For Pitt football coach Pat Narduzzi, it was one thing to lose a football game (37-15) to ninth-ranked Notre Dame on Saturday.

It was quite another thing to lose face.

But that happened to Narduzzi too. Calling a timeout with six seconds left in an effort to score a garbage-time touchdown was unbecoming. It certainly didn’t seem to go over well with Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman on this brief exchange with Pitt's Pat Narruzzi: "I wanted to go celebrate, you know?"

(video via @LockedOnIrish) pic.twitter.com/BTEOKRBJlV

— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 15, 2025

Although the Fighting Irish coach bit his lip and held back any significant negative commentary.

Marcus Freeman on coach Narduzzi calling for a timeout late in the 4th quarter and then ending the game with a brief handshake

"I wanted to go celebrate…to each their own" pic.twitter.com/a147Ig081y

— Talia Baia (@talia_baia) November 16, 2025

Fans and media members also held Narduzzi’s feet to the fire for his comments in advance of the game.

“It is not an ACC game,” Narduzzi said last Monday. “They can put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that.”

Just because Narduzzi said it, that didn’t mean his players had to play like they were trying to make it happen.

By Thursday, Narduzzi tried to walk back those comments.

“Trying to take stress off our team,” Narduzzi said. “I don’t like pressure, and I misspoke. That’s what it is.”

OK, there’s a problem with that, Coach Duzz. When you work that hard to dial back the “pressure” and “stress” of the Notre Dame game by way of pumping up these next two contests against Georgia Tech and Miami, there’s no way around acknowledging how big a deal these two games are.

Unfortunately, for a guy who doesn’t “like pressure” for his team, you’ve just created more of it heading into Saturday’s contest against the 15th-ranked Yellow Jackets (9-1/6-1 ACC).

“I’m not a pressure guy. I’m not a stress guy,” Narduzzi said Monday before the trip to Atlanta. “Our guys are going to approach it just like they did (against Notre Dame), which I don’t think it was pressure, and the week before when they went to Syracuse, when they went to Stanford. It’s just the same way. We just take it one game at a time and treat everything the same.”

Well, obviously you don’t. I didn’t hear any mentions this week about how losing by 100 points would be no big deal. You already admitted that the ACC games are a bigger deal, so stop trying to put spilled milk back in the carton.

“The word ‘pressure’ is bad. Our guys know what they’ve got to do,” Narduzzi continued. “They’ve got to go out and win one football game.”

Actually, it would probably behoove them to win two. With six teams currently at one or two losses atop the ACC, the Panthers (7-3/5-1) don’t want to beat Georgia Tech, only to lose to No. 14 Miami next week (8-2/4-2).

According to CBS Sports, the Panthers have two paths to the ACC title game. One would result in playing Virginia. The other would result in playing SMU. But in both cases, Pitt would need to beat both the Hurricanes and the Yellow Jackets.

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Furthermore, Georgia Tech will be playing at home, with a win guaranteeing a spot in the ACC title game.

So pressure will be abundant. Narduzzi’s players should be able to pick up that sense through osmosis regardless of how much he tries to shield them from it.

Which, if we’re being honest, was very much the case last weekend as well, despite Narduzzi’s efforts to turn the release valve.

He knew that. His players knew that, which made his statements all the more quizzical.

Last year, the 7-0 Panthers entered a top-20 road showdown with SMU at 7-1. At one point, the Panthers trailed by 37, and eventually lost 48-25. They never recovered, dropping six in a row to close out the season.

“I don’t worry about snowballing. I don’t think you can control that,” Narduzzi said about that comparison to 2024. “The other team will make you snowball. You’ve got to go out and execute and make plays. It just doesn’t happen to you. You let it happen.”

Fair enough.

Narduzzi may just wanna come up with a little different tone to his pregame messaging this week. That’s all.

Maybe borrow a page from Freeman’s pregame speech prior to taking the field at Acrisure Stadium.

Played for each other ☘️#GoIrish☘️ | @DICKS | Story of the Game pic.twitter.com/0L8ovrcXtC

— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 17, 2025

That rings a little louder than, “I don’t like pressure,” and “They can put 100 up on us.”

Don’tcha think?

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