CLEMSON — One thing is certain, Clemson’s Will Heldt and Pittsburgh’s Patt Narduzzi like the ACC better than the Big Ten.

Heldt, of course, is Clemson’s All-ACC defensive end, who transferred to Clemson from Purdue in 2025. Narduzzi’s is Pitt’s fiery head coach, who is heading into his 12season there.

“Yeah, I think as far as Big Ten to ACC, I think it’s not all that different,” Heldt said. “At the end of the day, it’s just football. It’s Power 4 football. Everybody is big, everybody is strong, everybody is fast. It’s fair to say that there’s different body types that look different at different positions and maybe schematically things look different league to league, but pretty similar.”

Narduzzi, who was Michigan State’s defensive coordinator for eight seasons from 2007-’14, took it a step further than Heldt. He said the ACC is not only similar to the Big Ten, but that it is better.

“I said it then, I say it now. After spending about two years in the (ACC). I said this conference is better. It is better than the Big Ten,” he said at the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte earlier this week. “It has more skill. I just think, up and down the East Coast, there are so many players in our area that the Big Ten tries to get. They get players to come up North and now it has a little West (Coast) flavor to it. I have said that for years and I am going to stick to my guns.”

To make his point, Narduzzi even said the ACC is better on the field than the Big Ten.

“When you look at are record in bowl games against the SEC and Big Ten and look at our record in the regular season. We do not have a losing record, we have a winning record against those teams,” he said.

Well, that is not accurate. Since Narduzzi came to Pitt in 2015, the ACC is 49-68 against Big Ten teams, while the league is 57-96 against the SEC in that same span. The ACC also holds a losing record against both leagues in bowl games since 2015 – 23-29 vs. Big Ten and 26-37 against the SEC.

However, that does not stop Heldt from liking the ACC more than the Big Ten.

“I think to answer your question, coming from up north in Indiana down south, I think the southern charm is real. It’s nice to not have snow in October,” Clemson’s defensive end said. “But yeah, the community down south is different. People love college football. It’s definitely college football country.”

For the record, Clemson has held its own in matchups against the Big Ten and SEC. The Tigers are 2-2 against the Big Ten (all postseason games) since 2015, while they are 15-10 against the SEC, including a 3-4 record in postseason games. Two of three wins came against Alabama in the 2017 and 2019 CFP National Championship Games.