When Pitt’s playing a way higher-ranked team, the Panthers are at their most dangerous.

Unranked Pitt plays No. 2 Clemson in the ACC Championship on Saturday, a meeting of two teams that have combined to go 19-5 this season, technically.

The objective evidence says Pitt should not compete in this game.

The Panthers are nearly four-touchdown underdogs in both Vegas lines and S&P+ projections. They’re here because they were the least objectionable team in the league’s Coastal division. Clemson’s here because it’s been perfect. The Tigers shouldn’t need a home-field advantage but figure to have basically that in Charlotte anyway.

Of course, Pitt transcends objective evidence.

Here’s the whole recent history of that, which includes the last time these teams met with Clemson ranked No. 2.

2002: Pitt 28, No. 3 Virginia Tech 21

The Hokies were 8-0 when Pitt visited on the first weekend in November. Yet Pitt’s upset win was the start of a 2-4 Hokies finish that turned them from frontline contenders to afterthoughts in their second year A.V. (After Vick).

Pitt would finish 9-4 with an Insight Bowl win, ranked 19th (better than in any of the other years you’ll see on this list).

2003: No. 25 Pitt 31, No. 5 Virginia Tech 28

The Hokies were 7-1, coming off an upset of No. 2 Miami. Cornerback DeAngelo Hall was suspended for the first half, and Pitt was pretty decent this year. This was even a College GameDay game. (There was a time when GameDay went to Pitt, yeah.)

The Panthers were just 1-point underdogs on their home field, and they won on a 2-yard Lousaka Polite touchdown run with 48 seconds left, after Tech — which had been leading — turned the ball over on downs at the Pitt 30 because Frank Beamer didn’t wanna try a long field goal.

Pitt finished 8-5 and unranked.

2007: Pitt 13, No. 2 West Virginia 9

The centerpiece of this tradition and the most shocking rivalry upset of all time. Let WVU fullback Owen Schmitt explain a decade afterward what a dagger this loss was:

There was a lot of hype, and then it just seemed like every week, shit was just falling into place. You know what I mean? And teams were losing that needed to lose for us to move up, and it was happening. And then you get to the fucking last game of the season and blow it against the shittiest fucking team in the fucking world.

The Mountaineers, a home win against a 4-7 team away from clinching a berth in the BCS Championship, instead lost one of the two best title shots the program’s ever had.

2008: Pitt 26, No. 10 USF 21

The Bulls were unbeaten, coming off a year in which they’d reached No. 2 in the AP Poll. At this point, they were still in a conference that wouldn’t get them shut out of of the title picture. They lost at home to Pitt, then finished 8-5. Pitt finished 9-4 and unranked.

2012: No. 4 Notre Dame 29, Pitt 26 (3OT)

Pitt didn’t actually win this game, but a team that finished 6-7 and played in the BBVA Compass Bowl for the third year in a row still went to South Bend and exposed a sham BCS Championship participant team weeks before Alabama did.

A missed Pitt 33-yard field goal is the reason the country was subjected to Notre Dame playing Bama, actually.

2016: Pitt 42, Penn State 39

A bit of a weird case, admittedly: Penn State wasn’t thought to be that good when it visited Heinz Field in Week 2. But a Pitt that finished 8-5 with a Pinstripe Bowl loss still beat the eventual Big Ten champion, one of two losses that kept PSU out of the Playoff.

Indeed, Pitt took title shots away from its two biggest historic rivals within a decade. Pitt’s combined record in those two years: 13-12.

2016: Pitt 43, No. 3 Clemson 42

Later the same year, Pitt became the only team to beat the eventual national champs. A handful of Deshaun Watson mistakes helped, but Pitt inexplicably had Clemson’s defense guessing all day.

2017: Pitt 24, No. 2 Miami 14

Most of the people at Heinz Field on the Saturday after Thanksgiving were dressed as yellow seats. But Miami’s offense couldn’t get anything going, and the Canes took their first L after a 10-0 start. Pat Narduzzi even guaranteed a win at halftime of the Panthers’ fourth straight win against a top-three foe while unranked.

Pitt still fell short of bowl eligibility.

2018: No. 5 Notre Dame 19, Pitt 14

Pitt played most of the game ahead in South Bend and lost by less than anyone else against the Irish in 2018’s regular season. Two missed Panthers field goals were likely the difference, in a spooky parallel to the 2012 loss in the same stadium.

Notre Dame became a Playoff team. Pitt wrapped the regular season at 7-5 after entering 3-3.

So, Clemson’s already among the teams to have learned a lesson about Pitt the hard way.

If you can avoid it, don’t play Pitt when you’re in the national title conversation.