Pitt is headed back to Detroit for the bowl season.
Pitt will play Toledo in the GameAbove Sports Bowl (formerly known as the Quick Lane Bowl) on Dec. 26 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich at 2 p.m. It’s the second time the Panthers have played in the bowl.
Pitt knocked off Eastern Michigan, 34-30, in the 2019 Quick Lane Bowl as Kenny Pickett threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns.
Toledo is 7-5 this season, failing to reach the MAC championship game for the first time since 2021. The Rockets are led by quarterback Tucker Gleason, who has thrown 22 touchdowns this season, and the defense is holding opponents to just 21.3 points per game.
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 the fall from 7-0 to 7-5 over the last month and a half of the season, 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.
“Hell yeah,” Narduzzi said last week 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.”
Pitt has not had a bowl appearance since 2022, which was a last-second win against UCLA in the Sun Bowl.
