Pitt had the chance to secure a pretty strong bowl appearance, even before losing a couple of games to SMU and Virginia early last month, but a five-game losing streak has killed those chances.
Pitt has received Pinstripe Bowl and Holiday Bowl projections in recent weeks, but the most recent projection from Brett McMurphy of Action Network has placed the Panthers in the Gasparilla Bowl against Vanderbilt — with the Commodores set as a 1.5-point favorite.
This year’s matchup is set for a Dec. 20 showdown at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
The Gasparilla Bowl, formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl and Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, has a wide range of tie-ins. The ACC, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12 from the Power Five level, the AAC, Conference-USA, MAC and MWC from the Group of Five level and Army from the independent level.
Georgia Tech knocked off UCF, 30-17, in the latest edition of the Gasparilla Bowl.
It’s not where Pitt wanted to be before the season, and especially during the 7-0 start to the season, but Pat Narduzzi is happy to have a bowl game to play in.
“There’s a lot of teams that would like to be bowl eligible right now, and I know our guys weren’t just satisfied with seven wins and bowl eligible, but it is an accomplishment based on what we did last year compared to where we were this year,” Narduzzi said Saturday.
A bowl win at this point doesn’t do too much for the overall state of the season, considering there’s no way to know who will be playing for Pitt or the eventual opponent, but it’s a good way for the Panthers to still finish the season strong. 8-5 looks a good deal better than 7-6.
And Narduzzi is confident that his team will be ready to go for the bowl game, no matter when it is and who it’s against.
“Hell yeah,” Narduzzi said Monday at his weekly presser. “Better be. I don’t talk about a bowl game. I’m not worried about a bowl game. Four weeks ago we were worried about something more important than that. You’re talking about like a nine-win season, a 10-win season, whatever it may be. So, you’re looking at eight-win seasons, what your goal is, then move on from that.
“Play the cards. Our guys would be excited about a bowl game. But where is it going to be? I’m not worried about that. That’s the last thing on my mind. We want to finish this season, the regular season at least, off with a win.”
Doesn’t matter another loss
Probably
Military Bowl would be great!! Close to home, great town with lot’s of place to eat and drink the pain of 2024 season away!!
We will be in a bowl game in the warm weather of New York or Boston. We won’t sell 10,000 tickets.
And the clown speaks, nobody is listening.