Pitt hopes to grab national attention
2016 upset of Clemson still fresh
Perhaps Clemson would have invented any excuse to get hyped up for this game. After all, there are plenty of reasons. The No. 2-ranked Tigers would love to end the season No. 1, and to do that, they first must check off a few boxes.
There’s winning an unprecedented fourth consecutive outright ACC championship, there’s making a fourth consecutive trip to the College Football Playoff, and there is the chance to capture their second national title in three seasons.
But how’s this for a full-circle story line to add to the recipe? Clemson’s hallowed senior class, the one that arguably has contributed the most to this unbelievable stretch of success, will wrap up its college career with just one loss at home. That’s a mark of 27-1. And that 1?
“The no-name Pittsburgh football team.”
That’s how coach Pat Narduzzi referred to his crew; tongue either firmly in cheek or perhaps sticking right out at the rest of the college football world. Narduzzi’s aware that no one from his program is considered much of a star, or a surefire NFL prospect like the ones who walk the halls at Clemson.
So forgive Pitt’s players and coaches for wondering why the back-to-back-toback ACC champions would have it out for little old them, a team that didn’t have a single player named first-team All-ACC, even though Pitt is one of just two teams in the league with a shot at winning it.
“We’ve just got a bunch of guys. That’s what we are, the no-name Pittsburgh Panthers,” Narduzzi said, then referenced Clemson’s five All-ACC first-teamers. “They got a lot of them, we don’t have many of them, so that’s kind of what it is. We’re in the championship game. We must’ve done it with smoke and mirrors, I guess.
“I’m like the no-name head coach. There’s no names over here.”
Senior fullback George Aston might not know the particulars, but he knows the perception. Pitt enters kickoff Saturday night as 27½-point underdogs, and ESPN puts its chances slightly above 4 percent. Two years ago, before pulling off a 43-42 upset of coach Dabo Swinney’s Tigers, the Panthers were getting 22 points from bookmakers and about an 8 percent chance from ESPN.
“We know nobody really respects us or gives us any credit, even when we have great games,” Aston said. “I mean, even if we win, they’ll probably still find a way to discredit us, say Clemson had a bad game or something. But we don’t really care at all. It’s all about us, everybody in this building, coming together and getting it done.”
Aston paused for a moment when asked if the Tigers themselves might have reason to pay respect to Pitt. Did he realize the Panthers dealt them a blemish that will never be wiped away on their otherwise nearly spotless resume?
“I didn’t know that. I knew that when we beat them last time, that they hadn’t been beat at home in a real long time,” Aston said, then added with maybe the slightest of grins, “I guess we really do have some good luck against No. 2 teams.”
Three consecutive victories against them, yes. Miami last season, Clemson two years ago (though the Tigers were No. 3 in the Associated Press poll), and West Virginia in 2007. Pitt actually has beaten four top-3 opponents in a row when the Panthers are unranked themselves, a mind-boggling streak that dates to a 2002 upset of Virginia Tech.
No matter what happens at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., Clemson always will be a part of that, and in a season when it eventually ruled college football, no less.
“They’ll probably be angry, and our guys will have to come angrier. Period,” Narduzzi said, though he didn’t want to put too much stock into a triumph from more than 24 months ago. “It really doesn’t matter. Deep down, maybe it gives our kids a little bit of belief when they’re sitting back in their dorm or sitting in class daydreaming — ‘Hey, we’ve done this before, we can do it again’ — but that’s not going to help us when that whistle blows for that opening kickoff.”
One thing this current Pitt team hasn’t done is beat a heavy favorite in the 2018 season. The Panthers have had their chances — Penn State, Central Florida, Notre Dame — and have come closer each time, at least by the final margin.
For what it’s worth, Pitt’s 24-3 loss last week at Miami was its third this season by at least 21 points. The Panthers followed the first two, Penn State and UCF, with arguably their two best victories, against Georgia Tech and Syracuse. If there ever was a time to seize on those experiences and get over the hump against a highly regarded foe, it’s now.
“We’re not picked to win many games throughout the season,” defensive tackle Shane Roy said with a smile. “A lot of the games, we were underdogs, so I feel like that’s kind of familiar for us. The big point spread, I didn’t realize that, but that adds to it, for sure.”
It adds to everything, really. The intrigue of the matchup, as paradoxical as that may be. The against-all-odds factor for the Panthers. And, if they find a way to do it, the glory it would bring.
Perhaps then someone would know their names.
“Winning an ACC championship is a pretty big deal,” Aston said, “so if people credit us, give us respect, cool. If they don’t, even better.”