Panthers, Tigers Set to Write Another Chapter in Rivalry
Report by Matt Schmidlin | December 9, 2022
The Clemson Tigers are the Beatles of the ACC. Longevity has blessed Tigers fans with incredible success, from the title years of Frank Howard in the 1950s through Dabo Swinney's dominant run, Clemson has penned 18 #1 Hits (conference titles), including a pair that culminated in back to back national titles in 2016 and 2017.
The Pitt Panthers are the Weeknd. They're Ed Sheeran. They're Justin Bieber. New to the top of the charts, but putting out new top hits in nearly every year. With a three peat of conference championships from 2018-20, the Panthers want to take that legendary mantle from the Tigers.
This will be the fourth time in seven seasons that these two chart toppers have dueled for ACC supremacy.
"Clemson is a household name," Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said. "But now Pitt is too; we're right in that same sentence with them ever since that first matchup in Charlotte."
The Tigers won the first showdown in 2016, outgunning the Panthers early behind star quarterback Deshaun Watson, outlasting a late Panther surge, and forcing a critical Jester Weah fumble in the final minute to avenge an earlier regular season loss to Pitt and seal up the ACC in what would become a national title season.
After another Clemson title in 2017, the two schools duelled again in 2018, with the Panthers stifling the Tigers en route to their first outright conference title ever as the Kenny Pickett era unfolded in Pittsburgh. This would begin a string of three straight ACC titles for the Panthers under Pickett's guidance, with a gap year title over NC State before another showdown with Clemson in 2020 that culminated in a tremendous come-from-behind victory for the Panthers.
Unlike Clemson, Pitt was never able to cap those championship seasons with a national title, despite making the playoff in all three seasons. Their closest call came in 2020 when they lost to Alabama in the national title game after Pickett left midway through the contest with a concussion.
Predictably, Clemson evaded the Panthers in 2021, snagging another conference championship by knocking off North Carolina in a shootout.
Now, much like they've done in every even year since 2016, the two ACC heavyweights will showdown in Charlotte for what will almost certainly culminate in a berth in the College Football Playoff.
"There's some competitive hatred there," Narduzzi said. "We respect those guys and how impressive they are, but when the same team stands in your way over and over again, it motivates you even more to knock them out."
That competitive fire will see one of these two schools penning yet another #1 hit at the expense of their newest rival.