Pitt had the week off following a statement win against Youngstown State to conclude non-conference play, and despite a 4-0 start for the first time since 2000, the Panthers fell in the ESPN Football Power Index.
The FPI is a predictive tool to measure how a team is projected to perform throughout the remainder of the season.
Pitt has a 6.7 Football Power Index score, which is 39th-best in college football (a 6-spot drop from last week) and fifth-best in the ACC. It’s interesting because the Panthers rose in the ACC rankings despite an overall fall.
The index still predicts Pitt will finish 8-4 this season (with a 96.2% chance to hit the 6-win mark, considering the 4-0 start), and if that mark isn’t hit now, the season will certainly be a colossal failure.
Pitt has a 1.8% chance to win the ACC outright, an 8.1% chance to make the College Football Playoff and a 0.2% chance to make the national championship game.
Miami remains in the FPI top 10, the lone ACC school in the top 10, if only just barely, and Louisville, Clemson and SMU are lurking.
Miami (17.9, 10th), Louisville (15.3, 12th) and Clemson (15.1, 13th) are the FPI leaders in the ACC, and SMU (11.3, 19th) and Pitt (6.7, 39th) round out the top five. Virginia Tech, Boston College, Georgia Tech, Cal and Duke round out the top 10.
Pitt has an opportunity to go into Chapel Hill, N.C. and make another statement — winning its first game on the road against UNC in program history. The Panthers are 0-7 all-time in Chapel Hill. A win, after a week to prepare, would set the Panthers up for a strong second half of the schedule.
It appears to be a good matchup for the Panthers, too. North Carolina is coming off a 70-50 loss to JMU two weeks ago and a 20-point blown lead against Duke this weekend, which led to reports surfacing that head coach Mack Brown could be considering stepping down. Regardless, it’s a big opportunity for offensive coordinator Kade Bell and the offense.
Pitt is 5-11 all-time against North Carolina, dating back to an inaugural 45-29 loss in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1974. The Tar Heels won six straight one-score games between 2013-18.
Pitt has lost two in a row against UNC, including a 41-24 loss to the Tar Heels last season in which former quarterback Phil Jurkovec got hurt and the Panthers collapsed in the second half.
Pitt is coming off the bye week, and for the first time in a while, the Panthers are undefeated. But Pat Narduzzi certainly isn’t looking ahead to a potential bowl game right now.
“It doesn’t really matter,” Pat Narduzzi said after the YSU win. “You think about it, it’s 4-0, one at a time. North Carolina is the only thing on my mind right now is where we are there. I guess first time in history of Pitt football that we’re undefeated in the preseason (non-conference), and preseason is over now.
“We’re moving to ACC play and North Carolina, they’re on the clock for us, and we’ve got two weeks to prepare and get fresh and get ready to roll.”
Pitt is still 4-0 for the first time since 2000, going undefeated in non-conference play for the first time in program history, and the vibes in Pittsburgh are pretty good — even for Narduzzi.
ESPN the world wide leader in woke. I take what ESPN says with a grain of salt it’s a lot of opinions and propaganda just like our news stations.
Agree!
H2P!!!
Or we could keep this site sports focused instead of politics focused. Thanks pal.
uh oh @marty. . Better hug it out!! Joy !
So some dingbat goes through and picks what teams he likes and “Power Ranks them”. So stupid.
How can they have a better chance to make the CFP than win the ACC