9/27/2020 football Edit

More opportunities after first 3-0 start in 6 years

Chris Peak • Panther-lair

Publisher

It’s hyperbole to say that Pitt has never started a season with a 3-0 record in this century.

But not by much.

In the first 20 football seasons of the 21st century, the Panthers won their first three games three times: 2000, 2009 and 2014. Now, in the 21st season to be played in the 21st century, Pitt has another 3-0 start, and it might be the most impressive 3-0 start yet.

The last time Pitt started a season 3-0 was 2014; that year, in Paul Chryst’s final season with the Panthers, the team beat Delaware, Boston College and FIU in consecutive weeks.

In 2009, Dave Wannstedt’s Panthers got the first three of their 10 wins in the season’s opening games against Youngstown State, Buffalo and Navy.

And in 2000, Walt Harris led Pitt to a 3-0 start that saw the Panthers beat Kent State, Bowling Green and Penn State.

After the Panthers beat Louisville 23-20 at Heinz Field on Saturday, Pitt is 3-0 again. And this year’s 3-0 record includes this week’s win over the Cardinals as well as last week’s defeat of Syracuse, marking the first time this century that Pitt has opened a season 3-0 with wins over at least two teams from power conferences.

This is also just the second time in eight seasons as ACC members that Pitt has started a conference schedule at 2-0. The only other time the Panthers were 2-0 in the ACC was Pat Narduzzi’s first season in 2015; that year, Pitt beat Virginia Tech and Virginia in consecutive weeks before pushing the conference record to 4-0 with wins over Georgia Tech and Syracuse.

The 2020 team is now looking at how it can follow that same path. Next week, Pitt will host N.C. State; the Wolfpack are 1-1 after beating Wake Forest last week but getting blown out by Virginia Tech last night.

Then the Panthers will travel north to face Boston College and first-year head coach Jeff Hafley. The Eagles are 2-0 after they opened the season with a win over Duke and then needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Texas State last night.

If Pitt can beat N.C. State, it will be the Panthers’ first 4-0 start since 2000. If they follow that with a win over Boston College, it will be their first 5-0 start since 1991.

And if all of that comes to pass, it would set up a pretty significant date with Miami on Oct. 17. The Hurricanes were ranked No. 12 last week and they’re likely to climb in the polls after getting to 3-0 with a 52-10 blowout win over Florida State on Saturday.

Pitt is also likely to see its No. 21 ranking improve after the win over Louisville, potentially into the top 20 for the first time in an in-season poll since 2009 (the Panthers were also ranked No. 15 in the 2010 preseason poll). What’s more, this week’s polls will be the third in a row to include Pitt; the Panthers haven’t been ranked in three consecutive polls since 2009.

In an uncertain and nontraditional season, Pitt continues to have a lot of opportunity ahead of it.