![]() ![]() “The more money you can make early, the better off you’re going to be at the bank at the end,” he said.ĭurham notes North Carolina’s “friendly” schedule that does not include Clemson, Pitt or Louisville. That makes the game Saturday even more important for Pitt. 20 Virginia Tech and Clemson (29-1 against ACC foes since losing to Pitt in 2016). Four of Pitt’s final six opponents are No. Said Durham: “They have a defense that looks like one of his Michigan State teams.”ĭurham’s warning is the Pitt’s reconfigured schedule isn’t easy. “They tell me, ‘Hey, look, when Narduzzi gets a defense that starts looking like his Michigan State teams, that’s when the league’s going to know that Pittsburgh is going to be there for a while.” “You can see in the (Syracuse) game where he and coach (Mark) Whipple (offensive coordinator) have really evolved with the offense.”ĭurham said he has several buddies who call Big Ten games and who have observed Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi since he was Michigan State’s defensive coordinator. I think he is a great manager of the game. It hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been pretty good. “I also think they have one of the most underrated quarterbacks (Kenny Pickett) in the country. “I do think that counts a lot right now, especially in the (covid) landscape we’re playing in,” he said. “I do believe these are two of the teams that could stay in the conversation through the course of the year as to potential challengers to Clemson.” “While you spend a lot of time looking at that particular angle, for me, I’m always mindful of the bigger picture,” he said. 1 Clemson’s chief ACC competition.ĭurham said it’s too easy to label Pitt’s game with Louisville as a battle between the Panthers’ stingy defense and the Cardinals’ speed on offense. So, who better than Durham - the Bill Hillgrove of southern football - to handicap the field in the difficult quest to wrestle the 2020 ACC title from five-time defending champion Clemson?ĭurham said it’s too early to pick one from a cluster of six ranked teams - Notre Dame, North Carolina, Miami, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Louisville - as No. Then, he’ll fly home to Atlanta for his other job, play-by-play man for the Falcons. “I’m excited to see which team takes advantage of this stage,” Durham said. Wes Durham, who knew at the age of 14 that he wanted to follow his father’s career path, has been around the ACC long enough to remember when retiring commissioner John Swofford, 71, played quarterback at North Carolina.ĭurham, who co-hosts “Packer and Durham” on the ACC Network with Mark Packer, will do the play-by-play Saturday for Louisville/Pitt, the first game at Heinz Field in 11 years between ranked teams. His father, legendary play-by-play announcer Woody Durham, called North Carolina games on radio for 40 years (1971-2011) after replacing Bill Currie, who left for a job at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh. Wes Durham counts the first seven years of his life as the only time he wasn’t surrounded by ACC football, basketball or baseball.
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