2. Featured

Ranked: Pitt football now No. 24 in Week 14 AP poll

After toiling just outside the top 25 for most of the season, the Pitt football team is now ranked, coming in at No. 24 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday.

The ranking is Pitt’s highest mark since Pat Narduzzi took over the squad last year.

The Panthers (8-4 overall, 5-3 ACC) finished the regular season on a three-game winning streak after a record-setting 76-61 victory over the Syracuse Orange at Heinz Field on Saturday. The win followed a 56-14 home blowout over the Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 19 and a 43-42 road upset win over the then-No. 2 Clemson Tigers on Nov. 12.

This is Pitt’s first time being ranked in the AP poll since October 2015, when a 23-20 win over Syracuse propelled the Panthers to a 6-1 record and the No. 25 ranking.

Pitt holds a pair of wins this season over teams ranked inside the current top 10 in the AP poll — No. 3 Clemson and No. 8 Penn State. Meanwhile, all four of the Panthers’ losses have come against teams from Power 5 conferences with at least eight wins, three of which have come by a combined total of 11 points.

Two of those losses were to teams ranked inside the current top 25 — a 45-38 loss at No. 11 Oklahoma State and a 39-36 home loss to No. 19 Virginia Tech. The other two teams to beat Pitt — North Carolina and Miami — both spent multiple weeks inside the top 25 during the season.

The Panthers finished the regular season with eight wins for the second year in a row, the team’s first time accomplishing that since the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. The team will have a chance to make it to nine wins by winning its bowl game, which will be announced on Sunday, Dec. 4.

TPN Editor-in-Chief

Share
Published by
TPN Editor-in-Chief

Recent Posts

Police blotter: March 21 to March 27

Thursday, March 21 An individual from the parking department reported one of their boot systems…

5 hours ago

Pitt athletics finish March with a full weekend

As the weekend approaches, Pitt athletics prepares for a pivotal weekend of conference play and…

6 hours ago

Take 4 | NFL rule changes, Steelers and Caleb Williams

In this week’s Take 4, The Pitt News Sports Desk gives its take on the…

7 hours ago

Opinion | My first time out of the country was life-changing and yours can be too

I always wanted to travel abroad. I always imagined myself going out of the country…

7 hours ago

Opinion | I am media literate and also don’t like ‘Poor Things’

Not only was “Poor Things” a personally unpleasant watch, but the story and certain choices…

7 hours ago

Carnegie Museum spotlights conservation efforts in latest Ancient Egypt exhibition

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History revealed its newly revamped Ancient Egypt collection in early…

7 hours ago