Pitt’s 2021 season continues to be one of opportunity, and on Tuesday night, the Panthers (7-2, 4-1) earned their highest spot ever in the eight-year history of the College Football Playoff ranking.

The Tuesday night announcement had Pitt at No. 21. That eclipsed the Panthers’ ranking of No. 23 at the end of the 2016 regular season, which was Pitt’s previous high-water mark in the CFP.

The Panthers were also ranked No. 25 in 2016 and spent one week at No. 24 in 2018 after beating Wake Forest to clinch the Coastal Division title. They were not ranked in the CFP in 2019 or 2020.

This year, Pitt showed up at No. 25 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings, which were released last week in the wake of the Panthers’ 38-34 loss to Miami at Heinz Field. But last weekend’s games saw No. 17 Mississippi State lose to unranked Arkansas, No. 18 Kentucky lose to unranked Tennessee, No. 20 Minnesota lose to unranked Illinois and No. 23 Fresno State lose to unranked Boise State. Pitt was the benefactor of those losses, turning its 25-point win at Duke into a four-place climb.

The Panthers are one of three ACC teams to show up in this week’s CFP rankings. Wake Forest, who lost its first game of the season last weekend, dropped from No. 9 to No. 12. N.C. State, who won at Florida State, climbed from No. 19 to No. 16.

The SEC and Big Ten have six teams each in this week’s rankings. The ACC and Big 12 have three each. The Pac-12 has two. Three teams represent the G5 conferences and two independents (No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 14 BYU) are also ranked.