There it is. Pat Narduzzi is the guy this team needs. In all honesty he deserved a better job but we were lucky enough to scoop him up and it’s perfect. Michigan State rose to greatness on the backs of the defenses Narduzzi coached up. 

They handed Ohio State its first loss in the Urban Meyer era in large part with lesser known high school recruits.  They went on to win a Rose Bowl as underdogs against Stanford thanks to their “No Fly Zone.” 



Darqueze Dennard was only a 2 star recruit coming out of Georgia who, thanks to Narduzzis’s schemes, would become the best defensive back in the 2014 NFL draft and be selected in the first round by the Bengals. 



In this years NFL draft, Trae Wayne’s stands the most to gain from his time in the Narduzzi lead Spartan defense. He’s another top DB on many expert’s draft boards and is expected to be another first round pick in a few weeks. 



The Steelers own, Le’Veon Bell was only a 2 star guy out of high school but thanks to the grind and tutalege from Michigan State’s hard nosed coaching staff he became a second round pick in the 2013 draft and has solidified his position as a top running back in the NFL. 

Today’s tug-of-war is a great sign that many of the elements present in East Lansing will be, at some level, be replicated by the new Pitt staff. For years they have received mediocre play from mediocre players. They have had diamonds like LeSean McCoy and Darrelle Revis but did not have the necessary parts around them to become a great team. Now with a staff that has a history of turn mediocre guys into first round NFL talent, it’s reasonable to expect big things from Pitt as soon as this fall. 

Recently I was asked who would have a better season in 2015 Penn State or Pitt. Expecting growth from Pitt, I see games in Blackburg vs Virgina Tech and on Durham vs Duke to be difficult but winnable. Wild card teams like Notre Dame, North Carolina, Louisville, and Miami all travel to Heinz field, and while Pitt isn’t known for its ravenous home field advantage, it’s a lot easier to win at home and all those games are winnable. There are no “for sure losses” on that schedule so the sky is the limit, why not go 12-0?

Penn State on the other hand has definite losses at Ohio State and at Michigan State. They also travel to their new rival, Maryland, who whooped up on them last year. Add a trip into Northwestern and you have one of the tougher schedules in the Big Ten, a conference the could only mustered 2 wins in last season. A lot needs to go right for the Nittany Lions to come away with 8 wins, look for Pitt’s Pennsylvania football dominance to extend to 2016. 

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