Pitt HC Discusses Parity in ACC

This year, Clemson was the No. 4 team in the country to start the season and lost to LSU, Georgia Tech, Syracuse and SMU. Florida State beat No. 8 Alabama but lost to Stanford last week. Miami started 5-0 with three ranked wins and then lost to Louisville at home. And North Carolina is 2-4 with wins over Charlotte and Richmond, and with one of the greatest head coaches of all time leading the way.

And it's only halfway through the regular season.

"I've said this for 10 years now, the ACC is probably top to bottom the best conference in the country," Pat Narduzzi said at his weekly press conference. "Because there are good athletes, there's good depth, and anybody can win on any given day."

However, some believe that when the so-called "best" programs in college football aren't so good, it's bad for the sport. Narduzzi is not one of those people.

"If you ask all the analysts, it's bad. It's like nobody is good," Narduzzi said, "Miami is still really good, Georgia Tech is good, Louisville is good. To me, it makes it fun in the conference that everybody has a chance."

The ACC isn't the only victim of having a duopoly at the top of the conference. Ohio State and Michigan won seven consecutive Big Ten Championships before the conference expanded in 2024, and Alabama and Georgia have won 10 of the last 11 SEC championships, with the exception being LSU's win in 2019.

"It's not Ohio State and everybody else," Narduzzi said. "So I think it's a good thing. It's not just top-heavy."

Without stacked programs at the top, ACC teams are more likely to win on any given Saturday, or Friday.

Miami was the No. 2 team in the country and looked like a juggernaut that was going to walk through the ACC with no ranked opponents remaining on the schedule. The path to the College Football Playoff was clear.

That was until Louisville, a 10.5-point underdog, left Miami Gardens with a 24-21 win on Friday night.

"Louisville is a good football team," Narduzzi said. "Shoot, we saw that. We beat ourselves in that game, but it just tells you what kind of football team we have. It tells you what kind of team Louisville is going to be, and we know Miami is talented and has a great football team that will bounce back."

The path for the Panthers to make the ACC championship is there. It may not be very clear, but it's at least visible.

Pitt faces NC State and Stanford the next two weeks and is the favorite in both games. Then, the Panthers get a bye before facing No. 12 Notre Dame for its final non-conference game. Finally, they head to Atlanta to face No. 7 Georgia Tech and host No. 9 Miami in the final weeks of the season — two games they are currently underdogs in.

Finishing with a 7-1 conference record would almost certainly place Pitt in the ACC Championship. Miami would have another conference loss, Pitt would have a tiebreaker over Georgia Tech and all that's left is to see if Virginia or SMU slips up.

If last week was any indicator, the top of the ACC standings will likely shake up before the end of the season. All Pitt has to do is keep finding ways to win, like it has done the last two weeks.

"You can go up to Syracuse and get your butt whooped; that's why it's so impressive that after a big emotional win at Florida State," Narduzzi said. "We were able to bounce back the next week and get another one on the road and not play great. It's a great conference."