Oct 18, 2025; Syracuse, New York, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers defensive back Kavir Bains (23) celebrates his interception with teammate defensive back Rashad Battle (15) against the Syracuse Orange during the second half at the JMA Wireless Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

Pitt Bowl Predictions After Third Straight Win

Originally posted on Pittsburgh Panthers on SI
By Mitchell Corcoran | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 9:00 AM ET

PITTSBURGH — The Pitt Panthers are just one win away from becoming bowl eligible this season.

Pitt just won its third consecutive game with a 30-13 win over Syracuse. The winning streak has helped bolster the Panthers in the bowl projections. This week's projections have Pitt playing in some higher-tier bowl games, compared to the previous weeks.

Sun Bowl

ESPN's Kyle Bonagura, Oliver Hodgkinson of the Pro Football Network and Pete Fiutak of College Football News project Pitt to play in this year's Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl on Dec. 31.

The Panthers have played in the Sun Bowl five times, dating back to 1975. They are 3-2 in the bowl game with wins over Kansas in 1975, Texas A&M in 1989 and UCLA in 2022. The losses were to Oregon State in 2008 and Stanford in 2016.

Ivan Pierre Aguirre-Imagn Images

Bongagura projected Pitt to play Arizona State, Hodgkinson had USC and Fiutak picked Cal. All three teams are 5-2 this season. Cal defeated North Carolina 21-18 this past weekend, Arizona State is coming off a 26-22 upset win over No. 7 Texas Tech and USC suffered a 34-24 loss to No. 13 Notre Dame.

Pinstripe Bowl

ESPN's Mark Schlabach and On'3 Brett McMurphy both project the Panthers to play in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 27.

Schlabach picked Pitt to play Northwestern, and McMurphy had Iowa. The Athletic released its midseason bowl projections last week and also had Pitt in the Pinstripe Bowl playing Penn State.

Northwestern and Iowa are also 5-2 this year. The Wildcats are coming off four consecutive wins over UCLA, UL Monroe, Penn State and Purdue. Iowa now has back-to-back wins over Wisconsin and Penn State.

Pitt has played in the Pinstripe Bowl just once and lost 31-24 to Northwestern in 2016.

Holiday Bowl

Bryan Fisher of Sports Illustrated has projected Pitt to play in this year's DIRECTV Holiday Bowl against Utah on Jan. 2, 2026.

Utah is another 5-2 team this year. The Utes fell to their rival, No. 15 BYU, 24-21 this weekend. But they beat No. 21 Arizona State just the week before.

Pitt has never played this bowl game either. The Holiday Bowl didn't feature the ACC until 2022.

Fenway Bowl

Death, taxes and CBS Sports projecting Pitt to play in this year's Wasabi Fenway Bowl on Dec. 27.

This is the third consecutive week that CBS Sports has picked Pitt to play in the Fenway Bowl. Tulane is the opponent in this projection.

The Green Wave are 6-1 this season and are 3-0 in the American. They just squeaked out a 24-17 win over Army last week and are on a three-game winning streak since losing to No. 13 Ole Miss.

Pitt has never played in the Fenway Bowl, and this is just the fifth year of the bowl game.

This article first appeared on Pittsburgh Panthers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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