48 years ago today. Pitt Stadium. The Backyard Brawl. I was there. Were you?

[wbrpanther]

This year was his high water mark at 5-5. Had them ranked 15 at one point, but then Oklahoma came to town with their new fangled wishbone offense.

No one had ever seen anything like it, they faked the dive into the line, 11 Pitt players bit on it, and the crowd went nuts at the stop.....only to see the Oklahoma RB, Washington, I believe, jogging by himself with the ball down the right sideline for the first of many TD's.

DePasqua was so impressed with the thumping, he tried to institute the offense here. Problem was, it didn't work with W. PA lumbering players. Back then, our RB's were caught from behind downfield by defensive tackles!

Was at that Oklahoma game too. Best offense I ever saw. Pitt would make a stop for what seemed like a short gain and it was 8 or 9 yards. Mildren. Wylie, Pruitt and Crosswhite. never forget that wishbone backfield.

 

[GT74]

I was there. Freshman year of college. Sat through whole game with some friends, and enjoyed every moment of 2nd half!

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

yeah but they did see Larry Fitz, Dion Lewis, James Conner, Shady & Aaron Donald. Star power isn't our problem. Depth and being weak at other key positions is (name the last dominant linebackers since Blades & Session. McKillop? That's about it)

The guys I mentioned had a supporting cast. The guys you mention... had a bunch of MAC players around them. Big difference.

 

[Delpanther]

Yeah. Gotta feel sorry for anyone too young to see Dorsett, Marino, Green or even Ironhead. Also explains the inflammatory negativity. They know nothing else.

Surely explains their comfort level with mediocrity and their blind acceptance of the notion that Pitt can never be s great program! They only know what they know based on their experience which is limited.

 

[Delpanther]

I bet we could drum up some good conversation.

Curious if you remember (since you also were a student at the time) that the week following the WVU game that Pitt sponsored an event in one of the classroom auditoriums in which Dave Haven went thru the game film and provided a commentary on how the game evolved... I really enjoyed that.

 

[youghpanther1]

I was there with my PiKa brothers. And some smoking hot Tri Delts.

 

[PittMan 72]

My girlfriend (now wife) was a student at Pitt (I at Penn State) and we went to the PItt/WVU game at PItt Stadium. Pitt trailed 35-8 at the half and she, not being much of a football fan, wanted to leave. I said let's just watch a bit of the 2nd half. We'll leave as soon as WVU scores again. They never did. Pitt scored 28 unanswered points and won 36-35 in one of the greatest games I have ever seen.

I was there with a bunch of friends in the student section. The crazy thing was Pitt was just gaining 4, 5, 6 yards a pop - almost exclusively running the ball inside. It was all pretty slow paced and methodical. They mixed in a few passes (mostly short ones like the one to Pilconis for the game winner), but not too many.

What a lot of people may not recall is that the very next season, in 1971, Pitt beat Navy at Pitt Stadium by the same score of 36-35. I was also in the student section for that one and Navy had a very big half time lead - similar to the one the hoopies had in 1970 - before Pitt came back to win. Sadly Pitt won just 2 others in 1971 and finished 3 - 8. Then DePasqua went 1 - 10 in 1972 and that was it for him.

 

[mike412]

I was at the game. It was my first year of grad school. My roommates left at halftime. When I got back to our apartment the guys couldn't believe we had won.

It was the "last hurrah" for the seniors who were part of Dave Hart's first and only really good recruiting class. In those days freshmen couldn't play varsity football so there was a freshman team that played a 4 game schedule. Three years earlier, the Havern, Pilconis, et al. freshman team played the WVU, PSU, Ohio State and ND freshmen teams. I believe they beat the WVU freshmen easily at Ambridge HS stadium and I watched them lose to the ND freshmen (QB'd by Joe Theisman) 15-18 on a snowy night at Forbes Field. I don't recall the scores vs PSU and Ohio State freshmen (road games?) but I believe they lost both those games.

They opened the season with a 35-0 win over WVU. I believe the game was at Connellsville or Little Washington and not Ambridge. The star for WVU was Jim Braxton and Pitt shut him down. Then they went to OSU and played a team that included QB Rex Kern and S Jack Tatum. OSU won 35-27. Then they played at PSU in a snowstorm and lost a close game when they could not punch it in from the 1 yard line with 3 chances. Finally, they played ND at Forbes Field.

All 4 were very close games. The WVU team they demolished went to 3 bowl games. The OSU team they almost beat on the road went to 2 Rose Bowls. They would have gone to 3, but back then the B10 had a rule about teams not going 2 consecutive years. And, ND won a national championship. The Pitt frosh were on 3 varsity teams that each went 1-9. The worst 4 years in school history if you include the 1967 team in their freshman year.

 

[mike412]

what was it like hearing Adrian Cronauer belt out "loose football"?

Cronauer was gone from Vietnam by then. I believe he was discharged in 1967. But, he had a lasting impact on Armed Forces Radio. Before him, it didn’t play rock. By the time I was there, you could hear Creedence, the Stones, Santana, etc. almost non-stop. We didn’t listen to it that much and had our own music blaring in the base camp. Creedence was far and away the most played group. Their songs really resonated with us.

 

[wbrpanther]

Cronauer was gone from Vietnam by then. I believe he was discharged in 1967. But, he had a lasting impact on Armed Forces Radio. Before him, it didn’t play rock. By the time I was there, you could hear Creedence, the Stones, Santana, etc. almost non-stop. We didn’t listen to it that much and had our own music blaring in the base camp. Creedence was far and away the most played group. Their songs really resonated with us.

Creedence. My all time favorite group.

 

[upj87]

Cronauer was gone from Vietnam by then. I believe he was discharged in 1967. But, he had a lasting impact on Armed Forces Radio. Before him, it didn’t play rock. By the time I was there, you could hear Creedence, the Stones, Santana, etc. almost non-stop. We didn’t listen to it that much and had our own music blaring in the base camp. Creedence was far and away the most played group. Their songs really resonated with us.

Creedence..interesting and kinda of amazing stat about them. Never had a #1 song while having five #2 songs...

 

[wbrpanther]

Creedence..interesting and kinda of amazing stat about them. Never had a #1 song while having five #2 songs...

Very true. There was always a song that blocked them out of the top spot.

 

[upj87]

Very true. There was always a song that blocked them out of the top spot.

yeah, Travelin' Band was my favorite song of theirs...drew a bad draw as S&G's Bridge over Troubled Waters spent six weeks at the top when it hit #2..

 

[wbrpanther]

yeah, Travelin' Band was my favorite song of theirs...drew a bad draw as S&G's Bridge over Troubled Waters spent six weeks at the top when it hit #2..

For me it is Born on the bayou, followed closely by Lodi.

 

[FreeportPanther]

 

[fairgambit]

Creedence. My all time favorite group.

I'm a big John Fogerty fan, here with Centerfield in 1985.

 

[pbrad]

I was a student at Pitt then and watched the entire game from the student section ...... WVU led 21-0 and Pitt scored and made a 2 pointer to cut the lead to 21-8 but WVU scored two more TD's to take a 35-8 halftime lead ...... that was a HUGE lead in those days ..... Pitt came out in the 2nd half and mostly ran from a power-I formation and shoved the ball down WVU's throat ..... we completed a few key passes but mostly ran between the tackles ...... I think Pitt ran something like 65+ plays in the 2nd half ..... we made 2 pointers after the 2nd and 3rd TD's and the score was 35-16, then 35-24 at the end of 3 quarters ...... we scored in the 4th quarter to make it 35-30 but missed the 2 pointer, then scored again to make it 36-35 and missed another 2 pointer ..... the winning TD was scored with 55 seconds to play ..... WVU got the kickoff and marched down near midfield or slightly in Pitt territory and were trying to get close enough to try a FG but they fumbled and Pitt recovered and won !!!!!!

WHAT A DAY !!!!!!!!!!

Ahhh the good old days.

 

[Somerset Panther]

Was at that Oklahoma game too. Best offense I ever saw. Pitt would make a stop for what seemed like a short gain and it was 8 or 9 yards. Mildren. Wylie, Pruitt and Crosswhite. never forget that wishbone backfield.

I was at the Oklahoma game as well. What I remember about that game is the pit actually put up decent points on them I think they score 29 or 30 points. They would drive the ball methodically down field and score. Oklahoma would get a kick off and score in like four or five plays.

 

[PittMan 72]

Was at that Oklahoma game too. Best offense I ever saw. Pitt would make a stop for what seemed like a short gain and it was 8 or 9 yards. Mildren. Wylie, Pruitt and Crosswhite. never forget that wishbone backfield.

I was at the Oklahoma game as well. What I remember about that game is the pit actually put up decent points on them I think they score 29 or 30 points. They would drive the ball methodically down field and score. Oklahoma would get a kick off and score in like four or five plays.

What still sticks out vividly to me about that Sooner team that we saw that sunny afternoon at Pitt Stadium? Those WHITE SHOES. They were the first team I saw in person that wore white shoes. The guys running that OU wishbone were fast. But those white shoes made them appear to be absolutely flying!

 

[Somerset Panther]

What still sticks out vividly to me about that Sooner team that we saw that sunny afternoon at Pitt Stadium? Those WHITE SHOES. They were the first team I saw in person that wore white shoes. The guys running that OU wishbone were fast. But those white shoes made them appear to be absolutely flying!

Can't remember if the Selmon brothers played on that team. That may have been a couple years before they played.

 

[PittMan 72]

Can't remember if the Selmon brothers played on that team. That may have been a couple years before they played.

I think just Lucious, the oldest of the Selmon brothers, was on that 1971 team that played at Pitt.