A bizarre week of ACC football continued in Saturday afternoon’s early slate of games.
Less than 24 hours after North Carolina was denied a potential winning second, Virginia Tech was taken to the brink by FCS Furman. Georgia Tech got pushed off entirely by fellow former I-AA competition from The Citadel.
The most questionable decision of the day, however, might’ve stemmed from Pittsburgh’s 17-10 loss to Penn State. The Panthers, to their credit, played their in-state rivals well. Still, their matchup with the 13th-ranked Nitanny Lions should be one filled with regret.
As the game reached the final five minutes, Pittsburgh faced fourth and goal one yard away from the end zone. But head coach Pat Narduzzi instead opted for a 19-yard field goal, one that wound up missing. Pittsburgh got the ball back one last time before the game let out, but was unable to capitalize as time expired.
After the game, Narduzzi was asked about the fateful kick. His answer was, true to this week’s ACC form, quite abnormal.
It might be a choice that Narduzzi and the Panthers come to regret at a later point. Penn State has now won the last three meetings in the series known as the Keystone Classic. The Nitanny Lions also lead the all-time set 53-43-4.
Things don’t get much easier for the 1-2 Panthers in the immediate future, either. Next week, they’ll go up against another ranked team in the form of the UCF Golden Knights. The American Athletic Conference foe currently holds a 38-7 halftime lead on Pac-12 contenders from Stanford.
