Since PN arrived is only 18-15 and sure to be 18-16 after we play at ND on October 26. I like Duzz and he has become the face of Pitt football but he talks a good game but fails to deliver whether it be the three straight losses to PSU. the Okie State series,the WMU debacle ND games. By the way it was crazy those two years to schedule PSU and OKIE STate back to back before we entered ACC play. Even this year should of caught a break with Cinncy losing their coaching staff and 26 players and WVU just a mediocre at best football team. Still it was nuts to schedule three power five opponents prior to and improving conference slate of games. We kicked around this a lot on this board you must be at least 3-1 in ooc competetion. If you can’t beat them in most years don’t schedule them. Our ideal schedule ooc should be annual game with WVU, one FCS and two group of fives like Temple and a bottom tier MAC team type.In the years we play ND we will have to play two power fives and two winnable group of fives. Wins matter .Thoughts.
OOC Record Since 2015
- Thread starter poconopanther
- Start date
And of all the other teams in the ACC with easier OOC, which of those have won the ACC other than Pitt? Maybe those games helped them in the long run. Maybe they didn’t. But when you get average recruiting classes, you get average results. They basically kept PSU out of the playoff one year. They lost to a ten win Ok State a ten win Tennessee. It’s not on Duzz he didn’t get cupcakes.
Off the top of my head and including bowl games:
P5
O-2
1-2
0-2
0-3
0-1
1-1
2-1
0-2
So 4-14 against non-con P5 teams. But it's been that way for as long as I can remember. When is the last time we won a series against a non-con P5 team? I'm betting you would have to go back to the 80's.
P5
O-2
1-2
0-2
0-3
0-1
1-1
2-1
0-2
So 4-14 against non-con P5 teams. But it's been that way for as long as I can remember. When is the last time we won a series against a non-con P5 team? I'm betting you would have to go back to the 80's.
Me & Pitt79 have been screaming this from the mountain top for years. Schedule for wins. This schedule doesn't move the attendance meter much, it makes no sense. Should have done anything possible to get out of Cinci series, like Michigan did with UCLA. Not sure what Heather is thinking on this but she is doing no favors to the football program
Thanks for giving me credit, when credit is due
You look at these blue blood teams like Bama, Oklahoma or Michigan etc. and their OOC games are teams like Kent State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida A&M or something like that, and usually at home for a 66-0 win, Oklahoma this year has beaten Arkansas State 73-0 and Tulsa 66-17, then in their toughest OOC game they beat SMU 28-11 then the voters say, hey Oklahoma is 3-0 and won 73-0, let's vote for them, they don't even look at who they played, you know it's true.
I don’t know, it’s impossible to know years in advance how good a program will or won’t be. Pitt is the program that would schedule Coastal Carolina in 2020 or 2021 and get its doors blown off, leaving the program questioning itself. In 2012, Youngstown State came in and beat us by 2 touchdowns, and then took Duzz to OT in 2017. The football program isn’t good enough to just assume scheduling a cupcake in OOC means automatic win. But, I agree with the premise that scheduling P5 opponents for a program like Pitt is dumb unless it’s WVU or the Pedos.
Example we won 11 games in 2021. Do any casual fans or national media know or care that we beat UMass and New Hampshire by a combined score of 128-14. In fact that year was the perfect ooc balance in that we scheduled a brand name in Tennessee and what should have been three wins in UMass, UNH and WMU.
Pitt should be playing WVU. And they aren’t good.
And Cinn was a G5 school, and essentially still is, talent wise. They lost to Miami OH. They are the exact OOC game that is being advocated for.
It’s just a season where Pitt is so bad that you can’t fake being good with easy wins. Because there are no easy wins.
And Cinn was a G5 school, and essentially still is, talent wise. They lost to Miami OH. They are the exact OOC game that is being advocated for.
It’s just a season where Pitt is so bad that you can’t fake being good with easy wins. Because there are no easy wins.
There’s a lot of luck that goes into scheduling since it’s done so far in advance.
Oklahoma State has been pretty average overall over the last years. And is really starting to collapse the last 2. They just got destroyed against South Alabama.
This year would have been time to have them on the schedule.
Thanks for giving me credit, when credit is due
Oklahoma this year has beaten Arkansas State 73-0 and Tulsa 66-17, then in their toughest OOC game they beat SMU 28-11 then the voters say, hey Oklahoma is 3-0 and won 73-0, let's vote for them, they don't even look at who they played, you know it's true.
They were scheduled to play UGA, but the SEC made the teams cancel it.
Mixed feelings on this. This opening schedule is not that hard. With average QB play PITT is 3-0. I'm more concerned with lackluster recruiting and coaching.
I will take this opportunity to again say that these are the ONLY programs Pitt should play OOC
PSU
WVU
ND
Mich
Ohio State
Ten
Fla
UGa
Bama
LSU
Texas
OU
USC
Oregon
Pitt ALWAYS loses these P5 home and homes, for years, under multiple HC's. They are absolutely going to always lose way more than they win so there is no point in scheduling a "no-buzz" game vs OK State, Utah, etc. Nobody in Pittsburgh cares. The other team brings no fans. And there are no SOS rating points. Its not a thing in college football, at least not for Pitt. I said the Cincinnati series was stupid when it was scheduled and the Wisky series should be canceled tomorrow.
Pitt's OOC schedule should be:
FCS (Duquesne or RMU, no need to play a good FCS team who can maybe beat you)
MAC, CUSA, or Sun Belt always at home
WVU or ND when its our turn for ND
If Alabama or Ohio State want to play us, fine, lose to them instead of beating Akron. At least there will be 70K, a buzz, and maybe by some miracle its in a year when we are good and we win. But dont sub out a win over Akron for a loss to Wisky. What's the point?
Going back to the Pederson era, when he made someone of a marketing strategy to play 1 game a year like this, our record has to be the worst in the country in these types of games. Its nearly impossible to be as bad as we've been.....and against mediocre teams when we have been roughly the same level of these teams.
UNC 99/00 0-2
Neb 0-2
MSU 0-2
A&M 1-1
OK St 0-2
Utah 0-2
Iowa 1-3
PSU 1-3
WVU 1-1
Miami 0-1
NC State 0-1
UVa 1-1
VT 1-0
Cincy 0-1
Ten 1-1
That's 7-23. Why play these games? None of these teams were even good. What's worse is these games are always Week 2 or 3 so the L kills any buzz for the season. Just once, I'd like to be 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 even if its against patsies so we there is some buzz around the program. Take this year. Lets say we beat Kent State in Week 2 and were able to beat WVU last week. We are 3-0, right outside the Top 25 with a ranked UNC coming in for a night game. That is a buzzworthy game. Probably the difference in actual (not announced) attendance is 20K.
PSU
WVU
ND
Mich
Ohio State
Ten
Fla
UGa
Bama
LSU
Texas
OU
USC
Oregon
Pitt ALWAYS loses these P5 home and homes, for years, under multiple HC's. They are absolutely going to always lose way more than they win so there is no point in scheduling a "no-buzz" game vs OK State, Utah, etc. Nobody in Pittsburgh cares. The other team brings no fans. And there are no SOS rating points. Its not a thing in college football, at least not for Pitt. I said the Cincinnati series was stupid when it was scheduled and the Wisky series should be canceled tomorrow.
Pitt's OOC schedule should be:
FCS (Duquesne or RMU, no need to play a good FCS team who can maybe beat you)
MAC, CUSA, or Sun Belt always at home
WVU or ND when its our turn for ND
If Alabama or Ohio State want to play us, fine, lose to them instead of beating Akron. At least there will be 70K, a buzz, and maybe by some miracle its in a year when we are good and we win. But dont sub out a win over Akron for a loss to Wisky. What's the point?
Going back to the Pederson era, when he made someone of a marketing strategy to play 1 game a year like this, our record has to be the worst in the country in these types of games. Its nearly impossible to be as bad as we've been.....and against mediocre teams when we have been roughly the same level of these teams.
UNC 99/00 0-2
Neb 0-2
MSU 0-2
A&M 1-1
OK St 0-2
Utah 0-2
Iowa 1-3
PSU 1-3
WVU 1-1
Miami 0-1
NC State 0-1
UVa 1-1
VT 1-0
Cincy 0-1
Ten 1-1
That's 7-23. Why play these games? None of these teams were even good. What's worse is these games are always Week 2 or 3 so the L kills any buzz for the season. Just once, I'd like to be 4-0, 5-0, 6-0 even if its against patsies so we there is some buzz around the program. Take this year. Lets say we beat Kent State in Week 2 and were able to beat WVU last week. We are 3-0, right outside the Top 25 with a ranked UNC coming in for a night game. That is a buzzworthy game. Probably the difference in actual (not announced) attendance is 20K.
I like the idea of playing garbage nonconference games. Nobody cares who you played. I like the West Virginia series and then crap teams before and after.. Narduzzis teams typically get better at the end of the season and struggle at the beginning. So why not just schedule to win early?
Under no circumstances should Ohio State be scheduled. They would literally bring at least 30K to the game, Acrisure would be a sea of red. They would take over half the north shore bars and most likely win by a large margin. And not that they need help in this department, but it gives them something else to sell to local recruits.
But I would enjoy the one P5 game being an SEC team. Kentucky or Ole Miss would be fun, especially to get a chance to tailgate there.
We are going to lose anyway, whether its Kentucky, Ole Miss, or Ohio State. At least make the money from the OSU fans and a game in Columbus is a bucket list thing. My thing is, if you want to keep scheduling these losses, make the Ls against blue bloods, which well sell out and create a buzz. And maybe by a miracle you win one
Right?
They got OSU when they were really humming, and were the worst possible match up for HCPN defense while he was still trying to get it set up.
well if you are going to lose, better it is against LSU and 48K at acrisure with maybe 7k who are from LSU than against OSU with 68K in the stadium but over half from OSU.
X2
They tried the big OCC games and it hasn't worked out.
When its all said and done a W is a W and an L is an L.
Get the easy early Ws and then get to work on the conference games.
year 3 the defense should have been setup. Probably the worse loss in the Narduzzi era was the home game with them in 2017 (I would also say ND in 2020 but the covid year was really an anomaly). Totally outclassed in that game by Mason Rudolph & James Washington.
But yeah, has been some bad luck with this OOC scheduling. Iowa in 2015 won 11 games I think. Oklahoma State was very good those couple years. Tennessee last year was good.
EDIT: the 2017 game was also the famous stadium graphic advertising students who stayed till the end of that brutal game on a blistering hot day would get a free soft drink.
LSU travels well and Pitt fans will come out. LSU gets 60K. OSU 70K. Its better to lose to OSU even if half of the crowd is red. That is more money. And the game in Columbus is bucket-list worthy. But none of these teams are going to play us, so Im saying dont schedule losses vs Kentucky, Ole Miss, Miss St, Ark, Wis, Baylor, Texas Tech, etc. At BEST, we go 1-1 vs teams like that. Its better for the program to beat a MAC school than taking a chance vs Ole Miss, which no one in Pgh cares about.
The next group of teams I'd prefer over the Kentucky's and Ole Miss's are the really bad P5s because you will win 1 and maybe both. Vandy, Indiana, Illinois, NW.
Yeah, it is basically a good excuse for a bad year
truth of the matter is if ohio state, alabama, Texas and USC are all undefeated it doesnt matter who we play, we arent making the championship if we are undefeated.
If we are 7-5 or 8-4 with losses to 2 great OOC games... I have NEVER seen Pitt get selected for a better bowl over other teams playing Suwanee St and north northwest Louisiana St who is 9-3. It is a joke to schedule a great team unless youre getting a ton of tv bucks for something special. Cincinnati is a dumb schedule choice, a team that typically wins 10 games a year, and if you win, no one cares, if you lose, you look bad. Its a no win. I would play one needle mover, win-lose scenario a year and that it, perhaps ND every year. A USC, an Alabama, something like that when ND cant fit us on their schedule. If we had Wofford, Duquesne and New Hampshire, and we are 3-0 going into UNC, you all would be bitchin at the schedule, and rightfully so, but we would be 3-1 after the game and not 1-3 after we get curb-stomped Saturday.
Jeff, if all you see wrong with this team is the QB, with all due respect, you need stronger prescription glasses.
What's right about the team would be a much shorter list. And as for the 3-0 comment, at best that would be 3-0 against 3 $hitty opponents we were supposed to beat, and squeaking it out against two of them.
Yep. At what point are we going to learn our lesson with this?
I personally think there should be no games against the FCS and G5 games should be limited to one/season. But as long as they're going to allow you to pad your record, I guess you might as well do it. No one looks at the nuances; they just look at your record at the end of the day.
However, the elephant in the room here is our performance against the G5/FCS has also been bad. Ohio, Toledo, Bowling Green, Akron, Navy multiple times, UCF (I know they were good), YSU, SMU (bowl), Western Michigan... I mean, you just can't do that. And this doesn't even account for a number of narrow wins (Eastern Michigan, YSU x 2, Delaware, Furman, Buffalo, Ohio, Navy, UCF, Marshall was way closer than the final, etc.).
behind a paywall but even ND has concerns with the OSU fan visit this Saturday, I forgot about what happened with them when Georgia came to town
Inside Notre Dame's strategy to keep Ohio State red out of the stadium
Notre Dame Stadium is a destination for opposing fans, including infamous Georgia and Nebraska invasions. How can it limit Ohio State red?
theathletic.com
behind a paywall but even ND has concerns with the OSU fan visit this Saturday, I forgot about what happened with them when Georgia came to town
Inside Notre Dame's strategy to keep Ohio State red out of the stadium
Notre Dame Stadium is a destination for opposing fans, including infamous Georgia and Nebraska invasions. How can it limit Ohio State red?
Nobody travels like Ohio State. For a once in a generation road game like this, it will be 60% Buckeye fans and that's not an exaggeration.
well the article says they are doing everything in their power to prevent a repeat of that Georgia game. Heck even Cinci a few years ago had a huge turnout.
Without giving too much away of the paid article, I found it interesting that ND doesn't have a huge season ticket base. Over half is single game ticket sales.
The article may say that but I refuse to believe ND only sells 40K season tickets (10K or so are students) and has 40K single game tickets. That cant be right.
What is really sad is that Narduzzi’s OOC record is probably an IMPROVEMENT over his recent predecessors. Utah, MSU and Nebraska were 0fers. Lost 3 of 4 to Iowa. I think UVA split. Mix in the losses to ND, Navy, NC State, Bowling Green, Akron, Toledo, YSU, and the numerous bowl game collapses… it hasn’t been a great look.
If they know they have the fan base to pull it off, it might be about letting more people have a chance to attend games. The Steelers could easily sell all season tickets if they wanted to, but they want the general public to have a shot at going. Or at least they did - I'm not sure what the breakdown is anymore. But it wasn't anything close to 50/50, obviously.
So, Mr. "An extra $5 million in revenue means nothing to the program" is concerned about the revenue difference in scheduling Ohio State vs. Oklahoma State. LOL.
7-23 in these games is astonishing considering I would guess the line for 95% of them has been +/- 5 points either way. They were all very winnable games.
And the losses to G5s were inexcusable but you are going to win a lot more of those than the mid-tier P5s. We have lost to 5 of the 12 MAC teams in the last 18 years.
Right. $5 million doesn't go a long way. But its better to have it than not have it. We are going to lose anyway. So take the money. And honestly we'd probably win 1 out of those 10 games against the blue bloods. I'll take that and the money over the 3 out of 10 vs the mid-tier P5s that nobody cares about.
Pitt used to KILL the Big East statistical rankings. We'd go lose to a MAC team, lose to Utah, lose to Iowa, then go 5-2 in conference. And it was such a small conference, it really would hurt the statistical rankings.
Just to clarify, you don't want the extra $5 million per year in TV money, but you'll take the extra 250k from 10-15 thousand more people at the stadium once per year. Got it.
Understandable if you blocked out Akron (2014) Western Michigan (2021).
Not at all dude, I get it, they definitely have other issues.
But, end of the day they lost to cincy by 6 with him completing 10 of 32 passes and WVU by 9 with him throwing 3 ints, literally the worst quarterbacking many of us have ever seen at Pitt in our lives.
Put in even an average QB, have to believe they win those two games.
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