So is best case scenario next year 9-3. I see losses to Notre Dame, Florida State, and North Carolina. I know its early, but I'd take 9-3 if we can avoid the one bad loss, we have every year.
2023 Record
- Thread starter Weavedog469
- Start date
I hope Pitt doesn't lose both games to FSU and UNC , both are at home.
I see Pitt winning one of those , but probably having the annual wtf game.
9-3 sounds about right, 8-4.
I see Pitt winning one of those , but probably having the annual wtf game.
9-3 sounds about right, 8-4.
2023 Schedule
1. vs Wofford - new head coach
2. vs Cincinnati - new head coach (downgrade)
3. at West Virginia - new offensive coordinator
at Duke
at Notre Dame
at Syracuse
at Virginia
at Wake Forest - new QB
vs Boston College
vs Florida State - likely new offensive coordinator
vs Louisville - new head coach (upgrade)
vs North Carolina
1. vs Wofford - new head coach
2. vs Cincinnati - new head coach (downgrade)
3. at West Virginia - new offensive coordinator
at Duke
at Notre Dame
at Syracuse
at Virginia
at Wake Forest - new QB
vs Boston College
vs Florida State - likely new offensive coordinator
vs Louisville - new head coach (upgrade)
vs North Carolina
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I'm going to say 9-3:also I see losses to ND,FSU, and either Duke or wake forest cause both are road games and I think we beat NC we seem to finish well especially lately under duzz
Someone trying to predict what Pitt will or won't do in a given season...Kids, God love em'.
I would probably guess 7-5 right now. After Wofford, almost every game on our schedule will be a dog fight and a possible game we can lose.
Offense: I'm not high on Jurkovec. We're losing our home run back. Our receiving corps was bad last year, and now we're subtracting the leading receiver from it (and we haven't exactly made a splash in the portal to replace him with).
Defense: We are losing both safeties. That is absolutely huge in a Narduzzi defense. We are losing an AA defensive lineman. We are losing our top three - or at least three of our top four - DE's. That is both huge from a pure talent perspective (this defense relies on the pass rush to mask the corners being on islands) and a depth perspective. And we are losing the leader of our defense on top of all that.
Frankly, even 7-5 might be pushing it. I imagine we'll be favored heavily against Wofford and be heavy underdogs to ND, FSU, and UNC. Heck, maybe even Duke. But every other game will probably be one that could go either way. It's a bit of a transition year. More than any we've seen in a while, with so many guys getting that extra eligibility.
Offense: I'm not high on Jurkovec. We're losing our home run back. Our receiving corps was bad last year, and now we're subtracting the leading receiver from it (and we haven't exactly made a splash in the portal to replace him with).
Defense: We are losing both safeties. That is absolutely huge in a Narduzzi defense. We are losing an AA defensive lineman. We are losing our top three - or at least three of our top four - DE's. That is both huge from a pure talent perspective (this defense relies on the pass rush to mask the corners being on islands) and a depth perspective. And we are losing the leader of our defense on top of all that.
Frankly, even 7-5 might be pushing it. I imagine we'll be favored heavily against Wofford and be heavy underdogs to ND, FSU, and UNC. Heck, maybe even Duke. But every other game will probably be one that could go either way. It's a bit of a transition year. More than any we've seen in a while, with so many guys getting that extra eligibility.
I think that's a pretty reasonable assessment. I'm also not sold on Jurkovec although I think he should be at least as good as Slovis (assuming he can stay healthy).
I think our RB situation should be pretty solid, particularly if C-Bo stays. I actually prefer Hammond slightly over Izzy in terms of between the tackle running. The dimension that Izzy brought is the ability to score from anywhere (which will be missed) but overall, I think we'll be OK running the ball.
You didn't mention the O line but I think with Kradel and Zub returning and with Goncalves and Moore gaining a lot of experience, we should be reasonably solid there.
I agree that our WR's aren't going to scare anyone. Losing Wayne really hurts. Hopefully, we can still pull someone solid out of the portal. If not, one of the young guys is absolutely going to have to step up. Also, we need to hope that Bartholomew has a comeback year.
On defense, it's hard to argue that we didn't lose a lot. We lost a ton at DE however, I'm cautiously optimistic that our young talent can fill the gap pretty well. Same thing at D Tackle. We lost a lot at LB, but if Simon stays we should be OK.
Our CB's should be solid again with Williams coming back. I'm also not quite as concerned about losing our safeties. Frankly, I thought Hallet was overrated. Got burned in coverage a bunch of times. If the younger guys can figure out PN's defense, we may be OK.
Overall, I would not be surprised by 7-5, but I'll go with 8-4 (and hope for better).
Cruzer
Cincinnati's new head coach is an upgrade?
Whoops, copied and pasted that from Louisville. That should be DOWNgrade, and a big one at that…. Thanks for the catch.
Really easy schedule
9-3
Losses to ND, FSU, and obviously UNC, who we haven't beaten in regulation in 15 years.
Thanks to stability (imagine that), we've been significantly more talented than most of our schedule over the past two years. VT got hit with the transfer bug; Virginia had a few coaching coaches; GT revamped their scheme and had coaching changes; etc. All while we've been mostly business as usual and even had a lot of 6th year guys hanging around. I know we found a way to lose a few we shouldn't have, but it really should have been a get-off-the-bus-and-win-at-least-9 type of season.
I can't say I see that same advantage this coming season. Just too many new faces on defense. I see it as a sort of retooling year. Maybe not quite akin to 2017, because we have some more of those aforementioned extra Covid year guys to help ease the transition, but maybe not too far off. Like I don't know what Syracuse/Louisville/Virginia Tech/Georgia Tech/Boston College/etc. return, but it might be a mistake to assume we're just going to automatically be more talented than those teams because of what the names are on paper.
I agree with the 7-5 record. To begin with, it is way to early to know how any of these teams will look when the season starts later this year. The 2nd National Signing Day and kids still waiting to decide makes all of this very speculative.
As I said, we are similar to PSU in that we should be able to win 8 by getting off the bus. For PSU, its 10. The reason we lost 2 if the get off the bus games last year were due to horrible offensive playcalling and execution vs Lou and GT. Those teams made it very hard for us to eff up as bad as we did.
I don't think that's where we're at as a program, though it's felt like it with VT and GT (peer programs more often than not) being so down lately. 6 or 7 wins by getting off the bus, sure. I'm talking about the big picture, though, not just these last two seasons.
Big picture, no, we arent an 8 win for getting off the bus team. But the last 2 years we were and we are for this upcoming season. Now a lot of that is due to our stability and bad ACC coaching hires so our window may be closing.
I just don't know what is or isn't an obvious win this year. Like if Syracuse has a bunch of older guys on defense or something, that could very well be a dog fight. If GT or VT randomly finds some QB like Kansas did last year, they could be annoying. Etc. Kancey, Baldonado, Morgan, Dennis, Hill, and Hallett is just such a huge haul to lose on defense... and oh by the way, our leading rusher and receiver are also gone.
I think we might be doing what we did last year as far as as shrugging off the losses of Pickett and Addison go. Those really good players are the differences in games. Every team has David Greens and Bam Brimas. Frankly, I wouldn't even be unhappy with 7-5. I adjust my expectations to where we're at in the cycle. Right now, it's about (hopefully) developing that next crop of studs. Okunlola, Baer, etc.
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I think it's interesting to see the angst towards the coaching staff, recruiting, NIL, etc... and then read predictions the last few years on how Pitt should win 9 or 10 games.
I think a reasonable guess this year would be 8-4, based on what we know today. 7-5 would be a little disappointing and winning more than 8 would be overachieving.
Agree with Werewolf on replacing a lot of guys on D. That won't happen without a few growing pains.
I think a reasonable guess this year would be 8-4, based on what we know today. 7-5 would be a little disappointing and winning more than 8 would be overachieving.
Agree with Werewolf on replacing a lot of guys on D. That won't happen without a few growing pains.
| Saturday Sep. 2 | Wofford TerriersAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Saturday Sep. 9 | Cincinnati BearcatsAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Saturday Sep. 16 | at West Virginia MountaineersMountaineer Field, Morgantown, WV |
| Saturday Oct. 28 | at Notre Dame Fighting IrishNotre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, IN |
| Date TBA | at Duke Blue DevilsWallace Wade Stadium, Durham, NC |
| Date TBA | at Syracuse OrangeJMA Wireless Dome, Syracuse, NY |
| Date TBA | at Virginia Tech HokiesLane Stadium, Blacksburg, VA |
| Date TBA | at Wake Forest Demon DeaconsTruist Field, Winston-Salem, NC |
| Date TBA | Boston College EaglesAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Date TBA | Florida State SeminolesAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Date TBA | Louisville CardinalsAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
| Date TBA | North Carolina Tar HeelsAcrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh, PA |
With the new ACC Championship format this year pitting the top two teams I think a 7-1 record will be required to make it and that may even require a tie breaker. Based on our ACC schedule I think 6-2 or 7-1 is very possible/likely. Guessing we lose to Florida St at home and one away game. Assuming UNC will be a Thursday night game that goes right to the end and likely at the same time as a Steelers away game.
Overall I see 8-4 or 9-3.
As of now I would be very happy with eight wins. We lose a good amount and our schedule is pretty tough.
FSU and ND will be tough. UNC will be a challenge but not sure the rest of the schedule is that tough.
Duke
Syracuse
Va tech
Louisville
BC
Wake forest
Do you really see more than one loss coming from these conference games?
WVU and Cincy 1-1 at worst.
At the moment , I have to change to 7-5
Did you see the ACCDN top 5 ? DUKE !!!
We also have no threats on O.
Did you see the ACCDN top 5 ? DUKE !!!
We also have no threats on O.
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