2019 Pitt Football Schedule Finalized

The ACC finalized its conference game schedule this afternoon, and with that, Pitt has finalized its schedule for the 2019 season.

The schedule is as follows:

Aug. 31 Virginia

Sept. 7 Ohio

Sept. 14 at Penn State

Sept. 21 UCF

Sept. 28 Delaware

Oct. 5 at Duke

Oct 12 BYE

Oct. 18 at Syracuse (Fri.)

Oct. 26 Miami

Nov. 2 at Georgia Tech

Nov 9 BYE

Nov. 14 North Carolina (Thurs.)

Nov. 23 at Virginia Tech

Nov. 30 Boston College

Couple of Observations:

• Pitt not facing Miami to end the season? **pikachu shocked face**
• Pitt opens against a conference opponent in Virginia for the first time since their first ACC game against eventual national champion Florida State
• I have no idea how that first 4 game stretch is gonna go. Pitt loses a lot from the line and the running backs, but brings back every one else. Virginia hasn’t shown themselves to be a great team, Penn State is losing a ton of starters and depth talent, and UCF is likely a loss but who knows. Pitt could go 1-3 or 3-1. I have no idea. The out of conference schedule is better than it was last year at least.
• Syracuse at the Dome on a Friday night is awful. Hard place to play at they have some voodoo magic on Friday nights.
• North Carolina on a Thursday night at home and likely national TV is awful. Pitt doesn’t do well on national televised midweek games, and everyone knows Pitt’s kryptonite issues against North Carolina. Larry Fedora is gone though, and at least he can’t hurt us anymore.
• Every ACC Pitt won last year is on the road this year. The Coastal will still likely be a cluster of good to below decent teams that beat up on each other. I’ll be very interested to see the preseason predicted order of finish from the media.
• Reminder that Pat Narduzzi is now the 2nd longest tenured coach in the Coastal after Cutcliffe. That’s kinda nuts and a far departure from where Pitt was 5 years ago.
• Similar to the point above, would not be surprised to see a slow start from Pitt and then get it going midway through the season. The defense is going to be good to decent from the jump, but a new offense replacing a good amount of personnel may take some adjustments before it’s effective.
• Not quite as many obvious road trip opportunities this year. Virginia Tech is a good one, and Atlanta is easy to get to.
• 4 of Pitt’s home games are before the end of September, with only one home game in October.
• Pitt has two bye weeks this year, which is certainly not a common thing.

What are your thoughts on the schedule? Any predictions on record? The pessimist in me says 7 win season, but I can certainly see a path to a 9 win season. It’s all going to depend on the play of the offensive line and if Pickett progresses from last year.