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Thirty Six Years

poconopanther

Redshirt
Jul 5, 2001
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don't know if it was mentioned yet but with the loss in Atlanta it marked the 36th year in a row that a Pitt football team has lost at least three times in as season. Thirty six years and I have been around for every one of them and then some.Not once since 1981 did a Pitt team overachieve or play up to expectations and put up a 10-2 or better season. WE were 9-1 a few years back with Wanny but then we failed to show up against the eers and we know what happened with Cincinnati. We finished with a win over North Carolina in I believe what was called the Meinike Bowl at that time for 10-3.

Not once did we defy the law of averages. Totally mind boggling. But even with that being said I can't wait for the next game.
 
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Yea. That is almost impossible to do. Nobody under say 43 has personally witnessed a "great" Pitt season.

I believe Indiana and Vanderbilt are the only 2 P5 schools with a similar streak. Anyone know for sure?
 
So many people have played at part in the streak. It's appalling, but it is what it is.

Ten of those years, 1990-99, there was zero chance to finish 10-2 or better.
 
So many people have played at part in the streak. It's appalling, but it is what it is.

Ten of those years, 1990-99, there was zero chance to finish 10-2 or better.
In 1991 they started the year 5-0, had 6 players drafted, and had a pretty good group of assistants that included Gruden, McCarthy, and Lewis.
 
In 1991 they started the year 5-0, had 6 players drafted, and had a pretty good group of assistants that included Gruden, McCarthy, and Lewis.
Lost two close games at the very last second to Cuse and ECU. Blown out by ND and B.C. and lost by double digits to PSU. I think 7-4 would have landed that team a bowl game.

Too bad Richards and Truitt left after 1990.
 
I think they started 4-0 in 2000 but then the conference schedule did them in.
 
Lost two close games at the very last second to Cuse and ECU. Blown out by ND and B.C. and lost by double digits to PSU. I think 7-4 would have landed that team a bowl game.

Too bad Richards and Truitt left after 1990.
Most likely the Peach Bowl if we'd beaten ECU.Because ECU went to the Peach Bowl that year.
 
There have been so many teams just in the BCS era that could've easily won the big east and finished with 0, 1, or 2 losses. Every single time though we lose about 4 games. The 2002 team might be the closest a 4 loss team has ever been to being 12-0 in college football history. Of course the higher ups every single time decide to blow it up and start over, that's pretty much how you end up in this situation.
 
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To take a look from a higher altitude, since the 9-1 season of 1963, Pitt has lost two games or fewer just six times. Six times in 55 seasons, a batting average of .109. That same total of six holds from the year after Jock Sutherland quit in 1938. Aside from one brief shining moment under Majors/Sherrill, Pitt hasn't enjoyed elite status. That is fact. Since John Bowman eviscerated the program in the late 1930s, Pitt has been an also-ran.

After enough years, mediocrity becomes institutionalized. Everybody expects and accepts it and buttresses the perpetuation of mediocrity by treating the same old tired excuses as gospel. For a coach to take a sledgehammer to that loser mentality is akin to cracking the Berlin Wall. Not impossible, but certainly not easy. And the coach must have the support of his administration, which Narduzzi purportedly does.
 
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Here is a little more perspective.... comparing Pitt's 6 seasons of <=2 losses in 55 years to some other schools.
Miami has done the trick 16 times, thank you Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson & Co.
Colorado has achieved the mark 9 times.
UCLA 14 times.
Louisville, WVU and Syracuse 6 times -- same as Pitt.
Cincinnati, three times.
Cal Berkeley twice.
Tulane once.
 
Here is a little more perspective.... comparing Pitt's 6 seasons of <=2 losses in 55 years to some other schools.
Miami has done the trick 16 times, thank you Howard Schnellenberger, Jimmy Johnson & Co.
Colorado has achieved the mark 9 times.
UCLA 14 times.
Louisville, WVU and Syracuse 6 times -- same as Pitt.
Cincinnati, three times.
Cal Berkeley twice.
Tulane once.
And some more.....
Arkansas, 13
Michigan State, 9
South Carolina and Georgia Tech, 4 each
BC and Maryland, 3 each
Kentucky, once

Folks, it ain't easy to (1) crack the top 20 and (2) sustain that level of success. Not even for some big state universities.

Think of it as Small Market CFB. In the case of Pitt, the margin for error is thin, You have to hire smart, recruit smart, coach smart. And if you whiff on a kid, or the admin fires a coach, or a handful of players commit selfish acts of extreme dumbassery, you pay a steep price.
 
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don't know if it was mentioned yet but with the loss in Atlanta it marked the 36th year in a row that a Pitt football team has lost at least three times in as season. Thirty six years and I have been around for every one of them and then some.Not once since 1981 did a Pitt team overachieve or play up to expectations and put up a 10-2 or better season. WE were 9-1 a few years back with Wanny but then we failed to show up against the eers and we know what happened with Cincinnati. We finished with a win over North Carolina in I believe what was called the Meinike Bowl at that time for 10-3.

Not once did we defy the law of averages. Totally mind boggling. But even with that being said I can't wait for the next game.
But you know, we can cure polio (vastly more important), Someone once said we can sure as heck win 10 football games. He just forgot to add once in 36 years.
 
don't know if it was mentioned yet but with the loss in Atlanta it marked the 36th year in a row that a Pitt football team has lost at least three times in as season. Thirty six years and I have been around for every one of them and then some.Not once since 1981 did a Pitt team overachieve or play up to expectations and put up a 10-2 or better season. WE were 9-1 a few years back with Wanny but then we failed to show up against the eers and we know what happened with Cincinnati. We finished with a win over North Carolina in I believe what was called the Meinike Bowl at that time for 10-3.

Not once did we defy the law of averages. Totally mind boggling. But even with that being said I can't wait for the next game.

Look at the bright side, we got it over fast this year, the leaves haven't even turned and it is still September.
 
But you know, we can cure polio (vastly more important), Someone once said we can sure as heck win 10 football games. He just forgot to add once in 36 years.
That was an unfortunate analogy by Mr. Juhl. The academic and research pursuits of the university are a 180 from the business of major college football and men's basketball. In fact it's hard to imagine something more hypocritical. It's questionable that any university is in this business, but particularly Pitt, given so many external obstacles and internal misgivings about having them.
 
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