Pat Narduzzi takes shot at Michigan State football, trashes Big Ten

Pat Narduzzi appeared on a podcast this week to talk about Pitt and Peach Bowl got brought up. He wasted no time taking a shot at Michigan State football.

There’s apparently no love lost between Pat Narduzzi and Michigan State football.

The former Michigan State defensive coordinator accepted the Pitt head coaching job back in 2015 and has had an up-and-down tenure with the Panthers. He was just 42-34 through his first six seasons in Pitt with just one division title and no ACC crowns before an 11-3 campaign in 2022 in which he led the Panthers to a conference championship and a Peach Bowl berth.

Michigan State, his former team, met him in Atlanta and proceeded to upend his Panthers thanks to a late pick-six by Cal Haladay. Michigan State improved to 11-2 on the year.

But there is always talk about Heisman finalist Kenny Pickett not playing and how that loss affected the outcome. Narduzzi was asked about that on a recent podcast and he admitted that if Pickett played, Michigan State “gets their butts kicked” and proceeds to say that even if Nick Patti plays, the Panthers win big. He went on to say that if Michigan State was one of the best teams from the Big Ten, Pitt should go over there and “win it every year.”

Here’s the entire podcast and the Big Ten and Michigan State talk happens within the first few minutes:

A coach can’t be that out of touch with reality. His Panthers won the ACC with an 11-2 overall record in a down year for the conference and Michigan State was 10-2 (11-2 after the bowl win) and finished third in its own division. If he thinks that one, his team was better than MSU because Pickett and Patti were out despite Kenneth Walker III also not playing and two, that game somehow proved Pitt would run the Big Ten, he’s delusional.

And taking a shot at Michigan State saying it would ‘get its butt kicked’ if Pickett or Patti played the whole game without realizing the nation’s best running back was out for the Spartans is just wild. A completely unhinged take by a coach who has clearly let a sliver of success go to his head.

Yeah, Pat, come join the Big Ten and play Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Michigan State every year instead of Duke, Virginia, North Carolina, Syracuse, Georgia Tech, a down Florida State team, Miami, and Clemson (the only team worth anything from the ACC), and see how that works out for you.

All this talk from a coach who lost to Western Michigan last season.

For some reason, I think Narduzzi just made some enemies in East Lansing.