The problem with scheduling a program like Oklahoma State...

[HailtoPitt]

is that they aren't a classic powerhouse, but still an excellent football program. Same thing with Utah. If we are going to schedule programs that have top ten potential, it shouldn't be Oklahoma State and Utah, it should be Oklahoma and Michigan. That way, loses aren't perceived to be as bad and wins are perceived to be better. Plus, attendance would be better against a top 10 Michigan then against a top 10 Oklahoma State.

I know this is far down the list of challenges facing Pitt football, and yes I understand that those programs must want to schedule Pitt as well, but there are certain schools that we should avoid where it ends up being a lose-lose situation for Pitt.

 

[PittMan 72]

is that they aren't a classic powerhouse, but still an excellent football program. Same thing with Utah. If we are going to schedule programs that have top ten potential, it shouldn't be Oklahoma State and Utah, it should be Oklahoma and Michigan. That way, loses aren't perceived to be as bad and wins are perceived to be better. Plus, attendance would be better against a top 10 Michigan then against a top 10 Oklahoma State.

I know this is far down the list of challenges facing Pitt football, and yes I understand that those programs must want to schedule Pitt as well, but there are certain schools that we should avoid where it ends up being a lose-lose situation for Pitt.

Scheduling requires reciprocal, mutual agreement on the part of both parties. As you noted, how do we know for certain who Pitt may have contacted and tried to schedule, but couldn't reach an agreement with?

 

[OriginalEther]

Scheduling requires reciprocal, mutual agreement on the part of both parties. As you noted, how do we know for certain who Pitt may have contacted and tried to schedule, but couldn't reach an agreement with?

Agreed. Takes two to tango.

What benefit does a program like Oklahoma get from playing Pitt? A team like Pitt is really the worst case scenario for them, as Pitt - despite the woe is us attitude on the board this past week - is a program that could beat them. Not at a 50-50 clip obviously, but the threat is there. And while Oklahoma playing a team like Ohio State generates a lot of buzz and nets them major props should they win, playing teams like Pitt do not.

As for attendance, again, I don't get why this would be a good thing. It would be fans of the other team. Seeing Pitt lose and lots of pictures of empty seats is of course bad, but seeing Pitt lose and lots of pictures of 20,000 Michigan fans hooting and hollering in our stadium is far, far worse.

 

[PittMan 72]

Don't feed the troll.

I know. But the point is nobody can predict the future. And last year's game at Stillwater was extremely competitive and in the balance until the end. In fact, had Pitt not been locked up in a closet for an hour and a half during a T-storm, the result could well have been reversed.

This year it turned out to be a very bad match up. Of course very few - and that probably includes Gundy - could have imagined that Rudolph and Washington would both turn down NFL $$$$ to return and play for free in college. Good for the Cowboys. Bad for Pitt.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

is that they aren't a classic powerhouse, but still an excellent football program. Same thing with Utah. If we are going to schedule programs that have top ten potential, it shouldn't be Oklahoma State and Utah, it should be Oklahoma and Michigan. That way, loses aren't perceived to be as bad and wins are perceived to be better. Plus, attendance would be better against a top 10 Michigan then against a top 10 Oklahoma State.

I know this is far down the list of challenges facing Pitt football, and yes I understand that those programs must want to schedule Pitt as well, but there are certain schools that we should avoid where it ends up being a lose-lose situation for Pitt.

Yea, its why they shouldn't schedule Stanford, TCU, South Carolina, Miss St, KST, etc. You're probably going to lose and their name doesn't move the needle 1 inch in Pittsburgh.

Tennessee is a good series. But, we should stick to playing 1 P5/year unless we can get 2 of PSU, ND, WVU in the same year. Just no reason to play programs like OKST when you already have another P5 game.

 

[aged_wolverine]

Yea, its why they shouldn't schedule Stanford, TCU, South Carolina, Miss St, KST, etc. You're probably going to lose and their name doesn't move the needle 1 inch in Pittsburgh.

Tennessee is a good series. But, we should stick to playing 1 P5/year unless we can get 2 of PSU, ND, WVU in the same year. Just no reason to play programs like OKST when you already have another P5 game.

We used to do 1 to 2 P5 games, and a couple MAC games per yr. Pad the income as most were home games. The B1G requires 1 P5 game now per season, and I believe the service and BYU also count to fill this on the checklist. With only 3 OOC per season, it is going to cut down on our schools playing some cool match ups. Neutral site games will go bye bye in years you have 5 away games in conference play.

Right now, I would like to see another MSU Pitt game before Dantonio retires. That would have some intrigue. Other games that should be checked in on would be Cinci(recruiting Ohio), ND and the WVU series revived as they are also now P5. WVU doesn't have a huge state to drag recruits from, but those type of rivalry games create excitement in the fan base when your team wins.

I don't know how much money the AD can afford to pay teams to come play in your home stadium. As long as a team doesn't screw the pooch by losing, a win vs a MAC team counts towards bowl season the same as any other team. So as long as the AD can afford it, I would be gorging on home games for sure wins. With FCS being a no win scenario, avoid them like the plague.

 

[ameoba defense]

None of those teams you mentioned are coming to Pittsburgh. Teams at the level of Ok St. are what we can get. Iowa, Mich St., maybe a UCLA. These are solid opponents. It's up to us to raise our game to the level where we can compete. Last year we competed well with them. This year, not so much. As was posted in another thread, we are UCLA, we are Georgia Tech. Programs with some history that are usually competitive, but not close to what our fan bases think we are.

 

[HailtoPitt]

None of those teams you mentioned are coming to Pittsburgh. Teams at the level of Ok St. are what we can get. Iowa, Mich St., maybe a UCLA. These are solid opponents. It's up to us to raise our game to the level where we can compete. Last year we competed well with them. This year, not so much. As was posted in another thread, we are UCLA, we are Georgia Tech. Programs with some history that are usually competitive, but not close to what our fan bases think we are.

I only mentioned two, and one of them (Michigan) we had an opportunity to schedule but we choose one of the problem programs, Utah, instead. And yes, I understand the theory that Michigan would have reneged.

But, we have Tennessee scheduled and they are a solid traditional power (although waning in recent years), so there are opportunities out there. Cal scheduled a home and home with Auburn. Cincinnati managed to schedule a home and home with UCLA. And UCLA managed to schedule a home and home with LSU and Georgia. Boston College has a home and home scheduled with Ohio State. So it can be done.

What Pitt should do is come up with a list of schools that are traditional power programs, blue bloods, or close to that and make efforts to get them on future schedules. Programs like Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, FLorida, Texas, USC, ect. Also, programs like Tennessee and Nebraska would be on this list. A win looks really good, and a loss is not surprising so not a huge deal.

 

[Delpanther]

No risk and then no reward in my opinion. Even if we can't beat teams like OSU we should at least be competitive.

 

[ameoba defense]

I never want to see Ohio St. come here again. After the last time, I understood how NFL fans feel when the Steeler fans invade their stadiums. There would be at least 40,000 Buckeye fans at Heinz Field, maybe more. This was a major reason I never wanted to see us in the Big 10.

 

[rmf05]

I can't think of anything worse for our program than annually getting smashed by elite programs in our stadium filled with mostly opposing fans. If we scheduled Michigan, Ohio State and schools like that, we'd be back at 1996 levels within a season or two. Pass.

 

[ThePanthers]

I like to see a nice mix. Someone different.

And while our record hasn't been great OOC, outside of a very small handful of times, we have been extremely competitive with our OOC opponents from the P5.

 

[TD_istheman]

Duquesne 4 times a year will make us look real good!

 

[HailtoPitt]

I never want to see Ohio St. come here again. After the last time, I understood how NFL fans feel when the Steeler fans invade their stadiums. There would be at least 40,000 Buckeye fans at Heinz Field, maybe more. This was a major reason I never wanted to see us in the Big 10.

If we right size Heinz then it shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

[HailtoPitt]

Duquesne 4 times a year will maIe us look real good

If we win them all.

 

[aged_wolverine]

Duquesne 4 times a year will make us look real good!

Nah, like I said, I would stick to MAC and AAC teams for the majority of OOC games. I believe you guys have 4 OOC games per yr. A decent P5, a Cinci, and 2 lower MAC teams will still look decent/good to bowl committees with your conference slate.

Those bowl practices are supposed to be huge for programs, and the bowl money is a nice bonus.

Mix it up to keep things fresh for fans, but do so with teams that aren't the very bottom of the heap, and in states that will help your recruiting pipeline.

At least that is the way I would do it. Pitt has great academics. I view NW as a kind of sibling school to you guys. You wont get a bunch of top notch recruits, but no reason you cant get mid range smarter players. They play solid yearly, step up for conference run every few seasons, and every decade or so really make a splash on the national scene.

Being P5 now, there really is no reason to aim for less.

 

[yourhired]

It's a crap shoot with schedules you just never know. In hindsight Pitt would not have wanted to play PSU & OSU back to back but based on scheduling it's not like Pitt could have moved OSU. I would like to see Pitt do one out of conference home game in the beginning of the season and one later in the year similar how some of the SEC schools schedule them. Secondly Pitt needs to schedule night games after the pirate season ends night games are better attended and the atmosphere is much better.

 

[pbrad]

Agreed. Takes two to tango.
I was at PITT stadium the last time we played Oklahoma here. Good game Good atmosphere.
What benefit does a program like Oklahoma get from playing Pitt? A team like Pitt is really the worst case scenario for them, as Pitt - despite the woe is us attitude on the board this past week - is a program that could beat them. Not at a 50-50 clip obviously, but the threat is there. And while Oklahoma playing a team like Ohio State generates a lot of buzz and nets them major props should they win, playing teams like Pitt do not.

As for attendance, again, I don't get why this would be a good thing. It would be fans of the other team. Seeing Pitt lose and lots of pictures of empty seats is of course bad, but seeing Pitt lose and lots of pictures of 20,000 Michigan fans hooting and hollering in our stadium is far, far worse.

 

[ThePanthers]

It's a crap shoot with schedules you just never know. In hindsight Pitt would not have wanted to play PSU & OSU back to back but based on scheduling it's not like Pitt could have moved OSU. I would like to see Pitt do one out of conference home game in the beginning of the season and one later in the year similar how some of the SEC schools schedule them. Secondly Pitt needs to schedule night games after the pirate season ends night games are better attended and the atmosphere is much better.

Tv dictates a lot of the scheduling.

 

[Jpripper88]

is that they aren't a classic powerhouse, but still an excellent football program. Same thing with Utah. If we are going to schedule programs that have top ten potential, it shouldn't be Oklahoma State and Utah, it should be Oklahoma and Michigan. That way, loses aren't perceived to be as bad and wins are perceived to be better. Plus, attendance would be better against a top 10 Michigan then against a top 10 Oklahoma State.

I know this is far down the list of challenges facing Pitt football, and yes I understand that those programs must want to schedule Pitt as well, but there are certain schools that we should avoid where it ends up being a lose-lose situation for Pitt.

Yeah, one of the big problems is Pitt does nothing for those programs. It doesn't sell them more tickets. It doesn't give them a perception boost and it doesn't get them a huge payoff neutral site game. So, Pitt is one of many who don't do anything for them, but get benefit themselves. Pretty long line we'd be in.

Pitt needs wins, not strength of schedule. Schedule the 3-4 easiest opponents we can and try for 1 rivalry game a year.

 

[PittGuyYessir]

Yeah, one of the big problems is Pitt does nothing for those programs. It doesn't sell them more tickets. It doesn't give them a perception boost and it doesn't get them a huge payoff neutral site game. So, Pitt is one of many who don't do anything for them, but get benefit themselves. Pretty long line we'd be in.

Pitt needs wins, not strength of schedule. Schedule the 3-4 easiest opponents we can and try for 1 rivalry game a year.

Strength of schedule is meaningless unless you are going for a national championship. And even then it might not be important (Washington). Rack up as many cupcake wins as possible to start the season and it will make the program look better and hopefully keep fans interested later in the season.

 

[President Stache]

West Virginia would certainly schedule us, however, we would have been crushed the past 2 years by them as well, so glad we didnt.

I dont mind the schedule actually. We just had horrible luck with OSU bringing everyone back this year vs our young team. The Iowa games were ours to lose, and most of the OCC games we have played are extremely competitive

 

[Jpripper88]

West Virginia would certainly schedule us, however, we would have been crushed the past 2 years by them as well, so glad we didnt.

I dont mind the schedule actually. We just had horrible luck with OSU bringing everyone back this year vs our young team. The Iowa games were ours to lose, and most of the OCC games we have played are extremely competitive

But being competitive doesn't matter. Wins matter.

We didn't have horrible luck against OkState. They are a much better program and we were lucky everything aligned for us last year offensively.