What if Pitt joined the Big Ten in 1949?

[PittMiamiRivalry]

When the University of Chicago dropped out of the Big Ten in 1949, Pitt was one of a few schools considered to replace them. Most thought they would receive the invitation, especially since we had placed our athletics under the conference’s supervision in 1939 and MSU faced opposition from Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. In the end, it was Ohio State who pushed for them the hardest and eventually got them accepted.

What does Pitt football look like today had we joined the Big Ten? Do we take football more serious or the same?

Remember Pitt began playing several Big Ten teams each season beginning in the 1940s and got killed. The Pitt-Michigan games were a joke. The Big Ten didn't want a school that de-emphasized football.

 

[PittMiamiRivalry]

Really the biggest what-if wasn't that far-fetched. What if Sherrill & Myslinski stayed in 1982. At the same time, Pitt spurns Big East and Myslinski negotiates a deal with PSU to get the all-eastern conference formed.

Pitt wins at least two MNC's in the 80's (1982 & 1984). Pitt-PSU game is biggest rivalry game in country, bigger than OSU-Michigan. And the Eastern conference may have been the one raiding the Big 10.

The history of Pitt football consists of one lost opportunity after another.