Pat Narduzzi spoke up for the ACC and set up a showdown with Miami in late October

Pat Narduzzi spoke up for the ACC and whatever heat lies between the Pitt coach and Mario Cristobal can be handled on the field on Oct. 24 when the Miami Hurricanes host the Panthers at Hard Rock Stadium.

Narduzzi was rightfully excited after the Panthers knocked off Virginia Tech 35-33 in a battle of undefeated ACC teams. Despite both sides coming into their Week 5 showdown with perfect 4–0 records and wins over P4 opposition, neither team was ranked and that clearly rankled Narduzzi in his televised comments immediately after the game.

"We've got a hell of a football team. Any of those voters out there, if they wake their [expletive] up, they might figure that out," he said with passion. 

Narduzzi knows what life is like in the ACC — he's the third-most tenured coach in the conference behind Dabo Swinney and Dave Doeren. It's an uphill battle for respect that teams in the SEC and Big Ten don't have to worry about because the college football media has already anointed them.

Miami vs. Pitt is the game that the ACC needs to get more people talking

Both the Hurricanes and the Panthers have a couple of games to play before Oct. 24, so there's work to be done before we get another matchup of undefeated conference teams. Miami has already hit the next level, as the Hurricanes are ranked in the top five. Pitt should be ranked in the next polls, unless Arkansas or Purdue does something that blows the voters away.

I don't think most fans would have picked the Panthers to potentially be undefeated heading into a late October game going up against the Canes. There's a possibility that Duke, the team that won the conference last season, will have a very good record heading into its game with the Hurricanes on Nov. 14. 

That's why it's always a dangerous game to play schedule predictor before the season starts. We're in the year-to-year era of college football. Rosters change dramatically from one season to the next. Teams can fill roster holes with talented, experienced players rather than rely simply on high school recruits to be coached up. 

Fans looked at the Miami schedule back in June and thought it was going to be 11 walkthroughs and Notre Dame. But now we can see that Pitt is going to be a problem soon enough when the two squads face off. Virginia Tech on the road is going to be a problem and Duke isn't going to concede this conference away to anyone. Is it the toughest in the country? No. But it isn't the easiest either.

That's why the Hurricanes and the ACC need all three of those teams to be good when those games come up on the schedule. Conference strength is going to be a real thing and the ACC doesn't have the benefit of perception or a push from the media. The games have to mean something and with Pitt's win in Week 5, that game against Miami now means something. 

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