No. 22 Pitt is off to its best start in 33 years as new ACC member Cal visits

PITTSBURGH — Pat Narduzzi understands his team remains a work in progress. Still, the longtime Pittsburgh coach is encouraged by the growth he's seen from the 22nd-ranked Panthers through five remarkable games that have the program off to its best start in 33 years.

“I like their attitude,” Narduzzi said. “I like the selflessness that they’ve shown. Doesn’t matter who catches the ball, who has the big game as a receiver, who makes a sack. They’re celebrating together.”

So much so that Pitt (5-0, 1-0 ACC) re-entered the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2022 after last week's cathartic 34-24 victory over North Carolina, the Panthers' first-ever win in Chapel Hill.

There were plays big and small throughout, and a resolve that allowed Pitt to pull away in the second half. It's been that way for most of the Panthers' surprising fall, which has featured comebacks and blowouts in equal measure.

“They’re worried about the ‘We, We’ and not the ‘Me, Me, What’s good for me?’ which we continue to preach,” Narduzzi said. “You just enjoy coaching this football team.”

Yet Narduzzi insists the Panthers aren't getting ahead of themselves. Not with California visiting on Saturday. The Bears (3-2, 0-2) head east for the third time this season smarting after letting a 25-point second-half lead over now sixth-ranked Miami slip away last week.

Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza admits he had the showdown with the Hurricanes circled on his calendar the minute the Bears' 2024 schedule came out. How Cal responds will likely set the course for the rest of their season.

“With this large adversity, we can either get stronger or weaker and that’s what the message has been,” Mendoza said. "Such a brutal loss like that, and we acknowledge it’s a brutal loss, it’s easy to fold.”

Something Mendoza believes the Bears won't do. During a team meeting early in the week, several transfers spoke up and pointed to difficult moments at their previous schools and how the team responded, for better and for worse.

If there's any lesson to be learned, Cal tight end Jack Endries said, it's that the Bears can never “let our foot off the gas again.”

Helping Holstein

First-year offensive coordinator Kade Bell has revolutionized Pitt's offense. The Panthers have more than doubled their average point total (from 20.2 to 45.3) from last season behind an up-tempo attack deftly being directed by redshirt freshman quarterback Eli Holstein — the first Panthers signal caller to win his first five games since Dan Marino did it in 1979.

The Alabama transfer is among the top 10 in the country in yards passing, touchdown passes and total offense. The only thing that is irking Narduzzi is the amount of punishment the 6-foot-5 Holstein is taking. The Panthers have allowed 12 sacks so far. While they didn't give up any against the Tar Heels, that number comes with an asterisk because of a couple of holding calls.

“We didn’t give up any sacks, but as I mentioned ... the last two plays of the game, he’s in there, he got hit both times,” Narduzzi said. “We don’t want that to happen.”

Safety first

Mendoza, like Holstein, is well-versed in getting drilled now and then. The senior found himself in a bit of a firestorm against the Hurricanes when he took a shot from Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe in the fourth quarter while trying to scramble for a first down.

The hit was somewhere between Mendoza's head and neck, though officials declined to throw a flag on Bissainthe for targeting, a no-call that may have contributed to Miami's comeback.

Mendoza declined to get into specifics about the play, but said he is going to make a more concerted effort going forward to slide in hopes of staying out of harm's way.

“(It's) ‘Live for another day or get six more inches,’ that’s the honest truth behind it and ‘live another day’ is a better option,” Mendoza said. "Something I've definitely been working on, working on sliding.”

Well traveled

The Bears have been on the plane plenty during their first season in the ACC. Cal had a nonconference road game at Auburn on Sept. 7 and made another cross-country trip two weeks later to Florida State.

Cal is getting used to the grind, though Mendoza knows his team's season is at a crossroads and the vastly improved Panthers represent a significant challenge.

“They’re a great opponent and we can really showcase what we can do against these guys,” he said. "They always have nine guys, eight guys around the ball (on defense) ... they’re a team that has a lot of tenacity, that has a lot of Pittsburgh grit and toughness.”