Pitt didn’t experience much of a change in the ESPN Football Power Index, and it’s likely because the latest opponent is highly regarded.
The FPI is a predictive tool to measure how a team is projected to perform throughout the remainder of the season.
Pitt has a 6.2 Football Power Index score, which is 41st-best in college football (steady from last week) and seventh-best in the ACC. The third loss for the Panthers isn’t a hit since Clemson is ranked so highly by the Index.
The Index still predicts Pitt will finish 8-4 (7.8-4.2) this season (with a 100% chance to hit the 6-win mark over a month ago), but with three straight losses, postseason aspirations are firmly out of reach.
Pitt has a 0% chance to win the ACC outright, an 0% chance to make the College Football Playoff, and by extension, a 0% chance to make the national championship game.
Miami has climbed back into the top 10 in the Index, the only ACC program to do so. Miami sits at 10, with Clemson, SMU and Louisville lurking.
Miami (17.9, 1oth), Clemson (15.3, 12th), SMU (13.9, 15th) and Louisville (13.4, 17th) pace the ACC in the FPI, and Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, Pitt, Cal and North Carolina are all within the top 50 nationally.
Pitt is coming off its third straight loss of the season, falling to No. 20 Clemson at Acrisure Stadium. It was a frustrating, mistake-filled afternoon in which the Panthers had a victory within reach and let it slip away.
Pat Narduzzi, as he’s done all season, said the Panthers will bounce back with two games remaining on the schedule.
“Yeah, they’re not going to lose confidence after what they did out there today,” Narduzzi said Saturday. “We’ve got a good football team in there and we played a good football team. They aren’t crappy. We’ve got a darned good football team, and we just keep our heads up. We’ve got two more guaranteed games and then we’ll move on from there.
“We’ve got a really good Louisville team on the road, and then we’ve got to pick up the pieces, and our guys will do that. They were great in the locker room afterwards. It’s the game of football. It’s what we do.”
