It’s difficult to look at the Pitt season with anything but a “glass half empty” viewpoint after five straight losses to end the regular season.
It sucks to not take advantage of what looked like a dream season. There are plenty of reasons why the Panthers completely collapsed following a 7-0 start, and the Panthers were likely in over their heads early in the season, but this isn’t a team that should’ve lost five games in a row to end the season. They were right there in all but the SMU and Louisville losses.
Pitt could’ve beaten Virginia and Clemson and Boston College.
It’s disappointing. It’s a shame that the Panthers couldn’t capitalize upon a strong start and build upon what appeared to be a strong foundation with Eli Holstein, Desmond Reid and some defensive standouts — notably, Kyle Louis. Is it more disappointing than last season?
3-9 sucked. It was a horrible season, but at least it was apparent pretty early in the season that the Panthers weren’t going anywhere. That didn’t appear to be the case this season.
Pitt entered perhaps the biggest regular season of the Pat Narduzzi era against SMU at 7-0 as a darkhorse Playoff contender (and maybe that actually is the problem here) and came out flat. Pitt was right there against a subpar Virginia team and got in its own way. But then the Panthers did the same thing against a better opponent in Clemson.
It was supposed to be different with Holstein under center, offensive coordinator Kade Bell calling plays and a defense that made plays when called upon. But it wasn’t. It just wasn’t. And what does Narduzzi make of it?
“As a whole? Success,” Narduzzi said Saturday night. “We won three games a year ago. I think they picked us 13th in conference, I don’t think we finished 13th. I’m always going to look at the glass is half full and not empty. I don’t think in all my 36 years of coaching I’ve ever seen so many injuries, so we’ve got to shore that up and get ready for a bowl game, get healthy No. 1, and bring the troops together.”
Pitt was projected to finish 13th, and with nine ACC teams picking up four wins (and Pitt one of four ACC teams with three conference wins this season), they’re right about where they were projected. 11th. Ish.
Pitt was exposed. The Panthers were firmly in contention for an ACC championship as recently as a couple of weeks ago, even after a loss to SMU.
And they were exposed. Whether it was horrific offensive line play (which limited the quarterbacks and the running backs), a lack of focus and preparation from the coaching staff down through the players, pre-snap penalties (and penalties as a whole), a lack of defensive identity outside of the linebackers and a whole lot more, Pitt wasn’t good enough.
And it sucks to say, but despite the talent shown over the first few weeks of the season, the Panthers — at a personnel level — weren’t good enough.
It comes down to talent. And the Pitt coaching staff is certainly not without blame, the coaching staff has a whole lot to improve upon (especially on the offensive side of the ball), but the Panthers need to re-tool and bring in the players who can improve a 7-5 squad by two or three wins.
Pitt isn’t getting rid of Narduzzi, that isn’t happening, so unless he decides to step down suddenly, he’s leading the Panthers into the future. He’s not perfect, no coach is and it really does sting to drop five games in a row as Narduzzi pumps up the competitiveness of his squad and the promise to bounce back to no avail, but he’s shown he can win.
7-5 isn’t bad, per se, but it isn’t good. It wasn’t a good season, but considering renewed expectations, I’d say it was a bad season. If you take into account where the Panthers found themselves after seven games, with new-found expectations and a program that appeared to be rising, five straight losses were unacceptable.
There’s on Narduzzi and his coaching staff. Pitt was right there, a play or two away against Virginia and Clemson (and a couple of plays away against Boston College but still right there) and the Panthers couldn’t pull it out.
That’s on the coaching staff. Pitt had a chance to turn a dream start into a great season, and it didn’t happen. Instead, the Panthers lost five straight.
There’s still the bowl game, likely the Pinstripe or Military Bowl now, but the bowl is so volatile. Pitt showed real resolve in a Sun Bowl win in 2022, but who knows what will happen in the buildup to this season’s appearance.
A bowl win — or any result, really — won’t change what was a thoroughly disappointing end to the 2024 season.
