No. 1 Miami to host Pitt, pay tribute to 2001 national championship team on Saturday

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The 2001 Miami Hurricanes, a group that went unbeaten, won a national championship, had a record 38 players selected in the NFL draft and certainly has a case to be called the greatest team in college football history, will reunite this weekend.

Talk about perfect timing. They'll be watching the No. 1 team in the country.

For the first time since that era, the Hurricanes will take the field as the nation's top-ranked team. No. 1 Miami (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) will play host to Pitt (5-2, 2-2), with the fabled '01 team set to be recognized in a halftime ceremony.

“It represents a time where guys that had seen Miami be really good took a chance to come to Miami when Miami had to dig itself out of a hole,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “And they were young men of action. They were builders. They were willing to go through the painful steps necessary to rebuild the University of Miami and they did it to the highest level.”

He sees the parallels between then and now. Cristobal — a national champion player at Miami a decade before that 2001 squad won it all — came home to his alma mater before the 2022 season and embarked on a rebuild. The stock has been steadily rising since, with Miami having gone 29-6 over the last 2 1/2 seasons and now reaching No. 1 for the first time since 2002.

As part of the tribute, Miami will wear uniforms this weekend similar to the type the 2001 team wore.

“We head down to Miami, No. 1 in the country, outstanding football team,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. “They got players all over the place on offense, defense, special teams. And we’ll have our hands certainly full Saturday at noon down there. And Mario obviously does a heck of a job recruiting, as we all know, and they’ve got a ton of talent from all over the country.”

The Hurricanes moved up two spots to No. 1 after last weekend’s wildness across college football, with then-No. 1 Georgia losing to Auburn and then-No. 2 Notre Dame losing to BYU.

The Hurricanes are 42-6 all-time as the nation's No. 1 team, including 3-0 when facing Pitt as the top-ranked squad — with wins in 1986, 2001 and 2002.

Miami has also won 30 consecutive regular season games (last loss in 1990) as the No. 1 team. The Hurricanes are 23-0 all-time when playing home regular season games with that ranking, and 29-0 when facing unranked teams while being No. 1.

The Panthers are 0-13-1 all-time when facing teams that were holding the No. 1 ranking at kickoff. They haven't played a top-ranked team since facing Miami in 2002.

Pitt has never scored more than 21 points against a team ranked No. 1. But Narduzzi does have a win over a No. 2 ranked team during his Pitt tenure — that win coming against Miami in 2017.

Narduzzi raised some eyebrows this week when talking about Miami's recruiting practices — specifically, when it comes to the transfer portal — and made a veiled reference to Cristobal when he said “he's playing by his rules, and we’ll try to play by our rules.”

Narduzzi was responding to a question about Miami pursuing Pitt quarterback Mason Heintschel this past offseason; the Hurricanes ended up with Duke transfer Darian Mensah, who leads the nation in completion percentage.

Pitt cornerback Raion Strader was complimentary of Miami star receiver Malachi Toney — but suggested the Panthers will be able slow him down.

“He's a really good player, real dynamic player," Strader said. "But I think we have a great scheme for him. ... We believe in ourselves, we're real confident on the defensive side and we're going to bring it to him.”

Toney, a sophomore, enters this week 31 yards shy of 2,000 for his Miami career. Pitt enters this week with the nation's No. 1 rushing defense — but ranks 116th nationally in passing yards allowed per game.

Miami leads the all-time series with Pitt 30-12-1, having won 23 of the last 27 matchups.

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