Pitt now has as many ACC Coastal titles as Miami

The Panthers clinched the ACC Coastal with a win over Wake Forest.

On Saturday, Pitt successfully clinched the ACC Coastal divisional title with its 34-13 win over Wake Forest. Their 52-22 rout of Virginia Tech last week in Pittsburgh helped them move even further away from the rest of the division, but the win over the Demon Deacons clinched it.

That means the Panthers, who have been in the league since 2013, now officially has as many divisional titles in the conference as Miami, which has been in the league since before it went to its divisional format in 2005 (and also has ties for first place in years it hasn’t won). It really is so jarring that Miami’s still only won the Coastal once. And the program is not inspiring any confidence it’ll do better soon.

Getting beyond that funny fact, 7-4 Pitt deserves credit for standing out in a division where nobody else has stood out in a good way.

North Carolina (1-8 on the season, weirdly with its only win coming against Pitt) has stood out for being bad. But otherwise, the league’s been a mess:

• Virginia’s been good for Virginia, but lost to Pitt at home in Week 10 and likely lost its chance to have a truly special season.
• Virginia Tech’s defense is anything other than a Virginia Tech defense.
• Miami’s struggling epically.
• Duke’s Duke.
• Georgia Tech’s had some great games that have gotten a lot of attention, but the Yellow Jackets have lost plenty and not been in contention.

And then there’s Pitt. The Panthers’ three non-UNC losses have come against Penn State, UCF, and Notre Dame. They almost beat the Irish in South Bend. Lately, they’ve looked really good, with the obvious disclaimer that they’ve faced teams that have not.

The running game’s been tremendous. Pitt came in 10th in the nation in rushing offense, averaging 6.49 yards per carry. While the Panthers’ 154 yards on the ground against Wake was far less than the 492 yards it put up against VT the week prior, Pitt’s ground game is a big reason for its success all season.

On so many carries, it looked like Pitt’s running backs were carrying against air vs. the Hokies. LOOK AT WHAT THE TOP TWO RUNNING BACKS ON THE ROSTER DID:

Holy hell.

The Miami game might be hard, but this looks like it might be Pat Narduzzi’s best team yet. Soon, we’ll get a better sense of that.

Wake kept things pretty close throughout, but the Panthers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter to get the win. The 2016 Panthers were the only team to beat eventual national champion Clemson. That shouldn’t happen again, but massive upset bids are very much a Pitt thing. Thanks to Pitt being the best team in a bad division, the 2018 Panthers should get the same crack.