11/28/2021 football Edit

Wake wins Atlantic and Pitt stands to get a ranking boost

Chris Peak • Panther-lair

Publisher

Pitt closed its 2021 regular season with 10 wins after beating Syracuse in the Carrier Dome Saturday night, and the rest of college football had a number of outcomes that could affect the Panthers.

The most direct impact from the rest of the sport happened in the northeast, as Wake Forest went to Chestnut Hill and finished the regular season with a 41-10 win over Boston College. With that victory, the Deacons (10-2, 7-1) clinched the Atlantic Division championship and a date with Pitt in the ACC Championship Game next Saturday in Charlotte.

By beating the Eagles, Wake Forest avoided a three-way tie with N.C. State and Clemson. The Wolfpack started the weekend with a win over North Carolina on Friday night to get to 6-2 in conference play. If Wake Forest had lost, the Deacons and Tigers would also be 6-2, and N.C. State would have emerged from that tie-breaker with the division title.

But the Deacons had little trouble with Boston College, scoring 40 or more for the ninth time this year and closing the regular season having scored at least 40 in seven consecutive games.

Wake Forest’s win solidified the matchup in the ACC Championship Game, but there were other games on Saturday that could impact Pitt - at least in the College Football Playoff rankings.

The Panthers came into the weekend at No. 17, and two teams directly ahead of them lost on Saturday. Minnesota upset No. 14 Wisconsin 23-13 in Minneapolis and No. 15 Texas A&M lost at unranked LSU 27-24.

Those two outcomes should result in Pitt moving up two spots to No. 15, and the CFP selection committee will have a decision to make about No. 16 Iowa. The Hawkeyes survived at Nebraska on Friday, trailing the three-win Huskers 21-9 after three quarters only to rally to a 28-21 win.

Iowa is now headed to the Big Ten Championship Game, where the Hawkeyes will face No. 5 (and sure to climb) Michigan. Pitt could conceivably jump Iowa in the CFP rankings, although the committee could opt not to drop a 10-2 team that is headed to the Big Ten title game.

If Iowa can manage the upset in Indianapolis, that could impact Pitt’s bowl opportunities. The Panthers will be guaranteed a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl if they defeat Wake Forest and win the ACC championship. The Chick Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta is the most likely destination for the ACC champ, and the opponent would be determined by the CFP selection committee as an at-large pick.

An Iowa win would knock Michigan out of the CFP semifinal conversation - and possibly into the Peach Bowl conversation.

Since the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl have contractual obligations to get teams from certain conferences (the Rose Bowl gets Big Ten and Pac-12; the Sugar Bowl gets SEC and Big 12), if any of those affiliated conferences have two teams in the CFP top 10 or so but not in the top four, they could provide an at-large selection for the Peach Bowl.

Of course, for that to be relevant to Pitt, the Panthers have to take care of business against Wake Forest next Saturday in Charlotte.