The good news for the 18th-ranked Panthers is that their strength of schedule jumped 13 spots, from 60 to 47, following a primetime clash against SMU on Saturday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

The bad news is Pitt is no longer undefeated and sits at 7-1 following an absolute shellacking at the hands of the 20th-ranked Mustangs–the first top-25 team it faced in 2024.

Oh yeah, and the Panthers probably won’t be ranked after this week.

There isn’t much to say about the Mustangs’ 48-25 blowout of Pitt, other than it wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated.

The Panthers’ defense was outmatched the entire game, and it was joined by a supposedly explosive offense that had trouble igniting against its third-straight opponent.

Pitt’s defenders had an atrocious night tackling, and when they weren’t performing poorly in that regard, they were being outclassed in the speed department. Sadly, both deficiencies were often on display, as SMU accrued 294 first-half yards on the way to a 31-3 halftime advantage.

As for Pitt’s offense, it only posted 136 yards, a fumble and a field goal over the first 30 minutes. Things were so bad for the Panthers in the first half that Ben Sauls even made a mistake when he failed to connect on a field-goal try from 47 yards away–his first miss of the 2024 campaign.

Eli Holstein, Pitt’s redshirt freshman quarterback, put up some numbers, but they were just numbers; he completed 29 of 48 for 248 yards while throwing zero touchdowns and one interception. Nate Yarnell came on in relief in the second half and completed nine of 10 passes for 99 yards and two touchdowns in garbage time. This isn’t to say that the Panthers now have a quarterback controversy; it’s just that, well, maybe the bloom is officially off the rose that was the start of Holstein’s Pitt career before the Cal Golden Bears apparently figured out a way to make him less effective in a matchup at Acrisure Stadium back on October 12.

Of course, it’s easy to just point a finger at the quarterback, but the fact is that the entire Pitt squad—including the offense, defense, and special teams—looked overmatched by the Mustangs’ talent and speed.

Mustangs’ quarterback Kevin Jennings completed 17 of 25 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Brashard Smith had 23 carries for 161 yards and two touchdowns–including one for 71 yards–vs. Pitt’s defense.

What’s next for the Panthers? At 3-1 in the conference, they’re still in contention for a spot in the ACC title game. Unfortunately, SMU improved to 5-0 in conference play and joined Miami after the Hurricanes’ 53-31 victory over Duke. Clemson lost its first  ACC game to Louisville on Saturday to drop to 5-1 in the conference. But that is both good and bad news since the Cardinals are now 4-2 in the conference.

The Panthers will be at Louisville on November 23 for their penultimate game of the 2024 season. With that in mind, Pitt may still have an outside shot at playing in the ACC Championship Game, but it could also finish in the middle of the pack in the conference when all is said and done.

But these 2024 Panthers can’t afford to look ahead to Louisville (or Clemson the week before that). Nope, for now, all they can do is prepare for a Virginia team that will arrive at Acrisure Stadium next Saturday with a 4-4 overall record and a 2-3 mark in the ACC. Pitt must regain its focus and composure. After all, a second-straight loss–one to a team it “should” defeat–could cause a once-promising and delightful 2024 campaign to quickly spiral out of control.