Winning the ACC Championship was, and is, huge. It’s the goal every year and is the Pitt path to the playoff now.
With the return of a hated rival to the schedule, it brings to mind what individual regular season games/wins matter the most. The game to clinch the division (and a conference championship berth) is big, but I think a rivalry game which also devastates the rival might be bigger. 2 examples:
2007 Pitt-WVU completely changed the trajectory of WVU football. A 4 touchdown favorite at home, the Mountaineers (#2 in the AP Poll, #1 in the Coaches Poll) had become a power under WVU alum Rich Rodriguez and their present and future success perhaps never looked better. WVU playing for and likely winning a national title behind an elite, innovative offense, Rodriquez getting a lifetime contract at his alma mater, and WVU becoming a coveted program in the conference realignment sweepstakes, likely having multiple suitors looking to add a recent national champ. Hated rival Pitt, struggling through an ugly season, was all that potentially stood in the way of all that great stuff.
That‘s a great rivalry game, WVU lost much, much more than 1 game in that 13-9 classic.
2016 Pitt-PSU saw the Nittany Lions at the beginning part of a promising season in which a College Football Playoff berth seemed like a certainty if they got over the hump vs. Ohio St. and just took care of business against the lesser, unranked teams on the schedule. Truly returning to 1980s glory and national championship games was in sight for PSU. Hated rival Pitt, whose absurd recent head coaching carousel was still a national joke, was an amusing early season appetizer for a Penn State team hungry to finally become the undisputed Big Dog in the modern Big 10.
The result of that Pitt-PSU classic tainted their Big 10 title season, and ultimately enabled Ohio St. and Washington to make it into the College Football Playoff ahead of Penn St.
That’s a great rivalry game. Preventing ultimate success and/or causing abject misery for your rival is almost as sweet as winning a championship. Hail to Pitt and always remember 13-9 and 42-39.
With the return of a hated rival to the schedule, it brings to mind what individual regular season games/wins matter the most. The game to clinch the division (and a conference championship berth) is big, but I think a rivalry game which also devastates the rival might be bigger. 2 examples:
2007 Pitt-WVU completely changed the trajectory of WVU football. A 4 touchdown favorite at home, the Mountaineers (#2 in the AP Poll, #1 in the Coaches Poll) had become a power under WVU alum Rich Rodriguez and their present and future success perhaps never looked better. WVU playing for and likely winning a national title behind an elite, innovative offense, Rodriquez getting a lifetime contract at his alma mater, and WVU becoming a coveted program in the conference realignment sweepstakes, likely having multiple suitors looking to add a recent national champ. Hated rival Pitt, struggling through an ugly season, was all that potentially stood in the way of all that great stuff.
That‘s a great rivalry game, WVU lost much, much more than 1 game in that 13-9 classic.
2016 Pitt-PSU saw the Nittany Lions at the beginning part of a promising season in which a College Football Playoff berth seemed like a certainty if they got over the hump vs. Ohio St. and just took care of business against the lesser, unranked teams on the schedule. Truly returning to 1980s glory and national championship games was in sight for PSU. Hated rival Pitt, whose absurd recent head coaching carousel was still a national joke, was an amusing early season appetizer for a Penn State team hungry to finally become the undisputed Big Dog in the modern Big 10.
The result of that Pitt-PSU classic tainted their Big 10 title season, and ultimately enabled Ohio St. and Washington to make it into the College Football Playoff ahead of Penn St.
That’s a great rivalry game. Preventing ultimate success and/or causing abject misery for your rival is almost as sweet as winning a championship. Hail to Pitt and always remember 13-9 and 42-39.
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