Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Panthers were included in Stewart Mandel’s preseason Top 25 poll for Fox Sports recently. However, they didn’t crack one of the two ‘main’ polls in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
Those rankings, released Thursday, had the Panthers buried well into the Others Receiving Votes column. To be exact, Pitt was a distant 41st there, grabbing a total of eight points.
I don’t come anywhere close to insisting the Panthers belong in the Top 25. As I’ve said before, the team lost its best offensive player in last season, has real questions at wide receiver, and has zero depth at quarterback. Heck, even if Nathan Peterman remains healthy, is there any guarantee he’ll be as capable as he was last year? I expect him to play well, but again, no guarantees there.
Pitt may eventually play its way into the rankings, but it’s far too early to be concerned about them being disrespected.
Alabama topped the poll with Clemson (No. 2), Florida State (No. 4), North Carolina (No. 20), and Louisville (No. 23) all getting in from the ACC.
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