Pitt’s (No. 22) game against No. 9 Notre Dame on Saturday was almost certainly the program’s highest-profile game since the 2021 Peach Bowl.
It featured two ranked teams and was against one of college football’s elite programs. ESPN’s “College GameDay” was in town, making it the literal epicenter of the college football schedule for the week. Pitt had a rare sellout crowd. There was a palpable buzz around the game. People were excited. The city was excited.
Despite all of that, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi opened the week by saying at his weekly news conference that it was not only not a must-win game, but he did not care if Notre Dame won by 100 points because it was not an ACC game and had no impact on Pitt’s chances of winning the ACC.
“Absolutely not,” Narduzzi said when asked about the must-win nature of the game. “It is not an ACC game. I’m glad you brought that up. It’s not an ACC game. I’d gladly get beat 103 or 110-10 in that game, they can put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that. But again, our focus is on Notre Dame and getting as many wins as we can.”
Well, they did not lose by 100, but their 37-15 loss was almost as bad.
Pat Narduzzi’s pregame comments make loss look even worse
There are a few things that can be true at the same time here.
Pitt did not lose because of Narduzzi’s comments. It was probably going to lose anyway given the talent gap and how undermanned Pitt was against a top team. Especially along the line of scrimmage.
But what those comments did was just add another layer of embarrassment to the lopsided defeat. It makes it look like he was looking ahead to the remaining two ACC games, not taking a top-10 game seriously and telling an excited fan base that there was nothing worth coming out for.
No serious coach at a serious program would ever say something like that going into a game like that. No serious coach at a serious program would ever treat a game of this magnitude like that.
It just set a bad tone and sent a bad message to everybody. It also probably wasn’t a totally meaningless game.
Even if Pitt wins its remaining two ACC games, it isn’t guaranteed a spot in the ACC Championship Game and will still need some help to get in. Could it have been playing for a potential at-large bid in the playoffs? Not likely, but if it had run the table, it would have finished with a 10-win regular season with three straight wins over ranked opponents (Notre Dame, as well as Georgia Tech and Miami). Would that have been enough? Maybe not, but it could have at least been a solid resume builder for a better bowl game, a solid recruiting tool and program-building win.
People notice when you beat Notre Dame. It is a big deal.
But what is perhaps the worst look of all for Narduzzi is if he truly felt it was not a must-win game, and if he truly believed it did not matter in comparison to the significantly more important remaining ACC games, he should have treated it as such and sat his best players. Specifically running back Desmond Reid — Pitt’s best playmaker — who has been battling injuries all season and ended up leaving Saturday’s game with another injury.
If it was a truly meaningless game, why put players like him at risk?
Either it matters, or it does not matter.
If it matters, why would you downplay it?
If it does not matter, why treat it like it does?
Whether it was clumsy comments or his true thoughts coming out, it made Pitt’s already-bad performance look even worse.
