Buckle in. The ride is about to get bumpy.
Saturday's result at Wake Forest was more than just about a botched spot on a slide play that didn't need to happen in the first place. It was more than about the thousand other dumb things Pitt did in its loss to a team that was forced into playing its third-string quarterback.
If that third stringer was able to march down the field with ease on the final series of the game for the go-ahead touchdown, imagine what No. 14 Notre Dame and Sam Hartman and No. 4 Florida State and Jordan Travis are scheming up for the Panthers over the next two weeks.
Gulp.
"Tough game to swallow," Pat Narduzzi said of the loss to Wake Forest. "You know, I think everybody would like to point and say, you know, it's this play or that play but there's plays all over the field. As a coach, you go back and watch tape, and you see even more and more and more of just like, wow, we really did give it away.
"And again we can point to penalties. We can point to, you know, a slide. We can point to some, you know, just crappy coverage, and you know, in that last 40 seconds, I guess, in the second two-minute that our defense was involved in that you didn't want to be involved in on a short field. Again, which puts a defense in a rough spot."
Bowl eligibility for the Panthers by this point is a long shot. They have to win four out of the final five games to close the season. Three of those matchups are against ranked opponents, one is at a neutral site, and one is at home on a Thursday night in a short week.
This next stretch will put Pitt in the roughest spots it has been in all season with respect to opposition. The Panthers' anemic offense -- though with some improvement shown Saturday -- has not been able to sustain enough to help keep the defense off of the field. As a result, Pitt is 10th in the ACC in scoring defense while remaining relatively buttoned up with respect to its fifth-ranked total defense in the conference.
Notre Dame averages 35.9 points per game and 414.5 yards per game. Florida State averages 41.6 points and 455.1 yards per game to rank fifth and 24th, respectively, in Football Bowl Subdivision.
"We're all excited to go out there and play somebody that has a lot of hype, have a lot of guys that have NFL potential," said Shayne Simon, a former linebacker a Notre Dame and a current captain of the Pitt defense. "For us. there's a lot of guys in our room and the defensive line room and the offense that want to prove themselves against those guys. We're all excited to go have some fun and go try to pull off an upset. ... (Hartman) has evolved, he's gotten better, he's made more plays, and so we've looked at that and ways we can create pressure on him and make him uncomfortable. He's a great player, he's a great quarterback, and so our job is to definitely make him uncomfortable and get pressure on him each and every play."
Hartman is having a career season in spite of all of his success in five seasons at Wake Forest. In a new system with the Fighting Irish, Hartman is completing a career-best 64.5% of his passes for 229.8 yards per game with 18 touchdowns and three interceptions.
"Obviously a totally different offense," Narduzzi said. "He's in a pro-style offense. He's huddling up and taking snaps under center. If he's going to play in the NFL, it's going to be in that type of offense, not what they are doing at Wake Forest. ... He's going to have an opportunity (at the NFL) just by being able to make run checks, sit underneath the center and do all the things that they ask him to do there. I'll think he'll obviously have a better opportunity in that atmosphere and circumstances. So you know, he throws the ball well. He's a calm guy. He can run. He can scramble. He's still a great athlete. You don't see anything abnormal there."
As for the Pitt offense, strides were taken with Christian Veilleux under center. He eclipsed the 300-yard mark as the Panthers achieved their best passing output of the season, and a 105-yard day from C'Bo Flemister -- a former running back at Notre Dame -- gave Pitt its first 100-yard rusher on the season and allowed for the most yards on the ground in three games.
Positives were there to draw, but the Panthers' inability to punch in scores against a lowly Wake Forest defense raises some red flags. Notre Dame has the nation's 12th-ranked total defense and 14th-ranked scoring defense, while Florida State boasts the 21st-ranked scoring defense in the nation.
"The biggest thing is I want to help contribute any way I can, help this team in any way I can," Flemister said this week. "The fact that I've been given more opportunity to do that is truly a blessing and a privilege."