The Pitt Panthers claimed a convincing 41-13 win over Syracuse on Thursday night. The win vaulted Pitt’s record to 7-0 on the season, good for the program’s best start since 1982. In the aftermath of that victory, along with a full weekend of college football, here are some notables.
Great Blue sharks
The 'Sharks' identity for the Pitt linebackers is starting to take on a life of its own. From the ‘Jaws’ theme music being played when they step on the field, to the student section being filled with shark signs and props, it’s been a cool little side story for this team.
But it’s also feeding off of what is happening on the field.
Pitt’s linebackers are ferocious, nasty, and basically won the game against Syracuse. Pitt had four linebackers record picks with Rasheem Biles, Kyle Louis, and Braylan Lovelace all taking turns running them back into the end zone, while Brandon George’s shoelace interception might have been the most impressive overall.
It wasn’t that they were just a factor in the passing game, but in all facets. Pitt was great against the run, and threw tons of pressure at quarterback Kyle McCord. When you total it up the six-man group of Biles, Louis, George, Lovelace, Jordan Bass, and Keye Thompson, accounted for 37 tackles, four interceptions, three touchdowns, two sacks, 4.5 TFLs.
Pretty dominant stuff.
Best in the country?
I posted a version of this stat a few weeks ago, but it still holds true. Pitt sophomore linebacker Kyle Louis is the only power-four defender with 60+ tackles, 3+ interceptions, 8+ TFLs, 3+ sacks this season. I guess now you can tack on a defensive touchdown to that list as well.
He is the only defensive player from the ACC, Big Ten, SEC, and Big 12 to be doing what he is doing.
Let’s stop beating around the bush here, because through eight weeks of the season he should be one of the 2-3 main candidates to win ACC Defensive Player of the Year. He should be an All-American and all-conference pick too. Louis is unique. He can blow up the run game, pick off passes like a safety, and hunt down the quarterback like a defensive end. His instincts are off the charts and I can’t recall many Pitt linebackers being able to play the way he can.
Not far behind
Louis commands a lot of attention, and as I just pointed out, for very good reason. But that should not take away from the other linebackers, especially Rasheem Biles. As a true sophomore, he has been a revelation this season. Biles was a three-star recruit from Ohio with only two other power-four offers (Purdue and WVU), but he quickly showed he had a knack for the football as a freshman, managing to block three punts.
This year, he has kicked it up several notches.
Biles leads Pitt with 9 TFLs, is second with 3.5 sacks, and third in tackles with 52. Mind you, he did not even play in the Cal game, so his numbers stand up pretty well in just six games compared to his teammates. Louis started the shark movement at Pitt, but Biles has been as vocal about it as anyone.
“We all want to get to that next level and we want to be the best in the nation,” Biles said. “We've been saying that since we started calling ourselves the Sharks. We want to be the best in the nation.”
Give ‘em the Groza
“He's the best one I've ever been around. I would imagine he'd be up for the Lou Groza. They should just give it to him mid-season. He's automatic from 57, 58. Doesn't matter where you put him. He's been outstanding this entire season.”
Narduzzi had that to say on Thursday about senior kicker Ben Sauls, who has been the most sure thing in college football this season. Sauls is perfect as a senior, making all 12 of his field goal attempts this year, including a 49 and 57-yarder against Syracuse.
The Lou Groza Award, given to the best kicker in college, is a yearlong award of course, so Sauls has to maintain this level of play for a few more games, but it seems like is sustainable. I can’t find any betting lines on it, but I’d imagine Sauls would be the favorite. I Better Call someone though.
Western Carolina Panthers or the Pitt Catamounts?
Pitt’s offense only generated two touchdowns in the Syracuse game, both scored by Western Carolina transfers Censere Lee and Poppi Williams. There were some doubts around the transfers Pitt brought in from Western Carolina, but they have turned into a strength of the team.
Pitt has scored 30 offensive touchdowns in seven games this season, and half of those have been scored by former Western Carolina players. Desmond Reid has seven, Williams has five, while Lee has contributed three.
Holstein’s health?
Pitt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein scrambled late in the game against Syracuse, tried to get out of bounds, but still wound up bouncing his head off the turf on the hit. Holstein pulled himself from the game, went to the medical tent, then to the locker room. Despite Pitt’s commanding lead, it did put a damper on things for a bit.
After the game, Narduzzi had this to say as far as an update, “Eli is going to be fine. He's in there smiling, happy, jumping around. So we'll be fine. Just added precaution. Kept him out. At first we just thought he had dirt in his eye. It was a little bit more than dirt, but he's fine and happy.”
He did acknowledge it was more than ‘dirt in his eye’ and said he was ‘fine’ but it was still a vague update in general. This will obviously be something to monitor this week and we’ll see if Narduzzi updates Holstein’s status on Monday.
For the game, it was hard to get too critical of Holstein’s performance. He started with a few shaky decisions, but finished 11-of-15 for 108 yards, two touchdowns, and no turnovers. It was solid, if unspectacular, but it was encouraging to see him get through a game without a turnover after throwing two against Cal.
Well well well...
All the sudden, the Pat Narduzzi/Randy Bates defense is shining through for this undefeated team. But come on…did you really think in the best start of Narduzzi’s head coaching career, he would just ride the coattails of a hurry-up offense and not have his defense at the center of attention?
Well, three ACC teams are averaging just 17.3 points per game against Pitt in the team’s 3-0 start in league play. As Pitt’s defense has started to settle in, so have some of the numbers that usually get attached to them. The Panthers rank 7th in TFLs per game (8.14) and 11th in sacks per game (3.14). Pitt’s run defense is now 9th nationally, surrendering just 93.9 yards per contest. The group is also 22nd in third down conversion defense, allowing opponents to hit just 32% on ‘money’ down.
But those four numbers right there: sacks, tackles for loss, run defense, and third-down conversions, those are bread and butter staples of this scheme when things are clicking. Looking back to 2021, Pitt was top 10 nationally in sacks, TFLs, and rushing defense, and top 30 in third-downs conversions. So this 2024 team is matching up with the last Pitt squad to win the ACC title in a lot of ways.
The set-up
“You guys heard me say that on Monday. I mean, that's a good quarterback that has had a ton of success. He just played the wrong team tonight.”
Narduzzi spoke to the media twice leading up to the Syracuse game, and both times he was effusive in his praise for Orange quarterback Kyle McCord. But when the game started, Pitt absolutely ambushed McCord about as well as I’ve ever seen a Narduzzi-coached team do to a well-regarded quarterback.
The Panthers hounded Sam Hartman in 2021 and jumped Brennan Armstrong in 2022. As things played it out on Thursday, it sort of seemed Narduzzi knew all along his team would have success against McCord, who finished with five interceptions, three pick-sixes, four sacks, and barely completed 50% of the 64 passes he attempted.
Thursdays
Pitt’s win against Syracuse continued an impressive streak, as the Panthers have now won six Thursday games in a row. Five of those victories have been at Acrisure Stadium/Heinz Field, which have also come on ESPN’s branded Thursday Night Football.
Since 1992, Pitt has played on ESPN Thursday night 27 times, with an all-time record of 12-15 in those contests, along with an 8-6 record at the team’s current home stadium.
Losing the blindside…again
Near the end of Narduzzi’s postgame press conference, he was asked if senior left tackle Branson Taylor would be back at all this season, and he ultimately confirmed he would not be returning. “Branson is out for the season with a knee,” said Narduzzi. “He's in good shape right now, on the mend. So we're going to miss him. He was on FaceTime in the locker room. He's up in the box (Thursday). He had season-ending surgery.”
It’s a tough blow, of course, and also an all-too-familiar one. Pitt lost starting left tackle Carter Warren in 2022 and the same thing happened to Matt Gonclaves in 2023. Meaning Taylor becomes the third straight senior left tackle to not make it through a full season at Pitt. If there is consolation to Taylor, both Warren and Gonclaves still got drafted following their injury. Taylor was named to the Senior Bowl watch list prior to the season, so he was definitely on the radar of the NFL.
Kicking the Junko out of it
Pitt went into this season with some question marks at punter, and early on Caleb Junko seemed to feed into those worries. Over the past few games, however, the Panthers’ punter has been more than solid. He kicked five times against Syracuse for a 44.8 average and it was a continuation of what he has been doing in recent weeks.
“I am not surprised,” said teammate Ben Sauls about Junko’s recent stretch of games. “He is elite every day at practice, so I’m not ever going to say he was due, because I think he’s had a heck of a year, but he keeps showing you how good he is and he keeps getting better.”
Junko’s 44.9 average is good for fifth in the ACC. Pitt is 15th nationally in punt return defense, only allowing 2.8 yards per return. So if nothing else, that aspect of the team is quietly performing quite well.
Reid back to returning punts?
I get that Desmond Reid is the team’s most explosive weapon, but it still seemed risky using him as a punt returner given his importance to the offense. Reid took back a punt return for a touchdown in the season opener against Kent State, but the Pitt coaches pulled him from those duties in the five games after that.
So it came as a surprise he was back there on Thursday. He fielded two of them and totaled one yard, so it was not like Reid made a big impact there. It will be interesting to watch if they continue to use him in that role. His game-changing ability has to make it tempting to put him deep, but the value he brings to the offense still seems to outweigh the need to have him take unnecessary hits on special teams.
Scoring from everywhere
Pitt has played seven games this season, and have totaled six touchdowns not coming from the offense. Pitt is tied for second nationally with four defensive touchdowns, one off the national pace of five, set by Tulane. The Panthers are also tied for the national lead in punt returns with two.
This of course was highlighted by the three pick-sixes on Thursday. But Pitt also had another pick-six in the Youngstown State game, blocked a punt for a score against West Virginia, and had a standard punt return touchdown against Kent State.
Florida State has the worst offense in the country, as it has only mustered 12 touchdowns. Pitt’s has gotten half of that production when it doesn’t even have the ball…
Kinda one-sided, isn’t it?
Pitt continued its 21st century dominance over rival Syracuse with Thursday’s victory. The Panthers improved to 19-4 over the Orange since 2002. Pitt also won its 11th straight game over Syracuse at home. The Orange’s last win against Pitt occurred in 2001. For perspective, Pitt sixth-year senior linebacker Brandon George was not even one-years old yet, and star freshman Eli Holstein wasn’t even born the last time Syracuse won a game in Pittsburgh.
Turning the page
For only the sixth time ever, and the first as conference mates, Pitt and SMU will be meeting on a football field. The two programs do not share much history with one another, as the last two meetings have been in bowl games, the 2012 BBVA Compass Bowl and the 1983 Cotton Bowl, both SMU wins.
You would have to go back to 1948 for the last regular season meeting between these two schools. Despite the 1983 game being in Dallas, Saturday will mark the first time ever Pitt will be playing SMU in a true road game.
Stuck on The Ocho
Pitt’s first real big game this season will occur on the ACC Network at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday against SMU. It is hardly
the start time or channel many were expecting, or at least clamoring for leading up to a top-25 showdown against the Mustangs. Pitt has played two games on ESPN this season, three more on ESPN2, then one each on ESPNU and ESPN+. The exposure has been better this year than in 2023, when the Panthers were relegated to the ACC Network six times and on The CW twice.
Seven and O
Pitt is 7-0 for the first time since 1982. I know, we’ve been referencing that stat, or a variation of it, for weeks now. But to put further meaning to it, this is just the tenth time in Pitt history the team has started 7-0, and only the fourth time it has happened since the end of World War II.
Pitt’s other 7-0 starts include 1982, 1981, 1976, 1929, 1917, 1916, 1915, 1910, and 1908. The Panthers have only finished without a loss or a tie five times: 1976, 1917, 1916, 1915, and 1910.
Ranked on ranked
Pitt will be making its fourth appearance of the year in the AP poll when it gets released in a few hours. This is only the third season where Pat Narduzzi has had the team ranked for four weeks or more, joining the 2022 team (six appearances) and the 2021 squad (eight weeks ranked).
Because of that, there haven’t been many games for Pitt as a ranked a team playing a ranked opponent. You would need to go back to both postseason games in 2021 to see it happen. The 2021 ACC Championship featured No. 15 Pitt defeating No. 16 Wake Forest, and the Peach Bowl saw No. 10 Michigan State take down the No. 12 Panthers.
The last regular season matchup under these circumstances was back in the 2020 COVID season, when No. 24 Pitt beat No. 21 Pitt beat No. 24 Louisville.
But to go back to the last time when Pitt was ranked and played a ranked team…with people in the stands was…in 2010. Dave Wannstedt led preseason No. 15 Pitt into the season-opener against 24th ranked Utah, and promptly lost 27-24 in overtime to drop from the rankings.
So (if you’re still following me)…the last time a ranked Pitt team beat a ranked opponent…in the regular season…with people in the stands… was back in 2003, a Panthers’ victory over No. 5 Virginia Tech at then Heinz Field.
