Pitt didn’t have a game on Saturday, but the college football weekend had plenty of impact on the Panthers (8-2, 5-1).

The primary game to affect Pitt’s outlook for the 2021 season happened in Tallahassee, where Florida State hosted Miami for the two Sunshine State teams’ annual crossover meeting. The Seminoles went ahead 31-28 on a touchdown in the final 30 seconds to win, dropping the Hurricanes to 5-5 overall and, more importantly, 3-3 in the ACC.

With three losses, Miami is now two losses behind Pitt, who is 5-1 in conference play. That’s a significant level of separation, since the Hurricanes hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Panthers due to last month’s game at Heinz Field.

Now, Pitt can clinch the Coastal Division title when the Panthers host Virginia next Saturday at 3:30 pm.

As it stands with every Coastal team having played at least six games, Virginia and Virginia Tech are the only two teams that can catch Pitt. The Cavaliers can pass the Panthers in the standings if they win at Heinz Field on Saturday; they would also need to defeat Virginia Tech in the final week or have Pitt lose to Syracuse at the Carrier Dome to clinch the title.

Virginia Tech needs more help. The Hokies need to win at Miami this weekend and at Virginia next weekend, and they need Pitt to lose to Virginia and Syracuse. That scenario would create a three-way tie of Virginia Tech, Virginia and Pitt.

The Panthers would be eliminated in that scenario due to having a worse record against Coastal teams than Virginia and Virginia Tech, and the Hokies would hold a head-to-head advantage over the Cavaliers.

There were other results around the sport that could impact Pitt, particularly when the College Football Playoff rankings are released Tuesday night.

The Panthers entered the weekend at No. 21; the team ranked directly above them, No. 20 Iowa, held on to beat unranked Minnesota 27-22 at home, but others in the range around Pitt didn’t fare so well.

No. 19 Purdue got throttled in a 59-31 loss at No. 4 Ohio State. No. 17 Auburn lost at home 43-34 to unranked Mississippi State. And No. 16 N.C. State lost at No. 12 Wake Forest 45-42. No. 11 Texas A&M also lost to at No. 15 Ole Miss, although It remains to be seen how far the Aggies fall.

Those games should give Pitt an opportunity to move up from No. 21, which was already the program’s highest-ever ranking in the eight-year history of the CFP.