Speaking of which, a quick update on the ACC football scheduling thing. ESPN has relented, and it looks like the status quo is likely to continue.

The ADs spent much of the last three-plus months in fierce debate over two alternatives offered by ESPN, both designed to create more quality programming for the ACC Network, set to launch in 2019. In exchange for financial incentives, ESPN asked for eight league games and two Power Five non-conference dates (8+2), or nine league games and one outside Power Five contest (9+1).

But during a conference call Tuesday morning to prepare for their face-to-face meetings, the athletic directors learned from ACC commissioner John Swofford that while ESPN prefers one of those formats, it will settle for 8+1. This according to sources throughout the league.

How much that will cost the conference in incentives is unknown.

Not a fan of this, Expect the issue to continue to rear its head. It is still going to be a headache for a lot of schools for scheduling. After this season, we’ll see Clemson at Heinz Field in 2022.

With Georgia Tech this weekend, it’s no wonder Head Coach Pat Narduzzi was a little ticked about the run defense in the second half of the Marshall game.

“It’s not the speed,” Narduzzi said. “Everybody’s got speed, but it’s really what they do and how they do it.”

“There’s a lot of magic being done behind the line (of scrimmage),” Pitt linebacker Sean Idowu said. “So there’s a lot of stuff you have to look at, having honest eyes and good technique. They are specialists at what they do.”

Pitt’s main advantage is that it emphasizes run defense, although that didn’t help last year.

The Panthers lead the ACC and are fourth in the nation, allowing an average of 69.8 yards on the ground. But the run defense struggled in the second half Saturday against Marshall, which ran 22 times for 97 yards after halftime to eliminate most of Pitt’s 27-0 lead. Pitt hung on to win 43-27 but not before Marshall scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions.

“We lost our focus a little bit,” Narduzzi said.

If Pitt suffers a similar loss of focus against Georgia Tech, the result might not be as pleasant.

As a head coach, it is a pain to have to get the team ready for it, but as a defensive coordinator it can be something else.

Coach Pat Narduzzi, defensive-minded by trade, said he was at the football offices late Sunday night trying to plan for the run-heavy Yellow Jackets.

“I enjoy trying to figure out what it is,” Narduzzi said. “We’re going to look heavily at what we did against Navy and Georgia Tech last year and you’re going to tweak some things you do, have some new stuff you have to do. They’re preparing for what they saw. It’s nice to go back and dissect really what you did in the past and how you can make it better.”

Pitt fared well against the Yellow Jackets a year ago, winning, 31-28, on a record-long, 56-yard field goal by kicker Chris Blewitt.

They did not fare so well against Navy, in the Military Bowl, losing, 44-28.

Because Georgia Tech predominantly runs the ball, and the Panthers are built to stop the run, this one is a favorable matchup for the Panthers — on paper anyway.

“Our guys would rather you run the ball. You can probably see that. We like to defend the run. Obviously, the option gives you a whole different perspective on defending the run. Really we’d like to just line up the “I” formation and run the power. That’s how football used to be. Now it’s the spread and tricky football,” Narduzzi said. “But this will be fun. I think our guys are looking forward to it.”

GT will pile up the yards on the ground. It is just a fact. It will be about keeping them out of the endzone and forcing them to settle for field goals.

Their quarterback, Justin Thomas is a senior who has been starting for three years. Well experienced, but he’s struggled a bit with turnovers this year.

But Thomas had two fumbles in less than one minute, and each was returned for a touchdown. Thomas, a senior better known for his usually reliable pitches and runs on option plays, knows he has to avoid mistakes when Georgia Tech tries to end a two-game losing streak on Saturday at Pittsburgh.

“You take away those turnovers and it’s a totally different ballgame,” Thomas said Monday.

Thomas lost his first fumble when he was hit from behind while looking to make a pass. He was looking to make a pitch to running back Clinton Lynch two plays later but fumbled when he tried to pull the ball back. The two quick touchdowns allowed Miami to stretch its lead from 14-7 to 28-7.

“The first turnover was where we don’t protect him,” Johnson said Tuesday. “That’s not his fault. You’d like for it not to happen, but you can’t hold him accountable for that. I think he’d be the first to tell you the other one was probably a poor decision.”

Thomas also threw an interception late in the game for his third turnover.

One of the issues for GT this season has been a defense that starts slowly.

Tech has now given up touchdowns on the opening drive of its past four games – Mercer, Vanderbilt, Clemson and Miami. All have started at least 75 yards from the Jackets goal line. Last Saturday, the Hurricanes zapped Tech with an eight-play, 85-yard drive punctuated by a 27-yard touchdown run.

“We haven’t adjusted to the tempo of the game as well as we need to,” Roof said. “There’s been some errors, some self-inflicted mistakes and then the other team has made some plays at times, too, because we’ve played against some good teams.”

Clemson runs out of a no-huddle offense and Miami hit the Jackets with up-tempo pace on the opening drive. Pittsburgh huddles up, Roof said, but “they go fast from when they break the huddle to when they get to the line of scrimmage, which, again, cuts back on the time that you have to process the information that you see in front of you.”

Tossing out the two defensive touchdowns scored by Miami last Saturday, the Jackets have given up 7.0 points per possession on the opening drive in the past four games and .81 points per possession on the other opponent drives.

To that extent, the defense might be looking to bring some more pressure on the edges.

Simmons is part of a rotation at end, where KeShun Freeman and Rod Rook-Chungong have both started all five games. Simmons gets playing time as does Anree Saint-Amour.

“I think Antonio’s doing well,” coach Paul Johnson said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “He’s played a great deal this season. He needs to be a little more consistent in the run game, but probably to this point he’s probably been our best pass rusher.

Simmons has one sack for the season but has been credited with seven quarterback hurries. No teammate has more than two. Tech probably did its best job of the season disrupting the quarterback against Miami and Kaaya, but could use more production there. The Jackets’ five sacks are tied for 111th in FBS and the opposition’s 65.2 pass completion percentage is 118th in FBS.

Finally, GT head coach Paul Johnson remains blunt and salty.

“Here’s what has to happen, it’s what I tell our team about playing: commitment has to meet expectations,” he said. “You can’t have expectations with no commitment. It won’t work, no matter what you do.

“So, if you say you want to be on this level, then you have to be committed to be on that level and you have to do what those people are doing. It’s as simple as that.”

When asked if he thinks his Tech program has received that commitment, Johnson said, “I don’t know that anybody gets that. You can ask that about anybody.

“You guys look, you don’t have to ask me. Do you think we have the same things Clemson does?”

He received an answer of, “No.”

Johnson responded: “How can the expectation be to beat them?”

Of course, you could counter that if GT was or could make a similar financial commitment that Clemson makes, the Yellow Jackets wouldn’t be employing Paul Johnson and running the triple option. Just, maybe, not to his face.