PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Panthers won their second ACC Coastal Division title under head coach Pat Narduzzi Saturday, but he wants more.
"Coastal champions, that's really not what our goal is," Narduzzi said Saturday night. "It's the ACC Championship.
We've got unfinished business with Syracuse this weekend, and then we'll all head to Charlotte."
"The job is not finished," said receiver Jordan Addison. "We want to win the ACC. We are going to get back in tomorrow and work and go get that."
Not that they won't savor beating Virginia 48-38 at home to earn it. Last division crown came on a win at Wake Forest in 2018.
"What feels different is being able to do it in our hometown, in Pittsburgh, in front of our Panther fans," Narduzzi said. "They deserved that today. That was fun to do it here as opposed to down in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by ourselves. We had a few fans there. But to be able to do it there, have a trophy presentation there in Heinz Field is historic for our guys.
"It means a lot to me," said linebacker and Central Catholic HS grad John Petrishen. "It's been a journey for me-seven years, five position coaches, three surgeries, two schools and one why, one purpose. If you would have told me five years ago that I would be a starting linebacker on a team that has a chance to an ACC Championship. I would have told you, you would have a better chance to win the lottery without buying a ticket."
"There are special moments, but special people make the special moments," Pickett said. "I think the special people make the special moments. I think everyone in there (locker room) is a special person. This team is tight. I'm tight with this coaching staff. To see the smiles on everyone's faces, it means the world to me. I'm appreciative and grateful of everyone I come into contact with here at Pitt."
Pickett said the reason he's still in royal blue and gold is because he thought this could happen.
"It helped me coming back knowing we had this kind of team," Pickett said. "I don't think I would be here if I didn't think this team was special. I knew that we were capable of doing this. To say what you were going to do and then go out and do it. It's a great feeling."
"The players and the coaches," said running back Rodney Hammond, Junior of what makes this team great. "Everyone around is special. We have good energy always. I love this team."
"That's why I came to Pitt is to win. I knew we could win here."
For years for Pitt football it's been about taking it to the next level. Raising the program back to national prominence, not just occasional great years. Narduzzi said they haven't done that, yet.
"We have to win an ACC Championship to do that," Narduzzi said. "Winning the division is nice, but I've been part of division championships, but the real championship is to come. We want to win an ACC Championship. I think that's the ultimate goal. Until we do that, like Clemson has, we haven't done anything, to be honest with you."
"What really have we done? We've done this before. I've been around the division championships, and I think our kids were happy last time just going there, but now we get an opportunity to go back to Charlotte, and it's going to be a different story. Any time you get to go once, you feel really good about it. You go the second time and go to win it the next, it's kind of what I've done in the past, and that's what we're going to do this year."
"It's really come full circle for me," Petrishen said. "To be here and to be able to compete for an ACC Championship for the city that I love and the school that I love. It means the world to me. I will be hailing to Pitt for the rest of my life, for sure."
