Mark Madden: Pitt needs what college football used to be, not what it has become
- Thread starter HailtoPitt
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I always hated the BCS and thought the playoffs were a step in the right direction. But the way it has evolved; it is Alabama's god-given right to be included every year. Ohio State, Clemson, or maybe another SEC team. And I don't see it changing anytime soon.
I don't think the 12 team playoff will offer much more hope. It will be one champ from each conference, 6 SEC teams, and a second Big 10 team
Agree with this. Sure PSU was close to making the playoffs several years back. Sure they as a program are closer to that level than Pitt. Sure they might make the playoffs in the future. But if there is anything we have learned from the 4 team college football playoffs, there is an enormous difference between making it and being good enough to win the national championship. PSU would get crushed by Bama or Clemson and I do not see them ascending to be one of the next big programs if either of those two slip. PSU isn't even close to Ohio State level. In the past 9 meetings, OSU won 8 of them.
I broke my record for previous days alive when I woke up this morning!
The only ACC games I get excited about are VT, Syracuse, BC, Miami.
I would love to add WVU and have an all big East division.
I f that happened, the lousy homer ref calls wouldn’t be in effect.
I would love to add WVU and have an all big East division.
I f that happened, the lousy homer ref calls wouldn’t be in effect.
PSU has the #1 ranked recruiting class right now. Now it is bigger than the others, but it will still likely finish in the top 5. I think they are doing well. They have supplanted Michigan as the "other" team in the Big 10.
Madden is dead-on-balls accurate about Pitt football. You can smell Pitt's chronic mediocrity 20,000 feet under water.
Don't forget, definitely squeeze in Notre Dame EVERY TIME they can manage 10 wins from now on.
And being Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, Auburn, Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame, FSU, and Washington would be better than being Penn State. That's my point. You keep arguing that I think Penn State isn't head and shoulders better than Pitt. They are but I never said they weren't.
To paraphrase Kanye, "what you think I rap for, to push a f***** Rav 4?" Of course Pitt is a Corolla. Nobody is denying that. But Penn State is puffing their chest out about the fact that the drive a Dodge Stratus. Nobody cares about the team that's always finishing 8th.
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Wouldn't hold my breath over playoff expansion right now.
That was before Texas and OU moved to the SEC and everyone else realized that the SEC might not have been helping to plan the new playoff scheme in good faith. Every other conference is backing off, now.
Why would every other conference choose not to expand the playoff (and thus increase its ability to have a playoff team)? It’s the most backwards thinking.
There are two big brands outside of the SEC. Two. TOSU and USC. The SEC owns college football. It’s not cyclical. It’s forever. All of the recruits are in that footprint. Either way you slice it, the SEC is going to rule. Therefore, you may as well try and get a team or two in from your inferior conference (whether B1G, XII, ACC, PAC, etc).
I'd maintain that Mark Madden is less relevant as a writer and talkshow host than Pitt is as a collegiate football team.
If the ACC isn’t proactive and doesn’t add anyone between now and then, they deserve to morph into that. No reason why it shouldn’t go on the attack and add a few schools (Penn State, Notre Dame, Maryland, WVU) depending on what the Big Ten does with their next media contract. Just my opinion.
Penn State, Michigan and the Aggies are all similar. They may not be seated at the adult table with the likes of Alabama, Ohio state and LSU but they aren’t sitting at the kids table in the basement like Pitt, Rutgers and Virginia.
Pitt will be left out of a 32 school football league. Small fanbase, mid size market, limited recent success, low profile brand. However Pitt might have a chance for entry if the concept of promotion and relegation is utilized.
Madden really should lose some weight for his health. God only knows what one might find between those rolls of fat on his ass.
Pitt will be left out of a 32 school football league. Small fanbase, mid size market, limited recent success, low profile brand. However Pitt might have a chance for entry if the concept of promotion and relegation is utilized.
Madden really should lose some weight for his health. God only knows what one might find between those rolls of fat on his ass.
Why would every other conference just lay down and give away any leverage they still have?
That’s the thing. They have ZERO leverage. Go get your cash for your conference. Why give the SEC 2-3 of 4 playoff spots? Let them have 4-5 of 12 as long as I get 1-2.
The latter is a helluva lot better than the current system if you’re the PAC.
Your post proves that many are infatuated about the SEC. Don’t try to be SEC. You have no shot B1G, XII, ACC and PAC. The B1G easily has the biggest inferiority complex. They can’t get over themselves when it comes to SEC dominance. They literally will cut their own throat in order to get Kansas or Cal and maintain AAU order. And that’s fine. That’s what they cherish. Academics and research.
But here’s the secret! B1G values football greatly! They just don’t have a prayer versus the SEC and why would they? They are the ACC. A bunch of nothing programs and Clemson (TOSU in its case). That’s not a slight. That’s the truth. Same as OU and the rest of XII. There are 6-7 schools with a chance of winning natty. They are UGA, Bama, LSU, TOSU, OU, Clemson and maybe Florida. That’s it. USC doesn’t have a chance because best recruits in West go to SEC now.
Oregon? Florida St? Notre Dame? Texas? Ha! No chance.
SEC values football superiority. Good for them. They figure “to hell with NFL” and sell out for Saturday. Personally, I like the NFL/Steelers more than college. However, at least the SEC owns it.
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Be grateful if you were alive and rememe right 1976 and the National Championship. Pitt will never see that again. For that matter neither will Penn State or West Virginia.
Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson will always have more money than most other schools and the odds will never change.
It has to be mentally worse for Penn State fans because they are mostly delusional and THINK they are one of the BIG BOYS when they are just a pawn in the game and will never climb that mountain ever.
Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson will always have more money than most other schools and the odds will never change.
It has to be mentally worse for Penn State fans because they are mostly delusional and THINK they are one of the BIG BOYS when they are just a pawn in the game and will never climb that mountain ever.
This ends when colleges get control of the conferences and builds equitable regional parings. The NFL, MLB and NBA realized the value ( profit)of competitive teams so must the NCAA. The losers will be the fat cats at the SEC, ACC, PAC and the Big. Let the law suits begin.
As for Madden, pathetic article by a person desperate for readers!
There are two paragraphs that are totally wrongheaded in the article. (1) Despite those who constantly claim otherwise, getting rid of Pitt Stadium is no longer relevant. Even had it been kept and fully refurbished and modernized Pitt football would be no better off in 2021 than it is. That might have slowed the deckine for awhile but by now is a non-factor. (2) Changing demographics have made loading up on western PA talent a non solution to Pitt's recruiting woes. As of 2021 there aren't more than a handful at best of high school players from western PA, or even State-wide who will be in the national top 100-150 in any given year. This is why Pitt is forced to recruit so much further away from home than it did in the past. Recruiting appreciably better in western PA wont make a measurable difference today.
I’ll tell you who I think is doing an unbelievable job. Todd Franklin at Penn St. I am very surprised at how well he is able to recruit there at this day and age. You think WVU is isolated? I know that PSU is a bigger program (not debating that) but they are isolated and very “northeast”, relatively speaking.
I thought for sure they’d be more of a Michigan but they’re at least staying competitive and getting really good recruiting classes.
That's what I am saying. The SEC got bigger, got Texas and Oklahoma. So what. So the bleep what. They already pay the most and the most football centric conference located in the most fertile recruiting areas. Nothing any other conference does is going to change this. So don't just make knee jerk, stupid reactions (like honestly the Pac 12 did by adding Utah and Colorado or even the ACC adding Pitt and Syracuse) because those programs really have not done much for those conferences. (though lets also recognize Pitt has the second best overall record since the conference shuffling of 2012 somehow, so it shows most of the "adds" have been nothing burgers)
Just relax. Think it through there is no reason to make a move right now.
I always thought Penn St was “Florida St North”. Program that was elevated because of its coach. FSU was NOTHING before BB (RIP, Coach!). As bad as WVU at the time (mid 70s). However, if you’d ask anyone under the age of 50 about FSU many would erroneously believe they are an elite brand. They aren’t. Still a really good brand but not to level of Florida.
OU, UT, ATM, LSU Bama, UF, UGA and then Auburn and Tennessee at next level down.
Just who, exactly, is it that you think controls the conferences (and the NCAA for that matter) right now?
Florida wasn’t elite before Spurrier. They were meh for years. Coaches matter.
Penn State was solid before Paterno. But man, he took them to another level, I think from 1967 to 1982 they finished out of the top 10 only 3 seasons. Of course coal country and steel mills were producing tons of talent then.
My USAF unit had a few kids from different schools: Pitt, Penn State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, and Southern Cal were a few that I can remember. One time we were shooting the poo about college football. Penn State guy tried to put their program in with the elite and Southern Cal guy took my side after I pointed out PSU hadn't won squat in 20 years.
PSU is big and respected until you hit about Northern Virginia in the South and maybe Illinois in the West. Nobody thought that they were hot nationally in various places that I've lived (West Coast, Texas, and now the South) and that was pre-Sandusky. I think the scandal really knocked off whatever remaining cachet they had nationally.
Of course, you'll get a very different take in the Commonwealth of PA, but once you leave their little bubble, everyone looks down on them.
