Saturday afternoon’s game at Acrisure Stadium brought together two ACC teams heating up late in the year, with Pitt and Duke jockeying for positioning in the Coastal Division standings with bowl season approaching.
And the Panthers’ 28-26 victory gave them more momentum heading into next weekend’s finale at Miami. Pitt improved to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the ACC.
The Panthers entered the day riding a two-game winning streak, with a 37-7 drubbing of Virginia last weekend preceded by an impressive 19-9 win over then-No. 20 Syracuse.
Duke had won three straight games.
As far as the ACC Coastal crown is considered, that matter is already settled, even with a few weeks of the regular season remaining.
Ahead of its Saturday evening game against Georgia Tech, No. 13 North Carolina holds a 6-0 record in league play and will play Clemson on Dec. 3 for the ACC championship.
Pitt held on Saturday despite a poor second half.
“You can call it growth, you can call it whatever you want to,” coach Pat Narduzzi said. “We’ve still got a ways to go, and we still want to get better.”
Kedon Slovis threw two interceptions unbecoming of a senior quarterback, and the offense failed to score any points in the final half other than a 2-point conversion after a 30-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown by junior defensive back Brandon Hill early in the fourth quarter.
If that wasn’t bad enough, a fumbled punt attempt by Caleb Junko with 3 minutes, 15 seconds left in the game put Duke right on Pitt’s doorstep.
The Blue Devils went on to improbably convert a fourth-and-18 try from the Panthers’ 19-yard line for a touchdown, but they failed on the ensuing 2-point try that would have tied the score with 47 seconds to play.
Nonetheless, the Panthers improved to 3-0 in November.
Less than a month ago, Pitt was 4-4 and coming off a fourth-quarter collapse on the road at No. 21 North Carolina.
If that was the low point of Pitt’s 2022 season, the Panthers have managed to rebound nicely, with an invitation to a respectable bowl game still in reach.
“On offense, we’re preaching the motto, ‘People remember what happens in November,’ ” said senior wide receiver Jared Wayne. “The past is the past. We’re just trying to capitalize on every game from here on out.”
Narduzzi’s Panthers teams of the recent past have managed to do just what Wayne suggested.
Since 2018, Pitt has a 14-4 record in the month, with just one loss in November since 2020.
While the Panthers likely aren’t looking past their final regular-season game, a win against the Hurricanes and then a win in a bowl game would give Pitt a 9-4 record.
The Panthers won’t repeat as ACC champions, but there is still a possibility 2022 could be the second-best record they have had under Narduzzi in his eight years.
Other than last year’s 11-3 team, the best Pitt finished under Narduzzi was 8-5, which happened three times (2015, 2016, 2019).
However, all attention will soon shift to preparing for Miami and cleaning up the laundry list of mistakes that nearly turned Saturday into a loss.
“We got a good football team, (but) we just can’t make the mistakes we made today,” Narduzzi said. “ … We got momentum, I guess. We’ve got a chance to go down to Miami and play some ball next Saturday at 8 p.m.”
