Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi takes parting shot at Dabo Swinney, Clemson

Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi has carved out quite the rivalry with Clemson’s Dabo Swinney since arriving in 2015. The two coaches have gone head-to-head four times, splitting the series despite Clemson’s overall dominance over that stretch. In fact, over that stretch, only Alabama can match the Panthers’ success against Clemson.

The rivalry heated up Monday, in the aftermath of Pitt’s latest 27-17 win, when Narduzzi took parting shots at Dabo Swinney’s struggling Clemson team.

“You always have to look back on the past and what’s happened,” Narduzzi told Chris Carter of DK Pittsburgh Sports. “We’ve always tried to do things with class here. Victory formation is a good formation. It’s one of my favorites. It’s nice to end the ballgame like that with two minutes to go and no timeouts. Other people decide to do it a different way, but it always comes back to get you. Karma’s rough.”

Narduzzi’s comments reference Clemson’s 52-17 win in 2020. Apparently, Swinney’s gameplan and the execution by his players rubbed several people the wrong way, including defensive back Demarri Mathis.

“It felt good,” Mathis said after the Pitt win. “Even personally, it felt really good to me. I didn’t get to play last year so this was a game that I circled on my calendar. I really wanted to play this game. I didn’t like how they did us last year and how arrogant they were. I felt like I played well, our whole team played well, and it was a true team win.”

The Clemson-Pittsburgh rivalry heats up

Pat Narduzzi played down the rivalry and any added pregame motivation. However, he did acknowledge how good the win felt.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s 2021,” said Narduzzi. “We have to play our game Saturday and just play football. It was about fundamentals, techniques and doing the little things right so that the big things would take care of themselves. That was the message. It wasn’t like, ‘hey, payback’s a b***h,’ or anything like that. It was nothing about payback, but there’s always a different feeling from everyone. I’m kind of a payback guy myself.”

Now 6-1, Pittsburgh is ranked No. 17 in the country behind the stellar play of senior quarterback Kenny Pickett, who has emerged as an NFL draft candidate. The Panthers continue their run toward the ACC title against Miami on Saturday.

The schedule wraps up with Duke, North Carolina, Virginia and Syracuse in November.