Pitt Sleeper Pick to Make Playoffs

The Athletic recently released an article where they pitched 11 college football teams that could be dark-horses to make the College Football Playoffs for next season. All 11 of these teams were unranked in a recent preseason coach's poll.

The Pittsburgh Panthers ended up being the last team mentioned in the article. The article makes sure to mention how a great 7-0 start to last season derailed into a disastrous six game losing streak. The main cause of the poor finish were injuries to offensive line players and to standout quarterback Eli Holstein.

Pitt went from averaging 42.3 points during the first seven games to just 19.2 points in the last five regular season games.

The Athletic article is still high on the Panthers due to all the returning talent the team still has. Quartback Eli Holstein, orginally a transfer from Alabama, surprised many by being a top quartback in the ACC to start the season. He led his new team to huge comeback wins against Cincinnati and West Virgnia in his first couple weeks as a starter.

Holstein finished the season 2,225 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, 328 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. Not bad stats for someone dealing with injuries for half of the season.

Next is returning running back Desmond Reid. Reid was instrumental to the seven straight wins and made an impressive offensive duo with Holstein. The All-American had four touchdowns, 52 catches for 579 yards and 184 carries for 966 yards in his season for Pitt. Now, he returns already on the All-ACC Preseason Team.

Another Pitt player on the All-ACC Preseason Team is linebacker Kyle Louis. Louis' defensive abilities helped him get 101 total tackles, seven sacks, and four interceptions. Along with earning an All-ACC honor, he finished third in ACC defensive player of the year voting.

The last player The Athletic article mentions is All-ACC linebacker Rasheem Biles. Biles finished his sophmore season with 82 tackles and one interception.

Clearly, Pitt football has a good infrastructure in place for both a solid defensive and offensive.

Pitt landed ninth in a recent ACC preseason poll. If Pitt can come back healthy while possessing nearly the same talent as last year, making noise in the ACC and nationally is definitely a possibility.

While Pitt will face tough teams such as Miami and Notre Dame, they won't have to play Clemson in the regular season, who is ranked first in the ACC. Making the 12-team College Football Playoffs will likely mean having to play Clemson in the ACC Championship, though.

Other ACC teams mentioned in The Athletic article are Georgia Tech and Louisville.

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