Warm memories of better days...1976 Pitt Panthers
- Thread starter cbpitt2
- Start date
Some of us were fortunate enough to have had the experience of winning a Natty. Those were great days. Serious talent and a great coaching staff. Sadly, I doubt that we'll see anything approaching that level of success with the current staff and given the operating environment in college football.
That's literally a lifetime ago. To put it in perspective, 47 years prior to 1976 was 1929. Aside from ruminating about the stock market crash then, were Pitt fans holding on to that 1929 National Title team??
This makes it sound really bad. Wow. Hey, my dad got to see everything in 1976, as well as many years prior and after. It must skip a generation.
The good news is that you're a lot younger than us "oldsters" who actually saw the '76 team. The bad news is that it's been pretty much downhill for Pitt football since that era. You youngsters will have to excuse us for wanting to reminisce about the old days and tell everyone how things were so much better back then. But things really were better back then (at least in terms of Pitt football). We weren't merely relevant, we were dominant. So when I hear the younger generation telling us how "magical" the 2021 season was I want to puke. I guess everything is relative. My worst fear is that we will never achieve that level of excellence again (at least not within my lifetime).
Cruzer
Let me make it clear easier -
Pitt joined the Big East in 1982 instead of being independent.
That’s more correlated with the problem.
It’s only gotten more complicated to complete now .
Yea…a magical season in which you lose to Western Michigan?…..I’m with you on this completely.
It was an absolutely awesome feeling. I was 13 years old and you followed what local television and newspaper gave you.
When I hear Fire on High by ELO I will always see Tony running. Absolute fabulous piece done by, I believe, ABC sports where they used that song and slo mo images and real time images of #33.
Yeah it was a grand and glorious time.
When I hear Fire on High by ELO I will always see Tony running. Absolute fabulous piece done by, I believe, ABC sports where they used that song and slo mo images and real time images of #33.
Yeah it was a grand and glorious time.
I have to admit watching highlights of TD back then, especially those ND games.....he was like a human cheat code. I mean if he was an EA Sports player then his speed would have to be 110 instead of 99. So many guys have reputedly ran faster 40's and 100's but honestly never seen a faster RB.
That was my freshman year at Pitt. Magical times. What a blast it was in the student section. I vividly recall the game I think it was against army and they posted the score of the Michigan game (they were preseason no1 ) which elevated Pitt to number one The stadium was wild. Really was a great run from about 75 until they allowed Jackie to leave. They truly were the beast of the East
I was a huge Pitt fan living in Allentown, PA at the time! I remember reading a big article in the sports section of The Morning Call saying that Pitt did not deserve to be #1, because their schedule was so weak — just sour grapes, of course, from huge PSU territory! I often wonder how that Pitt team would match-up against today’s top teams!
That's pretty silly. PSU's schedule wasn't any harder then. Nobody played 1AA teams then either.
Counting the bowl game, we only played three ranked teams all season.
Those three teams scored 20 points against us.
Not each. Total.
No, but so did PSU. And they had their toughest opponent at home and we started off on the road against ND and then at Ga Tech who I think was 8-3 then. And let's remember, there was only a top 20 then.
yep, a decision that haunts us to this day. Sure, some fun times in Big East basketball, but it absolutely devastated the football program.
Penn State also only played three ranked teams that season. They scored 18 points against those teams.
Not each. Total.
Georgia Tech ended that season 4-6-1. The three ranked teams were the only three teams we played that year that finished over .500. Duke had the next best record at 5-5-1.
Of course Penn State played six of the same teams that we did, plus each other for the seventh.
