Some are blaming HL for overscheduling ooc games for next season with now three power five opponents including road trips to WVU and Nd and a home game with Cinncy with one likely fcs team to schedule. the WVU and Cinncy series were done by prior AD and the ND game is arranged by the ACC.However one can blame Lyke for the amount of vacancies thru this decade because unlike hoops the football schedule is done primarily by the AD and is more long term. A quick glance thru the fbs schedule site list future schedules and they are very reliable so unless Pitt has some still unannounced contracts signed we are falling behind in this area. We have 13 openings thru 2029 which is by far the most of any ACC team. By comparision VT has one, BC 4, NC 5, NC ST. 6, Clemson 4, Louisville 6, Miami 7 . Virginia and Ga. Tech with 10 have the most openings other than Pitt. What gives here. We found out the importance of ooc scheduling last year when we got a lot of publicity for an 11 win season and most pollsters didnt even know who we beat in ooc competetion. As we have repeated many times on this board we need balance in scheduling but if we wait too long to fill these vacancies it could be problematic. Correct me if i am wrong buy i dont think Heather has met too often with the media over the past few years.
ADHL and Scheduling
- Thread starter poconopanther
- Start date
Wait...you complain about long term over scheduling of hard opponents and then complain about having openings which grants flexibility and most likely will result in an easier opponent. So which is it?
Balance. Just read about her being instrumental in thke victory heights project.congrats. But football drives the bus.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
A lot to unpack here but worrying over addressing the media is funny. It's not like they pay much attention to Pitt and when they do, it has a tendency to go sideways and it's not because of her.
Go on the FBS Scheduling site, and look at Virginia Tech. THey have completed OOC scheduling for about 10 yrs out!!!
I would also add that if Pitt fills out their schedules long term by signing a ten year home and home contract with someone like Akron or Kent then Heather Lyke would be getting raked over the coals here by nearly everyone. And rightly so.
So yeah, it's pretty easy to fill out your schedule if you are willing to do something as dumb as a ten year home and home with Old Dominion.
So yeah, it's pretty easy to fill out your schedule if you are willing to do something as dumb as a ten year home and home with Old Dominion.
For me, I think Heather Lyke not finding a way to get Navy or Army on the football schedule every year is a flaw. Great traditions, competitive teams and relatively close away games for Pitt fans to travel to. I'd gladly take either of these two programs over the MAC schools that Pitt likes to schedule.
Not that it matters but Barnes did wvu series part one and cincy.
Navy's OOC every year is Notre Dame, Army, Air Force and a FCS. This season Delaware. Next season Wagner. The year after Bucknell, then VMI.
As an independent Army has a lot more scheduling flexibility, but they have very few P5s on the coming schedules. They in the middle of a series with Wake that was signed when Wake was perhaps the worst P5 out there. They have a series against their nearest neighbor Syracuse and they have a games with BC and LSU next year. Other than that, almost nothing. They have a game with Kansas State in 2025 and the return game to BC in 2028 and a couple games with Missouri the first of which is in 2029 and, ah, well, you get the idea. All those non-cons to schedule and almost none of them against P5s. Because they don't want to play that level of competition anymore.
While all of that may be true, the reality of it is Pitt should have already have established some sort of an agreement with either Army or Navy.
After reading your post I checked the future football schedules of both Army and Navy.
In regards to Navy, beginning in 2026, they have at least one open date on their schedule each year.
Army on the other hand has 2 openings on their 2024 schedule, none on their 2025 and 2026 schedules. After that they have multiple openings each year for the foreseeable future.
Just for the heck of it, I even checked the Air Force Academy's future schedule. Air Force has an open date in 2024, they are full in 2025 and then after that they too have at least one opening fir the foreseeable future.
These are all programs that offer their opponents a good game against a decent team Certainly beats playing the MAC schools each year and those FCS programs that Pitt seems to time to play each year.
Sign Rutgers, Navy, Temple to long term deals playing two or three every year.
Mix in Duquesne for a city game and add an Ohio Mac team.
Sprinkle in wvcc.
Done
Mix in Duquesne for a city game and add an Ohio Mac team.
Sprinkle in wvcc.
Done
Those MAC and FCS programs are the difference between a 9-10 win season and a 6-7 win season. Look at the OOC schedules for all of the top teams. 9-10 wins a year gives buzz to your program. Scheduling tough OOC games, winning some and losing some gets you 6-7 wins and irrelevancy. If Pitt plays two more FCS/MAC schools instead of PSU, ND, or UCF in 2018 then they go into the ACC championship with a respectable 9 win season. Instead they only win 7 and are laughed at by the national media for being a mediocre gifted coastal champ.
For the longest time, the message boards had a lot of push to schedule higher profile teams to the OC schedule, with the thinking that part of the attendance issue was that had teams that casual fans had no interest in coming to watch, and that it would create more respect for the program.
That was how schedules have been built when Nards came on board and while he has been really good in the ACC, he has been pretty bad with these OC games against P5 teams. So, now the tack is toward more cupcakes.
But, as others note, you have to arrange these things WELL in advance.
I think based on how things have played out, just try to keep the WVU series going, and do your best to schedule in safe, beatable programs that count toward your bowl count.
Stack the wins and let the chips fall where they fall.
That was how schedules have been built when Nards came on board and while he has been really good in the ACC, he has been pretty bad with these OC games against P5 teams. So, now the tack is toward more cupcakes.
But, as others note, you have to arrange these things WELL in advance.
I think based on how things have played out, just try to keep the WVU series going, and do your best to schedule in safe, beatable programs that count toward your bowl count.
Stack the wins and let the chips fall where they fall.
You can't schedule Navy, because Navy has no interest in scheduling Pitt. This isn't that hard to understand. They get four non-cons per season. They play Notre Dame, Army, Air Force and a home game against an FCS. The only way that you might be able to interest them, with emphasis on the "might", is if you offered to play them ONLY at their place. Which would be monumentally stupid.
Just because they have not yet scheduled their FCS game five or ten years into the future doesn't mean that they aren't going to schedule one, it just means that like most schools they feel no need to schedule an FCS that far into the future.
And Army does not want to schedule mid to high level P5s. They only want to schedule an occasional bottom level P5, like Wake was when they scheduled them, or local low level Syracuse or BC. They don't have any interest in playing Pitt or Penn State or Ohio State or Clemson or anyone like that, because they know that they cannot compete in games like that.
It's like you have this idea in your head that if Pitt wants to play someone, well, of course they are going to jump at the chance. And that can't be further from the truth. Navy does not want to play Pitt (or anyone even remotely similar to Pitt). Army does not want to play Pitt (or anyone even remotely similar to Pitt). It isn't anyone at Pitt's fault that that is the case. But it most certainly is the case.
Sprinkle in Notre Dame as the ACC schedules them, and drop one of the Academies or Temple
This year the Post-Gazette is running an article or two on Pitt football everyday. Heather Lyke is no where to be seen except giving out awards at games. Victory Heights is a non-starter. Where's the on campus stadium?
We have at least one P5 opponent scheduled every year through 2034. Just fill the rest with low level fbs and a few fcs teams and call it a day. That is pretty much what every other P5 team does with their schedules.
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