18. Pittsburgh (4-0)​

SP+ and FPI rankings: 37th and 33rd

SP+ strength of schedule to date: 94th

What the Panthers did in Week 4: def. Youngstown State 73-17

Last week's ranking: 33rd

Why they're ranked here: The saga of the Pitt offense is one of the strangest in recent memory.

2019: 100th in offensive SP+, 21.2 points per game

2021: sixth in offensive SP+, 41.4 PPG

2023: 108th in offensive SP+, 20.2 PPG

It's a full rise-and-fall story arc in a small period of time. But Pat Narduzzi's additions of former Western Carolina offensive coordinator Kade Bell and Alabama backup quarterback Eli Holstein have created a new arc. Pitt blew out two minnows, Holstein pulled off late-game heroics against both Cincinnati and West Virginia, and the Panthers are 4-0 for the first time since 2000. Do they have staying power? Is the pass defense good enough? Not sure. But this is fun.

Next test: Week 6 at North Carolina

Pitt has been in contact with North Catholic TE/DE Joe Safar. First year player, most definitely would be a project but the raw talent is there. Slightly thin but nothing a semester or two wont fix. Hearing we ( COULD ) be close to offering him but still just talking. He would most definitely jump on the Pitt offer if it came. Great great kid and student. Would love to see it

I was lucky enough to see that total butt kicking in person yesterday. Not sure the last time I made it into town for a game. Here are some thoughts with the caveat that it's easier to observe at home than from the 200 level

• Congrats to Narduzzi and the entire team for surpassing our win total in September. Yes, it certainly took two unreal comebacks. But credit where it is due. I did not love how ANYF of our starters were playing in the 4th yesterday. Pitt jumping to 28th in the coaches poll shows you really how little the opponent means in other's eyes. It doesn't make any sense that OSU/Ole Miss/Oregon/PSU/Mizzou are in the top 11 when they haven't beaten anyone. Tennessee should be third right now.
• 4-0 for the first time since 2000...or the year before I became a Pitt fan. It's a big deal whether it should be or not.
• QB play - I came out of yesterday's game thinking two things. 1 - Holstein is just unreal. Almost 1,200 yards and 6-1 TD/INT ratio. His pass to Lee was right on the money in stride. Man does he throw an incredible deep ball. 2 - you can see that the scheme gets players open but we would not be nearly as good with Yarnell as the starter. In fact, I'm not sure we don't lose one of Cincy or WVU with him back there. Regardless, glad to see him get some run and even happier he got an ovation when he came in.
• RBs - I have a hard time believing that Carter shouldn't be the number 2 behind Davis. He looked more explosive, hit the right holes and took the correct angles when he got into the secondary. He also is a guy that seems much harder to bring down. Che looked surprisingly good in pass pro for how slight he is. I'd love to get him more involved given his speed.
• I thought the receiving corps was great yesterday. Poppy, Lee, Mump, Overman had a great catch and run. Also Haselrig - who is that?
• I didn't love giving up 238 in the air but the truth is that YSU had the ball 13 times.
• I thought the defense was mostly good yesterday although there were a few times that we seemed to only get pressure and not get the sack. Kind of shocking we didn't have a single sack against a 1-AA team on 31 pass plays. George, Biles, Louis, Lynum, Brookins, McMillon, Edwards, Scott, and Crumpley all made big plays and made their presence felt.
• Can we please get Kenny Johnson off kick returns?
• Enjoy the bye week! There are some good games next week. Ok state/ksu; Lville/ND; Geogia/Bama; Illinois/PSU.
• I'm feeling even stronger now about starting 5-0. Road games are tough but we really should take care of business in 2 weeks at UNC. If we come out of that 5-0, I can't imagine we aren't ranked. We could even sneak in during the bye week.

I think each of these notes have shown up in in various posts, so I figured I would put them all together.

Pitt released a notebook of items yesterday after the first official practice of the season. Here's what they announced:

- Papa Kante is cleared to play. He missed all of last season with a knee injury and seems to still be recovering, but he's available to practice as a full participant, and that will help the front court depth.

- The ACC schedule will be released tonight on the ACC Network in a show that airs from 8-9 pm. The ACC previously announced that Pitt would face Syracuse, Louisville and North Carolina home and away in addition to home games against Boston College, Cal, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami, Stanford and Virginia and road trips to face Duke, Florida State, N.C. State, Notre Dame, SMU, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

- The game at Virginia Tech will be played on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2 pm as part of the conference's opening weekend. 16 of the league's 18 teams will play that day, with Duke-Louisville capping the weekend on Sunday, Dec. 8.

- Three days before the Virginia Tech game, Pitt will face Mississippi State on the road as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge. That game will tip at 9:15 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and be aired on the SEC Network.

- With the Virginia Tech game on the schedule for that weekend, Pitt is set to face five consecutive power-conference opponents from Nov. 22-Dec. 7 - all away from home.

Friday, Nov. 22. - LSU (Greenbrier Tip-Off - White Sulphur Springs, WV)
Sunday, Nov. 24 - UCF or Wisconsin (Greenbrier Tip-Off - White Sulphur Springs, WV)
Friday, Nov. 29 - Ohio State (Columbus, Oh.)
Wednesday, Dec. 4 - Mississippi State (Starkville, Miss.)
Saturday, Dec. 7 - Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)

- Here's the full schedule of announced games:

Monday, Nov. 4 - Radford (Petersen Events Center)
Friday, Nov. 8 - Murray State (Petersen Events Center)
Monday, Nov. 11 - Gardner-Webb (Petersen Events Center)
Friday, Nov. 15 - West Virginia (Petersen Events Center)
Monday, Nov. 18 - VMI (Greenbrier Tip-Off - Petersen Events Center)
Friday, Nov. 22. - LSU (Greenbrier Tip-Off - White Sulphur Springs, WV)
Sunday, Nov. 24 - UCF or Wisconsin (Greenbrier Tip-Off - White Sulphur Springs, WV)
Friday, Nov. 29 - Ohio State (Columbus, Oh.)
Wednesday, Dec. 4 - Mississippi State (Starkville, Miss.)
Saturday, Dec. 7 - Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.)
Wednesday, Dec. 11 - Eastern Kentucky (Petersen Events Center)
Saturday, Dec. 21 - Sam Houston (Petersen Events Center)

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Lunardi has us last team in to start the 2024-25 opening day Bracketology

Four games down and four wins in the books. Who are your top five Pitt players right now? Has Eli Holstein secured the top spot? Is Desmond Reid out of sight and out of mind? Who's your top defender?

Let's see your top-five player rankings for the season so far.

This is through games from yesterday.....take a look. Now we wait for the AVCA poll this afternoon.

"This is the first VolleyballMag Super 16 Media Poll of the season and unbeaten Pittsburgh is a unanimous No. 1. The Panthers got all 11 of the first-place votes. Nebraska was a solid No. 2. As the voters noted in their comments, after that things could have gone a number of way."

Sorry, if something similar has been posted as I was not on the board this weekend and tried to go through to see. I was at the game on Sat., and in the bathroom they were playing pre-game, and I heard Bostick talking about something related to Holstein, and he must have said "that is great breaking news," probably 3 times. It had something to do with quotes from his family, so I can only assume it had to do with how much he liked Pitt and the assumption being he would come back next year? Did anyone else hear that?

I’ve never been to Chapel Hill before and there’s 4 of us going to the game next weekend. Anyone have any suggestions as far as food/breweries. I’m staying in Cary, NC and also looking for good barbecue as well. Thanks.

We were moved to Green 31. The issues were:
1. Getting to Green 31 was a nightmare.
2. Green 31 had no signage.
3. Just prior to kick-off we noticed Gold 1 & 2 were 1/2 empty. So much for the large Pirate crowd.

Pitt is 4-0, and the Panthers have reached that record due in no small part to some outstanding individual performances. On today's Morning Pitt, we're talking about some of the top players on the team - including the quarterback, who is in elite company.

Pitt's game at North Carolina on October 5th will be at noon, either on ESPN or ESPN2.

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Very annoying. So now we need not only the ACC Network but other conference networks to watch games too?

In the games ahead I like his speed and agility even if it was against YSU

I click on it...............half are Steelers fans thanking that he is gone, half are Eagles fans wanting him to get a shot at QB1.

LOL

Friday
7:30: ESPN - Stanford @ Syracuse

Saturday
noon: ABC - NC State @ Clemson
noon: ACCN - James Madison @ North Carolina
3:30: ESPN2 - Georgia Tech @ Louisville
3:30: ACCN - Rutgers @ Virginia Tech
4:00: ESPNU - Duke @ Middle Tennessee State
5:00: CW - TCU @ SMU
7:00: ESPN - Miami @ South Florida
7:00: ESPN2 - Cal @ Florida State
8:00: ACCN - Michigan State @ Boston College

Stream-only games
2:00: ESPN+ - Virginia @ Coastal Carolina
3:30: ACCNX - Youngstown State @ Pitt

- USF over Miami - can never count out Cristobal to blow a few games and this feels like one of those

- Love watching FSU lose. Must-see TV Saturday night. Cal didnt look very impressive vs San Diego State but their D is pretty good and they have a very good RB.

- BC beats Michigan State. Maybe easily. Darkhorse team for Charlotte. Had a chance at #6 Missouri

- Sun Belt goes 2-0 vs ACC this week but B10 goes 0-2

- Another nice game for CW. TCU/SMU is an underrated rivalry.

- GT/Lou is a very interesting early-season conference matchup. Both teams could wind up in Charlotte.

- I expect Clemson to roll a bad NC State team

- For those of you who do not have ACC Network as part of your cable, satellite, or streaming service, you can still watch Pitt/YSU if you pay for the ESPN+ subscription service. If you do have ACC Network, then that game is free to you on ACCNX on the ESPN App.

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Very impressed with the work of new Director of Creative Charles Gatewood so far.

First career INT
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