Who were the best visiting teams to play Pitt at Heinz/Acrisure? Miami '01, FSU '13 & ?
- Thread starter cbpitt2
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Great question.
I guess you'd have to have 2006 West Virginia in there. And then 2003 Miami. Dare I mention 2016 Penn State? 2017 OK State was good but not that good. 2012 Louisville, perhaps. 2020 Notre Dame.
I guess you'd have to have 2006 West Virginia in there. And then 2003 Miami. Dare I mention 2016 Penn State? 2017 OK State was good but not that good. 2012 Louisville, perhaps. 2020 Notre Dame.
2001 Miami is often listed as the most talented college football team of all time, so I'd have them #1 but yeah beyond that 2006 Louisville may be the best not already mentioned. Their total talent level may not have been Miami level but Brian Brohm was great and they were on track for a national title possibility until their lone, close loss. I remember we started close in that game but they eventually just turned it into a track meet and we had no chance.
Here's more info than you need... Since the Tony Dorsett era (1973) Pitt has played the eventual National Champion in the following seasons:
1973 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1974 – USC (Pitt Stadium)
1975 – @ Oklahoma
1977 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1982 – @ PSU
1984 – BYU (Pitt Stadium)
1986 – @ PSU
1988 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1989 – Miami (Pitt Stadium)
2001 – Miami (Heinz/Acrisure)
2013 – FSU (Heinz/Acrisure)
2016 – @ Clemson (Win)
We lost to all of them except Clemson in 2016
Back to the original question, I'd say the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. Eventually they produced a record 38 NFL Draft picks, the 2001 Hurricanes are considered by many to be the best college football team of all time.
1973 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1974 – USC (Pitt Stadium)
1975 – @ Oklahoma
1977 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1982 – @ PSU
1984 – BYU (Pitt Stadium)
1986 – @ PSU
1988 – ND (Pitt Stadium)
1989 – Miami (Pitt Stadium)
2001 – Miami (Heinz/Acrisure)
2013 – FSU (Heinz/Acrisure)
2016 – @ Clemson (Win)
We lost to all of them except Clemson in 2016
Back to the original question, I'd say the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. Eventually they produced a record 38 NFL Draft picks, the 2001 Hurricanes are considered by many to be the best college football team of all time.
What a stretch there ... the one year in that sequence not on your list, 1976, was when we won it all.
Really interesting info. Thanks for doing the research. I was at all those games except @ Oklahoma and @ Clemson.
The wildest tidbit is Pitt was ranked #8 and USC 18# going into the 1974 game...
1974 Pittsburgh Panthers football team - Wikipedia
I don't think that holds a candle to Oklahoma State 2017. They very literally could have beat us 100-something.
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tie between OSU in 2017, ND in 2020, or UCF in 2018 as worse beatdown in Narduzzi era. Covid year was an anomaly so I'll go with the OSU game.
yes, 2001 Miami would be the tops. And 2006 was the golden era of the Big East. WVU, Louisville and Rutgers all had 11 win seasons.
Yeah, I was also going to mention ND 2020. But even still... Oklahoma State had 49 points at halftime and completely called off the dogs. Clemson 2018, Penn State 2018, and Clemson 2020 were some other Narduzzi Era beatdowns. But Penn State was more quirky. The other two were thorough men against boys ass stompings.
This may surprise you, but Pitt's 28-point loss was Florida State's 4th closest game that year.
2013 Florida State Seminoles Schedule and Results | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
2013 Florida State Seminoles Schedule and Results
www.sports-reference.com
PSU in 2018 was a strange game. Close at half time and a few bad breaks happened to start the second half and it just got out of hand quickly. But like you said OSU was never a contest. I think that and UCF were the only times I left a game at halftime (both were blistering hot days, UCF was an afternoon game in Orlando in September, like watching a game on the surface of the sun)
I wasn't at that UCF game, but I remember turning it off at halftime nonetheless. Wild to think we actually won the Coastal that season.
That Oklahoma State game was as early as I've ever left a football game. I was home with plenty of time still left in the 3rd quarter. I don't even know if we made it to halftime.
I barely remember Penn State 2018. I just remember it being wet and us leaving in the 3rd. But yeah - it was like 10-7 or something at the half, and then someone just threw a glob of shit into a fan.
People dont want to admit it but the Big East was very good post-Miami/VT. Those Lou and WVU teams were excellent. And Rutgers and USF and Cincy had runs.
2005-2007 were the golden years and could stack up well with most conferences, but it didn't really matter as the media still had the perception that the Big East wasn't worthy of a seat at the table. 2008-2010 was all set up for Pitt to take its place at the top of the conference but we saw how that turned out. Brian Kelly came in and made him self millions by turning Cinci into the top team
I say all the time that the Big East was better than the Coastal. I cant believe people disagree with that.
The Big East benefited from the freedom to schedule FIVE non conference games, which allowed our teams to rack up some good wins (WVU) or just some easy ones (Rutgers, who would literally play two FCS teams a year sometimes, even though one of those wins wouldn't even count for bowl eligibility.)
I'm not denying it was a somewhat underrated conference but some of it is we juked the stats by racking up more MAC wins than other conferences would have time to schedule.
No. I watched those teams. They were better than the Coastal. Dont tell me those Lou and WVU teams wouldn't have run through the Coastal. Even the Rut and Cincy teams. Heck, the Wanny Pitt teams were more talented than the Narduzzi ones.
If Louisville doesn’t blow it against Rutgers they are playing Ohio State in the BCS National Championship.
It may have been in some seasons, but the iteration of the Big East without Miami, Virginia Tech, and BC was definitely not better than some of the better versions of the Big East with those teams. Good Miami was a completely different level from Good Louisville Good Cincinnati, Good West Virgina, etc.
I do think many of those Big East years were better than the Coastal too, so you're shadow boxing, bro. I also think the Big East would sometimes outrank the other major conferences in Sagarin Ratings et al because we would get some easy wins. Both are true.
