Pat Narduzzi didn’t stop at celebrating Pitt’s win over Virginia Tech. The Panthers’ coach used the moment to take another swipe at Penn State, and this one landed squarely in the middle of the Nittany Lions’ rough opening stretch.
Pitt escaped with a 35-33 victory after Virginia Tech missed a field goal that looked good from multiple angles, and even Narduzzi later admitted he couldn’t tell whether the kick had actually gone through. Still, the result gave him another chance to needle a longtime in-state target.
The jab came after Narduzzi had already spent time pushing for more national respect, including a campaign for Pitt to crack the AP Top 25. That worked. The 5-0 Panthers now get Bill Belichick and UNC at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday.
But Narduzzi kept the focus on Penn State anyway, despite the fact that Pitt and the Nittany Lions haven’t met since 2019 and Penn State had won three of the four most recent matchups. The tension between Narduzzi and James Franklin has been a familiar part of the backdrop for years, and this latest shot fit right into that history.
“It’s all about the brands,” Narduzzi said Monday. “Everybody looks at the logos and gets all infatuated with the logos and all that stuff.”
He had already questioned whether Penn State deserved its preseason ranking, asking: “Look at the school down the road. They were in the Top 25, and what did they really do to get in the Top 25?”
Penn State opened the season No. 18 in the AP Poll and climbed as high as No. 13 after a 3-0 nonconference start. But the Nittany Lions are now 3-2 after back-to-back Big Ten losses, first blowing a 17-0 lead to Wisconsin in a 24-20 loss, then falling 34-13 to Northwestern.
Narduzzi is 85-61 in 12 seasons at Pitt and has led the Panthers to two ranked finishes and a 2-6 bowl record.
In Other News...
West Virginias Cincinnati Weekend Is Turning Into A Program Showcase
West Virginias Oct. 17 home game against Cincinnati is getting a bigger stage, with the Big 12 announcing the matchup will air on TNT and also be simulcast on TruTV and HBO Max. For a program that has spent the fall trying to turn home dates into full-event weekends, it fits neatly with what is already building around the game in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers are layering in a Stripe the Stadium theme, group ticket packages for alumni and the induction of the 36th WVU Sports Hall of Fame class, while the Big 12 Fall Tour is also set to stop in town with a free kickoff concert on Oct. 10. It is the kind of calendar that gives the Cincinnati game more weight than just another conference Saturday, and West Virginia will be hoping the extra attention translates into a packed house and a lively atmosphere. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Mourns A Heartbreaking Loss In Its Recruiting Class
A heartbreaking loss struck West Virginias recruiting class on Monday morning when Chris Wilson, a senior at Yorktown High School and a committed defensive line recruit for the Mountaineers, was killed in a shooting. The incident remains under investigation, and authorities have not released additional details.
Yorktown High School principal Stacey Brewer issued a statement expressing condolences to Wilsons family and the school community while also confirming there is no threat to students or schools. For West Virginia, the news goes far beyond football, cutting into the lives of coaches, teammates and a program that had welcomed Wilson as part of its future. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginias Fast Start Is Reviving A Feeling Fans Missed
Five games into the season, West Virginias offense has given fans reason to flash back to one of the programs most beloved stretches. The comparison centers on Mike Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook alongside Pat White and Steve Slaton from 2006, a season that still sits near the top of the Mountaineers modern memories because of how smoothly the quarterback-runback pairing fit together and how hard it was for defenses to sort out who was doing what.
The numbers are not identical, and the styles are not carbon copies, but the similarities are enough to make the conversation worth having. Hawkins Jr. and Cook have already drawn the kind of attention that comes when a backfield starts to feel layered and dangerous at the same time, with the passing and rushing production inviting side-by-side study rather than simple nostalgia. For West Virginia, the interesting part is not just the flash of a fast start, but whether it can sustain the kind of offensive rhythm that once made this pairing feel inevitable. [Read more 🡒]