ESPN: Toughest Nonconference Schedules in 2017

[steel_curtain]

I can see both sides of the argument.

On one hand, as a program, PITT needs to play a tough out of conference schedule to put butts in the seats ==== more $$$$.

On the other hand, the playoff committee rewarded teams for playing a soft out of conference schedule and it seems wise to get Ws rather than risk losing a game.

-How much damage would it do if Pitt started 0-3 this year? We open the season against the Big Ten favorite and defending Big Ten champion, the Big 12 favorite preseason favorite, and a team that played for the FCS National Title. Your attendance will be at the bottom of the ocean opening 0-3 with this schedule and a team can fully collapse starting off that badly. And your attendance will be horrible all year if this was to happen. Not only that, there will be huge bashing of Narduzzi and Pitt from every sports writer from Pittsburgh to the moon if this happens. And most fans will jump off the Duzz bandwagon if this were to happen and call for his head. All because of stupid scheduling. Be careful what you wish for. The schedule already annihilated the basketball team.

 

[ksquared33]

No one could have predicted how good OSU or St Penn(both Top 10 type teams) would be when we scheduled them. It surely will not hurt us w/ the national attention we will get.
I am sure Coach Duzz is looking at this as a great opportunity, Let's face it we are still developing & growing our program. A great way for our guy's to get acclimated to battling intense comp.
I say make the absolute best of this situation as I am sure our players will be amped up.

H2 PITT !!!

 

[President Stache]

If we learned anything the past few years NO ONE gives anyone credit for tough scheduling... no one. Sure if you are in the SEC and play a good schedule then everyone rants and raves about it... but if you are in the SEC and you go 4-0 in the preseason it doesnt matter if you play 4 scrubs or four good teams... you are still top ten. And if you keep winning you will be top 4 at the end of the year regardless

Soooo... I could care less if we play scrubs. We should. Louisville did it, and so do most other schools

 

[ebonylover40]

Before last year PSU was a scrub team. The only OOC team that was considered a real tough opponet was OSU. Plus we only lost one OOC game. The rest were league games. People complained when Pitt played a bad OOC schedule and losing to some of those teams. Now we have a decent OOC and people complain its too hard.

It is so easy to type something thinking you are smarter than these people at that job. I would be like me telling people on this board what they need to do it their job, even though I have never done your job. It makes it so easy when you can throw things out there about schedules, coaching players up, run this play or play this player. Seriously, if it was that easy you would think all these coaches would come on these board and read these posts and win every game, every year on the schedule and never lose?

Then when another poster question or disagree with someone, they start to actually bickering back and forth like they really know what is best for these teams. You seriously cant make this shit up. Too funny.

 

[steel_curtain]

Before last year PSU was a scrub team. The only OOC team that was considered a real tough opponet was OSU. Plus we only lost one OOC game. The rest were league games. People complained when Pitt played a bad OOC schedule and losing to some of those teams. Now we have a decent OOC and people complain its too hard.

It is so easy to type something thinking you are smarter than these people at that job. I would be like me telling people on this board what they need to do it their job, even though I have never done your job. It makes it so easy when you can throw things out there about schedules, coaching players up, run this play or play this player. Seriously, if it was that easy you would think all these coaches would come on these board and read these posts and win every game, every year on the schedule and never lose?

Then when another poster question or disagree with someone, they start to actually bickering back and forth like they really know what is best for these teams. You seriously cant make this shit up. Too funny.

-Name one team that has not been a power in 30 years or relevant in 30 years that has completely loaded the schedule and turned into a power by doing so turning from a 6 win average team to a 10+ win average team?

-Now name teams that played easier schedules, built their football program up by winning 10 games while building the fanbase up because of success, and established success over years by playing a weaker schedule? Ill start here. Wisconsin, Baylor, Boise State, Louisville, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Washington, The Entire Big 10, etc...

-Notice no one is going the Pitt route. Although considering Pitt hasn't been a challenger for anything since the 80's, the Pitt administration and athletic directors have been a colossal embarrassment and failure since the 1980's, Pitt has zero conference titles and has not competed for anything nationally in over 30 years, the reasoning for this is almost insane. You have over 100 division 1 programs scheduling 1 way. All the college programs are scheduling 1 way. Then you have Pitt going in the complete opposite direction trying to become some type of hero scheduler. And you wonder why this administration has been a train wreck since the 80s and Pitt cant ever win 10 games in a season.

 

[H2Pittisit]

-Thats right. They were getting articles talking about them left and right, how great they were, how the U was back. Tons of pub. which helps with recruiting. You dont get pub when you are littered with losses. Go back to the 1980's and how over scheduling like a moron killed us. No other program in the country schedules like this yearly.

You were talking about how bad Miami sucked 2 weeks before Pitt played them and how they should "clobber" them. You can't have it both ways

 

[steel_curtain]

You were talking about how bad Miami sucked 2 weeks before Pitt played them and how they should "clobber" them. You can't have it both ways

-We are talking about scheduling and future schedules. Since we are on the subject of Miami, they played Florida A&M, App State, and Florida Atlantic, along with Notre Dame. Notice Miami didnt go batshit crazy with its schedule. Even their FCS teams suck. We dont even play a soft FCS team. Our FCS game is against a team that played for the National Title last year.

-Like I said, be very careful what you wish for. It took 2 hard years to rebuild this program and get some solid footing to what it is now. I would hate to see the program starting over again hitting the reset button by starting 0-3 this year and putting us in such a deep hole that it will be next to impossible to get out of for the rest of the season. Some Players quit when shit hits the fan. I dont want to see that happen. We are to close to breaking through this time to much higher ground only to let it slip away because of an idiot Athletic Director that knows nothing about football or scheduling.

 

[sherepower]

Steel Curtain is acually right in this argument. Pitt is coming off 5 coaches in 6 years.

Pitt's self inflicted wounds was far worse to our program than what happened at Penn st.

We are still digging ourselves out of that comic show. Just look at our depth if you cannot see it.

The worst thing Pitt could do right now is play back to back toughest schedules. We don't have the bodies or talent yet to do this RIGHT NOW.

Bottomline........ it seems Steve Peterson tried to sabotage the football program by scheduling like he did. After the coaching debacle. He should of seen we would be completely under manned to do so.

He should of known the best way to start from scratch is taking baby steps. Like that cesspol did in central pa.

After year 4 under Narduzzi. I wouldn't complain. By then we will have the depth and talent to handle the nations toughest schedule. Not right now.

If we played Penn st's schedule. We would've lost 2 games. The program would be a lot easier to sell future recruits with a record like that ( take a look at Penn st's class). They are selling a 10-2 record to recruits. Pitt is selling a 8-5 record. Only because we played a ridiculous schedule.

 

[724crew]

-Id rather finish in the Top 10 Final Rankings. Because I had to listen about how great Penn State was because they finished Top 10 and we finished 8-5. Alabama and Clemson arent even dumb enough to try and schedule anything like this. 1 Tough non conference game, MAX

Exactly, then they can parlay a top ten finish into top 20 recruiting, bolster the talent then toughen up the schedule

 

[joeydavid]

The difference between big boy football (ACC) and big money football (B1G).

Steel's right, Pitt always over schedules and it hurts perception.

Not only that, four ACC teams in the top ten and NO B1G teams.

 

[Pitt79]

I love it, it's exciting. Compare the feeling you'll have the morning of the Ok state game compared to the feeling of the morning of the rice or fcs scrimmage.. night and day.. These games are "events," these games are college football what it's supposed to be..

But if we are always losing the games, what good is it? Hopefully we go 3-1 at least.

 

[Swervin27]

this is a fun debate with the scheduling strategy. LIke all things, the truth probably lies (or lays, not sure) in the middle. You want a competitive, exciting OOC schedule but not one that puts you behind the 8 ball before conference season begins..

Maybe, and im not admitting defeat to steel here at all, but maybe I am looking at this from my angle and entertainment over what is best for the program. Personally speaking, i just get so pumped up, excited as hell when pitt has a game with a real good program, a nationally respected team and is on an actual tv and fans are talking about it all week. I love that crap, live for that sh*t and we get that with teams like ok state, iowa, we got it in the past with nebraska, mich st, and whatever P5 OOC schools we played. It had that "big game" feel to it, an actual D1 college football game. I don't feel anything at all close to that with this garbage FCS scrimmages or even the akrons of the world. That FIU game in florida a couple years ago was a disgrace to college football.

Nothing is more frustrating to me than when I have to go onto a computer to watch a pitt at akron game on my laptop and then when it's over, turn on ABC,ESPN and watch 2 legit, P5 teams play on an HD channel. I despise that, it justifies all the local sports fans that "pooh pooh" pitt football.

with that said, I appreciate all the posts, we all want the same thing for pitt football, just disagree with how to get it..

 

[H2P-2007]

One thing I certainly agree with Steel is on the FCS and Non-P5 games. Why schedule tough FCS games (Villanova, YSU, etc.)? High risk-no reward.

Smiley also killed us on some of those home-and-homes with Non-P5 teams. Why in gods name would Pitt play at Marshall?

 

[Swervin27]

But if we are always losing the games, what good is it? Hopefully we go 3-1 at least.

well pitt79, I mean at some point pitt football has to play and win against a respectable opponent.. Let me ask you a question, what good is pitt football if we can only beat bad teams? I mean, you guys are basically proposing to manufacture a good record by only playing inferior teams. At what point do you and other fans see thru this?

Didn't we learn our lesson in Rocky III.

 

[Swervin27]

One thing I certainly agree with Steel is on the FCS and Non-P5 games. Why schedule tough FCS games (Villanova, YSU, etc.)? High risk-no reward.

Smiley also killed us on some of those home-and-homes with Non-P5 teams. Why in gods name would Pitt play at Marshall?

I think you have too, I don't believe financially we are able to buy these FBS teams to come to pitt and not reciprocate.. What's the cost of getting marshall or a MAC team to play at Heinz and not offer them a home game? if it's not 1million I bet it's close.. Hell, I bet we pay a YSU or new Hampshire 400k to play here.. I don't mind the away non P5 game, especially with an 8 game conference schedule.

 

[ThePanthers]

I think you have too, I don't believe financially we are able to buy these FBS teams to come to pitt and not reciprocate.. What's the cost of getting marshall or a MAC team to play at Heinz and not offer them a home game? if it's not 1million I bet it's close.. Hell, I bet we pay a YSU or new Hampshire 400k to play here.. I don't mind the away non P5 game, especially with an 8 game conference schedule.

That is a huge part of it.

 

[ThePanthers]

All I heard on this board is how we should play a Northwestern team in our bowl game instead of Stanford and it would get us our 9 wins and top 25 finish. And then we go an lose that game.

Nothing is guaranteed. Pitt seems to play up and down to their opponents. I'd rather play a more respectable team than creampuffs. Beating PSU and Clemson garnered Pitt a ton of respect.

 

[Swervin27]

That is a huge part of it.

barnes' quote on not playing away non P5 games was cool to hear at first.. Then you started to think about it, logistically speaking and it didn't sound all that cool. Im always barking for harder OOC schedules and I was happy to hear that then I thought, ok well then who do we play? IF we can pay a MAC school or an AAC school to always play here then hell yeah but we cant so that means to me, yet another home fcs scrimmage. 1 is border line acceptable but 2 in the same year is nauseating.

I would much rather play at cincy or temple or even at rice than at home against deleware, grambling or new Hampshire.

 

[pafootballguy]

barnes' quote on not playing away non P5 games was cool to hear at first.. Then you started to think about it, logistically speaking and it didn't sound all that cool. Im always barking for harder OOC schedules and I was happy to hear that then I thought, ok well then who do we play? IF we can pay a MAC school or an AAC school to always play here then hell yeah but we cant so that means to me, yet another home fcs scrimmage. 1 is border line acceptable but 2 in the same year is nauseating.

I would much rather play at cincy or temple or even at rice than at home against deleware, grambling or new Hampshire.

First, this is probably going to be unpopular here but PSU and Pitt both play 10 P5 teams this year.

Second, when you are trying to build a program wins are more important than playing good teams, recruits don't care how you get 10 wins as long as you get 10 wins.

 

[Pitt79]

well pitt79, I mean at some point pitt football has to play and win against a respectable opponent.. Let me ask you a question, what good is pitt football if we can only beat bad teams? I mean, you guys are basically proposing to manufacture a good record by only playing inferior teams. At what point do you and other fans see thru this?

Didn't we learn our lesson in Rocky III.

Here's the thing, If you go 9-3 playing a crappy schedule, you'll get a better bowl than going 7-5 playing a tough schedule. Not saying they should play all cream puffs, but at what point does the tougher schedule help you if you don't win the games?

 

[Swervin27]

Here's the thing, If you go 9-3 playing a crappy schedule, you'll get a better bowl than going 7-5 playing a tough schedule. Not saying they should play all cream puffs, but at what point does the tougher schedule help you if you don't win the games?

I am not an expert on that "two game difference" rule with bowl selections so you may be right. Maybe pitt HAS to be selected to a higher tier bowl over another acc team if we have 2 more wins. If that's the case, then a point goes to you.

Why do you guys think that Pitt won't win any of these games? We have won some of these, we beat psu last year, we beat iowa. Ok awhile ago but we beat them, I was there. I honestly see more gain in playing a big time game like this on tv and losing than I do with playing a crappy game and winning. I am probably in the minority with this.

 

[Pitt79]

I am not an expert on that "two game difference" rule with bowl selections so you may be right. Maybe pitt HAS to be selected to a higher tier bowl over another acc team if we have 2 more wins. If that's the case, then a point goes to you.

Why do you guys think that Pitt won't win any of these games? We have won some of these, we beat psu last year, we beat iowa. Ok awhile ago but we beat them, I was there. I honestly see more gain in playing a big time game like this on tv and losing than I do with playing a crappy game and winning. I am probably in the minority with this.

I didn't say they won't, I'm just a cynical Pitt fan with 35 years of sureal "Pitting", and rare "big wins", so to me, I'm never confident. they could win all of them. But going into next year it's hard to predict what will happen, No Connor, New QB, that defense was horrible, that needs to improve, It's hard at this point to feel confident that they will be an improved team. Hopefully they will be.

 

[ebonylover40]

Again in my post. We've played creampuff schedules up until this past season and what did the teams do in most years? They lost to those so-called creampuffs. And the complaints was how terrible the schedules were and the same people came on these boards and said Pitt needs to play better competition. Give this shit a rest. They only lost 1 OOC game this season. All the other loses were conference games. So what are your arguments to that? Less conference games?

 

[ThePanthers]

Again in my post. We've played creampuff schedules up until this past season and what did the teams do in most years? They lost to those so-called creampuffs. And the complaints was how terrible the schedules were and the same people came on these boards and said Pitt needs to play better competition. Give this shit a rest. They only lost 1 OOC game this season. All the other loses were conference games. So what are your arguments to that? Less conference games?

Amen!

 

[Swervin27]

I just don't see the risk here. I mean that loss to Ok state, what bad happened from it? we played an exciting (from a non fan's perspective) team on national TV, it was a legit D1 P5 game. yeah, we lost and I was pissed but all of our goals were still there for the taking. nothing changed.. if anything, non die hard local fans actually came away from it thinking, "pitt can hang with a top 20 team."

That doesn't happen when pitt plays garbage teams. No casual fan came away from the FIU game impressed, they didn't watch. No one watched that akron game on their laptop and thought, "great win, that should help us compete in the coastal," again, they didn't watch..

Get on tv, get the casual fan talking about it, get people excited for a D1 college football game. Spare me the "if you are fan you'll watch no matter who we play" because no one is watching. recruits tweet after wins against PSU, they don't tweet after wins against FIU in front of 1200 people on a game that you have to watch from a website..

 

[Pitt79]

I just don't see the risk here. I mean that loss to Ok state, what bad happened from it? we played an exciting (from a non fan's perspective) team on national TV, it was a legit D1 P5 game. yeah, we lost and I was pissed but all of our goals were still there for the taking. nothing changed.. if anything, non die hard local fans actually came away from it thinking, "pitt can hang with a top 20 team."

That doesn't happen when pitt plays garbage teams. No casual fan came away from the FIU game impressed, they didn't watch. No one watched that akron game on their laptop and thought, "great win, that should help us compete in the coastal," again, they didn't watch..

Get on tv, get the casual fan talking about it, get people excited for a D1 college football game. Spare me the "if you are fan you'll watch no matter who we play" because no one is watching. recruits tweet after wins against PSU, they don't tweet after wins against FIU in front of 1200 people on a game that you have to watch from a website..

The difference with me is, I watch all the Pitt games, every minute, sometimes re-watch them, and almost no other games. And it matters EXACTLY ZERO to me, what anyone else thinks of Pitt, or if anyone else watches or is talking about Pitt. What I want to see above all else is a WIN. I don't enjoy great public relations losses.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

[QUOTE="Swervin27, post: 1802587, member: 26978"]I just don't see the risk here. I mean that loss to Ok state, what bad happened from it? we played an exciting (from a non fan's perspective) team on national TV, it was a legit D1 P5 game. yeah, we lost and I was pissed but all of our goals were still there for the taking. nothing changed.. if anything, non die hard local fans actually came away from it thinking, "pitt can hang with a top 20 team."

That doesn't happen when pitt plays garbage teams. No casual fan came away from the FIU game impressed, they didn't watch. No one watched that akron game on their laptop and thought, "great win, that should help us compete in the coastal," again, they didn't watch..

Get on tv, get the casual fan talking about it, get people excited for a D1 college football game. Spare me the "if you are fan you'll watch no matter who we play" because no one is watching. recruits tweet after wins against PSU, they don't tweet after wins against FIU in front of 1200 people on a game that you have to watch from a website..[/QUOTE]

because 9-4 with a win over Jabroni State looks better than 8-5 with a loss to Oklahoma State. The 9-4 would have meant a top 25 finish and reaching the elusive 9 win marker.

Bring on the cupcakes! Oklahoma state may mean and additional 2k bump in attendance, if that. So bring on Jabroni state instead and get the W.

 

[joeydavid]

Ask the fans of Wisconsin's football team. They play an annual god awful schedule that basically guarantees 8 (sometimes 9)wins. They then go on to lose to most every good program they face.

End result is a top 10 ranking and a lot of sheep at Camp Randall having a good time pretending that they are a top football program. It's not going on decades of that crap- so the answer is no; people don't seem to care that is a fraud.

well pitt79, I mean at some point pitt football has to play and win against a respectable opponent.. Let me ask you a question, what good is pitt football if we can only beat bad teams? I mean, you guys are basically proposing to manufacture a good record by only playing inferior teams. At what point do you and other fans see thru this?

Didn't we learn our lesson in Rocky III.

 

[upj87]

Guess who's 1st?

http://www.espn.com/college-footbal...-gators-toughest-nonconference-schedules-2017

go 4-0 and you are in the top 7 and a legitimate national title contender....or go 4-0 against 4 tomato cans....or whine, hell maybe even have a protest as it is all the rage nowadays....I'll take the chances of the first scenario as it seems not to be lacking in testosterone like so many posters here...for gosh sakes, grow a pair.

 

[Swervin27]

The difference with me is, I watch all the Pitt games, every minute, sometimes re-watch them, and almost no other games. And it matters EXACTLY ZERO to me, what anyone else thinks of Pitt, or if anyone else watches or is talking about Pitt. What I want to see above all else is a WIN. I don't enjoy great public relations losses.

So you feel exactly the same going into a game against st New Hampshire as you do a game against ok state or psu? A win is a win no matter if it's against a top 10 team or an fcs program?

If that is true, you are the exception. But if this is true then I get your opinion. Play the worst program possible if all wins are the same

 

[ThePanthers]

Ask the fans of Wisconsin's football team. They play an annual god awful schedule that basically guarantees 8 (sometimes 9)wins. They then go on to lose to most every good program they face.

End result is a top 10 ranking and a lot of sheep at Camp Randall having a good time pretending that they are a top football program. It's not going on decades of that crap- so the answer is no; people don't seem to care that is a fraud.

They played the No 6, 7, 10, 13, and 15th ranked teams (in the final rankings last year). And Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota all received votes. I don't think that is godawful.

 

[VolPanther]

The difference with me is, I watch all the Pitt games, every minute, sometimes re-watch them, and almost no other games. And it matters EXACTLY ZERO to me, what anyone else thinks of Pitt, or if anyone else watches or is talking about Pitt. What I want to see above all else is a WIN. I don't enjoy great public relations losses.

While I agree mostly with this I'd still rather play at least teams that will actually make Pitt better. Playing Villanova and YSU does nothing for me and really nothing to improve the team. Lets face it Pitt doesn't garner the same respect in the preseason rankings that the overrated BIG10 teams do or SEC teams do. Fans don't show up to watch these games and it can't get the players too excited to play in a half full stadium against inferior competition. Pitt somehow finds ways to even lose a few of these games so me personally if I'm buying season tickets I want to see good teams come to Heinz. If Pitts starts 4-2 against our schedule vs 6-0 vs a cupcake start isn't going to get us anymore respect. I'm not saying schedule the best teams in the Big10 or Big12 but I'd much rather see us play stiffer competition and be competitive than play a bunch of patsies. Eventually we have to learn to win close games. Even with a tough schedule we could have easily won 10 or 11 games last year and should have. Scheduling o bunch of patsies in bball never did us any good except get a first round exit or at best a second round exit except one trip to the Elite 8. I would rather finish 9-3 against good competition than 10-2 and lose to some really inferior team. Just my opinion but if I am driving 4 hours to a game I want to see a good game and not against some Division 2 opponent it takes OT to win or worse yet lose to. If we don't crap the bed against UNC and actually field a secondary we beat VT and we are talking about a great season against a stiff schedule.

 

[MoTownPanther]

It is what it is, as a fan I'm looking forward to it. I don't think they anticipated this when the schedule was made. Fans were screaming to renew the rivalry with PSU. Given their situation at the time, I don't think anyone expected them to be top 10 this early.

As for OK ST, they are always a tough team in contention in one of the worst p5 conferences yearly. I'm not sure when the schedule was made, but OK state was coming off a 7-6 season in 2014 if that means anything. I'm sure PITT knew they would be pretty decent, but if they predicted them to be preseason top 10 in 2017 (AND PSU) I'm calling them ASAP to pick my lottery numbers.

 

[VolPanther]

It is what it is, as a fan I'm looking forward to it. I don't think they anticipated this when the schedule was made. Fans were screaming to renew the rivalry with PSU. Given their situation at the time, I don't think anyone expected them to be top 10 this early.

As for OK ST, they are always a tough team in contention in one of the worst p5 conferences yearly. I'm not sure when the schedule was made, but OK state was coming off a 7-6 season in 2014 if that means anything. I'm sure PITT knew they would be pretty decent, but if they predicted them to be preseason top 10 in 2017 (AND PSU) I'm calling them ASAP to pick my lottery numbers.

And regardless of what PSU is ranked that's a game I want to see every year and I want them to be good when we beat them. I get how some teams schedule cupcakes and bolster records with 3 creampuffs but I don't want that and doing that for Pitt doesn't garner them any more respect than losing a game to a highly ranked OSU or PSU and if you win those games you'll earn the respect.

 

[joeydavid]

Ok, I'll try this again. UW stacks is schedule with really easy games to guarantee a certain number of wins...then goes on to lose most games against good teams. Got it?

tO$U Lost
PedSt. Lost
Mich. Lost

LSU was mess and fired their coach after the UW game and they beat a MAC school when the MAC much worst than their normal levels.

Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota? Really. They beat a collective no-one. The B1G west is among the bottom 2 or 3 divisions of the P5 conferences; then they add 2 or 3 guaranteed wins on top of that.

That said, you just confirmed the point by listing all of those teams who generally play easier schedules and the correlation to finishing the year higher in the rankings.

They played the No 6, 7, 10, 13, and 15th ranked teams (in the final rankings last year). And Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota all received votes. I don't think that is godawful.

 

[Pitt79]

Ask the fans of Wisconsin's football team. They play an annual god awful schedule that basically guarantees 8 (sometimes 9)wins. They then go on to lose to most every good program they face.

End result is a top 10 ranking and a lot of sheep at Camp Randall having a good time pretending that they are a top football program. It's not going on decades of that crap- so the answer is no; people don't seem to care that is a fraud.

LOL, I'd take that in a heartbeat over what we've experienced the last 30 years! Bring it on!

I definitely would rather HAVE A GOOD TIME and PRETEND, than go 6-6, 7-5 or 8-4 every year and know the truth.

 

[Swervin27]

LOL, I'd take that in a heartbeat over what we've experienced the last 30 years! Bring it on!

I definitely would rather HAVE A GOOD TIME and PRETEND, than go 6-6, 7-5 or 8-4 every year and know the truth.

would you really be that much happier if last year's team went 9-4 instead of 8-5, replacing the ok state loss with an fcs win? I mean, would that really make a difference to you or anyone?

You guys are acting like your scheduling strategy would give us an 11-1 record and top 10 ranking. You still have to play 8 conference games, you still have to beat Va tech, Miami and UNC to be considered a respectable team..

 

[ThePanthers]

Ok, I'll try this again. UW stacks is schedule with really easy games to guarantee a certain number of wins...then goes on to lose most games against good teams. Got it?

tO$U Lost
PedSt. Lost
Mich. Lost

LSU was mess and fired their coach after the UW game and they beat a MAC school when the MAC much worst than their normal levels.

Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota? Really. They beat a collective no-one. The B1G west is among the bottom 2 or 3 divisions of the P5 conferences; then they add 2 or 3 guaranteed wins on top of that.

That said, you just confirmed the point by listing all of those teams who generally play easier schedules and the correlation to finishing the year higher in the rankings.

Or because they lost to very good teams in close games, they got much respect.

 

[steel_curtain]

Again in my post. We've played creampuff schedules up until this past season and what did the teams do in most years? They lost to those so-called creampuffs. And the complaints was how terrible the schedules were and the same people came on these boards and said Pitt needs to play better competition. Give this shit a rest. They only lost 1 OOC game this season. All the other loses were conference games. So what are your arguments to that? Less conference games?

-Go back to 2005. Pitt was starting to build traction in 2002, 2003, 2004 with 8 and 9 win seaons. Pitt once again overloaded the schedule with Nebraksa, Notre Dame and Ohio to open. Pitt lost all 3, went from a preseason Top 15 team to a 5 win season, attendance completely tanked. In 2006 Pitt won 6 games, 2007 won 5 games. Pitt loses almost 2 games yearly because of non conference games. In years like 2005, we lost THREE non conference games. Over the course of the last decade Pitt has one of if not the worst non conference record in all of P5. We lose about 2 non conference games yearly.

 

[BamaPanther]

Mercer Univ's out of conference schedule is Alabama and Auburn, must need the money.
Ga. Southern includes FSU and Auburn