Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi takes offense to critics of ACC, Coastal division

Pat Narduzzi coaches in the ACC. He has been to the conference championship game and, more to the point, he has won 10 of his past 14 regular-season conference games.

So, of course, Pitt’s coach is an unashamed ambassador for the conference, especially when it comes to defending the league against critics.

“All the people on ESPN, they need to wake up,” Narduzzi said Thursday after he finalized the final day of practice for Pitt’s game Saturday at Virginia Tech.

The ACC Coastal is widely mocked by national media but maybe it's not as bad as we think..

The ACC Coastal has 3 teams with teams ranked in the Top 20 nationally in Total Defense:
Pitt - 10th
Miami - 16th
UVa - 18th

The SEC West has ZERO

Defense wins championships amirite???

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 21, 2019

“You look at every conference. You can pick on one because Clemson has been so dominant. Ohio State has been pretty dominant in the Big Ten. Who else is there right now, really?”

Actually, there are plenty of good teams in the Big Ten. After Ohio State (No. 2 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings), five others — No. 8 Penn State, No. 10 Minnesota, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 13 Michigan and No. 17 Iowa — are ranked.

“We’ll see how they finish out their next two games,” Narduzzi said. “But you’re probably going to say the same thing.”

Other than Clemson, the ACC has no ranked teams, although the Virginia Tech/Pitt winner could crack the Top 25 next week.

Narduzzi might have been exaggerating to make his point the ACC can stand up to any conference. In fact, the night before on his radio show on 93.7 FM, Narduzzi gave high praise to the Panthers’ latest victim, North Carolina (4-6, 3-4), one of four ACC teams Pitt (7-3, 4-2) has defeated that has not reached bowl eligibility.

“That’s the best football team we’ve played to date,” said Narduzzi, whose Panthers have played only one team currently ranked (Penn State).

“I think the ACC is a great conference. I’m not saying it because I’m in the conference. I’m saying it because I coached and watched the videotape.”

Narduzzi said the ACC Coastal Division, of which Pitt is a member, is better than the ACC Atlantic.

“We have three teams that are 7-3 right now (Virginia, Virginia Tech and Pitt). What else would you want with two more weeks to go? That’s awesome. That means there’s not one dominant team.”

Clemson (11-0, 8-0), which has won the past four conference championships, easily clinched the Atlantic Division over second-place Louisville (6-4, 4-3) and Wake Forest (7-3, 3-3) is the only other team with more than six victories.

Narduzzi pointed out “there are no meaningful games on the other side,” while the Coastal has at least two yet to be played (Pitt’s game at Virginia Tech and Virginia’s game against the Hokies on Nov. 29).

There is plenty of parity in the Coastal, where there have been six different champions the past six seasons. If Virginia beats Virginia Tech, it will be seven in seven years.

But only eight ACC teams currently are bowl eligible, which would be fewest since the league expanded to 14 in 2013. The conference shares bowl revenue among all its members, and fewer bowls would mean less money for everyone. The ACC had 11 bowl teams in 2018, ’14 and ’13.

Miami coach Manny Diaz said parity is a reason it is difficult for Coastal teams to hit big victory totals.

“Anytime you’ve got teams that are going to focus on playing great defense, what are the games going to be? They’re going to be competitive,” Diaz told the Associated Press. “That’s a game where anybody can beat anybody.”

He said Coastal coaches who built their reputations on defense — Narduzzi and Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster, for example — contribute to low-scoring and one-possession games.

“I think that’s why it’s always a different road to get through,” Diaz said.