No. 19 Pitt is undefeated in November. The Panthers believe their best is still ahead of them

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kyle Louis kept receipts. Mentally, anyway.

The sophomore linebacker from Pittsburgh spent part of the lead-up to the 19th-ranked Panthers' 80th meeting with Syracuse reading all about how the game could turn into a shootout, with Orange quarterback Kyle McCord providing a test, that Pitt may not have been able to handle.

“The whole bye-bye week, our defense took it personally,” Louis said.

Definitely looked like it.

More than three dominant hours on Thursday evening in one Overwhelming 41:13 victoryreminded the Panthers that their offense has changed a lot under first-year coordinator Kade Bell, but that some things will never change under the watch of longtime coach Pat Narduzzi.

Pitt will shine. Then it will race even more, anxious to convert the pressure into mistakes. It's been that way since the day Narduzzi took over the company almost a decade ago. That hasn't changed in 2024, where after a slow start – by Narduzzi's exacting standards, anyway – the frenetic approach that has long been the Panthers' calling card has led the program to its first 7-0 start since 1982.

“Our motto all year is 'Prove it,'” Narduzzi said. “I think we proved a lot in a prime-time game (with a) national audience.”

A season after a 3-9 freefall that included a loss to the Orange at Yankee Stadium, Syracuse Rolled up 382 yards On the ground, with tight end Oronde Gadsen II serving as wildcat quarterback, Pitt hit McCord five times and returned three of them for touchdowns, including one 59-yard run He was beaten by Louis on the sideline midway through the first quarter, with the former high school running back deftly weaving through traffic to the goal line.

“When I get the ball in the middle of the field, I shoot,” Louis said. “As soon as I got the ball, I saw the field open up. I already knew where I was going.”

And Louis already knows where the Panthers are going. Asked if he had a chance to go undefeated early in the season for a team picked to finish 13th in the expanded ACC, Louis simply nodded.

“Of course I thought it could definitely be 7-0,” he said. “We have tremendous talent on this team. … I seriously don’t see anyone messing with us.”

Nobody has, at least not yet. While Pitt has several hurdles to overcome — including a trip to No. 22 SMU on Nov. 2 and a home visit to No. 9 Clemson on Nov. 16 — the Panthers have shown a knack for winning games in a variety of ways.

The same team that rallied from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Cincinnati And West Virginia Behind the playmaking of redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein and undersized running back Desmond Reid is the same one that posted a narrow 17-15 finish Victory over California and overwhelmed Syracuse behind all those pick-6s and a handful of sacks.

“There has been a win in every phase of football,” said kicker Ben Sauls, who has never missed a goal this season and hit all 45 of his extra point and field goal attempts. “If we continue like this, we will become really dangerous.”

Pitt may already be there. The young secondary that struggled early in the season has grown up quickly. The same goes for a defensive line that has helped the Panthers rack up 10 sacks in the last two games. In the middle are the linebackers, who were nicknamed “The Sharks” by position coach Ryan Manalac over the summer.

Louis, Braylan Lovelace, Rasheem Biles and Brandon George embraced it, placing their hands on their helmets like shark fins after making a grand entrance and celebrating in front of a raucous student section that had an inflatable shark passed around to at least one fan on Thursday night is full of “furry” and dresses up in a shark costume a week before Halloween.

Gallen – whose 35-yard pick-6 He set the tone on Syracuse's first possession – joking in the excitement afterward that he might drop some shark merchandise when he gets home and believes the whole “shark” thing is turning into a “movement.” “has become.

Appropriate for a group named after an animal in constant motion.

However, sharks aren't the only creatures on ACCs' minds biggest surprise. The swagger and confidence that was missing in 2023 have returned for a program that believes it is getting better every week.

“We have a chance against anyone,” said Louis. “We don’t even have a chance. We have an advantage because we have some dogs on this team.”

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