Pitt has all of its goal still on the table, but with little margin for error, the Panthers have to start the final third of the season strong.
Pitt is back on the ACC Network against Virginia at the same time as last weekend, with a chance for some redemption. Wes Durham will handle play-by-play duties, Tom Luginbill will serve as his analyst and Dana Boyle will report from the sideline.
Bill Hillgrove — in his 51st season as the voice of the Pitt Panthers — will handle play-by-play duties on 93.7 the Fan and the Pitt Radio Network as usual, with Pat Bostick serving as his analyst and Larry Richert and Dorin Dickerson reporting from the field at Acrisure Stadium.
“Tony Elliott, great football coach, won a ton of games as the offensive coordinator at Clemson,” Pat Narduzzi said Monday. “Pretty solid down there. He’s building that thing from the ground up.
“We have another good football team in here that has had three tough outings the last three, but they played three pretty good football teams the last three weeks. Capable, rested team coming in here. They had a week off, two weeks to prepare for us.”
Pitt opened the week as a touchdown favorite, and that hasn’t changed with just about 12 hours until kickoff.
Despite a loss to SMU, a 48-25 drubbing in Dallas, Texas last weekend, Pitt is still a one-loss squad that has largely handled its business. The Panthers need some help in the ACC to reach the conference title game, but with games against Clemson and Louisville on the schedule, there’s an opportunity to impress.
But Virginia is currently on the slate for the Panthers.
It’s a bounce-back opportunity for the Panthers, following the first loss of the season — in devastating fashion. A loss is one thing, and the season certainly isn’t over, but SMU beat the brakes off the Panthers. It wasn’t close.
If Pitt is truly rebound this season, with four games remaining on the schedule, it will start against Virginia. Pat Narduzzi is confident in a bounce back this weekend.
“When I walked into the team meeting last night — every team is different a little bit different after 10 years,” Narduzzi said Monday at his weekly presser. “This is a quieter team, which means it hurt a little bit, which is good. If we come in here, they’re having fun, looking at videos on their phone, stuff like that, it’s like, really? To me, you can tell a lot by what your team does coming in after a loss.
“I think it hurt them. I don’t think they were happy. They were quiet on the plane, on the bus on the way back, which is a good thing. I want them to be hurt. You better be hurt. We all work too hard to have a negative outcome. There better be some pain involved. When it hurts a little bit, it means something to you. We’ll bounce back this week, I’m sure of it.”
Kickoff against Virginia is set for 8 p.m. at Acrisure Stadium, and there are two ranked matchups left this season against Clemson and Louisville.
Television — ACC Network
Wes Durham (play-by-play)
Tom Luginbill (analyst)
Dana Boyle (reporter)
Radio — 93.7 The Fan, Pitt Panthers Radio Network
Bill Hillgrove (play-by-play)
Pat Bostick (analyst)
Larry Richert and Dorin Dickerson (reporters)
SiriusXM Satellite Radio
Channels 106 or 193 or on the SiriusXM app
WPTS Radio (Pitt Student Station) — 92.1 FM
