Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi reveals who he’d pick for CFP spot between Miami, Notre Dame
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Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi isn’t on the College Football Playoff selection committee, but if he was, he would take Miami over Notre Dame if he had to choose between the 2 teams.
Narduzzi has a very unique view of the Miami-Notre Dame Playoff debate, which has built up steam in recent weeks as Selection Sunday approaches. Because Pitt played and lost badly to both the Hurricanes and Fighting Irish this season. So, it’s nothing against Notre Dame for Narduzzi. It’s just that he thinks higher of Miami, which just throttled his Panthers, 38-7, in Week 14 to close the regular season.
Two weeks earlier, on the same field in Pittsburgh, Notre Dame also walloped Narduzzi’s team, 37-15. So, the tough comparison comes between 2 very good teams in Miami and Notre Dame that both had no mercy on Pitt on the same field in the month of November.
Narduzzi explained his reasoning when asked by On3’s Brett McMurphy on Friday afternoon. The question was framed in the form of who should get a Playoff berth between the 2 teams.
“Miami,” Narduzzi said. “They’re both tough and imposing, but Miami is powerful up front and plays a really physical brand of football.”
Miami outlasted Notre Dame, 27-24, in a Week 1 thriller at home, so if head-to-head comes into play on Selection Sunday, the Fighting Irish could be in trouble. But Narduzzi believes it should be the Hurricanes going to the Playoff if it comes down to those 2 teams, unless of course they both end up making the 12-team field.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
