Pat Narduzzi says quality of players in ACC is 'different' than Big Ten

Pitt Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi knows plenty about both the Big Ten and the ACC. Prior to taking over at Pitt in 2015, Narduzzi was the defensive coordinator at Michigan State from 2007 to 2014. Now, he’s made it clear that he thinks the ACC has more talent than the Big Ten overall.

During the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, Narduzzi explained that he doesn’t want to take a shot at the Big Ten but he feels like the ACC has better players throughout the conference and they don’t get the respect that they’re owed.

“It’s interesting,” Pat Narduzzi said. “I spent eight years in the Big Ten before coming here. Obviously as a defensive coordinator, not a head coach. Now eight years in the ACC. I personally — again, it’s no slam to the Big Ten at all because it’s a heck of a conference as well, but I look at the quality of players in the ACC. Maybe it’s because it stretches down the Atlantic coast from Miami up to Boston, but just the quality of athletes, it’s different.”

Having been a defensive coordinator during his time in the Big Ten, Pat Narduzzi still approaches this question of talent from that perspective. For him, there are more talented players to prepare for in the ACC on the offensive side of the ball than the Big Ten.

“I look at it in the defensive perspective, some of the receivers that we got to defend, I felt like we didn’t have to defend that back in the day in the Big Ten. Then I think when you look at the quarterbacks, I think we had 12 different quarterbacks start in the NFL from the ACC last year. That’s impressive. We have one right next door in Kenny Pickett,” Narduzzi said.

“I think the quality of quarterback — we know the game starts with the quarterback play, correct? You can have a left guard or a center position or a defensive tackle, but when you talk college football and some of the best football, it comes to quarterbacks. You look at Trevor Lawrence and all the quarterbacks that the ACC has produced.”

As of now, there are four starting quarterbacks from the Big Ten, including Kirk Cousins, Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, and likely CJ Stroud. The ACC has produced six current starters, including Kenny Pickett, Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, Daniel Jones, and Sam Howell.

“I look back in the Big Ten and look at — we had one of the premier guys in Kirk Cousins, but when you look at the Big Ten in the last really 16 years, who are those guys that are starting in the NFL? Kirk Cousins is probably the most popular one that you think of at this point. I may have missed somebody, but no disrespect.”

Jim Phillips on the strength of ACC football

Despite not having an ACC school make the College Football Playoff in the previous two seasons, Commissioner Jim Phillips remains confident in the conference’s quality.

“Good question,” Jim Phillips said. “I think for all of us you get into the competitive ACC season, and it’s a little bit cannibalization. So, your point of differentiation for all conferences, it ends up being the non-conference games. So, we have to get off to a really good start.”

This season, Phillips and the ACC are looking at key non-conference games that Florida State and Clemson are playing against LSU and Notre Dame to hopefully lift the perception of the conference.

“It doesn’t negate having a really good season, if you don’t, but if you stumble once or twice it’s really difficult to overcome that. So, you mentioned a couple of our teams, and I think we have a whole host of others that also can have a really good season,” Jim Phillips said.

“Sometimes our ranked teams act just like that and perform right off the gate in a high level, but sometimes those teams that aren’t ranked or are maybe at the bottom of the top 25 really start to gel. So, I’m really excited about it. I’ve had a chance to really dig in this summer about our rosters and love our coaches as always, but I think, Andrea, with the schools you mentioned, you know, Florida State and Clemson getting a lot of opportunities, I think we have a bunch of others that can also get off to a good start and show that the league is a really, really good football league.”