Pat Narduzzi has never been shy about saying what he thinks, and at ACC Media Days he doubled down on a take that’s going to make plenty of Big Ten fans roll their eyes.
The former Michigan State defensive coordinator, now Pitt’s head coach, brushed aside the idea that the Big Ten is the standard-bearer in college football. Instead, he argued the real conference debate should be the ACC against the SEC, and he made it clear where he stands.
“This conference is better. It's better than the Big Ten.”
That’s the line Narduzzi delivered on the radio show, and he said it with complete confidence. He also said he felt that way a decade ago, back when he left Michigan State for Pitt.
It’s a bold claim, especially with the Big Ten’s recent run of national titles. Michigan won in 2023, Ohio State followed in 2024, and Indiana, under Curt Cignetti, won it all in 2025. That stretch makes it hard to sell the idea that the Big Ten is somehow trailing the ACC in football.
Narduzzi’s stance also fits a familiar pattern. He’s long had the kind of attitude that makes him sound like a coach who doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and that edge has followed him from East Lansing to Pittsburgh. It’s easier to appreciate when he’s on your side.
He’s made similar noise before, too. Around the 2021 Peach Bowl, when Kenny Pickett sat out, Narduzzi said the Panthers lost because they didn’t have their QB1. Mel Tucker, meanwhile, didn’t say a word even though Michigan State was without the Doak Walker Award winner in the backfield for that game.
So if you’re looking for evidence that Narduzzi expects people to simply accept his version of things, there’s a little history there.
Still, if someone really wanted to test his theory, an ACC-Big Ten football challenge would not look kind to the ACC. Using the 2025 standings, the matchups would line up like this: Indiana vs.
Duke, Ohio State vs. Virginia, Oregon vs.
Miami, Michigan vs. Georgia Tech, USC vs.
SMU, Iowa vs. Pitt, Illinois vs.
Louisville, Minnesota vs. Wake Forest, Washington vs.
NC State, Nebraska vs. Cal, Northwestern vs.
Clemson, Penn State vs. Stanford, UCLA vs.
Florida State, Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech, Wisconsin vs.
North Carolina, Maryland vs. Boston College, and Michigan State vs.
Syracuse.
Purdue gets left out because ACC football has 17 teams and Purdue went winless last year.
On paper, the Big Ten would look awfully comfortable in that setup. The top 10 matchups tilt heavily toward the Big Ten, and the bottom seven feel much more even. That adds up to an 11-6 result at worst for the Big Ten, and probably 12-5 if this were an annual event.
The only way to make it even remotely fair, the piece argues, would be to let the ACC bring in Notre Dame for a matchup against a team like Michigan or Oregon in that top group.
For now, though, Narduzzi is asking everyone to believe the ACC is better than the Big Ten. And that’s a pretty funny ask.
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