Pat Narduzzi doubles down on claim about Michigan State, Big Ten while attempting to clarify

Pat Narduzzi didn’t make any friends in the Big Ten while making a bold claim about his Pittsburgh squad.

Much has been made about the Big Ten and SEC becoming the two premier destinations in college sports, but the Panthers coach wants to see some respect put on the ACC. While Pittsburgh fell to Michigan State — one of the top teams in the Big Ten last season — by a score of 31-21 in the Peach Bowl earlier this year, Narduzzi was unimpressed with his opponent.

“If that’s one of the best Big Ten teams, let’s go to the Big Ten and win it every year,” Narduzzi said on a recent episode of Bazzy’s Black & Gold Banter, referencing playing the Spartans close without star quarterback Kenny Pickett.

According to Narduzzi, there’s no doubt in his mind that Pitt would have emerged victorious if Pickett would have chosen to participate. In fact, the Pitt headman went as far as to say that the Spartans would have gotten their “butt kicked in” if he did.

Of course, Michigan State faithful — and Big Ten fans as a whole — didn’t take too kindly to Narduzzi’s comments. However, the Pittsburgh coach decided to double-down when asked to elaborate on his comments.

“You hear all these things during the summer about the Power 2s and all this stuff. We’ll just start there. You know, we play some darn good football in the ACC, and I think people forget about it,” began Narduzzi. “I think Dabo [Swinney] made a comment yesterday about everybody talks about, oh, Clemson had a down year, and he is exactly right. People need to wake up.

“How about the teams that are getting better? I think Pittsburgh is getting better, so we’ll start there. Again, any time you get — I’ve coached in the Big Ten for eight years, so I know it. I don’t know the SEC, so I’m not going to claim. I’ve never coached in the SEC, but I do know the Big Ten. I feel very confident — and, again, it’s not being arrogant. It’s just kind of knowing the landscape and knowing what we played against in The Peach Bowl, just would have liked to have our backup quarterback the play the whole game.”

Continuing, Narduzzi believes he’s not disrespecting the Big Ten or Mel Tucker’s squad — he’s just that confident in Pittsburgh and the ACC.

“That’s just confidence. That’s no disrespect to the Big Ten or Michigan State. It’s just about Pitt and about the ACC,” added Narduzzi. “Again, that’s all I can tell you. I think ACC football is really, really good, and that’s really the comment there that I was trying to get across.”

Pat Narduzzi may believe it’s simply confidence in his team, but he’s providing some bulletin board material for Michigan State and Big Ten programs as a whole. Many eyes will be on the Panthers, praying on their downfall in 2022.