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Pitt climbed three spots in the College Football Playoff selection committee’s ranking released Tuesday night.
The Panthers (8-2 overall, 5-1 ACC) moved from No. 21 to No. 18 in the wake of their 30-23 overtime win against North Carolina at Heinz Field last Thursday night. They also moved up five spots from No. 25 to No. 20 in the Associated Press poll and three spots from No. 22 to No. 19 in the AFCA Coaches Poll.
Pitt showed up at No. 25 in the initial 2021 CFP ranking two week ago. Following the win at Duke a week later, the Panthers climbed to No. 21 - their highest ranking in the eight-year history of the CFP ranking.
No. 18 sets a new high-water mark for Pitt.
The Panthers will host Virginia this Saturday for a 3:30 pm kickoff at Heinz Field. If Pitt wins, it will clinch the Coastal Division title and a spot in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte on Dec. 4.
The Panthers are one of three ACC teams in this week’s top 25. Wake Forest moved up two spots from No. 12 to No. 10 after beating N.C. State at home. The Wolfpack fell from No. 16 to No. 20 after that loss.
The SEC leads this week’s ranking with six teams. The Big Ten has five. The Big 12 and ACC have three each. The Pac-12 and AAC have two each. Two independent teams are ranked. And the Mountain West and Conference USA have one each.
Among the teams ranked directly ahead of Pitt, No. 17 Iowa hosts unranked Illinois on Saturday afternoon, No. 16 Texas A&M hosts FCS Prairie View A&M, No. 15 Wisconsin hosts unranked Nebraska and No. 14 BYU plays at Georgia Southern.
In fact, there are only three games that feature two ranked teams this weekend: No. 7 Michigan State at No. Ohio State, No. 21 Arkansas at No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Oregon at No. 23 Utah.
