Inside The Panthers

Pitt Faces Longshot Odds to Win National Title

The Pitt Panthers are unsurprisingly low down on the national championship odds totem pole.

Stephen Thompson

Nov 16, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi on the sidelines against the Boston College Eagles at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 16, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi on the sidelines against the Boston College Eagles at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

PITTSBURGH -- The Pitt Panthers are facing extremely long odds to win the 2025 College Football Playoff, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network.

The Panthers sit as peers with Arkansas, Iowa State, Liberty, Michigan State, North Carolina, Rutgers, South Carolina and rival West Virginia, who all have 1,000/1 odds to lift the The College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy when it's all said and done at the end of this season.

Six teams in the ACC, including two on the Panthers' schedule this season - Florida State (25/1), Clemson, Miami (40/1), N.C. State (150/1), Louisville (200/1) and Virginia Tech (300/1) - have better odds of winning it all than Pitt.

These odds shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's followed this program over the past year. Pitt has suffered a dramatic fall from grace since winning 20 games over two seasons from 2021 to 2022. 2023's 3-9 record was not only a massive step back but the worst of the Pat Narduzzi era. What followed were some high-profile transfer exits, with seven players who started multiple games last season heading for the portal and even more having graduated.

The Panthers helped fill some of those holes with transfer portal additions of their own and they believe some younger players are ready for steps forward. But with the entire offensive coaching staff and a key piece of the defensive coaching staff being turned over two, there are more questions than answers right now for Pitt.

The path for any team to make a run at a national title is as wide as it's ever been in college football's more than 100-year-old history, but Pitt is still facing an uphill battle to make the first ever 12-team college football playoff and win its 10th national title.

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Stephen Thompson
STEPHEN THOMPSON

Stephen Thompson graduated with a bachelor's degree in communications and political science from Pitt in April 2022 after spending four years as a sports writer and editor at The Pitt News, the University of Pittsburgh's independent, student-run newspaper.  He primarily worked the Pitt men's basketball beat, and filled in on coverage of football, volleyball, softball, gymnastics and lacrosse, in addition to other sports as needed. His work at The Pitt News has won awards from the Pennsylvania News Media Association and Associated College Press.  During the spring and summer of 2021, Stephen interned for Pittsburgh Sports Now, covering baseball in western Pennsylvania. Hailing from Washington D.C., family ties have cultivated a love of Boston's professional teams and Pitt athletics, and a fascination with sports in general.  You can reach Stephen by email at stephenethompson00@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Read his latest work:

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