Pitt lands at No. 25 in Associated Press poll

Pat Narduzzi has found the respect for his team he believed was lacking in the preseason.

The Associated Press released its Top 25 on Sunday — its first since the start of the college football season — and Pitt landed at No. 25 after its dominant 55-0 victory against Austin Peay.

When Narduzzi was informed last month Pitt received no votes in the AP preseason poll, he was unhappy and insisted the Panthers would be part of his top 25. Narduzzi previously had a vote in the USA Today/Coaches poll.

“I’ll take our quarterback (Kenny Pickett) any single day, and I like the football team we got,” he said at the time.

Pitt made its first statement of the season Saturday, rolling to its largest margin of victory in Narduzzi’s six seasons. Pitt led 42-0 at halftime.

Pitt’s defense held Austin Peay, now an 0-2 FCS team, to 1 net yard rushing. The Panthers scored six of their eight touchdowns on running plays after recording only 11 such scores in 13 games last season.

Pitt is one of seven ACC teams ranked in the Top 25, led by No. 1 Clemson. The others are No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 12 North Carolina, No. 17 Miami, No. 18 Louisville and No. 20 Virginia Tech.

Pitt will play Louisville, Miami, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech and Clemson over the next 11 weeks.

The rankings do not include schools from the Big Ten and Pac-12, the two Power 5 conferences that have postponed football this year. Nine teams from those conferences, including Penn State who was No. 7, were listed on the preseason rankings.

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