Head Coach: Pat Narduzzi is entering his 11th season as the Chris Bickell Class of ’97 Head Football Coach of the Pitt Panthers with a 72-56 record. He’s experienced some highs and lows during his tenure but generally has been pretty successful. Since 2011 Narduzzi is the only non-Clemson or Florida State head coach to lead his team to an ACC title.
Program Outlook: Pitt is in the unique position of being a program in a bigger conference that shares their stadium with a NFL team. That doesn’t seem to hamper them, Pitt has loads of historical success and the ACC championship run in 2021 still shows they can go on a run to win a conference title. Pitt was an interesting team last season with a 7-0 start behind a complete shift to an air raid offense, however late season injuries led to a collapse as they lost their last 6 games. So which is the better indication of where the program is headed? The first 7 games, or the last 6?
How does the 2025 Roster look?: Pitt ranks 33rd in the country returning 61.5% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Pitt very quietly put together a strong portal class as well, the Panthers brought in a few interesting transfers especially on the Dline and at receiver. Key players for the Panthers include QB Eli Holstein who was awesome when healthy, do it all RB in Desmond Reid and their defense has its own Quarterback in linebacker Kyle Louis who is an absolute menace back there, but that’s not all at LB Raheem Biles and Braylan Lovelace are fantastic backers as well. The defensive line will be led by Jimmy Scott and Nick James, Scott being a good pass rusher while James can do it all on the inside. The secondary will be under immense pressure as always but Pitt does have a strength at safety to keep things from getting too messy. The question marks for the Panthers starts with the offensive line, they struggled to protect Holstein or whoever was in at QB and didn’t open a lot of running lanes either.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: Pitt has a challenging schedule overall. The Non-conference features Notre Dame and the Backyard Brawl which will carry some extra zest with Rich Rod back at WVU. Pitt also hosts the local Duquesne Dukes, who are one of the best teams in the NEC but Pitt will be a different challenge for them. Central Michigan is a game to be weary of, Matt Drinkall previously Army’s Oline coach took over that program and who knows what offense they will run. In ACC play Pitt avoids Clemson and draws Stanford but plays just about every other team that’s projected to be toward the top of the league standings. Pitt doesn’t travel more than a couple hours away until October 11th but their longer road trips are back loaded on the schedule. Pitt must get off to a fast start to show improvement this year.
Final Thoughts: I’m buying the fast start Pitt was off to last season before Eli Holstein was hurt. That has me pretty optimistic about their ability to compete against their tough slate but I think the schedule does limit their upside. Their best case might be 9 wins, but this schedule is tough enough to make them miss bowl eligibility if injuries strike again.
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