Pittsburgh had barely squeezed into the AP Top 25 when Pat Narduzzi decided to poke at somebody else’s ranking. And he didn’t have to say Penn State. Everybody knew. The Pitt coach was asked Monday about the AP Poll and the usual arguments surrounding it. His answer moved beyond rankings and got personal. He questioned whether voters judge teams by what they actually accomplish or just by the weight of the logo on the helmet.

“I think it’s all the brands,” Pat Narduzzi told reporters, via On3. “Everybody wants to look at the logo and gets all infatuated with logos and all that stuff. You look at the school down the road – gets in the top 25 and what did they really do to get in the top 25?”

That “school down the road” was left unnamed. But he didn’t even have to mention it. Pitt and Penn State have enough history that Pat Narduzzi hardly needed to spell it out. The schools sit roughly 130 miles apart, have played 100 times since 1893 and still carry the kind of in-state dislike even though they don’t play every year. They haven’t played since 2019, but the rivalry hasn’t disappeared. 

Pat Narduzzi beating Virginia Tech on Friday only added another layer to the weekend. After all, the Hokies are now coached by former Penn State head coach James Franklin. And now the Nittany Lions are sitting in the perfect spot to catch a stray.

Penn State entered the season ranked No. 18 in the AP Poll. They climbed to No. 13 after opening 3-0, but that early ranking came with plenty of room for criticism. The Nittany Lions had beaten three Group of 6 opponents before reaching that spot. Then Wisconsin became their first real challenge. 

Penn State blew a 17-point lead against Wisconsin and still carried a 20-10 advantage into the fourth quarter, only to collapse late in a 24-20 home loss. The Badgers pulled within three with 3:31 remaining, then struck for a 72-yard go-ahead touchdown with 1:13 left.

One week later, things got even uglier. Northwestern ran through the Nittany Lions in a 34-13 win, piling up 413 rushing yards while Penn State managed just 48. Two straight losses later, the Nittany Lions are completely outside the Top 25 and did not receive a single vote in the latest AP Poll.

For a program that started the year with legitimate expectations, the fall has been swift. First-year coach Matt Campbell was supposed to have a little runway to build his version of Penn State. Instead, the Nittany Lions are already dealing with expectations that don’t care about transition periods. But for all the jabs that Pat Narduzzi made, Pitt itself only sneaked into the AP Poll this week.

Pat Narduzzi knows Pitt barely got in

Pitt is No. 25 with 162 points, just two more than Kentucky, which dropped out despite beating South Carolina. But at least the Panthers have a clean argument for being there. They’re 5-0, opened ACC play 2-0, and have beaten UCF along the way. Their latest win came against previously undefeated Virginia Tech. Their 35-33 win, however, came with a question mark hanging over the final seconds after the Hokies missed a field goal that appeared good from several angles. Still, they won.

So Pat Narduzzi’s complaint isn’t really about whether Pitt deserves No. 25. It’s the way teams get ranked that bothers him. The ACC has been complaining about Big Ten and SEC teams getting a head start because of their names. Miami OC Shannon Dawson made the same point last week, saying the polls should wait until October.

And this isn’t just about talking trash. Rankings eventually feed into the CFP conversation, especially when teams start stacking ranked victories on their resumes. And Penn State now has a chance to answer the criticism the hard way. USC, ranked No. 19, comes to Happy Valley Saturday. After that, the Nittany Lions travel to face Michigan, another preseason favorite that has already fallen out of the rankings twice.

So Pat Narduzzi may have asked what Penn State really did to get ranked. The Nittany Lions now have a pretty straightforward way to answer him. And that’s to go beat somebody.