Pitt football fans, it’s time to take off those blue and gold glasses

Let’s get right to the facts shall we. If you are a Pitt football fan, age 40 or younger, Pitt has not finished in the top 10 at the end of any season nor won a major bowl game in your lifetime.

The last time Pitt finished a season ranked in the top 10 was 1982 and the last major bowl game Pitt won was the 1982 Sugar Bowl against Georgia.

After the 2022 football season on Pitt message boards, some Pitt fans went so far as to think Pitt was elite because they won 20 football games total in 2021 and 2022. Elite! Pitt fans need to take off those myopic blue and gold glasses and face reality.

When you haven’t finished in the top 10, nor won a major bowl game in more than 40 years, you are as far from elite as elite is to zyzzyva in the dictionary.

This is a list of some schools that have finished in the top 10 at a season’s end since Pitt last did in 1982: Air Force, Arizona (3x), Arizona State (2x), Arkansas, Baylor (2x), Boise State (4x), Boston College (2x), Brigham Young (3x), California (2x), Cincinnati (3x), Colorado (6x), East Carolina, Georgia Tech (2x), Houston, (2x), Illinois (2x), Iowa (7x), Iowa State, Kansas (2x), Kansas State (7x), Louisville (2x), Marshall, Michigan State (5x), Minnesota, Mississippi (3x), Mississippi State, Missouri (3x), North Carolina (2x), Northwestern (2x), Oklahoma State (3x), Oregon State, South Carolina (3x), SMU, Stanford (5x), Syracuse (2x), TCU (7x), Tulane, UCF (2x), UCLA (6x), Utah (4x), Virginia Tech (7x), Washington State (5x), and West Virginia (3x).

How many of those schools do you consider a football power? How many of those schools do you feel have a more successful football program than Pitt? Yet they all managed to finish at least once ranked in the top 10 since the last time Pitt did it, 41 years ago. Even the University of Nevada has finished ranked higher than Pitt in more than 40 years when they were ranked 11^th in 2020.

Not enough evidence for you to re-evaluate how good Pitt’s football program is? Here is a list of some schools that have won a major bowl game since Pitt last won their major bowl game, the 1982 Sugar Bowl versus Georgia. Some of these football “powers” may surprise you: Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas (2x), Baylor, Boise State (3x), Boston College, Brigham Young, Colorado (3x), Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State (2x), Iowa, Iowa State, Louisville (3x), Michigan State (4x), Mississippi (5x), Missouri (3x), Oklahoma State (2x), Oregon State, SMU, Stanford (3x), Syracuse, Texas A&M (4x), Tulane, UCF (2x), UCLA (5x), Utah (2x), Virginia Tech (2x), and West Virginia (3x).

Again, ask yourself, how many of those schools do you consider a football power? How many of those schools do you feel have a more successful football program than Pitt? Yet they all managed to win a major bowl game at least once, if not multiple times, since the last time Pitt won one 41 years ago. Puts Pitt’s football program in a better perspective, doesn’t it? It should.

Is it then any wonder why when there’s discussion of a future 28 or 32-team super league of college football, that Pitt is not listed as one of those schools?

Want more proof? Pitt has played in just three major bowl games since they last won a major bowl game. Those three bowl games were: the 1983 Cotton Bowl – a 7-3 loss to SMU; the 2005 Fiesta Bowl, a blowout 35-7 loss to Utah; and the December 2021 Peach Bowl – a 31-21 loss to Michigan State. That averages out to making a major bowl game appearance once every 13 years or so.

The last time Pitt football had a season that it didn’t lose three games was 1981. That was 42 seasons ago! FORTY-TWO! Only these P5 “football powers” have a longer streak of consecutive three-loss-or-more seasons than Pitt: Duke, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. None of those schools is thought of as a football power. Pitt managed to keep that ignominious streak going after just week four in 2023.

But, but, 2021 Pitt fans will say. Well, in Pitt’s ACC championship season of 2021, the Panthers did not face a ranked opponent until the ACC Championship Game against 18^th-ranked Wake Forest. That’s how weak the ACC was in 2021.

One would be hard pressed to find schools that went from a 11-win conference championship season to only three wins in two years, but not surprisingly Pitt did just that. Both are outlier seasons for Pitt as the Panthers usually do manage to win six to eight games a year.

The last time Pitt was even ranked in the top 10 during a football season was in 2009 at number eight late in the season. The last time Pitt was involved in a game between two top 10 teams was in 1989 when Pitt was ranked seventh and traveled to South Bend, Indiana, to face number-one ranked Notre Dame and Pitt lost 45-7.

It’s amazing the lack of overall success the Pitt football program has experienced since 1983 despite producing not only NFL stars, but players that have gone on to be amongst the best to have ever played their position, such as Aaron Donald, Larry Fitzgerald and Darrelle Revis. 

If you picked an all-time Pitt NFL team, it would be in the top 10 that any school has produced and look something like this: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/updating-the-pittsburgh-panthers-all-time-football-team/

It is truly an enigma that despite producing some of the greatest players in NFL history, that Pitt, unlike so many other schools, hasn’t been able to catch lightning in a bottle for a season, even once, or manage to lose less than three games in a year, or finish ranked in the top 10, or win a major bowl game in more than 41 years.

However, that’s the reality of Pitt’s football program when you take off those blue and gold glasses.

John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can be found on his blog: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/

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Has playing football off-campus helped Pitt football?

Has playing football off-campus helped Pitt football? There’s no denying playing on the North Shore has its advantages in terms of parking, traffic and accessibility more so than playing in Oakland, but the gameday experience just isn’t the same off campus. Alumni love to visit where they spent their college years and all that rekindled, feel good nostalgia is lost by playing off campus. You can’t even see the Cathedral of Learning from the North Shore.

Do you think college students prefer to wait in line to ride a school bus, like an elementary student in grade school, to and from Acrisure Stadium as opposed to being able to walk to a nearby on-campus stadium not long before and after a game?

A selling point to the Pitt community on moving to an off-campus stadium shared with the Pittsburgh Steelers was that football recruiting would improve with the belief that new facilities shared with the Steelers would help sell Pitt to high school recruits. Better recruiting should result in increased winning and better results. Recruits certainly aren’t drawn to poor, outdated and non-maintained facilities, such as Pitt Stadium was, but how many Top 25 recruiting classes has Pitt football had since playing off campus? Just two since 2002. Two. Playing off-campus in shared facilities with an NFL team has not attracted the country’s best recruits as promised.

In the past 22 years that recruiting classes have been ranked, Pitt’s recruiting has averaged 41^st in the country. Pitt’s 2023 recruiting class according to Rivals is ranked 52^nd. Pitt had only five recruiting classes finish in the top 30 of Rivals’ recruiting rankings with the highest being ranked 21^st in 2006 and also in 2021, and had three top-30 recruiting classes from 2006 through 2008. 

The promised notion that sharing a stadium with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers would be a huge recruiting advantage has been proven to not be true.

Pitt football broke attendance records for the city of Pittsburgh playing off-campus first against Penn State in 2016 at Heinz Field with 69,983 spectators and then again against West Virginia in 2022 at Acrisure Stadium with 70,622, but that’s largely due to a larger stadium capacity and who they played and those visiting fan bases being so close to travel. In comparison, the highest attendance at Pitt Stadium was 68,918 back in 1938 against Fordham.

Despite having one of the lower priced season tickets among Power 5 schools through the years, Pitt had attendance issues playing both on and off-campus.

In terms of attendance, perhaps playing in a larger stadium in a more accessible location has upped fan attendance, but has it helped where it matters most, in wins and losses? Creating a positive atmosphere for Pitt and a disruptive negative one for opponents certainly adds to a team’s chances of winning.

In terms of wins and losses, how has Pitt playing off-campus compared to when Pitt played on-campus? Pitt has played off-campus 24 seasons since the year 2000 playing in Three Rivers Stadium, Heinz Field and now Acrisure Stadium. Let’s compare how Pitt has fared in those 24 seasons playing off-campus (2000-2023) to the previous 24 years playing on-campus (1976-1999) at Pitt Stadium.

Since 1976, Pitt has an overall record of 323-249-7 for a winning percentage of .564. Pitt’s record at Pitt Stadium from 1976-1999 was 87-55-2 for a winning percentage of .611. Pitt’s record at the North Shore stadiums is 104-55 for a winning percentage of .654. In case you’re curious, Pitt’s record away from home since 1976 is 132-139-5 for a winning percentage of .487.

Pitt’s record at the North Shore stadiums includes the 1976 game against Penn State as well as the 1982 game against North Carolina and the 1999 game versus West Virginia. In 2000, Pitt played all their home games at Three Rivers Stadium before playing at Heinz Field.

As one would expect, Pitt has a better record at home than on the road. It would be troubling if they didn’t. Pitt has a better winning percentage in their first 24 seasons off-campus as compared to their last 24 seasons on-campus, a difference of .043.

In looking at how Pitt has fared against top 20 teams, how has playing off-campus compared to when Pitt played on-campus?

Since 1976, Pitt’s overall record against top 20 teams at home is 18-39 for a winning percentage of .316. Pitt’s record against top 20 teams on the road is 16-47-2 for a winning percentage of .262. As one would expect, Pitt has a better winning percentage against top 20 teams at home than on the road. The numbers bear out that playing at home in front of the home crowd is a definite advantage.

Pitt’s record in their last 24 seasons at Pitt Stadium against top 20 teams was 9-22 for a winning percentage of .290. Pitt’s record against top 20 teams at the North Shore stadiums is 9-17 for a winning percentage of .346. Playing at the North Shore Stadiums has increased Pitt’s winning percentage against top 20 teams as compared to the last 24 seasons at Pitt Stadium.

As the won-loss records show, Pitt has fared better playing at the North Shore stadiums against top 20 teams in using a 48-year data set for playing on-campus versus playing off-campus.

As for expenditures and revenue, I’ll leave that to the financial bean counters, but one would think there are financial reasons, for highly-educated professional administrators at colleges and universities such as the University of Cincinnati, Minnesota, Tulane, and the University of South Florida to decide to forego sharing a professional stadium in their city and build a new on-campus stadium and/or renovate their current on-campus stadium rather than play football off-campus in a professional football stadium.

Has playing off-campus the past 24 seasons significantly improved Pitt’s football program? This year’s 3-9 season certainly doesn’t help that argument any, but the won-loss record comparison would indicate Pitt has improved playing at the newer, more modern North Shore stadiums as compared to a poorly-maintained Pitt Stadium.

However, the last time Pitt football finished ranked in the top 10, Pitt football played on-campus. The last time Pitt football didn’t lose three games in a season, Pitt football played on-campus. The last time Pitt football won a major bowl game, Pitt football played, you guessed it, on campus. Could that all be just a coincidence?

John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications, and sports websites. This and other articles written by him can be found on his blog: https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/

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Two losses kept Pitt-Georgia from being Alabama-Clemson.

College football fans know that in recent years Alabama and Clemson met for the national championship for the 2015, 2016 and 2018 seasons. More than 40 years ago, were it not for two games, Pitt and Georgia could have possibly had a similar history.

In the first Bowl meeting between the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Georgia in the 1977 Sugar Bowl, the number one-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers, led by Heisman Trophy-winner Tony Dorsett, defeated the Georgia Bulldogs 27-3.

In the 1980 college football season, Pitt and Georgia would both again field strong teams with national championship aspirations. On October 11, 1980, Pitt was undefeated and ranked fourth in the nation when they traveled to Tallahassee to face the 11th-ranked Florida State Seminoles. Four fumbles and three interceptions thrown by Pitt quarterback Dan Marino did the Panthers in as they fell 36-22 to the Seminoles.

Pitt would go on to win the rest of their games during the 1980 regular season. Going into the bowl season, Georgia was ranked #1, Florida State #2 and Pitt #3. What if Pitt hadn’t lost to Florida State and won the rest of their games like they did? Pitt would have been ranked #1 and Georgia #2 going into the bowl season.

Let’s look at the bowl options then. The Rose Bowl was tied to the Big 10 champion versus the Pac-10 champion. The Cotton Bowl was committed to the Southwest Conference champion, that being the Houston Cougars who faced  Nebraska. The Orange Bowl had the Big 8 champion, Oklahoma, which was ranked fourth at the time. As SEC champion, Georgia would have been committed to the Sugar Bowl.

Pitt’s options would have been to play either #2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl or #4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. Pitt would have been pressured into choosing to play the highest-ranked team for a #1 vs #2 match-up, which would have had Pitt in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, the SEC champion.

As it turned out, #1 Georgia, led by Heisman Trophy-winner Herschel Walker, defeated Notre Dame 17-10 in the Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma beat Florida State in the Orange Bowl. Pitt defeated South Carolina in the Gator Bowl 37-9 and finished the year ranked #2.

If you’re a Pitt fan, you know which game was Pitt’s most devastating loss in the last 50 years. Riding a 17-game winning streak dating back to 1980 and into 1981, the Panthers were undefeated at 10-0 and ranked #1 in the country. Pitt faced arch-rival and 11th-ranked Penn State at Pitt Stadium and quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead. Driving for another touchdown, Marino would throw the first of his four interceptions on the day and Penn State would go on to score 48 unanswered points.

That loss dropped Pitt to #10 in the polls, but what would have happened had Pitt not lost that game?  Going into that weekend, Pitt was ranked #1, followed by #2 Clemson, #3 Georgia, #4 Alabama and #5 Nebraska. Which bowl game would Pitt have chosen?

The Cotton Bowl had the Southwest Conference champion Texas Longhorns against Alabama which makes sense from a regional standpoint. With the Rose Bowl having tie-ins with the PAC-10 Conference and Big 10 Conference tie-ins, that left either the Orange or Sugar Bowl for an independent power such as Pitt to pick from. The Orange Bowl had an affiliation with the Big 8 Conference and fifth-ranked Nebraska was the Big 8 champion in 1981. The Sugar Bowl had an affiliation with the SEC champion and that was #3 Georgia. As the #1 team, Pitt would have had its choice of the Orange Bowl against #5 Nebraska or #3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Pitt would have quite possibly again selected the Sugar Bowl to face the highest ranked opponent possible which would have been another match-up with the Bulldogs.

What about number two-ranked Clemson? As ACC champion but in a conference without a major bowl tie-in, they would have likely been left for the Gator Bowl since the ACC had no tie-ins to the four major bowl games. A number one Pitt versus number two Clemson match-up could have occurred in the Gator Bowl back then but the Gator Bowl was not one of the four major bowls at that time nor played on New Year’s Day but rather December 28th, but that kind of arranged number one versus number two match-up didn’t come about till Miami played Penn State in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl.

As it was, Pitt met Georgia and defeated the second-ranked Bulldogs 24-20 in one of the most thrilling endings in Sugar Bowl history as Marino hit John Brown with a 33-yard touchdown pass on fourth down for the game-winning score with less than a minute remaining in the game.

If not for those two losses, that would have likely made three Pitt-Georgia national championship showdowns for the 1976, 1980 and 1981 seasons in a six-year time span.

Pitt Panther Statue Photo credit: wallyg on Visualhunt

Georgia Bulldog Photo credit: KOMUnews on Visualhunt.com

John Baranowski is a sports historian and contributor to newspapers, sports publications and sports websites.  This and other articles written by him can be found on his blog:  https://johnbaranowski.wordpress.com/