Pitt’s unbeaten start finally got the national respect it had been chasing.
After surviving Virginia Tech 35-33, the Panthers moved into the AP Top 25 and did it as the last team to make the cut. It marks the third straight season Pitt has shown up in the rankings, a nice reward for a team that keeps finding ways to stay perfect.
The win pushed Pitt to 5-0, making it one of just 15 undefeated teams left after Week 5. That alone helps explain why the Panthers are in the conversation, especially with seven of the top 10 spots in the poll occupied by unbeaten teams.
Pitt is also one of only six ranked teams that did not open the year in the preseason Top 25. In the ACC, the Panthers join Miami and SMU in this week’s rankings, giving the league three teams in the poll.
That’s the fewest among the Power Four conferences, even though the ACC still has more than a little quality at the top. Miami and Duke are both undefeated, and Louisville began the season in the rankings.
For Pitt, the ranking comes with some obvious context. The Panthers are sitting behind Miami in the ACC pecking order, and both teams are 5-0 overall. The difference is that Miami is 3-0 in conference play, while Pitt has played only two ACC games so far.
The schedule doesn’t offer much breathing room from here. Pitt’s biggest remaining tests are Miami, which sits fourth in the AP poll, and Louisville, which entered the preseason ranked 24th.
So far, the Panthers have put together a résumé built around two power conference wins, against Syracuse and Virginia Tech. From here on out, every game comes against ACC opponents. The problem is that Pitt still doesn’t have a ranked win, and right now the only realistic shot at one appears to be Miami.
But the bigger issue isn’t the résumé. It’s Mason Heintschel.
Heintschel went down in the third quarter against Virginia Tech, and it was later revealed that he tore his ACL. That leaves coach Narduzzi and Pitt with the task of adjusting on the fly without their starting quarterback.
Even so, the Panthers have reasons to believe they can keep rolling. Their rushing attack, special teams and defense all look capable of carrying more of the load.
If Pitt handles the loss and keeps stacking wins, this could still be a season that ends with the Panthers in the Top 25 - or maybe even higher.
In Other News...
Pitt Escaped Virginia Tech With A Win Fans Will Debate All Week
Virginia Tech left Pittsburgh with the kind of finish that can linger all week, because the Hokies had a chance to force the issue at the end and came up short when John Love missed a 36-yard field goal as time expired. The debate started almost immediately over whether the kick had actually been good, and even with the fan noise swirling around the ending, the result still went in Pitts favor.
James Franklin did not turn the loss into a grievance about the officials, which only added to the frustration for Virginia Tech supporters looking for someone to blame. Ethan Grunkemeyer at least gave the Hokies plenty to build on, throwing for a career-high 434 yards, but the final sequence left the game defined less by the offenses production than by the miss and the unanswered questions around it. [Read more 🡒]