If a recent projection for the 2024-25 bowl is accurate, Pitt will face a school that competed in the College Football Playoff last season.
Pitt went 3-9 last season and missed a bowl appearance for the first time since 2017 (in a non-COVID-19 season), but Sporting News’ Bill Bender projects a turnaround for the Panthers.
Bender predicted the 2024-25 bowl season schedule and has Pitt facing Washington in the DirecTV Holiday Bowl on a date to be determined, which would be a huge development next season. It would be a solid performance for the Panthers.
The Holiday Bowl has traditionally been a premier bowl for the Pac-12, with a tie to the ACC for the past few seasons, but with the collapse of the Pac-12, it seems likely that ties will change.
Louisville fell to USC 42-28 in the most recent edition of the Holiday Bowl and Oregon beat North Carolina in the 2022 Holiday Bowl.
Washington is coming off a College Football Playoff appearance, losing to Michigan 34-13 in the national championship game, but a lot has changed since the Huskies left the field at NRG Stadium in Houston.
The Huskies have lost head coach Kalen DeBoer to Alabama, quarterback Michael Penix and nearly every impact player in the class. This is a Huskies team that has seen better days, but in the early days of the new Big Ten, the Huskies have to shine. And despite the lure of the ACC, Pitt has to show up.
If you look at Pitt’s 2024 schedule, it’s not exactly the toughest. In fact, the Panthers face one of the easiest schedules in the ACC heading into the 2024 schedule.
If Washington, the same Huskies who reached the national title game last season, is the postseason opponent, the Panthers will have done well.