The good news, is that Pitt has been following that whole 2-wins, 2-losses thing. So from that side of things, Pitt should win in Tampa on Saturday night.
The bad news. Pitt hasn’t won a Big East road game this year. The only road win this year: at Buffalo. Oh, and Pitt is 0-4 in night games this year (1-6 in all games that did not start at noon).
Pitt sits at 5-6. A win squeaks them into a bowl game. Normally this would have Pitt staring down the barrel of a 3d straight trip to Birmingham and the BBVA Bowl. Yet, oddly enough, there is a good chance for Pitt to snag a bid to one of the other bowls.
The Pinstripe and Beef O’Brady Bowl both seem to be expressing a bit more interest in grabbing Pitt.
Admittedly, this seems like small consolation, but after two straight years of the worst January bowl, it sounds downright appealing.
The Pinstripe Bowl is looking Pitt’s way because of the match-up they could create.
Pinstripe Bowl executive director Mark Holtzman said renewing the Backyard Brawl between Pitt and West Virginia at Yankee Stadium “can be very compelling” for his game.
…
“The question is would it be as compelling for the fans as a Backyard Brawl in Heinz Field,” he said. “You sell out for that and then some. The good thing is it’s a drive and Pitt fans are used to driving to New York for basketball.”
The reason, of course, is money. Pinstripe bowl officials believe they can sell out a Backyard Brawl in New York. A meeting of Cuse and WVU would sell well, but not as well.
While the Beef O’Brady Bowl also seems interested, if the Pinstripe were to pass on Pitt. If Pitt didn’t get picked for the Pinstripe, the key to whether Pitt goes Beef or Birmingham would hinge on ESPN.
ESPN owns and controls both bowls. They aren’t concerned with attendance as much as they are ratings. In the Big East, Pitt has been one of the better draws for TV eyeballs. That’s why Pitt had back-to-back showings in the BBVA. Getting people to watch a low-tiered bowl game on a post-New Year is not an easy thing. But even ESPN knows there has to be a little variety.
Of course, getting a bowl bid still requires Pitt to win the damn game.
But more importantly, one game at a time. I hope that Chryst can get his team to make believe that they are going down to Florida to play the likes of a Florida State or somebody else of that nature that we can then actually “play up to”. Because if we try to mail this one in we are in big trouble IMO. USF is a team full of talented football players. The team itself is in shambles because it has been decimated by injuries but if Pitt goes in there expecting them to agree to rolling over for us so that we get invited to a bowl game, then we are in for another reality check. (Please refer to YSU and UCONN letdown games).
Respect the game, respect the opponent, respect yourselves and your out goiing senior contingent, then go out and bring home a meaningful win to end our regular season.
Hail to Pitt!
If Pitt wins… I think it will be the backyard brawl with WVU in Yankee stadium… how cool would that be.
That would draw a large crowd from Pitt and WVU.
Would love to see a reconstitution of the Brawl just a train ride away. It might even convince the schools to sign a long term contract, but only if the old farts can give up on PSU being a rival.
That would be “NEAT” to have the backyard brawl against WVU in Yankee stadium.
Let’s go Pitt!
ESPN calls the shots. This is USF Senior day so Pitt players must play hard.
This week’s game could have impact. Kemp originally committed to South Florida but has since backed off.
Almost same exact size as Corey Clement, but looks FASTER. However, not nearly as productive which is a bit of a puzzle not knowing the details.
Seems to make more big plays on the defense.
Cross your fingers on this one. He could be a nice fit for Chryst’s offense.
that’s all i needed..I’m all in!!
it sucks to look for the dark cloud overhead all the time..
If/When Pitt wins Move the Game to Heinz Field.
Then you’ll have a sellout. The national viewing TV audience doesn’t care where the game is played.
You want a sellout/loud enthusiastic crowd,
Just MOVE IT !
It never compared to PITT vs PSU as during the heyday of that rivarly in the middle 70′s to the middle 80′s both teams were usually highly ranked. And a couple were PITT was #1 and PSU was #2. Heck the SEC, who they all think is so great, just had their very FIRST #1 vs #2 last year. Yawn……
We did that 30 years ago !
Let’s go Pitt !
Beat USF ! (gotta keep our stupendous bowl streak going, 
A bowl game, especially a bowl win, will go a long way toward recruiting.
It’s a shame that so much time has past since they did play as the main rivals….an entire generation has no idea what those games were like…nothing has come close since.
Student? nope. Some want the city others the country
Academics? nope. undergrad aside, PITT is several tiers above psu in most graduate programs
Grants? nope again. PITT has this one too.
Athletics? nope. we don’t play each other in any sports that I know of.
psu is a disliked school by PITT folks but that is about as far as it goes (until we start competing against each other for something).
WVU was (I emphasize was) as rival. We played each other in every sport. We competed for the same undergraduate student body. WVU will soon no longer be a rival of our either. I suspect that Vtech will take the place of both.
We should survey. If you could go to only one game which one would you go to of PSU, ND, WVU, VT.
But even today, those schools compete for the same type of students for academics and research grant money. So although the rivalry isn’t on the field anymore, those schools will always compete against each other for non-athletic things.
My hatred for State Penn was always greater than the Hoopies but WVU became a very good rival on the field and I do miss that Brawl. But in the end, I’d still pick an arrogant brain washed zombie Nitter over a boorish toothless inbred Hillbilly to rumble with.
Just one comment, I don’t think many students have to contemplate whether to go to Pitt or WVU. If they got into Pitt, it’s a no-brainer unless money is an issue.
BTW, my answer is PSU.
I just have a hard time thinking/picturing Santino with the pressure of a must win on national tv.
By the way-my vote is PSU as well.
Sounds tougher than Big Apple Brawl, imho…
Satan putting Joe to good use! A classic.
The next tackle made by WVU will be the first this year.
On expansion.
The Big 12 (10) is highly vulnerable. It is one defection away from extinction. If Texas leaves, then the conference folds.
Whether the SEC or Big ten, Oklahoma will follow.
Baylor, TCU, Tech and Okies will go as a package somewhere. No one cares about Kansas, Kstate or Iowa State.
For whoever mentioned that JoJo Kemp kid being recruited, I did not know he was visiting. That would be a great get to replace Corey Clement. I think JoJo prolly might be even better.
Now THAT was funny!
That’s easy, PSU!! It was a GREAT rivalry in its heyday, easily equal to any of the big ones (Bedlam, Red River Shootout, Civil War, Holy War, etc.). Nothing was sweeter than beating them, especially in State College. WVU, ND, VT, nice to beat them too, but really no comparison.
In fact, at the risk of getting ahead of myself, I plan to fly in from the West Coast for both games in 2016-17. But it won’t be quite as much fun beating them now, since JoePa’s trying to explain his actions to His Maker, why he provided cover for a pedophile predator for all those years….
Brain farts is an awesome way of describing Tino’s flaws. He is much improved
Guys that watched Pitt in the 70′s and 80′s nothing compares. Penn St. The rivalry was considered (not just by a biased Pitt fan here), but everyone in the country to be one of the top 3,4,5 rivalries around.
It owned the Friday after T-Giving whith Nebraska v. Oklahoma.
Even Good Morning America interviewed JoePa and Jackie Sherrill one gameday, a couple hours before kickoff.
That big. Said in the same breath with OSU-Mich, Aub-Ala, Ok-Tx, and USC-UCLA.
HOWEVER, fans in the 90′s and 00′s would certainly think that WVU was the nastier rivalry, and that is all good.
That is what they grew up on. Actually, they’d be crazy to think otherwise. That’s who they really hate.
So, no wrong answer really.
To some of you younger fans, who I gave you your due above, let me just say this…..
If given the chance, to continue after the 2016 and 2017 games on a regular basis, you may just find out what a lot of us know.
The Penn State game was extremely nasty, and so much fun all of the time……………
because there are so many more Penn St. fans and grads around Pgh. and W.Pa. than WVU fans.
Cousins, aunts, uncles, neighbors, co-workers, all of us, younger, older, probably know a lot more PSU people than WVU people.
That is what made it really crazy.
I myself, just off the top of my head, probably know 20 or more PSU people. I know about 2 WVU people.
So, keep that in mind, but I do understand why WVU is bigger to some.
Technically, I’ve viewed WVU as my most “hated” rival these past 8-10 years, and ND is really the team everybody wants to beat, but PSU could and should be rival No.1.
Now lets get off of this rivals and bowl game stuff and concentrate on beating South Florida Saturday. I may be arrogant or delusional or superstitious but it seems like every time we start talking like this before a game the team plays a lousy game and blows it. Lets at least set a good example. We will have all winter, spring and summer to talk about the other stuff! Go Pitt! Beat the Bulls! Beat the damn Bulls!! HTP!
That being said… you give whatever you can to get the upper hand against a rival… whether fisticuffs, scoring the girl, hell – just getting a better grade on the test. Against that rival, everything is a competition. You respect a rival, but want nothing more to shove them into the ground.
PSU is a rival, the stuck up jock who thinks they are better than you just because they exist. WVU just happened to not like the way you looked at his sister at the bar. Sad to also see people thing ND is a rival, when they clearly have everything you want (save a family full of jaggoffs), but it makes sense.
It takes 2 teams to make a rivalry. PSU does NOT see Pitt as a rival presently. We can hate all we want, but it is sad to say that PSU just doesn’t care about Pitt anymore. If the schools agree to play each other more frequently in the future, this might change, but 2 games aren’t going to do it.
The Steelers – Raiders was once a GREAT rivalry. It generated the same hatred the Pitt-PSU rivalry did. Once they started to meet on the field less and less, the rivalry faded.
If I had to pick ONE overall, it would be PSU. If I had to pick one for the future, it would be WVU.
GO PITT
Rivals are made on the field of battle, not by the PR department. Connecticut became our rival on the court because they were the team to beat.
Disappointed about Maryland, but not because they could have been a rival.
Hopefully, our rivals will be the best in the ACC.
I was rooting for the ACC team to beat the Big10 team.
Penn State fans are ANNOYING YUPPIES who love to shake their Poms Poms and rub in the fact they won hours after the game is over.
After a win, Pitt Guys hit the bar, start throwing back cold ones, and instead of rubbing it in have no problem talking about the big plays of the game with fans from the other team and tell them “Good Game!”
As we all know, West Virginia is another story altogether. Mostly due to the fact that most of the Mountain__eers are actually from Western PA but didn’t get accepted at Pitt.
For me, WVU falls somewhere between those two. They’re like your little brother who you wanna beat in driveway hoops just because he’s an annoying knucklehead. But you don’t hate him. I find myself actually rooting for WVU sometimes (unless they’re playing us). And unless it’s my couch they’re burning, I find all that a little amusing.
But I despise Penn State with every molecule of my being. They’re like the bad neighbor who calls the cops on your BBQ party because your guest parked an inch into his driveway, or lets his dog poop in your yard, or swipes your morning paper.
I can’t root for Penn State to save my life. I hate their snobbery, their tired boring unis, their chants, the cult mentality including the (barely hidden) literal worship of a child molester’s protector. To those that have never experienced it: trust me, nothing feels better than knocking them down a peg by beating them, especially in State College.
Good clean hate, like Woody Hayes calling it “that state up north” and Brady Hoke calling them just “Ohio.” Speaking of filthy schools that I hate and cannot root for, let’s add the Bugeyes to that list too.
Screw Penn State.
Forever.
Wow. Your post gave me chills. Yes. Totally Agree!
L-Ville was going to beat Buttgers. Not that I like either team, but we all knew Buttgers was a fraud at 9-1, now 9-3.
No way they should EVER be in a BCS Bowl !
And yes Bring out the small knife for the Bulls.
Exactly the way I feel Imma man
I have on occassion rooted for the Hoopies, ikr and it wasn’t because I had a bet on the game.
But no matter whoever Ped State & Ohio Fake are playing, I root for the other team.
As ALL loyal PITT alumni do ! lol
P.S. we forgive the Rev. since he is in Columbus
and we understand.
God Bless your Great Grandfather. A GREAT PITT ALUM!
Now I understand the theory of how gravity is suppossedly produced due to mass attracting mass and that the huge mass of a heavenly body like the planet Earth would thus produces it’s own gravitational field. But all Pitt alumni know the real reason why our feet remain firmly planted on the ground. It’s because penn state SUCKS!!!!
So stop being such a psu hater, they serve a function.
I dry heaved when we lost to ND this year.
No other rival comes close to provoking me like that.
Cuz God luvs PENN STATE.
NO ONE CAN HATE THEM MORE THAN I DO.
NOW REMEMBER: ALL ARROGANCE WILL REAP A HARVEST RICH WITH TEARS.
Since as Chas noted Buffalo is our only road win of the season? (and we desperately need another road win)
Riddle me this……
What do USF & Buffalo have in common ???
(answer at 11 (or thereabouts), lol )
Yes there certainly is a large Mass in Creepy Valley
Now what that Mass exactly is, is subject to debate.
haha
I still think the “Carson Long and wide” 1975 7-6 loss game was the most difficult loss as a fan of any I’ve ever had, and Pitt’s worst loss ever at any sport. I can still see Gordon Jones catching a psss late in the game and running for a TD with only one solitary Nittany “Pig” Safety laying on the ground to stop him and instead of going around, he tried to jump over him and of course fell down on contact. We missed 3 point blank FG’s and an extra point that night and other than the score, totally dominaed PSU
WVU annoys me like an insect crawling up my wall.
To me, our arch rival will always be Penn State.
Also, Pitt is considered public but for all intents and purposes they are private. What percentage of funds does Ga Tech receive from the state? Pitt’s share is less than 10 percent and will soon be zero. Pitt fits like a glove in the ACC and so does Ga Tech. If they leave, they are stupid.
Suppose Pitt wins and UConn loses. Then the Big East has 5 bowl-eligible teams and six contracted bowls. IF Pitt did not get the Pinstripe Bowl, what is to stop Pitt from refusing to go to Birmingham again? It seems like Pitt would actually have some sort of leverage in that situation. But these bowl contract things are super obscure and confusing, which is why I am asking.