It was a quiet flight home very, very early Sunday morning for the Pitt Panthers.
Pitt was punched in the mouth at Gerald J. Ford Stadium Saturday night, dropping its first game of the season, 48-25, against No. 13 SMU. It wasn’t pretty. If something could’ve gone wrong, it did.
So, the team captains called a players-only meeting at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex.
Konata Mumpfield was one of the guiding voices, and while he said Tuesday after practice that he’d like to keep what was said in-house, it was helpful.
Pitt has all of its goals still in hand despite the loss. It’s only one loss, a loss that doesn’t define the Panthers, but the words accountability and consistency came up a lot this week. Sitting at No. 18 in the first College Football Playoff Poll, the Panthers are just six spots away from an at-large berth in the CFP.
With opportunities against No. 23 Clemson and No. 22 Louisville this month, Pitt can make a statement — SMU was just a bump in the road.
The circumstances aren’t exactly the same, but there was a players-only meeting called by the captains after a loss — the loss — to Western Michigan in 2021. Pitt, coming off what could’ve been a devastating loss, rattled off eight wins in nine games to clinch a spot in the ACC title game.
The loss to SMU isn’t the loss to WMU, but it speaks to the resolve in the room. And to Mumpfield, who has grown into quite the leader since arriving the season after the ACC title.
“He lead by example, like on Sunday, they had an all-players meeting, they had a players-only meeting,” JJ Laster said Tuesday after practice. “So, they could talk about what happened on Saturday, and Konata was a part of it, he was one of the captains. So, he’s doing a great job of leading those guys, getting those guys to rally together and just say, hey, the season’s not over, we still got a lot of ball to play.”
Pitt is 7-1 (3-1 ACC). While the Panthers need help in the conference, if they handle their business over the last four games, there’s a very good chance they qualify for the Playoff.
CFP Chairman Warde Manuel, who is also the Director of Athletics at Michigan, detailed why the Panthers have earned more respect from the selection committee than the national voters.
“Well, seven wins to open the season, to start out with, including a win at Cincinnati and their win against Syracuse in a dominant fashion,” Manuel said. “Their first loss of the season was last week against No. 13 SMU. That freshman quarterback I think is Eli Holstein, has been impressive, throwing over 2,000 yards and 15 plus touchdowns. It’s just an impressive team that Pat Narduzzi has put together.
“We look forward to seeing how they play. But their opening run was really impressive to the committee, and even with the loss, the loss that they have is to No. 13 SMU.”
Pitt is back in action Saturday night against Virginia, hosting the Cavaliers at Acrisure Stadium, and it’s the first chance to show the ACC, and the nation, that this season isn’t close to done yet.
There is no way this team will win the remaining four games.