There are many advantages of being in a major conference. The TV money is usually listed at the top. Don’t forget the backing of that major conference when it comes to shoehorning a team into a bowl.
Plenty of mid-majors were bowl eligible. Some with better records than a bunch of 6-6 teams from major conferences that had more eligible teams than tie-in bowls.
Pitt was among those in the 6-6 mediocrity. Still, they get to have one more game. The seniors get one more chance to notch a victory. The coaches get to have more practices and start preparing even more underclassmen for 2015.
Pitt is heading to Ft. Worth for the Armed Forces Bowl.
They will be playing one of the new American Athletic Conference teams in Houston. The Cougars went 7-5 and are rumored to be firing their head coach as early as tomorrow.
I can’t get worked up that Pitt got screwed in any sense of the word. The team finished 6-6 (have to keep repeating that). Unlike Ohio, UAB, Georgia Southern and a host of other mid-major programs Pitt didn’t get denied a bowl game thanks in no small part to being in the ACC.
If Pitt had been left out would I feel Pitt was screwed. Probably. But that would have been emotion not rational thought.
It isn’t like Pitt was kept out of some higher bowl despite being deserving of it. I don’t think that can be stressed enough. Pitt was exceptionally mediocre in 2014. They didn’t deserve a major bowl, and they certainly weren’t in a position to demand to face another major conference team in a minor bowl.
The only thing Pitt has to do now, is win their final game of the season.
I am in for $100 if someone sets it up!
BTW, I’d be very interested in a Pitt fan base demographic study comparing the ACC vs the Big XII geographic footprint. Pretty sure that the number of fans between Miami to Boston on the Eastern seaborne states would pan out to be about a 10:1 ratio to the wide open spaces of the great plains states of TX, OK, etc.
I’ll chime in again later when the discussion returns to some rational subject matter, hopefully in the near future.
BTW, Fire Steve Pederson!
@Upitt—Let’s stay with the priority issues here. What is the name of the strip bar where you were going to take us during Final Four last spring?
@Dr Tom—I don’t think that he is having a stroke. Maybe it’s one of those testosterone imbalances that affect all guys in Texas.
H2P
You’re wrong.. as usual, feeding an agenda.
ACC teams have won 120 different national championships across all sports… That number spikes dramatically when you add in championships won by schools before joining the conference… Like Louisville’s men’s hoops title in 2013… or Pitt’s 11 national championships in football.
ACC has the reigning national champion in football, still alive for the repeat.
ACC teams have claimed 8 of the last 15 mens hoops national titles… Only the PAC has more as a conference, thanks to UCLA in the 60s and 70s.
5 teams in the top 25 for women’s cross country
7 teams in the top 25 in field hockey, including 5 of the top 10
4 teams in the top 25 in men’s golf, including no 4.
The Duke women just won the the national title for women’s golf.
4 teams in the top 25 in women’s swimming an diving..
You can continue fact checking for yourself by verifying rankings on the NCAA website…. or continue with baseless, no fact, absurd statements.
All good either way as the Panthers will be happy in the ACC for the rest of my lifetime, and likely my unborn children’s and grandchildrens.. They aren’t going anywhere… which is awesome IMO.
I was just thinking about all the long legged blonds that the state of Texas offers.
Additionally I don’t think we’ll ever be that bad enough in the ACC Coastal for the Pitt bigwigs to make any drastic changes towards prioritizing the football program……again.
We could reach that level real quickly in the Big 12.
THEN THEY WOULD HAVE TO DO SOMETHING, get serious, like we did in 1973 and again in 1997(but not including the dinocat or branding everything Pittsburgh).
So there is a method to my madness.
Here’s what some ACC kin think:
“The biggest losers in the ACC bowl reshuffle were Louisville, N.C. State and Pittsburgh. Louisville went from a presumed trip to Orlando (RAB? Citrus?) to face a Big 12 or SEC opponent to the decidedly less sexy trip to Charlotte and the Belk Bowl (though against a solid Georgia team). N.C. State similarly tumbled from the “Tier I” set of bowls all the way to the conference’s flex spot in the BITCOIN Bowl vs. UCF, somehow bypassing three bowls in the conference’s “Tier II” in the process.
Finally, poor Pitt was relegated to the Armed Forces Bowl vs. Houston—the second straight year the Panthers land in a replacement bowl slot against a team playing without their head coach.”
I’ll take Miami over Austin all day, unless I want BBQ then I’m torn.
Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen,
When I resided in the Pittsburgh area, I was a long time season ticket holder in both football and basketball. And even this past season, I had a 3-game football pass despite the fact I live over two hours away.
My plans are not to renew or purchase tickets for the upcoming season despite what looks to be an exciting offensive team. The reason for this is the perceived large decline in expectations for the football team over the past four seasons. The state of the football program now gives the impression that mediocrity is quite acceptable.
I believe this begins at the top, and the administration has been far too lenient of the obvious poor performance of the Athletic Director. Yes, he did great things for the program in his initial stint at Pitt, but so did Johnny Majors. My hope is that you all review the comments that were included in the recent survey of all Pitt football ticket holders, and not just depend on any statistical analysis.
Thank you for reading this, and best wishes,
Strip clubs galore guys FYI.
Off agenda?? What is there to talk about? No one cares about hoops cause we play Carlow and Geneva for the next month. Football has no stadium and no atmosphere but let’s act ok with it. Texas is a great state and no college here would allow peckerson to slowly destroy a program. Call that what u want. Hell Uh wants better than us.
The ACC is an awesome place for Pitt. Moronic to think it isn’t.
…and to take a random shot at the athletic department. Pitt does have lacrosse, but the athletic department won’t fund it as a full varsity sport so it can’t be in the best lacrosse conference in the country. They even have the new on campus soccer field that can be used. Robert Morris even pulled it off and has had decent success.
“Galore” is good. Maybe I will wander on down there.
Another topic (during this dead period) would be what POSITIVE (caps courtesy of POD) suggestions we have for the Chancellor and for the AD. Yes, many of us want to see SP gone. But, let’s get past that for now and give the Chancellor some suggestions for ways to improve things.
As I recall, you have ideas for ways that the baseball facilities can be improved. Let him know your thoughts.
I would like to see the Script on all of the unis, not just the football helmets. Cheerleader tops, not that I look at their chests. 🙂
H2Positive
I just think it’s silly to bash the ACC for no reason and speculate about moving anywhere, especially the Big 12.
The ACC isn’t going anywhere… The media rights contracts are locked in and on par with the other power 5s and the ACC Network is real and is going to happen.
I love Texas as much as anyone.. My immediate and extended family include alumni from Texas, Houston, Tech, and on and on… And Houston doesn’t want more than us… They want what we already have.. what TCU has.. a seat at the table… which is what TDECU Stadium was all about.
The only place Pitt would ever go is along with the rest of the ACC and Power 5 conference members when they completely break away from the stupid NCAA… But even then I see no reason for the actual conferences to disband.
Tough to gripe about the Armed Forces Bowl when the Big 12 also has an even more direct tie-in to it. And as far as comparisons to the ACC bowls, it’s not like the Big 12’s are any better/worse:
Big 12 Conference – 2014
1. College Football Playoff (the Allstate Sugar Bowl versus SEC when Sugar bowl is not CFP semifinal), then:
#2 The Alamo Bowl versus Pac-12 #2.
#3 The Russell Athletic Bowl versus ACC #2.
#4 The AdvoCare Texas Bowl versus SEC.
#5 The Autozone Liberty Bowl versus SEC.
#6 The Cactus Bowl versus Pac-12.
#7 If Army is not bowl-eligible, the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl versus American.
I don’t see much that separates that from anything the ACC gets in their top three (Orange, Russell Athletic, Capital One) and then their Tier 1 bowls (Music City or Gator, Belk, Sun, Pinstripe). The Tier 2 bowls for the ACC (Military, Independence, Quick Lane and St. Pete) are shared with other conferences and even then, we saw how quickly everything can be shuffled.
Lucky Eleven Conference, but they’d still be one team short of a conference championship, so would the conference musical chairs begin again like they did just a couple years ago?
I pray to God for that NOT to reoccur what a clusterphuck that was in the 1st place.
My gripe isn’t particularly about the bowls.
It’s the fact that 2 years running now, the ACC did not include Pitt in it’s bowl lineup.
And we should be pissed because we were 4-4 in conf and beat several of these teams that were 3-5 in conf, head to head.
1) Va. Tech (3-5) beat them head to head
2) Miami (3-5) beat them head to head
3) BC (4-4) beat them head to head
Do not conference wins mean anything ?
Do some of you ever get pissed ?
Do you like being treated like a red-headed step child ?
The above is a perfectly good reason to bash the ACC. imo.
And the overtly bias officiating in 7 of the 8 ACC games is another reason, again, imo.
Again we’re new members, since they excluded us last year from an ACC bowl and we got stuck playing a MAC team.
You would think they would go out of their way, to make sure Pitt wasn’t excluded from an ACC bowl this year.
Had the Big 12 had one more bowl eligible team as Stoosh mentioned as Armed Forces was a Big 12 Bowl, we would have been totally shutout.
By the ACC giving VT, Miama & BC preferential treatment over us even though we beat all 3 of them, in head to head games. And 2 of the 3 we had a better conf. record then.
I just don’t understand the failure to grasp this.
We are not of the same opinion on what defines a far fetched idea.
When they do go to 12 or 14 or 16… They’ll pull from the AAC, for sure… Some combination of Cincy, Houston, maybe UCF, throw in Boise and BYU.
The Big 12 would not show us anymore love than the ACC… ask WVU how much love their getting.. They don’t even get a full share until the 2015-2016 academic year… That, ridiculous travel schedules, trying to find commercial flights to Aimes, Lubbock, or chartering your volleyball team out there and back for $50k… I know WVU has been operating at a loss… all while increasing expenses and upgrading facilities… just to be fifth or six fiddle to Texas and OU.. Huggy Bears on record sayin he hates it.
And Pitt is going to willingly walk away from the ACC for that? And figure out how to beg for $54M up front to do it?
You should prepare yourself to rekindle and enjoy rivalries with Miami and VTech… Just like you should condition yourself to enjoy games at Heinz, when you choose to attend.
There are legit reasons to bash the conference… the back to back bowl omission falling directly into that category.
But saying ‘the ACC stinks in everything but women’s soccer and Pitt would be better off in the BIG 12’ is outrageous….
Both of their fan bases were in agreement that the Big 12 offered their football programs more.
Comment by BostonsCommon 12.09.14 @ 4:35 pm
No, it’s more…. outrageous…. that you post something I didn’t post and assign it to me.
I never posted any such thing !
I never posted any such thing !
Comment by Emel 12.09.14 @ 4:40 pm
Upitt implied as much.. wasn’t assigning anything to you.
@Comment by Emel 12.09.14 @ 4:28 pm
There are legit reasons to bash the conference… the back to back bowl omission falling directly into that category.
But saying ‘the ACC stinks in everything but women’s soccer and Pitt would be better off in the BIG 12? is outrageous….
Comment by BostonsCommon 12.09.14 @ 4:35 pm
haha, okay…sorry bro.
But saying ‘the ACC stinks in everything but women’s soccer and Pitt would be better off in the BIG 12 (as others have implied)… is outrageous….
Fixed… Apologies for any confusion or unintentional, accidental assignment.
We would be the Vanderbilt of the big12, without baseball, womens softball, etc. On second thought…can’t we just be known for something athletically? Bad Pederson. You are the weakest link, goodbye.
Expect Houston to make a run at OSU OC Herman. Makes sense.
For extra analysis look and study Learfield Sports Director’s Cup Final Standings. Embarrassing!
Both of their fan bases were in agreement that the Big 12 offered their football programs more.
Comment by Emel 12.09.14 @ 4:38 pm
You’re confusing the Big 12 and the SEC. Clemson and FSU were targeted as the alternative to Missouri.
SEC – $87.5 mil
ACC – $83.5 mil
B1G – $60 mil
Pac 12 – $60 mil
Big 12 – $58 mil
Bowl payouts per conference
You all must be really bored…
Then again so must I to even care… Haha!
Carry on…
Hail to us!
Wonderabout the ex-Penguin (YSU) coach … believe Emel posted his resume some time ago. He would seemed to be a DC candidate
BTW, did you know there is another Stoops who is an LB coach at YSU
Pitt plays YSU at home, and then at Akron and at Iowa
Bo Pelini right now will make $150,000 from Nebraska each month through the next 51 months.Clearly this YSU job is not about the money.
going on. Along with the Texas, Ok, Ok St., Texas Tech going to the PAC 12.
Conference re-alignment is done for at least
15 years for the most part.
BYU and Cincy to the Big 12 possibly, if they feel that is what screwed them, that they do need a championship game.
Other than that. DONE.
The ACC is where we belong, and the ACC is where we will stay.
Besides, if we can’t win the ACC Coastal, what the hell would we do with Texas, Oklahoma, TCU, and Baylor????
Next subject.
