Not great at math but I think a win means a 2-0 start. I think as Pitt fans we all know better than to start counting wins in games we haven’t played. Especially after a shaky looking opener.
Joe Starkey: This is a landmark moment for Pitt football
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I hope so. That’s all I’ve wanted for so long, and I think we might be there. Just get to that point and see what can happen.
I think relevance is a matter of perception as much as anything with college football. There are only a handful of teams that are legitimate contenders for a NC. There are a bunch of blue bloods that get treated like they're in that neighborhood that really aren't but we constantly hear about them because it's easy to pander to those huge fan bases. ND runs around playing several top ranked teams but they rarely win those games. But they're relevant, I guess.
Agree. And I think several programs are given the benefit of doubt and talked about often just because of their potential to draw blue-chip talent, either because of location/tradition or having a massive fan base that will spend top dollar.
Good point about ND. I haven't considered the Irish nationally relevant as far a title contender since 1993. Even when they played in the BCS title game, I didn't take them seriously as a legit title contender. But in some sense, I guess they are certainly relevant, as they are a quality program and had a lot of success.
As an earlier poster mentioned this is an opportunity game. A win in this game creates a national perception that Pitt is one of the good teams.
Not to be overlooked is recruiting. A couple big recruits who are going to the game on visits mentioned that they are eager to see the atmosphere for a Pitt game. A win always makes the atmosphere better. Consequently, this could affect the trajectory of both our football and basketball teams in the future.
I can't recall the specific names of the FB and BB recruit, but Pittsburghsportsnow has stories on both.
Not to be overlooked is recruiting. A couple big recruits who are going to the game on visits mentioned that they are eager to see the atmosphere for a Pitt game. A win always makes the atmosphere better. Consequently, this could affect the trajectory of both our football and basketball teams in the future.
I can't recall the specific names of the FB and BB recruit, but Pittsburghsportsnow has stories on both.
Pitt is ranked 14.
Defending ACC Champs,
1st QB taken in the draft,
Biletnikoff winner
Panthers look poised to have a very good 22 season.
I think Pitt has already established the perception that they are a good team and a good program.
But Miami doesn’t have a huge fan base.
They are nationally relevant, even when they go through a period of sucking, because, as the one poster stated, they could easily become nationally relevant again. Much like USCw.
Yeah and he will be here thumping his chest telling everyone how smart he is when it doesn’t happen.
This schedule hate is maddening to me. By the end of the year, I think Tennessee will look like a tough opponent, and so will another ACC win in our schedule. And God willing if we can get to Charlotte, That will be a top 5 or top 10 opponent most likely.
I’m not sure how much a win creates a perception that Pitt is good.
The team is ranked. Everybody assumes Pitt is good. What does beating Tenn change?
If you read Bill Connelly’s ESPN article today, it’s framed through the lense of, “this is a prove it game for Tenn.”
If Tenn truly wants people to believe they are good, they have to beat Pitt. Because Pitt is a good team, but not so good that good to very good teams can’t/shouldn’t beat them.
It’s Tennessee that the national media isn’t sure of. The SEC media predicted them to lose 4 to 5 games this year.
If Pitt wins, it doesn’t change any perceptions. It’s not going to make anybody take notice.
What it perhaps does is allow the country to eventually take notice weeks down the road.
The team is ranked. Everybody assumes Pitt is good. What does beating Tenn change?
If you read Bill Connelly’s ESPN article today, it’s framed through the lense of, “this is a prove it game for Tenn.”
If Tenn truly wants people to believe they are good, they have to beat Pitt. Because Pitt is a good team, but not so good that good to very good teams can’t/shouldn’t beat them.
It’s Tennessee that the national media isn’t sure of. The SEC media predicted them to lose 4 to 5 games this year.
If Pitt wins, it doesn’t change any perceptions. It’s not going to make anybody take notice.
What it perhaps does is allow the country to eventually take notice weeks down the road.
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Only Sith's speak in absolutes. Starkey constantly speaks in absolutes. Starkey is a Sith.
If Pitt wins.... they will be favored in each of the following 9 games. They won't be an underdog again until @Miami.
That means that 11-0 heading into Miami is within the realm of possibility, if Pitt wins this week.
That means that 11-0 heading into Miami is within the realm of possibility, if Pitt wins this week.
One game alone won’t make it clear that Pitt has reached the next step. But it allows Pitt to continue toward taking the next step. Momentum and respect builds as a team continues undefeated. Lose one now, nobody is talking about us again into MAYBE the Miami game and only IF we still only have one loss. As I wrote above, we don’t have the luxury that college football will just be the same for decades and decades; big changes are almost assured, and really soon. This may be our last, best chance to truly break out. I look at Cincinnati last year; yeah they ended up losing to Bama, but what an incredible season to that point. As they went along, winning week by week and rising in the poll, that was a great experience for them and their fans. A loss doesn’t render this season worthless, but it kills something REALLY special.
The big issue is an SEC team. In this case, an SEC program with a great history and a 100,000 seat stadium.
If Pitt loses, and Tennessee goes on to lose 3 or more SEC games, Pitt will be looked down by the average CFB fan. If Pitt wins, and the Vols lose no more than 3 games total, that will be seen as helping prove that Pitt really is good.
All things about CFB now get compared to the SEC. If you want people to know that you are good, you must beat SEC teams.
Right now we are a program who is likely to be in the top 25 more often than not which is a huge jump from a few years ago. To me, winning these type of games locks in the perception that we have likely found our new level. Huge for all kinds of reasons including recruiting.
Tennessee has several games comparable to the Pitt game this year. ...Florida, LSU, UK. They were competitive in those types of games last year. They are also ranked, so I think they have established some respect as program as well.
The thing that sucks for Tennessee is they have Alabama and Georgia on their schedule. So they don't get the luxury of creating a perception. We'll all find out in those two games if Tennessee is just another pretty good program or if they are capable of running with the big dogs.
Considering Pitt will be hosting 3 Five star receivers and 5 or 6 four Stars for tomorrow’s game is extremely important.
A win helps national perception both for our team this year and potential recruits in the future
A win helps national perception both for our team this year and potential recruits in the future
Pitt beat Tennessee last year, then turned around and lost to Western Michigan. If the script flips, what does that do to perception?
It also would hurt because the SEC is assumed by everybody to be great, which means SEC teams get passes for flub ups. ACC teams - other than Clemson and revived FSU and Miami - get no passes.
I am not and never have been a fan of referring to games as "must win". Having said that, this game, if we win puts us in a great place and sets us up for a potentially HUGE season. I am really curious if our program is ready to take another step forward??? We played poorly and made many mistakes against WVU and still won. That will not happen today. We can't take dumb penalties, drop td passes, get punts blocked, let balls that are up in the air for seemingly minutes come down in the arms of a receiver, and most notably, our lines that are supposed to be our strength, can't suck today. I prefer to think of today's game as an opportunity knocking, will the Panthers be there to answer the door? I do think the Duzz will have them ready and they will execute much better than last week. Let's Go Pitt!!!!!!
By this logic, there’s only like four nationally relevant teams in college football. Bama, Georgia, Ohio State, and maybe Clemson.
We'll have to play a LOT better today on both sides of the ball than we did against wvu to beat TN. wvu is a mediocre team at best and we only played what amounts to less than 1 quarter of decent football. But we still beat them. It will take 4 quarters of very good football to beat TN today.
Absolutely. Just ran into a UGA fan here in Georgia this morning. He went on and on about how much he enjoyed the Brawl last week and had really positive stuff to say about PITT
