New season of Pitt football brings new looks, opponents and opportunities

Pitt football finished a disappointing 2023 season with a 3-9 record with wins against Wofford, No. 14 Louisville and Boston College. Three wins is the lowest total for the Panthers since 1998. Heading into the 2024 slate, Pitt fans hope this season is as different as possible.

The offseason proved the Panthers are not complacent. In December 2023, head coach Pat Narduzzi announced that Kade Bell, who previously coached at Western Carolina, would take over as offensive coordinator for 2024.

Narduzzi described Bell’s offense as, “relentlessly fast and aggressive… everything a defensive coordinator hates to face.” With 504.1 yards per game, Western Carolina averaged the most yards per game in the FCS under Bell’s offensive direction. 60% of Bell’s 52 outings as offensive coordinator resulted in his team recording more than 500 yards of offense.

The 2023 Panthers averaged 317.9 offensive yards per game—the lowest in the ACC last season.

To help bolster production on the attacking side of the ball, two of Bell’s top receivers, Raphael Williams Jr. and Censere Lee, transferred from WCU, which will ease the integration of Bell’s spread/no-huddle system.

The Panthers’ first game of the 2024 season should allow the young offense an opportunity to get in sync. On August 31, Kent State visits Acrisure Stadium and the Panthers have to prove they can come out of the gate hot. Over the last four seasons, the Panthers averaged 47.25 points in their first game of each season. Conveniently, the Golden Flashes are the lowest-ranked FBS team after a 1-11 record in the 2023 season.

But the two weeks after look familiar to the 2023 season with back-to-back matchups against rivals Cincinnati and West Virginia — both of which ended in losses for the Panthers last year.

The River City Rivalry and the Backyard Brawl are always fierce and should provide difficult tests for the young Panther defense.

Another potential tune-up game comes right before conference play against FCS opponent Youngstown State. The matchup will cost the Panthers $450,000—an investment that hopes to pay off in the win-loss column.

After a week of rest, Pitt faces its seasonal gauntlet of ACC opponents. Notably, the Panthers will face ACC newcomers in Cal, coming from the PAC-12, and SMU, coming from the AAC, in their sixth and eighth games of the season.

The Panthers also get to host ACC rivals Syracuse and Clemson. The Tigers have only played the Panthers five times in history, and the last meeting in 2021 finished with Pitt on top. The Orange bring a more historic rivalry as the schools have played 79 times. Most recently, Syracuse defeated Pitt 28-13 last season.

Against a rival-riddled schedule, a rebuilding Panther defense is set to get heavily tested.

Pitt’s 2023 defense was the fourth worst in the ACC giving up 27.3 points per game.

DraftKings has Pitt’s win total set at 5.5 for the upcoming season, which is a slight improvement over three wins from the previous season.

Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge left for the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts after six seasons with the Panthers. Under Partridge, the Panthers ranked top five in the nation in sacks from 2019-22. Partridge also coached several All-Americans. Tim Daoust stepped in to Partridge’s role for the upcoming season. Daoust excelled as defensive coordinator at East Carolina, as he coached the Pirates to finish 17th in the nation in tackles for loss per game.

The Panthers have promise but are rebuilding. A 2021 ACC Championship seems too far gone to cling to anymore, and a new sense of success is on the docket for Narduzzi and his revitalized roster and staff.