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Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi takes shot at B1G’s depth: ‘Who else is there?’
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Making one of his weekly media appearances, Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi touched on a variety of topics headed into Saturday’s decisive ACC Coastal showdown with the Virginia Tech Hokies.
With both programs sitting at 7-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play, the result of this matchup will go a long way toward sorting out the final divisional standings.
Perhaps the most headline-grabbing comment Narduzzi made, however, had nothing to do with Justin Fuente’s team at all. Instead, it focused on another Power Five conference.
John McGonigal, Pitt football beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, shared what the coach had to say on Twitter:
Pat Narduzzi w/ this when asked about the ACC big picture:
“The people at ESPN, they need to wake up. You look at all the conferences, you can pick on one because Clemson’s been so dominant. But Ohio State’s been pretty dominant in the Big Ten. Who else is there right now?”
— Johnny McGonigal (@jmcgonigal9) November 21, 2019
Whereas the No. 3 Clemson Tigers are the ACC’s only ranked team, the B1G has six programs currently in the College Football Playoff Top-25 – No. 2 Ohio State, No. 8 Penn State, No. 10 Minnesota, No. 12 Wisconsin, No. 13 Michigan and No. 17 Iowa.
Playing one season with the Youngstown State Penguins and another three with the Rhode Island Rams, Narduzzi began his coaching career as a graduate assistant with the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks in 1990.
First serving as a defensive coordinator with Rhode Island in 1998, he first worked under Mark Dantonio with the Cincinnati Bearcats from 2004-06. Joining Dantonio when he took the Michigan State job, Narduzzi oversaw the Spartans’ defense for eight seasons before departing for Pitt in 2015.
Since taking over the Panthers program, he is just 1-5 against B1G teams, with the one victory coming over Penn State in 2016.
Pitt’s clash with Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg will kick at 3:30PM ET on ESPN2.
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Rydquist has been contributing to Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition since 2019. He can be found on Twitter @TeddyRydquist.