On Saturday afternoon, the University of Pittsburgh earned their first ever win in eight visits to Chapel Hill, scoring a 34-24 win over a desperate and reeling North Carolina Tar Heels squad that has now dropped three games in a row after winning their opening three games of the season. This particular Pitt squad has no idea what it's like to lose three games in a row, considering they haven't even dropped on yet. In fact, the Panthers are 5-0 for the first time in over 30 years.

“Pitt off to its first 5-0 start since 1991,” tweets College Football insider Brett McMurphy. “Eli Holstein 1st Pitt QB to win his opening 5 starts since some guy named Dan Marino in 1979.”

Back in '79, Pitt went 11-1 and secured a Fiesta Bowl win over Arizona behind the freshman quarterback and the nation's 5th-best scoring defense. The Panthers would go 11-1 in each of the next two seasons as well, collecting Gator Bowl and Sugar Bowl victories before suffering a setback in 1982. In Dan Marino's final season at Pittsburgh, the Panthers went 9-3 and lost in the Cotton Bowl to SMU. Pitt finished each of Marino's four seasons ranked in the top ten of the final AP Poll of the year.

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This is where Pat Narduzzi hopes to eventually lead the Pitt football program, and if the 2024 season has been any indication, he's at least on the right track.

As of this weekend, despite their unblemished record, the Pitt Panthers were still unranked heading into their road matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels, but that figures to change on Sunday. Heading into this weekend, twelve Power Four teams were undefeated, and nine of them were ranked in the top 25. Pitt, Duke and Rutgers were the only ones left out, but the Panthers were 27th in the last poll. With Louisville (ranked 21st) and UNLV (25th) already having lost this week, Pitt figures to get a bump.

Speaking of a bump, it's about time that Eli Holstein starts getting some recognition around the country. Sure, Pitt's closest thing to a marquee win is a 38-34 home victory over West Virginia, but the redshirt freshman quarterback has been as good as anyone in Western Pennsylvania could've imagined. Holstein has now thrown for 1,567 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also adding 265 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground. Not bad for 19-year-old who had never taken a single snap before this season.