Why snubbed Pitt vs. Virginia Tech is making college football history in Week 5
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Why snubbed Pitt vs. Virginia Tech is making college football history in Week 5 originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Friday night college football games are always a fun time, and we are in for an ACC treat this week. The undefeated Pitt Panthers go on the road to take on the fellow unbeaten Virginia Tech Hokies.
Although the game sounds like at least one of the two teams should be ranked, the matchup makes college football history. Friday night's game marks the first game that two unbeaten, power-conference teams that are unranked.
Hokies head coach James Franklin will be looking to get out to a 2-0 start in ACC play, whereas Pitt's Pat Narduzzi looks to get his first conference win of the season.
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Pitt vs. Virginia both enter unranked
Both teams enter this matchup still on the outside of the rankings. In the most recent AP Poll, the Hokies received 86 votes, with Pitt getting 52. Both teams are still behind others receiving votes in Wisconsin (102), Duke (101), Penn State (98) and Wake Forest (88).
"I think there's biases out there," Narduzzi said this week when asked about both teams being unranked. "I think it's a joke, quite honestly, the preseason rankings."
Aside from the non-ranked teams making history, Friday night's game should be a decent matchup on the field, too.
We'll start with the Panthers, who have been making a habit of having strong Septembers to start the season. Pitt is 4-0 with wins over Miami (Ohio), UCF, Syracuse and Bucknell.
The Panthers are led offensively by returning starting quarterback Mason Heintschel, who has thrown for 1,191 yards with 13 touchdowns and one interceptions so far. Thanks to his efforts, Pitt has the nation's fifth-ranked passing offense, averaging 347 yards in the air per game.
The defense, which features leading tacklers in Josh Guerrier and Alex Sanford Jr., has also done well early. The Panthers have given up just 8.5 points per game so far this season, good for third nationally.
Virginia Tech, meanwhile, might not be the most stat-happy team, but Franklin has the Hokies 4-0 for the first time since 2017. VT won easily over VMI and Old Dominion, and defeated a struggling Maryland team 35-26 on the road. Last week, the Hokies beat Boston College on the road in a sloppy 21-14 contest that was played in a nor'easter.
The Hokies have quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, who followed Franklin from Penn State. He's thrown for 1,012 yards with eight touchdowns so far. Hokie running backs Jeffrey Overton Jr. and Marcellous Hawkin Jr. have combined for 615 yards and eight scores on the ground.
VT is listed as a slight 2.5-point home favorite.
Franklin and Narduzzi have a bit of a history as well, as the two faced off against each other in the Pitt-Penn State rivalry. Franklin won three straight from 2017-19, with the Panthers taking the 2016 game 12-0.
After Pitt's 2016 victory, Franklin accused the Panthers' defensive players of clapping, which threw off the Nittany Lions' cadence. Narduzzi called it "an excuse."
When Penn State beat Pitt a year later 33-14, Franklin took another shot at the Panthers.
"I know last year for their win (against us), it was like the Super Bowl," Franklin said. "But for us, this was just like beating Akron."
Friday night's game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET, and air live on ESPN.
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