As he stood at the podium in the bowels of Acrisure Stadium late in the evening last Thursday, Pitt linebacker Kyle Louis was asked if he had any idea in the preseason that a 7-0 start was possible for his team.

The redshirt sophomore linebacker from New Jersey was borderline incredulous at the suggestion.

“Of course, I thought 7-0 was definitely could happen,” Louis said. “My goal is always be undefeated. We’ve got talent on this team that's tremendous, in all rooms, everywhere. I don't see anybody really messing with us, for real."

Apparently, that view of Pitt is not shared nationally. Fresh off a 41-13 win over Syracuse and holding a 7-0 record as one of eight teams in the country that are still undefeated, Pitt found itself at No. 18 in this week’s Associated Press poll. That’s the lowest ranking for a 7-0 team from the power conferences since Rutgers was ranked No. 18 in 2012.

On top of that, the Panthers opened as 6.5-point underdogs for their road trip to face 7-1 SMU this Saturday.

“All this media talk, we don't ever fall into that. That's for everybody else to do. We're never going to fall for that. We watch real film, we put real time into this. And we see people's real weaknesses and strengths. So we know who we're going against, what they really are. And we have a shot against everybody.

“Not even a shot; we have the advantage, because we’ve got some real dogs on our side. So we definitely see more than just 7-0 being just a goal. A lot of people still see us being just 9-3 or something. We still take that as disrespect. So we're definitely hungry, we’re not complacent, satisfied. We don't even care about the last games that just went on. We’re still on to the next five. Beat SMU.”

Pitt’s undefeated start has been a surprise to many on the outside. The Panthers were picked 13th in the ACC preseason poll, and they didn’t climb into the national rankings until they had built a 5-0 record.

For the first two months of the season, they’ve defied expectations - outside expectations, at least. On the inside, the team believed in itself.

“We’re all just close,” sophomore linebacker Rasheem Biles said after the Syracuse game. “We know what our goal is - the ACC championship and then go on from there. So we know that our defense is Pitt standards, it's a good defense. We want to be great, though, so we’re all close. A lot of years before, I don't think we were really close. This year, it's everybody hanging out with everybody, D-line, the D-tackles, the cornerbacks, the linebackers, we're all just real close, for real, for real.”

Pitt kicker Ben Sauls, who is a perfect 12-for-12 this season - including 4-for-4 from 50-plus yards - was standing to the side of the riser while Biles was speaking. And while the Biles was mostly referring to defense, Sauls sees a connectivity within the Panthers’ entire roster.

“This is year five for me. I think I just heard him say it: closest team I've been a part of. And I think that's very unique, and I think that speaks to our chemistry as a team and our success as a team.

“And preseason, nobody predicted this, and we knew that going into it. And I think that just made us closer, so good on them.”