ESPN's Matt Fortuna likes Pitt football in 2015

ESPN's ACC folks recently took a look at programs in the conference that finished with a losing record last year. That list, thanks to a bowl game meltdown, included the Panthers.

Of those six teams (Pitt, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia, Wake Forest, and Syracuse), Andrea Adelson gives North Carolina the best chance to win more games in 2015, but Matt Fortuna picked Pitt to have the best turnaround:

A half-dozen teams are in need of immediate improvement in 2015, but few might have the tools necessary to make that leap the way Pitt does as it undergoes another regime change.

Definitely take a look at everything he had to say because it was far more than the short quote I provided. Fortuna also likes North Carolina, but ultimately cites Pitt's offense and the defensive coaching as some reasons for choosing the Panthers.

The other thing Fortuna mentions are the schedules between North Carolina and Pitt, and both look comparable. Both teams play five common division opponents. The non-conference schedules don't look all that different with two lesser opponents, one reasonable P5 game (for Pitt, it's Iowa - North Carolina plays Illinois), and one big-time opponent (Notre Dame for Pitt and South Carolina for North Carolina). Pitt seems to have a slightly more difficult remaining schedule with ACC games against Louisville and Syracuse as opposed to North Carolina's opponents of North Carolina State and Wake Forest, but even that's up in the air since we don't really know how good those four teams will be. Overall, the schedules look pretty close.

Which losing program do you like to have the biggest turnaround in 2015?

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder/editor @AnsonWhaley.