Pitt’s first loss of the season didn’t knock the Panthers out of the ACC race, but it did tighten the margin for error.
North Carolina handed Pitt a defeat on Oct. 10, dropping the Panthers to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. That leaves them with wins over Syracuse and Virginia Tech, and still squarely in the middle of a conference logjam that’s starting to take shape across the league.
The Panthers are no longer perched near the top the way they were after beating Virginia Tech, when they were tied for second in the ACC and showing up in the rankings. Since then, they’ve slipped out of both spots.
But the fall has been a small one, not a collapse. Pitt now sits among a group of teams at 2-1 in league play, including Clemson, SMU, California and Virginia.
That crowded picture is part of what keeps Pitt alive. The ACC hasn’t sorted itself out yet, and the past weekend only made that clearer.
Duke entered its matchup with Georgia Tech unbeaten, only to lose when a game-tying 33-yard field goal missed as time expired. Georgia Tech got its second win of the season, while Duke moved to 1-1 in ACC play.
Elsewhere, some of the teams that drew preseason buzz haven’t lived up to it. Florida State, NC State and Virginia Tech all sit at 1-2 in conference play. Louisville, which Pitt will visit later this season, is 2-2 in the league.
At the same time, Wake Forest keeps standing out as the surprise of the ACC. The No.
22 Demon Deacons beat Louisville and have climbed to 3-1 in conference play after going 4-4 in the league a year ago. Their only ACC loss came against Miami by 13 points.
For Pitt, the path ahead still leaves room to stay in the hunt. North Carolina wasn’t supposed to be one of the tougher games on the schedule, but the loss did not slam the door on an ACC Championship run.
The Panthers still have three upcoming opponents currently sitting below .500 in ACC play: Boston College on Oct. 17, Georgia Tech on Oct. 31 and Florida State on Nov.
There are also two games against teams that have two ACC wins but are 3-3 overall - Louisville on Nov. 21 and Cal on Nov. 28.
The biggest test remains Miami, which Pitt will face on the road on Oct. 24. Plenty of Pitt fans had already marked that one down as a loss before the season began, and nothing the Panthers have shown lately has changed that feeling much.
Even so, a season with only two ACC losses is still on the table if Pitt takes care of business at home and survives the trickier stretches away from home. The problem is that the Panthers would likely still need some help from tie-breakers, and those are out of their hands.
That makes the Boston College game a useful checkpoint. The Eagles are 2-3, and Pitt has a chance to prove the North Carolina loss was a stumble, not a shift in direction.