When James Franklin took over at Virginia Tech last fall, only a few weeks after being fired at Penn State, Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi made it a point to reach out to a perceived mortal enemy who isn't actually a mortal enemy at all.
“He’s a ball coach,” Narduzzi said. “He likes to coach football, and you know he wasn’t going to be denied. You got to love that about him.”
“Love” is not a word Narduzzi throws around a lot, particularly when it comes to another school, and especially when that school is the one about 2 1/2 hours away that the Panthers have a complicated and bitter history with.
Narduzzi certainly didn't use “love” during the four years he and Franklin stood across the sideline from each other when the schools’ series briefly returned from 2016-19, a stretch in which Franklin and the Nittany Lions went 3-1.
Yet, Narduzzi allows now with the Panthers (4-0, 1-0 ACC) traveling to Blacksburg on Friday to face Franklin and the unbeaten Hokies (4-0, 1-0), it was all just part of the reality show that is college football.
“I think it’s more of the perception of what you guys dig into the rivalry,” Narduzzi said this week. “I mean, the players play the game; coaches don’t. We don’t go out on the field. We’re not going to have a boxing match before the game. I mean it’s like, he’s a first-class coach.”
It certainly looks that way so far at Virginia Tech. Franklin's arrival has given the program a needed jolt. The Hokies can match their best start since 2005 with a victory. To do it, they'll need to figure out a way to fend off another school that is also hoping to prove it's a legit threat to reach the ACC title game.
And that, Franklin said, is all that matters. Yes, things are off to a promising start, and yes, Virginia Tech is on the verge of returning to the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2021. Yet Franklin, who spent 11-plus years navigating Penn State back to national relevance, including a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinal in 2024, is hardly leaning into the buzz.
“I get that from the media, and I get that for the fans and everybody, but we’ve got to find a way to be 1-0 this week,” he said. "Each week it’s been critical. And we’ve got to find ways to get wins, and our approach should be consistent every single week, and our players are probably hearing it from everyone else.”
That kind of noise was hard to ignore when Pitt and Penn State faced off in the latter stages of the 2010s. The first signature win of Narduzzi's record-setting run with the Panthers came on a spectacular September day in 2016 when Pitt pulled off a 42-37 stunner.
Three more meetings, the last a narrow Penn State victory in 2019 in which Narduzzi came under scrutiny for not going for it on fourth-and-goal late, followed before the series went on a hiatus that remains indefinite.
Now here Franklin and Narduzzi are, meeting again where the stakes professionally are significantly higher as their teams try to emerge from the cluster of ACC schools behind No. 4 Miami.
Asked if it's strange that Pitt and Virginia Tech are a combined 8-0 and unranked and Narduzzi shrugged.
“I think there’s biases out there,” he said. “I think it’s a joke, quite honestly, the preseason rankings. But I don’t care. I just want to win every week.”
For Pitt to improve to 5-0 for just the second time in his 12-year tenure, the defensive-minded Narduzzi will have to win the “chess match” against a seemingly rejuvenated Franklin.
“He almost looks a little bit more free,” said Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allar, who spent four years playing for Franklin at Penn State.
Allar, whose senior year ended prematurely with an ankle injury the day before Penn State parted ways with Franklin after the preseason No. 1 dropped to 3-3, thinks his former coach was simply in need of a fresh start.
“I think sometimes you just need to change the scenery for that stuff to click and realize that,” Allar said. “I know Coach Franklin takes his job serious. And I know how much he prepares the staff and the players for games. You also have to have fun. I see Coach Franklin having fun again.”
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