PITTSBURGH — The Pitt football team is coming off its best season in 40 years. The Panthers won 11 games, their second Coastal title and their first ACC title.
That is all in the past, though, and now that spring football workouts have officially begun the focus has to be on 2022. This is a message that seemed to be the theme of Monday's first practice as Pat Narduzzi and the players who met with the media all said some version of, "It is a new year."
Narduzzi said Monday that this is a new year and it is time to start looking ahead.
"What happened last year? I don't even remember," Narduzzi said. "This is 2022. It's a different team. ... What we did last year doesn't really matter. It's not going to help us win a football game this year."
Narduzzi is right that last season should no longer be relevant to this year's team. But thanks to last year's success, this year's team will face something that many Pitt teams have never had to deal with: high expectations and being the hunted as opposed to being the hunter.
Pitt is the team everyone in the ACC is going to be chasing. As the defending champions, the Panthers will get every team's best shot. Pitt fans have finally got a taste of real success and are hungry for more.
There is gonna be pressure on this team to perform and pressure on them to win. There will be a lot of pressure on the next starting quarterback given the large shoes they have to fill.
Pitt's season will be dictated by how they handle those expectations and how much they truly understand that last year is over. This team's mindset has to be that they are the hunted. They must guard against overconfidence and understand how hard they will have to work in order to duplicate what last year's team accomplished.
That being said, the Panthers have had an outstanding offseason. Narduzzi made really good coaching hires, added some really good players in recruiting and got some excellent competition via the transfer portal at both receiver and quarterback. They also got a huge boost when the entire offensive line announced they were coming back for their last season of eligibility.
That's why, at least on paper, the Panthers can actually make people forget about last season because they have what it takes to be better. That's a high bar to achieve, I know, but from what we have seen since the season ended, there is no reason to believe the Panthers will take a step back.
And provided they handle expectations and different pressure well, they not only could be better, they should be better. The team is experienced up front on both sides of the ball, and they have plenty of firepower at the skill positions on both sides of the ball, too.
Yes, Kenny Pickett is a huge loss, but I believe either Kedon Slovis or Nick Patti will be fine, especially given their surrounding cast. Plus, new offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti will build the run game into something fairly dominant and the offense won't be nearly as reliant on the quarterback as last season.
I think the defense will actually be better given the returning talent and some of the younger players who are ready to step into bigger roles.
This season will be the ultimate test of the program's strength as well. It took Narduzzi seven years to build it, but it appears that it is in great shape for the future. Some believe last season was a fluke and a product of an experienced quarterback having an incredible season and that the Panthers were a one hit wonder.
I don't happen to believe that based on what this roster and coaching staff looks like. I think the program is actually strong but if this year is a large step back maybe those sentiments will be proven right.
That all adds to the pressure of high expectations and I think that will make this season really interesting. Pitt fans are used to low expectations and teams that disappoint. This is a different feeling for sure, Pitt as the hunted and Pitt as the team that is supposed to win and win big.
The Panthers are capable of doing special things again this year and they are equipped to repeat as ACC champions and get to a New Year's Six Bowl.
They obviously have to stay healthy and handle expectations the right way in order to get to where they think they can go. But if they do, they will not just be the team to beat this year — they will put themselves in position to become the program to beat in the ACC Coastal annually.
