Pat Narduzzi picked a strange hill to die on at ACC Media Days.
The Pitt coach didn’t just praise his own league - he flat-out declared the ACC better than the Big Ten, then doubled down with a confidence that didn’t survive a quick glance at the numbers. “This conference is as good as any conference in the country,” Narduzzi said via 680 The Fan in Atlanta.
“I don’t care what you make and all that. I don’t care about how many resources you have and all that baloney.
Talk about different conferences and what they make… Coming from Michigan State, spent eight seasons there. Coming to Pitt in 2015, I said it then, I said it now.
After about two years in the league, this conference is better - it’s better than the Big Ten. It’s got more skill… I’ve said that for years and I’m going to stick to my guns.”
That’s the kind of line that can pass as standard conference boosterism. Coaches talk up their league all the time.
But Narduzzi went further, and that’s where the argument starts to fall apart - especially if you’re trying to sell it as a serious basketball? No.
Football case.
The source of the pushback is simple: the results haven’t backed him up. Narduzzi said, “You look at our record,” Narduzzi said.
“You look at our record in bowl games against the SEC and Big Ten. You look at our record in the regular season.
We don’t have a losing record; we have a winning record against those teams.”
But that “our” doesn’t exactly hold up cleanly. At Pitt, Narduzzi’s only win against a Big Ten opponent came in 2016 against Penn State.
Since then, he’s lost six in a row. Iowa beat him in 2015, Northwestern did it in 2016, and three of the other losses came against the Nittany Lions.
Even if you stretch his point beyond Pitt and treat “our” as the entire ACC, the numbers still don’t help him. Last season, the ACC went 2-4 against the Big Ten and 1-2 in bowl games.
The year before, it was 4-5 and 1-3. In the 2020s, the ACC is 15-23 against the Big Ten and 3-12 in bowl games.
The last time the ACC finished with a winning record against the Big Ten was 2016. Since 2000, that has happened only three times.
Nebraska fans have their own reason to enjoy the spectacle. The Huskers have never played Pitt under Narduzzi, and the last time Nebraska faced the Panthers, Bo Pelini was the head coach and Dave Wannstedt was on the other sideline. Even so, the Big Ten comparison lands especially badly in Lincoln, where Nebraska’s 2026 schedule is already considered one of the toughest in the country.
And while Nebraska hasn’t exactly ruled the Big Ten, the Huskers are 2-1 in their last three games against ACC teams, including the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College.
So yes, Narduzzi has said it before, and yes, he says he’s sticking to his guns. But on this one, the math is doing all the talking.
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Georgia is still projected to be strong next season, so any breakthrough will require more than just momentum from close losses. Georgia Techs best path appears to run through a more aggressive front and a backfield that can keep the pressure off the rest of the roster, giving the Jackets a chance to turn a rivalry that has been frustratingly close into something much bigger. [Read more 🡒]