Urban Meyer claims Pat Narduzzi's viral Notre Dame comments were A.I.: 'He didn't say that'

For the first time since Sept. 2005, ESPN‘s College GameDay is headed to No. 22 Pittsburgh for the Panthers’ clash against No. 9 Notre Dame this weekend.

Both teams are red-hot heading into the matchup. The Fighting Irish have won seven consecutive games after opening the year with back-to-back losses, while Pitt has rattled off five consecutive wins after switching to freshman Mason Heintschel at the quarterback position.

With a matchup this big rolling into town, you would think that the head coach would be doing everything he can to earn a monstrous win and add a top-10 victory to his team’s resume. Well, Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi didn’t quite set the world on fire with his quote earlier this week.

“Absolutely not,” Narduzzi said Monday when asked if it was a ‘must-win’ game. “It is not an ACC game. I’m glad you brought that up. It is not an ACC game. I would gladly get beat 103 or 110-10 in that game. They could put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that. Again, our focus is on Notre Dame and getting as many wins as we can, one at a time.”

Urban Meyer calls Narduzzi’s comments ‘A.I.’

In the grand scheme of things, Narduzzi isn’t wrong. Pittsburgh currently sits at 7-2 (5-1), tied atop the ACC standings with Georgia Tech, SMU, and Virginia. A loss to Notre Dame would do nothing to hurt Pittsburgh‘s College Football Playoff Rankings, as wins in its final two conference games (No. 15 Miami and No. 16 Georgia Tech) would likely send it to the ACC Championship Game. A win there would clinch the program’s first ever appearance in the CFP.

When the quote was brought up on the latest edition of ‘The Triple Option‘ podcast, College Football Hall of Famer Urban Meyer humorously stated that Narduzzi’s comments were ‘A.I.’

“He’s not right,” Meyer said. “I’m saying that’s (not right). I know (Pat) Narduzzi really well. That’s A.I. He didn’t say that. Bulls**t. He didn’t say that. That’s A.I. That’s that fake stuff. What the hell are you talking about? I talked to him, and that’s a great football coach man. Intense sucker. I’m telling you, that’s A.I. I don’t believe it. His team is going to be playing their ass off to be winning that game.”

A win for the Panthers would likely send them into their final two games (both against top-16 opponents) ranked inside the top-15 of the College Football Playoff Rankings. Kick-off for Saturday’s monstrous clash at Acrisure Stadium is scheduled for 12:00 PM ET. The game can be seen on ABC.