The voters are starting to take notice of Pitt, if only just barely.
A week after the Panthers received a couple of points in the Coaches Poll, Pitt is now receiving votes in the AP and Coaches Polls following a come-from-behind win against West Virginia in the 107th Backyard Brawl.
Pitt received a single point in the AP Poll, so one voter ranked the Panthers as the 25th team in the country. That’s good for 43rd-best in the country. Pitt received 17 points in the Coaches Poll, which is good for 32nd in the county, tied with Iowa and Boise State.
The voting process awards 25 points for a first-place vote, 24 points for a second-place vote, 23 points for a third-place vote and so on. So, Pitt was either 24th on one ballot or 25th on two ballots. Either way, the Panthers are in the mix. It’s what they do now that will determine their future standing.
The AP Poll has Miami as the highest-ranked ACC school, checking in at eighth. Louisville (19th) and Clemson (21st) are also ranked. And Syracuse, Boston College, Cal and North Carolina are receiving votes.
The Coaches Poll also ranks Miami as the top school in the ACC, checking in at 11th, and Clemson (19th) and Louisville (20th) are also ranked. Syracuse, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Cal and Boston College received votes.
Pitt is coming off its second straight fourth quarter comeback, but with all due respect to Cincinnati, the 38-34 win against West Virginia meant just a little bit more.
“I love that locker room to death,” Pat Narduzzi said Saturday in his postgame presser. “Our players never gave up. I’m sure some of the fans kind of gave up, and I thought, oh, there’s no way. But our guys didn’t give up. And if you didn’t learn that from last week, then hopefully you learned it from this week. And we’ll move on to the next.
Pitt erased a 10-point deficit with just under five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter as WVU wasn’t able to stop Eli Holstein and the Pitt offense — after limiting the Panthers to just four yards in the second half prior. Holstein threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns — and added 59 rushing yards — in another incredible performance.
A 1-yard touchdown dive by Derrick Davis Jr. with just over 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, as Holstein was on the sideline after having his helmet ripped off, clinched the massive win for the Panthers.
Pitt will conclude its non-conference slate this weekend against Youngstown State, with a chance to go undefeated in non-con play for the first time ever.
Summary… Duzz has us ranked 8th in the country on Coaches poll
If Pitt is able to erase unforced errors in the penalty department and get better protection from it’s offensive line this team can really be a force to be reckoned with given the way this offense has been producing. Clean up the errors and keep tacking on the points and this team is capable of big things.
The one area of real concern to me is depth at running back with the loss of Rodney Hammond. If Desmond Reid gets banged up that could present a real issue for the offense because nobody has that kind of athleticism in the backfield. Would have been really nice to have both Hammond and Reid to compliment and spell one another.
I’d rank the concerns as 1) Run Defense 2) OL run and pass blocking 3) RB Depth
The defense as a whole is a little shaky.
It’s all basically new but if Duzz is good at anything it’s defense. They’ll get better every week there’s a lot of talent just need to get cohesive hopefully before acc play
Agree. I’m thinking the same thing. They show flashes so hopefully it improves. They’re certainly fast. H2P