Pitt Bowl Projection Starting to Rise

The Pitt Panthers have rising bowl projections heading into Week 3 of the 2024 season.

Cincinnati Bearcats' Mehki Miller (20) tackles Pittsburgh Panthers tight end Jake Overman (87) in the fourth quarter of the College Football game at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2024. / Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers started the 2024 season with two wins and national reporters are starting to take notice of their performance going forward, predicting them to make a bowl game.

Pitt opened up the season with a 55-24 blowout win over Kent State at Acrisure Stadium, the first time they've scored that many points in more than three seasons. They then traveled to face Cincinnati in the River City Rivalry and after falling behind 27-6 midway through the third quarter, scored 22 unanswered points, capped off with a field goal from redshirt senior place kicker Ben Sauls to win the game, 28-27.

The Panthers received two bowls that they would play in following the regular season, with the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 18 and the Birmingham Bowl on Dec. 27.

Brad Crawford of 247Sports and Jerry Palm of CBS Sports both placed Pitt in the Boca Raton Bowl, which takes place in Boca Raton, Fla. and features two teams from any conference.

Crawford picked East Carolina and Palm picked Tulane as opponents for Pitt, with both teams playing in the American Athletic Conference.

The two teams have played four times in their all-time series, with the Panthers taking the first two games in Pittsburgh in 1984 and 1989 and the Pirates winning at home in 1992 and in Pittsburgh in 1993.

The Green Wave took the first four games of the series in 1969 and then 1971-73, while the Panthers won the last three games 1977-78 and 1984.

Kyle Bonagura of ESPN and Brent McMurphy of Action Network both put Pitt in the Birmingham Bowl. Pitt played three straight seasons in Birmingham in what was known as the BBVA Compass Bowl from 2010-12, defeating Kentucky the first time and losing badly to both Ole Miss and SMU in 2011 and 2012.

Bonagura chose Wisconsin and McMurphy picked Michigan State to take on Pitt, both from the Big Ten.

The Panthers have only played the Badgers three times with wins in 1938, 1939 and 1967, with the latter two matchups in Madison, Wis. The Panthers will travel to face the Badgers on the road on Aug. 19, 2026 and then battle them in Dublin, Ireland in on Aug. 28, 2027.

The Spartans defeated the Panthers in their last matchup in the Peach Bowl in 2021 and are 7-0-1 in the series. They won back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2007, 1950-51 and 1958, plus the tie coming in 1960.

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