra. The Panthers, the coaching staff, the players and everyone in the building, know that last season will not be forgotten unless a better result is put in.
The season will largely hinge upon whether or not there’s solid quarterback play. Nate Yarnell is entering the summer as the starting quarterback. Still, as Pat Narduzzi has emphasized, there will be competition all the way up until kickoff against Kent State on Aug. 31. But whoever is at quarterback, he will have Rodney Hammond Jr., Desmond Reid, Konata Mumpfield, Kenny Johnson and Gavin Bartholomew, among others, at this disposal.
It remains to be seen whether new offensive coordinator Kade Bell’s offense will immediately translate, but if Yarnell or Eli Holstein can play serviceable football, it will go a long way in 2024.
“There’s a different attitude, without a doubt,” Narduzzi said last week. “There’s got to be — we went through spring ball, there was a different attitude. We went through winter conditioning, there was a different attitude. They went through summer conditioning, there was a different attitude, and there has to be. There’s got to be an attitude adjustment. I think that has occurred and I think they got it.”
The defense did suffer significant losses, but the positions of need have been bolstered through the transfer portal and a few areas defensively are entering the summer with a significant amount of depth. The defensive line and cornerback are still areas of concern, but the portal arrivals will likely be key members of both units. And the linebackers and safeties are clear areas of strength.
It will come down to whether or not the offense can take a step up from where it was last season.
This nobody must be a WVU grad? He has them at #21, are you joking??? Pitt may not be top 25, but I’m pretty sure they will be better than last year and WVU won’t finish in top 25.
H2P!!!
Who exactly is this guy?
Just another ham and egger who sits back and watches Ohio St, Georgia and Alabama and then ranks every team.
No way we will be worse than Virginia
Jacksonville State at 67 and returning national championship game contender Washington at 83.
Gonna be a looooong season.
Ranked 10 spots behind Syracuse, too, who hasn’t been relevant since before 9/11…the humanity!
Ouch…that is embarrassing. We may not be top 25 buy 4th from last in power confs. Don’t see it unfolding that way. Motivation. H2P!
Keep the receipt
This is NarDog’s make-or-break season. If he doesn’t win 6 games he should be fired.
Pat has brought stability to the program when it had none, but his schedule is soft this season and if he can’t figure it out by this point, then he needs his pink slip.
His inability to win very winnable games the past few season is very concerning.
Agreed.
Like it or not that’s that national perception. Pitt embarrassed themselves last year maybe that was Barrny Rubbles fault aka Frank Cignetti Jr but time will tell. How much will the loss of Patridge matter? I think that’s more significant than what many Pitt fans would like to admit. Regardless Pitt needs to find some national relevance again before the next round of college expansion occurs and it’s coming soon.
Just like any Fox News product, biased, worthless, stupid and weird!
way to bridge the divide to politics…yuk
Well, they recently paid an enormous fine. The entire network should be embarrassed. And OP didn’t allude to politics.
Run along now little Russ go watch CNN and check out Harris’s next rally she paid homeless people to attend 🤡
I was at the Phoenix rally. No homeless people. No empty seats. Believe what you wish. The arena was jammed. Have a nice day.
Thankfully Washington State is not P4, or we would be 5th worst.
Cignetti to IU (and Shannahan, Tino Sunseri) rescue!
FOX? The writer is lying. 🤣
PITT has work to do, though.
Duzz has a preference for Big Ten football and Cignetti was his choice to implement it. He’s made this mistake again and again but then hires Canada and the guy now at Nebraska W.