GT Football Snarky Preview: Game 11 (Pitt)

As we head into the penultimate week of the regular season, Saturday’s night slate will feature an ACC tilt with major implications on who will get to play for the conference title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Of course, it’s all a moot point. The ACC title was, of course, decided two weeks ago when Clemson knocked off Florida State 24-10, settling the score between two of the only three teams that matter in the ACC. As we all know, the ACC is only good when Clemson, FSU, and Miami are good (why does Miami still get included in this sentiment? yeah fine they’ve been less [Steely Dan]ty than the other two in 2025, but why do we need to pretend to care about a team that has fewer ACC title game appearances than both GT and Pitt and has scored as many touchdowns in ACC title game as the Rhode Island School of Design?), so there really isn’t much point in playing out the rest of the slate. We already know who the two best teams in the ACC are: Clemson and Miami, the only two teams that were able to beat FSU*.

* terms and conditions apply; the other eight ACC teams to beat FSU over the past two years only did so because FSU wasn’t motivated for the games… probably

Don’t pay close attention to the 5-5 next to either Clemson or FSU in the current standings. Surely that just means they’re tied for the #5 ranking in both polls. And both of them are playing for a postseason berth this weekend. That’s the sign of a great team, right? Making the postseason? (Don’t mind me over here—just trying to manifest a Birmingham Bowl between Clemson and LSU.)

While the titans of the ACC have their little, umm, adventure in the corner, the rest of us have found some enjoyment in this vintage ACC season. There’s something comforting about returning to the old tradition of entering late November with roughly 69 possible different title game scenarios still on the table, as we enter Week 13 with four one-loss teams and a couple others technically still in the mix with two losses.

After Saturday, there’ll be at least one fewer one-loss team. It’s possible that’s the Jackets, who at this stage seem intent on seeing how far a team can go by pairing one of the most fun offenses in the country with the truly innovative defensive strategy of simply waiting for the opposing QB to complete a pass without trying to stop him. In theory it’s not too different from how the 2009 Tech team attempted to play defense down the stretch, although that team at least had Morgan Burnett roaming the secondary and Derrick Morgan registering the occasional sack.

But it’s also possible that it’s Pitt. The Panthers turned a corner after making a QB change and installing freshman Mason Heintschel, who led them to five straight wins with 30+ points before they ran into a Notre Dame-shaped brick wall last week. But they’re still coached by Pat Narduzzi, who has become the third-most tenured coach in the ACC—a remarkable feat given that pretty much nobody likes the guy. We’re not that far removed from the 2021 offseason, when Narduzzi pushed out the offensive coordinator who led them to the country’s third-best scoring offense, saying he was annoyed at Mark Whipple’s refusal to run the ball.

Narduzzi made waves a week ago when he said that he’d be fine giving up 100 points to Notre Dame as long as they won their two remaining ACC games. A possible interpretation is that they were looking ahead to their games against Tech and Miami, choosing to ignore the top-10 opponent directly in their path, and that’s why they got bludgeoned in a 22-point loss. Another interpretation is that Narduzzi can’t read the room and didn’t seem to realize that his fanbase (and team?) wouldn’t be interested in phoning it in against a major opponent, and doubly so with College Gameday on campus.

So ultimately it comes down to a game that (much like the question of who might actually win this conference) feels like a coin flip. If Tech falls, it’d be a disappointing stumble in the late stages of the team’s most successful season in at least nine years, but that fact will still remain true. However, the far funnier outcome is Pitt falling, because despite them being ranked in the middle of November this season, it would leave open the possibility of them matching their 2024 season by finishing 7-6.

Either way, there’s one certainty this week: it’s time to take a cue from our West Virginia brethren on how to extend good ol’ southern hospitality to Pitt this weekend.