How big is this game nationally?

[Panthergrowl13]

Your assessments are underwhelming to say the least.

CBS Sports ranked the Top 15 Big Ten Games to be played this year and the Pitt-Penn State game came in ranked #8. Both teams were Bowl bound last year and will be Bowl bound this year.

This is an ACC-B1G match up (conference bragging rights for some) which will generate significant interest from BOTH Conferences memberships (huge population bases).

In State Rivalry game played after 16 years and 1st one without Joe having lost his last and final game to Pitt 12-0.

Pennsylvania alone has a population of about 13 million, New Jersey (pop 8.7 million) will watch hoping Penn State will lose. West Virginia will watch hoping Pitt will lose and many from Ohio (population 11.6 million) will watch hoping Penn State will lose.

This game will have a very good Nielsen TV Rating.

HAIL TO PITT!!!!

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

You honestly can't think of why?
Please stop talking about television, then.

You honestly think Michigan/UCF draws bigger ratings nationally than Pitt/PSU?

I'll go so far as to say the Pitt/PSU game on cable will beat Mich/UCF on free TV.

We'll have our answer on Sunday or Monday so what are you going with?

 

[revampedpanthers]

You honestly think Michigan/UCF draws bigger ratings nationally than Pitt/PSU?
I'll go so far as to say the Pitt/PSU game on cable will beat Mich/UCF on free TV.

We'll have our answer on Sunday or Monday so what are you going with?

I would bet Pitt/PSU beats MI/UCF pretty easily. Its not a national game anymore and neither team is ranked so its not a huge game outside of PA. Still think if it was on at 8 pm on ESPN ratings would beat the usual SEC vs crap team matchup.

 

[upj87]

This ain't the late 70's or early eighties when BOTH the nitwits and the panthers were
nationally ranked and nationally relevant as football powers. Joepa, Majors, and
Sherill were nationally known as well.
Here in eastern PA it's hardly being mentioned, although it's still important to PSU and
Pitt grads and families. The Philly area papers mention it only because they mention ALL
PSU games....IMO its not any bigger here than any other PSU game.
With all that being said....in my family it's BIG because I have two sons...one a Pitt grad,
the other a PSU grad.

"Here in eastern PA it's hardly being mentioned,"...people ever mention college football in Eastern PA?

 

[OH Pete]

No College GameDay. On ESPN instead of ABC and Bob Wischusen/Brock Huard on the call. Definitely not getting the big game treatment, but I don't care. It's going to be an incredible atmosphere for a Pitt victory!

I don't see the big deal with ESPN vs ABC. When I sit down to watch some football on a Saturday, I ALWAYS check ESPN first to see what it on before I check the other stations. Most real sports fans do the same, I'd bet.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

The fact that Michigan/UCF got ABC over Pitt/PSU is extremely surprising. I honestly cant think of why that programming choice was made. Michigan just won by 60 and are favored by 35 over UCF, a team that went 0-12 last year. Penn State draws extremely good ratings, like it or not, and a game vs Pitt turns on lots of TV sets everywhere, especially in the NE. Mich/UCF will be 42-0 at halftime. Really, really strange.

agree, taking the scandal out of the equation.
Kind of sucks, the ND game last year got ABC.

 

[Pitt79]

What concerns me more is that even if (when) we win this game, we still won't know much about how good of a team we have and if we are capable of winning some games in the ACC this year. PSU is not a good team, bordering on awful. All it will do is give us some ammunition against the arrogant nitters and shut them up.

So this game being broadcast where it is isn't surprising.

I don't know, I wouldn't be that overconfident. We only put up 28 vs. 'Nova. I am amazed that most here think this is a sure win?

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

I don't know, I wouldn't be that overconfident. We only put up 28 vs. 'Nova. I am amazed that most here think this is a sure win?

With a st touchdown 7 of those points

 

[Pitt79]

With a st touchdown 7 of those points

Exactly, PSU put up 35 vs. Kent State, a D1A team, how have we decided Pitt is so much better? I hope we win, but I see this as a tossup.

 

[revampedpanthers]

Exactly, PSU put up 35 vs. Kent State, a D1A team, how have we decided Pitt is so much better? I hope we win, but I see this as a tossup.

PSu scored 33 with 7 coming from the D and 7 more coming with 2 minutes left on a longer pass play when it was obvious Kent ST was expecting them to run the clock out. Doesn't mean Pitt will win but PSU wasn't great on offense either.

 

[Pitt79]

I'm just saying that I expect a close game and neither team is overwhelmingly better than the other so as to think it will be a sure win either way.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

How's their kicking game?

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

With a st touchdown 7 of those points

What's your prediction?

 

[TD_6082]

How's their kicking game?

Overweight

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

What's your prediction?

I think we sadly Pitt , because our offense isn't any good.

 

[nolegeorge]

Obvious FSU fan here and I will be watching this game .... Good luck PITT ... I hope you all dominate this game.

 

[JohnnyGossamer]

PSu scored 33 with 7 coming from the D and 7 more coming with 2 minutes left on a longer pass play when it was obvious Kent ST was expecting them to run the clock out. Doesn't mean Pitt will win but PSU wasn't great on offense either.

THIS.

But, yeah, neither team was impressive v. what was essentially equal competition.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

What y'all think post game?

 

[revampedpanthers]

What y'all think post game?

I thought the game could go a couple of ways and said so several times.
Figured there was a good chance Pitt's OL dominated the game and if Mcsorley played poorly its a easy win. If he played well thought it was anyone's game. Turns out he played well/except for the TO. Figured if the Pitt OL didn't dominate Pitt would lose unless mcsorley sucked. We got the dominate OL and Mcsorley playing well game.

 

[#99HUGHgreen]

For every person across the USA that tunes in to a Pitt or even PSU game, there are probably a dozen that tune in to watch Michigan. It doesn't matter who they're playing, Michigan is a national brand, Pitt is a Western PA brand.

Maybe so, but it's just as easy to look at this in another way: Pitt has a great opportunity to become nationally relevant again as early as this year.

For starters, Pitt has arguably the best story in college football- James Conner coming back after beating cancer. The media is already saying James has become a favorite of so many college football fans. If Pitt can keep winning, it will have more Western PA, Eastern PA and national fans tuning in to the games.

If James continues to crank out 100+ yards game after game, more people will tune in to watch. If Pitt can get to the Clemson game without losing (which likely means both the passing game and pass coverage improved) there will be even more national fans watching. If Pitt could beat Clemson and James has a monster game, there would be even more fans from around the country eager to tune in to watch Conner and Pitt. In fact, Pitt could go from being a team mostly watched by Western PA fans, to one watched by many more college football fans and even some non-football fans. Heck, it could potentially snowball into one of the biggest stories in all of sports.

Now I realize there are quite a bit of "ifs" that have to occur for this to happen. And even if the "ifs" fall into place, Michigan will still have many more national fans than Pitt the following year. But Pitt would be instantly relevant again. More top level recruits would commit to Pitt which would mean a greater chance for the program to keep winning which would mean more fans outside of Western PA would tune in to watch.

James and his teammates have a special reason to win this year and they appear to be much more confident with more of their players contributing and even better coaching than we've seen in a long time. They certainly have enough quality parts to win a lot of games. They just need to keep getting a little better every game.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

You honestly think Michigan/UCF draws bigger ratings nationally than Pitt/PSU?

I'll go so far as to say the Pitt/PSU game on cable will beat Mich/UCF on free TV.

We'll have our answer on Sunday or Monday so what are you going with?

You would be wrong by a half a million viewers .
Michigan drew 13%more viewers