Despite Pitt struggling to avoid being upset last year by Furman along with Rutgers losing last year to a 1-AA foe, the beating Pitt put on Youngstown State seems to have brought the Penguin faithful crashing hard. They aren’t even back to reality, they seem a few layers below that.

Youngstown State got exactly what it knew it was going to get out of playing the University of Pittsburgh in football: $350,000.

That’s the figure the Penguins’ athletic department will receive for last Saturday’s 41-0 loss to the Panthers and really nothing else.

That means in a couple of years when the Penguins head down to Columbus to play the Ohio State Buckeyes on a similar stage, the only thing they’ll gain is about $450,000.

As long as YSU remains a Division I-AA football program, it can expect nothing more than a big payday for playing teams like the Panthers or the Buckeyes.

These are not Mid-American Conference teams, or even Cincinnati or Marshall like the Penguins have played in the past. These are Division I-A BCS teams, and even the bad ones are going to take it to the Penguins.

Pitt is not a great football team; it might be pushing it to call the Panthers good. But they were still head-over-heels better than Youngstown State.

The article also indicates that YSU will be playing some more Div. 1-A opponents, likely from the Big 11 for the cash grab.