Pittsburgh Panthers football coach Pat Narduzzi has enough goodwill in the Steel City to keep his job for at least another year if this season goes awry. The chances of that skyrocketed with a 34-27 loss to the Louisville Cardinals at home and a loss in the Backyard Brawl, though.
Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde is close to throwing his hands up on Pitt bowling this season, challenging the Panthers to come up with at least four wins over the next four weeks before a stretch against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta, and the Miami Hurricanes to close out the year.
“In a season that finishes with Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Miami, Pitt better stack some wins in the next five weeks if it wants to go bowling,” Forde wrote.
Pitt will have to travel to Tallahassee to knock off a Florida State Seminoles squad that upset the Alabama Crimson Tide, 31-17, in Week 1. Needless to say, they’ll be the underdog in that one, even after the Virginia Cavaliers stunned the Seminoles, 46-38, at Scott Stadium this past Friday.
Otherwise, the Panthers will/should be favored against the Boston College Golden Eagles, Syracuse Orange in Central New York, North Carolina State Wolfpack, and Stanford Cardinal in NoCal.
Narduzzi just needs to go bowling to hold off any questions about his job. His 2026 recruiting class is within the top 50, and he’s produced several deep NFL draft classes since 2017. Pitt has held a steady space in the ACC as a competitor in both major revenue sports during the NIL era.
But questions will start with a second losing season in three years.
Narduzzi established a disciplined culture since he arrived in 2015. Losing that edge as a defensive-minded coach is a problem, especially in the NIL era, when someone new, especially in the ACC, can come in and change things quickly. Not Bill Belichick, clearly, but Jeff Brohm at Louisville is a good example of that.