Pitt will play Cincy in 2023 and 2024 in a home and home.
at Pitt, then at UC.
Thoughts?
at Pitt, then at UC.
Thoughts?
River City Rivalry is Back
- Thread starter ASmathers_H2P
- Start date
I think scheduling any type of annual PSU game just got even more difficult. However, maybe this can replace the Akron game.
I view Cincy as a good non con opponent for Pitt, but I still think Pitt can add a PSU or WVU game to 2023 and 2024. Cincy is no longer a P5 team and thus is no longer as big of a threat. Cincy is pretty much a top tier MAC team right now IMO, but this is good for Pitt
And following this, Cincy doesn't meet the ACC's rule of 1 P5 non-conf game each year, so Pitt will still have to schedule a P5 non-conf for 2023 and 2024--so UC plus some other P5 will constitute a very good OOC schedule for 2023 and 2024, no matter who the other 2 non-conf games are against.
Thanks for pointing that out. I have a question though: if Cincy moves into a P5 conf like the Big 12 by the time of this series, will it count as a P5 game? Ideally, Cincy stays in a non P5 conf and Pitt gets another quality opponent on their schedule
Whew! Man I was really starting to worry about 2024.
Anyone know how 3014 is shaping up?
Anyone know how 3014 is shaping up?
2017 and 2018 are already covered with 2 P5 OOC games, the remaining 1 game in 2017 will be a home game vs MAC, etc., the 2 remaining games in 2018 will probably be a 1-AA and a home game vs MAC, etc.
2017
- 09/02 - Youngstown State
- 09/09 - at Penn State
- 09/16 - Oklahoma State
- 09/08 - Penn State
- 10/20 - at Notre Dame
3014 is nearly 1000 years away! Do you think PSU will be on the schedule then? Who knows, maybe we'll be in the same conference by that time. Most of us will be dead by then anyway I guess.
Unless we are vampires, ALL of us will have been dead about 950 years or so before the Panthers line up against the Nits in 3014.
This is a confusing post. I was unaware of any contract Pitt has with the MAC. Is it really a forgone conclusion that Pitt has to play a d1aa school and a home game against a Mac school? We have a new AD and a new coach, can we at least hope that we can get away from this pathetic scheduling of D1aa schools every year? 2017 and 18 are NOT taken care of, we still have one opening for 17 and two for 18. And also, cincy is not a P5 school. I appreciate the post California, just annoying that we are scheduling 9 years away and I guarantee in a year from now, we will schedule Villanova or ysu because there wasn't enough time to find a quality opponent with an opening
The Big Ten is going to nine conference games. After 2019, Pitt / Penn State is gone forever. WVU in my opinion would be a good idea however, Pitt doesn't seem interested for the same reasons Penn State doesn't want to play us...
Correct. 2019 will be the last Pitt/Penn State regular season game, save for a random home and home every 20 years or so. I'd imagine we'd maybe play once a decade in an ACC/Big Ten bowl game though.
Pitt needs to schedule a W in 2017 and 18 with that schedule. Until we consistently win, we aren't getting much better than what we have OOC. FTR, our OOC is pretty great from 2016-2019 with PSU and OK State in there. We also have the ND stuff.
I want 9 ACC games a year though to avoid MAC and FCS in the same year.
Presuming UC is not P5 by then this is true.
But it is better than a home/home with Akron.
I suspect the NC final four will be based on OCC as the conferences go to 9 games. In short, the conference championship winner will almost be in the final four and the team left out will be due to the OCC schedule. ACC may not go to a 9 games schedule, but they also realize a win over a P5 team is a good way to show at selection time.
Hopefully our new regime can and will schedule better, just guessing that it will be 1-AA and Mac (or the like) to fill out those scxhedules. But no need for a murderers row either. We already have the power OOC games for 17 and 18 and you will never ever see Pitt announce OOC games vs lesser schools until they have to, i.e., when that year's schedule is coming out. Pitt only "announces" big OOC games, the announcing of games vs lesser schools usually comes via the lesser school. Also, probably 75% of the FBS schools schedule games vs 1-AA (FCS), so until those games are legislated not to count towards bowl games, that trend will continue.
9 ACC games to avoid the d1aa games or Mac games would be absolutely fantastic. Would be worried that we'd get the 9th conference game, keep Akron and Villanovan and get rid of the P5 game. That would be the ultimate kick to the groin for fans
Scheduling a legit non P5 school over Youngstown st is not murdered row. Look at how many ranked teams we play compared to an sec or big 10 team, its not even close. Programs play a few top 10 programs a year, our toughest in conference opponent is ga tech. Tell an sec school or a big 10 school that our schedule is tough because our toughest opponent would be ga tech and see how long they laugh at you
Well we can't change the conference we are in. What's your ideal schedule? I'm guessing it's a complete pipe dream.
My ideal schedule doesn't have d1aa scrimmages on it. Get rid of the scrimmages against ysu and Villanovan and replace em with a nice mid major. Outside of this region preferably. That's the problem with college football now, fans think it is a Pipedream to have a complete schedule against actual D1 teams. D1aa teams need it to fund their athletic dept budget. Since when is Youngstown states athletic budget Pitt' s problem
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It's not... Pitt schedules YSU for an automatic win. Unfortunatly, it's not.
Well its an opportunity to tailgate and go in for the second half. So these scrimmages aren't all that bad.
I think this series is pretty stupid. Cincy has practically no respect nationally and will have 0 if they still aren't P5 by that time. Lose and we get ragged on. Win and we get no credit. Recruiting won't be helped a lick by this. There is no rivalry. No one cares. Complete lose/lose scenario IMO. Not a thing to be gained and only another opportunity to replace "pulling a Clemson" with "pulling a Pitt".
This news does absolutely nothing for me. Prior to the Big East giving them some prestige, they were nothing more than another MAC level team in football. It still galls me that we ever lost to them in football. Pitt football should have never have been allowed to drop to that level of mediocrity and worse.
They do have a long hoops history going back to the Big O (Oscar Robertson). I would like them on the OOC hoops schedule but could care less we never played them again in football and would be happy to torch that stupid River City trophy.
They do have a long hoops history going back to the Big O (Oscar Robertson). I would like them on the OOC hoops schedule but could care less we never played them again in football and would be happy to torch that stupid River City trophy.
Agree 100%
You're either P5 or you're viewed as a nobody (fair or not)..
And if Pitt is gonna play a non-P5 team, I say play the worst of the worst!
Cincy is a semi-dangerous program but gives us no prestige if we win.
The UC Bearcats have future or on-going home-home series scheduled with all of: (1) Miami FLA, (2) Nebraska, (3) UCLA, (4) Purdue, (5) Indiana, and (6) Boise State.
No offense, but if those schools are scheduling UC in home-and-homes, Pittsburgh is not above it either.
Well, Boise is not P5, so perhaps know those teams before joining the conversation.
Beyond that, none of that matters. What matters is building Pitt's program. Other schools (Miami, Nebraska and UCLA) making mistakes doesn't really matter. However, Nebraska's series is setup to include basketball AND their football return is 5 years after UC makes the trek to Lincoln. Want to bet whether that one results in a buyout? Purdue's series was scheduled and started before the realignment.
I know you are here trolling, but you obviously don't have a lot of knowledge. I'd stick to reading and not posting.
TIA
I'm not trolling --- I am a UC Bearcat fan (2nd favorite team, I live here), and I just think Pittsburgh fans sound elitist when insulting the program. The Pitt/UC series was competitive (4-4) when both teams were in the same conference.
Notre Dame is already on Pitt's 2023 schedule. If Pittsburgh nets out w/ an OOC schedule of Notre Dame, Cincinnati, "MAC team at home", and "FCS team at home", what's possibly wrong with a schedule like that?
If you're a Power 5 conference team with a middle-of-the-road football reputation (and I think if we're honest, that's a fair assessment of Pittsburgh football right now), sometimes in addition to OOC games where you "play up" (e.g., upcoming series with Tennessee and Oklahoma State), Pittsburgh also has be willing enough to play OOC games where they "play down" a bit. That's Cincinnati --- and honestly, they aren't that far "down", they're at least better than Akron or Marshall.
As for teams I mentioned, there's a bit of the same dynamic. When UCLA is playing Cincinnati, they're also scheduled to play Tennessee. Miami is playing Cincinnati this year, they also play Nebraska. When Boise State is scheduled to play Cincinnati, they're also scheduled to play Florida State.
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I can accept your views but don't include all of Pitt Fans and Posters in your Elitist Moniker. We have many great Posters on the Lair and I have argue with many of them, but if you post here more often, you will find them like I do, they will speak their thoughts and stand by them with facts to back them up and exchange info that enlightens all of us together, or we will end up, agreeing to disagree with respect.
Those that have posted against the River Rivalry are some of the Best Posters on the Lair and just disagree in playing UCincy, and that includes other Programs, and that is their honest opinions, not Elitists, nor putting down UCincy, just think Pitt can play some other Teams?
Now I am happy to play UCincy every year, I am happy to have a River Rivalry and UCincy is an Elite Educational Institution with Excellence in Football and Basketball Programs. Great Coaches have come and gone at UCincy in both most important sports and every one challenge Pitt to be better and beat Pitt too.
Yet, I still want to play Penn State, WVU, and ND every year and that is no disrespect to UCincy. I do not mind playing UCincy as a 4th game too, but the ACC may go to 9 games in the ACC and that could be tough.
Moreover, I am an advocate of the ACC to go to 16 and 18 Schools with adding UCincy, UConn and another School with eventually Notre Dame. I would love that School to be Texas or Vanderbilt or UTenn or WVU, but that is just me, and this would be difficult to do, and would be a hrad sell to leave Big-12 or SEC.
So, adding UCincy and just one other school until ND is ready to come in All Sports but again, that is just me. I feel adding Ohio to the ACC Cable Subscriber Footprint would be good for the ACC in my opinion, and UCincy is the best candidate.
The only other disagreement I have with you, is why doesn't Ohio State play UCincy every year too, now that is what I call Elitists? I also agree, Pitt playing UCincy is better than playing YSU, Akron, and Marshall.
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I do not take offense in playing UCincy and any of those schools either, others love playing UCincy too, others don't, just like some on UCincy Boards.
UCincy has attracted some mighty fine Football Coaches over the years and Tubberville ain't small potatoes either?
This position has nothing to do with being elitist. Damn close to the complete opposite, actually.
UC is not a P5 team. It is unlikely they ever will be. Lose to a team like that and Pitt will get clowned. Playing a team that is "a little better" than Akron or Marshall does nothing to help you. In football, boosting strength of schedule doesn't really help unless you are on the cusp of the playoff. Even then, the boost of Cinci vs. Akron means nothing. And Cinci being better than Akron or Marshall or Middle Tennessee or whoever in those types of conferences, actually is worse because it increases the likelihood you lose. And if Pitt loses to a non P5 school it hurts. Especially if it is a regional non-P5 school like Cinci.
Pitt should either be scheduling schools that are guaranteed boosts to attendance and TV appeal or taking the Penn State approach and lining up cupcakes for easy wins. The in between makes no money, brings no exposure, doesn't open up recruiting, and just raises the chances for Ls. This series only heightens the chances Pitt is hurt and has practically no upside.
(1) That is true --- but it's also true that UC has been much better over the past 10 years than many P5 teams. Just keeping it to ACC teams, UC has been better than NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia and Syracuse (arguably others).
But, yeah --- now that Pittsburgh is in the "Power 5 club", I guess it's fine to discriminate against the non-Power 5 teams. I guess that's what I find elitist --- slapping the "non-Power 5" moniker on a team and dismissing them even though they stack up favorably versus a non-insignificant chunk of the Power 5.
(2) Pittsburgh has lost 4 of their last 5 to the Bearcats ---- no real shame in that though, given the Bearcats were a legit team that won 10+ games in ALL 4 of those seasons. Pittsburgh did not got "clowned" because of those losses in the 2008-2012 era, and its unlikely they would get "clowned" if they lose in 2023/2024 either. These aren't the joke Bearcats teams of the 1990s anymore.
(3) Cincinnati will bring fans to Pittsburgh if/when that game gets played --- just like occurred in 2009 and 2011 (I was at both those games).
(4) I think regional OOC games have their place on a college football schedule. Ideally, one regional OOC game, one "national" game, and the rest cupcakes.
Anyway, when you come up with an "ideal" regional OOC foe for Penn State, Pittsburgh is among them. Other characteristics I consider in an "ideal" regional OOC foe are (a) history between the teams, and (b) likely competitive games. Other teams fitting that bill from the Penn State POV would be Virginia, Syracuse, WVU and Boston College (& Virginia Tech, though we've never played).
I don't know, but UC sort of fits for Pittsburgh as an ideal regional OOC foe (at least to me). Especially in a year where Pittsburgh would be playing Notre Dame (that's the "national" OOC game on the schedule).
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