Your school at least had the stones to schedule UCF for a 1 and 1 deal. The ACC and Pac 12 are really the only schools that are willing to do this. 1 SEC school has done it South Carolina when Spurrier was there. So how do you beef up your schedule when everyone wants a 1 for none deal. You can't do it. Some teams have agreed to a 1 for 1 only if they come to Orlando and play in the Citrus Bowl Dump Stadium. Sorry not doing that either. We are no longer the sisters of the poor and our AD and our contract with stadium financing says we are required to host a minimum of 6 home games a year. Back in the 90's we had 4 home games and 7 road games against SEC and Big 10 teams. Those days are gone. Good luck the rest of the way I hope you get the ship turned around. Your players played hard and never gave up as witnessed by the late TD.
I have a great deal of respect for Pitt
- Thread starter KISA
- Start date
Last time we had a home-and-home with UCF, they never showed in Pittsburgh for the second game.
Which is why we should cancel the game next year and schedule a powder puff. Though the odds of winning any game are becoming significantly less.
We should trade conference places with UCF and maybe get to a garbage bowl game.
Pitt needs to keep the most attractive opponents they can on their schedule. Fans are more willing to show up and truly talented coaches hungry to prove they are good, will want the job even more.
If you want to build up your program again- you need to keep good teams - and instead dump the bad coaches.
You guys wont have to wait. You'll be in a P5 conference soon enough if you can get your other sports in position.
What other conference is going to want to divide their revenues even more than they do now? And if they could deliver the Orlando TV market, they'd be in a P5 conference by now.
I really do think the Big 12 would make sense. Moving into Florida would be a wise move, IMO.
Non-PSU, WVU, and ND opponents do not bring out fans.
I would add Ohio St and possibly Michigan. The problem is the extra fans that show up would be Ohio St's and Michigan's not Pitt's.
come on... you think they could land the Orlando market with an 0-12 team?
Things are far better there now. They are filling the stadium, and in Florida that is difficult. Also, in Florida, its always growing and most likely wont go down hill too much.
Oh man, I was wondering, I remember beating UCF 52-7 like in 2007, but I was wrapping my brain trying to remember the follow up Pitt home game. It never happened. Holy hell we have a 2-1 Away to Home with friggin UCF? We are so incompetent!
Ranked opponents ( other than PSU, WVU and ND) may not always fill the house, but they certainly will cause more fans to show up than weak opponents will.
Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson would always fill the house.
UCF isn't even "attractive" in its own region. They have zero sex appeal to fence sitting fans in Pittsburgh PA, that;s for damn sure.
Coming to watch a ranked opponent (like UCF) play at home, where you’ll get to see a really good QB and WRs in action (even if they happen to play on the opposing team) is much more “attractive” than going ahead and replacing them with a weak team (as some are suggesting) like Villanova.
Then you’d be stuck playing an opponent with even less sex appeal and zero chance of move up in the standings should you beat them.
Wether Pitt can one day beat a team like UCF (with it’s coaches who sadly seem to do a better job with recruiting, developing and play calling than the Pitt’s coaches) is another thing altogether.
Oklahoma State attendance at Heinz (ranked #9): 38,952
Villanova attendance at Heinz: 50,149.
People come out when there is hope. Which there isn't much of lately. And even then, just barely. Even in the legendary Cinci vs. Pitt showdown for the Big East championship you had to have the stars align for it to be both the last game of the year AND at home AND between the top two teams in the conference AND that it wasn't followed by a neutral site conference championship game like the ACC is.
There is no evidence our fans show up more to see better teams. The exceptions we can all agree on are the big three historic rivals. UCF will not draw well next year even if they're ranked #2 in the country like Miami was last year.
I doubt the difference in turnout at Heinz to see UCF versus Nova would be more than 5000--and UCF would only draw more because they probably have some diehard fans that like to road trip to P5 away games.
Idiotic, is dumping a ranked team to replace them with a weaker team because you have lost faith in your ability to hire a damn coach good enough to beat them.
Let me Start by saying... C’mon... you know darn well the Villanova and Oklahoma St attendance comparison you pointed out is missing some key information:
The Villanova game was the first game of the 2016 season. A season with the most talented players Pitt has had in at least the past 5 years. We’re talking Conner, Price, Boyd, Orndoff, Boyd, Q. Henderson, Peterson... and so on.
The attendance at that game had nothing to do with who the opponent was and everything to do with the notion of a “New hope” at the beginning of a season that looks even more promising due to the amount of talent on the team. You mean to tell me that if Ok St was in place of Villanova for the first game of that season, there would have be less fans. Please. The stadium might actually have been filled to capacity.
Again - A new season + good players = Anything is possible.
Now let’s move to the Oklahoma State game.
Pitt had almost lost to a lame Youngstown State team in the first game of that 2018 season. Pitt looked pretty bad if you recall. Then, they embarrassed the fans with that pathetic performance against PSU in the next game. After that game, there was not a Pitt fan alive who thought Pitt had a chance of keeping it within a 4 TD game against a very good Oklahoma State team- And, not surprisingly, the Pitt fans were all proven to be right.
Pitt fans (again nothing new here) are at a point now where they have witnessed so many piles of crap on game day for so many years that they can smell another steaming pile of it coming a mile away ... and will do anything to avoid it.
But my point isn’t even about which opponents would attract more fans right now.
My point is about Pitt keeping the kind of schedule that is more attractive on paper now and one that would be more exciting for Pitt fans to watch live when Pitt one day finally puts together a truly competitive team... and ultimately a schedule that would allow a very talented and well coached Pitt team to control its own destiny.
Last edited:
Attendance was spiked for Nova because it was Conner's first game back after beating cancer.
UCF doesn't bring out more fans and we will lose. Ok State, Iowa, etc. didn't bring more fans and we will lose. It is so, so dumb to schedule like we have been. The more attractive schedule is the one that includes wins.
So what I hear you saying is that you agree having UCF on the schedule is in fact better than having Villanova on the schedule?
Would you be more excited about a showing up for a game against UCF or Villanova? I’m not sure how else there is to look at it.
I get that Pitt teams have been mediocre for so long that one solution is just to create an easier schedule. It might help increase the number of wins but it’s not going to fool fans into thinking Pitt has a better team. It’s just going to further support the notion that the administration can’t hire a coach who knows how to recruit well and win consistently at Pitt.
I get the defeatist attitude of “If we can’t reach our desired goal, let’s just aim lower.” You are after all (like the rest of us fans) tired of Pitt’s inability to put together a very good and complete coaching staff who can recruit well, develop players well and do a good job on game day.
I too am tired of the continued cycle of mediocrity on the field followed by a new head coach and promises of greatness from that HC which then turn into excuses which then eventually leads to another new HC and on and on ... yet to chose to weaken the schedule just to inflate your team’s record is not the answer. The only solution that will stop this madness and keep Pitt from heading further down the path of insignificance in football is to hire a coach who has proven he aims high and hits the target.
Beating someone weaker than they normally play doesn’t make a team less mediocre. Only getting better makes a team less mediocre.
I want the team I root for to always be shooting for better than mediocre- not to just accept being mediocre and instead look for weaker, less attractive teams (that are below mediocre) to play against so we can pretend our team isn’t actually as mediocre as it is.
Last edited:
I wasn't trying to be misleading about Nova and Oklahoma State. My only point was opponent doesn't really bring fans, outside of the big three rivalry games. It is everything else -- start time, weather, chance to win a conference, if the fans have any hope, etc.
B12 makes sense if they must expand and can get another program thats as good as UCF. For instance if they could get BYU and UCF thats probably the best they can do. The other conferences aren't taking them for various reason's, some of which have nothing to do with UCF
Yep other than wvu,ND and PSU fans aren't coming for the opponent. A ranked team maybe brings a couple thousand fans but there is no real difference except if Pitt is good. Put a ranked Pitt team against villanova and they will draw much better than a bad Pitt team vs anyone except the 3 above teams.
So replacing better teams on the schedule with weaker ones is the way to help improve the program and increase revenue.
How so?
1) WV home and home
2) Duquesne (If it counts as a win towards bowl eligibility, then play them every year)
3) Akron (It should be a win and we recruit Ohio)
4) Temple or Rutgers (It should be a win and we recruit those areas)
We need to rack up wins to generate some momentum.
2) Duquesne (If it counts as a win towards bowl eligibility, then play them every year)
3) Akron (It should be a win and we recruit Ohio)
4) Temple or Rutgers (It should be a win and we recruit those areas)
We need to rack up wins to generate some momentum.
No worries... I didn’t think you were “purposely” being misleading. I just thought it was important to point out the real reasons behind the attendance of each of those two games- there is so much to why fans show up or don’t. It’s certainly not that more people would rather see Villanova than Oklahoma state. It is however all of those things I’ve posted about above along with the things you’ve mentioned (above in bold).
Again, no matter who the opponent was for that first game in 2016 It was going to be a decent crowd a bigger crowd because
It was the start of a new season which always brings new hope
Fans wanted to support Conner on his first game back.
Fans were excited to see game changing players in action
(Conner, Price, Whitehead, Henderson, Orndoff)
Sorry... I just don’t see it that way, if those games being won are the ones against weak teams that I have no desire to watch.
Take a look at this article. Alabama students (who have always showen up for every game) made a statement by blowing off the last game against very weak opponent - leaving tons of empty seats. Saban made a remark about it to the media. He was Pissed. But my very point was made by these students: nobody cares to go watch a game against a lame opponent. Even the person who wrote the piece ended it by suggesting that if Saban wants the students to show up, then he shouldn’t quick scheduling such weak opponents.
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/10/ni...ion-blowout-attendance-press-conference-video
Pitt needs to be competitive against top 20 opponents (and win at least one or two a year), win mostly against solid opponents and beat weak opponents handily.
I used to be in your camp and argued with Jpip/PittDan and many others about it. I am now in their camp. I want as easy of a secure for 6 years or so. I want 6 years sooooo easy that 10 wins becomes the norm. Right now a 1 point win over little sisters of the poor is better then getting ass kicked by Ok St/UCF/Etc. Recruits want to play for 10-2 or 6-6 team?
Yes... you win games... winning will bring fans... not getting your head kicked in by Ok St and UCF.
Nobody really does aside from a rival...
FSU drew some fans... i think Clemson will also when they come here....
We have 1 and 1s with Wisc and Tennessee coming up but i don't expect those teams will move the needle much at all here in yinzer land.
Similar threads
