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What were Pitt's 3 best bowl wins and the 3 worst bowl losses?

cbpitt2

cbpitt2

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After all the consternation of losing to Northwestern in the Pinstripe Bowl, honest to goodness, I thought we'd have to talk some of you down off the ledge, but it led me to thinking.

We all know what Pitt's best bowl win was,and most likely the 2nd best as well, but what in your opinion were Pitt's three best bowl wins? For you youngsters, that would be the 1977 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia and more than likely, the 1982 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia as #2. The '82 Sugar was more exciting as the '77 Sugar Bowl game was never in doubt.

Now, for the gloom and doom, take the good with the bad. What in your opinion were Pitt's three worst bowl losses? The hardest to take, worst played, the most disappointing, however you want to define it is up to you.
 
Best:
1977 Sugar
1937 Rose
1982 Sugar

Worst:
2014 Armed Forces
1930 Rose
1983 Cotton
 
I nominate the '80 Gator for both lists. It was good because we obviously kicked SC's ass. It was disappointing in that we were screwed out of playing in the Sugar Bowl vs UGA for another National Title.

3-0 Sun Stinker has to be one of the worst. Maybe the SMU Cotton Bowl can go on the list as one of the most disappointing. And Fitz's last game in Charlotte.
 
cbpitt2 said:
After all the consternation of losing to Northwestern in the Pinstripe Bowl, honest to goodness, I thought we'd have to talk some of you down off the ledge, but it led me to thinking.

We all know what Pitt's best bowl win was,and most likely the 2nd best as well, but what in your opinion were Pitt's three best bowl wins? For you youngsters, that would be the 1977 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia and more than likely, the 1982 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia as #2. The '82 Sugar was more exciting as the '77 Sugar Bowl game was never in doubt.

Now, for the gloom and doom, take the good with the bad. What in your opinion were Pitt's three worst bowl losses? The hardest to take, worst played, the most disappointing, however you want to define it is up to you.
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Nice post but history is exactly that history!
In case you havn't noticed its a what have you done for me lately world.
PITT has lost two straight bowl games in embrassing fashion!
Not good!
 
TD_6082 said:
I nominate the '80 Gator for both lists. It was good because we obviously kicked SC's ass. It was disappointing in that we were screwed out of playing in the Sugar Bowl vs UGA for another National Title.

3-0 Sun Stinker has to be one of the worst. Maybe the SMU Cotton Bowl can go on the list as one of the most disappointing. And Fitz's last game in Charlotte.
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That 3-0 Sun Bowl must be on everyone's list of worst bowl games of all time.
 
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And the Bowl victories over NCSU and Oregon State were very underrated wins, imo. Take a look back at those rosters. The Pack & Beavers had some really good talent and Pitt totally dominated.

Another clunker of a game was the 41-7 loss to Southern Miss in the Liberty. The blow was lessened at the time in that we were just thrilled to be in a bowl game.
 
TD_6082 said:
3-0 Sun Stinker has to be one of the worst. Maybe the SMU Cotton Bowl can go on the list as one of the most disappointing. And Fitz's last game in Charlotte.
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:mad:Ditto!:rolleyes:

Throw in the 1956 0-7 Pitt loss to Georgia Tech in the Sugar Bowl due to a Racists Governor and Ref against College Football Integration.

The 1956 Sugar Bowl featured the 7th ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and the 11th ranked Pitt Panthers. The game was played on January 2, since New Year's Day was a Sunday. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl. There was controversy over whether Bobby Grier from Pitt should be allowed to play because he was black, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia governor Marvin Griffin's opposition to integration. This stood in stark contrast to the 1956 Rose Bowl, which featured two of the most racially integrated college football teams of the day with six African American players for the UCLA Bruins and seven for the Michigan State Spartans.

Ultimately, Bobby Grier played making this the first integrated Sugar Bowl and is regarded as the first integrated bowl game in the Deep South. The game was a high caliber defensive game. The two teams gave up a combined 7 points, on 453 combined yards. The only score of the game came on a 1-yard touchdown run by quarterback Wade Mitchell. Georgia Tech was held without any points the remaining three quarters of the game, and ended up winning by a 7-0 margin. Pittsburgh, despite dominating the game in terms of yardage (311-142) lost because of 2 lost fumbles, and 72 penalty yards. The margin of victory mostly resulted from a disputed first quarter pass interference penalty which was called on Grier.

Georgia Tech guard Franklin Brooks was named the game's MVP. Bobby Grier's participation in the 1956 Sugar Bowl, as well as the support he received from various communities, is seen by some experts as a milestone in American race relations.
Georgia Tech Rank 7th
Pitt Rank 11th

Pitt with this Civil Rights Milestone stood for the future of College Football Integration and Georgia Tech stood for the Past. In the end, Pitt actually won! Come to think of it, Pitt-Georgia tech should play for the Bobby Grier Trophy every year, would be nice recognition for the ACC, Pitt, and Georgia Tech to salute and celebrate that Milestone in the Deep South.:cool:


SOURCE LINK:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Sugar_Bowl
 
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Armed forces Bowl is just the worst everything, in sports history. You almost have to pretend it just never happened because the way they collapsed was almost impossible to do.
 
Pittx9 said:
Armed forces Bowl is just the worst everything, in sports history. You almost have to pretend it just never happened because the way they collapsed was almost impossible to do.
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True.

Which reminds me, I need see what happened in the Nevada/New Mexico game Saturday night.
 
What were we down at Syracuse, I believe Sam young a junior year? We came back at the very end and won a game that looked almost over.
 
The Best?
1977 Sugar Bowl
1982 Sugar Bowl
1980 Gator Bowl

The Worst? Unfortunately too many lately.
2015 Armed Forces Bowl (3 straight onside kicks?)
2013 BBVA Compass Bowl (maybe the lowest point since the pre Wlat days)
1983 Cotton Bowl edging the 2008 Sun Bowl. We scored 3 more points than the Sun Bowl. But we had Marino, Dawkins, Collins, Thomas, Fralic, Sweeney, etc..on offense.
 
I can't remember which game but Larry Fitzgerald was amazing in one of them.

TD_6082 said:
And the Bowl victories over NCSU and Oregon State were very underrated wins, imo. Take a look back at those rosters. The Pack & Beavers had some really good talent and Pitt totally dominated.

Another clunker of a game was the 41-7 loss to Southern Miss in the Liberty. The blow was lessened at the time in that we were just thrilled to be in a bowl game.
Click to expand...
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
The Best?
1977 Sugar Bowl
1982 Sugar Bowl
1980 Gator Bowl

The Worst? Unfortunately too many lately.
2015 Armed Forces Bowl (3 straight onside kicks?)
2013 BBVA Compass Bowl (maybe the lowest point since the pre Wlat days)
1983 Cotton Bowl edging the 2008 Sun Bowl. We scored 3 more points than the Sun Bowl. But we had Marino, Dawkins, Collins, Thomas, Fralic, Sweeney, etc..on offense.
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Armed Forces bowl is tough to argue with. Add in the terrible weather, interim staff, meaningless game and the final outcome.....yeah it was bad.

But in the grand scheme of things it was really meaningless. No ranking, no milestone on the line, interim staff. So I can't rank it #1. I would have to say a tie with the Sun & Pinstripe since both losses cost us a top 25 ranking and weren't played with interim staffs. Although Pinstripe had mitigating circumstances with all the injuries. Sun was just a total clunker, no excuses. So Sun is 1a, Pinstripe 1B, the Cotton with Foge dishonorable mention.

Best of course in Sugar bowls but as TD said the NC state Oregon State victories were very under-rated bowl wins.
 
Franb said:
That 3-0 Sun Bowl must be on everyone's list of worst bowl games of all time.
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Our best offensive scoring opportunity, deepest penetration, was when we drove to set up a 63 yard FG attempt!
 
''
Pittx9 said:
Armed forces Bowl is just the worst everything, in sports history. You almost have to pretend it just never happened because the way they collapsed was almost impossible to do.
Click to expand...

We where up 34-13 with like 4 minutes left! The most legendary ''Pitting'' ever!
 
Best was the Sugar Bowl where Marino hit John Brown with a game winning TD pass in the last minute, and of course the 1977 NC win. vs. UNC in 2010 was a good win.
 
Losing to Utah State 35-7 in '04 was a bad one too, especially after the regular season run they made to get there, and "I loved that F'ing team!"
 
Slick Manager of Champs said:
But in the grand scheme of things it was really meaningless. No ranking, no milestone on the line, interim staff. So I can't rank it #1.
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SO what does the "grand scheme of things" have to do with it? It was simply beyond belief unbelievable bad, no matter what was on the line.
 
I would say 77 Sugar, 82 Sugar but I always enjoyed the Sun Bowl win against TX AM in Hackett first game. Three worse the Cotton Bowl against SMU was horrible, Utah in the fiesta, and ASU in the Fiesta majors first year.
 
Pitt79 said:
SO what does the "grand scheme of things" have to do with it? It was simply beyond belief unbelievable bad, no matter what was on the line.
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what did that game really matter? No ranking on the line. Non-P5 opponent. The staff was on the way out the door. Not much difference between 6-7 and 7-6. You should be proud of me Mr. family guy....rather than watch the game that day I took the kids skiing instead. I remember checking the score on yahoo and seeing the big lead, and then my son tells me Pitt lost when we got back into the lodge I was totally shocked.

The other games I referenced were much worse defeats due to the implications involved.
 
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Slick Manager of Champs said:
what did that game really matter? No ranking on the line. Non-P5 opponent. The staff was on the way out the door. Not much difference between 6-7 and 7-6. You should be proud of me Mr. family guy....rather than watch the game that day I took the kids skiing instead. I remember checking the score on yahoo and seeing the big lead, and then my son tells me Pitt lost when we got back into the lodge I was totally shocked.

The other games I referenced were much worse defeats due to the implications involved.
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That was nice of you to pass on Pitt football to spend some time with your kids! That said, I guess I just look at it as each game as a stand alone event, just judging it on it's own content and merit, not factoring in how it effected the big picture.

So you don't watch the games if there is "nothing on the line"? I may not go a lot, but I do watch every game, even the meaningless ones, even tape delay if I have to. Aren't you a real fan? taking kids skiing? C'mon :)

Sunday I have to DVR the Steelers game and maybe turn it on around 2:30-3:00, my daughter has a winter league soccer game at 1:00pm. The implications are very small, I readily will admit that she's a mediocre player, almost definitely will have no opportunities to play beyond high school, but that doesn't factor into the importance of this particular game, it's a stand alone event... but she is really fast :)
 
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I'm going to have to go with games I witnessed or attended. Obviously the 76 and 82 games were the best.

Top 3 since the mid-90s:
'02 Insight Bowl - it felt like we were finally starting to arrive as a major power ('03 squashed that notion)
'01 Tangerine Bowl - with the way we started that season, beating a good NC State team (led by Phillip Rivers) was pretty remarkable
'09 Car Care Bowl - nice way to wash a little of the bitter taste out of our mouths from the way we ended the season. It was the peak of the Wanny years as far as end of season rankings and wins go. (#15 and 10)

Worst:
'03 Tire Bowl - bad way to send off Rod and Larry. Lousy end to an underwhelming season.
'08 Sun Bowl - just awful
'04 Fiesta Bowl - everyone in the media talked about how we were going to get boat raced in the game. And we did. Sad end to the Walt years.

Honorable Mention Bad Bowls:
The '14 Armed Forces Bowl was terrible but I had written that team off and was excited to start fresh with Narduzzi. I saw that as a further indictment of the departing caching staff.
The '97 Liberty Bowl was pretty deflating after the season we had but we were just happy to be there in many ways.
The '00 Insight Bowl is a game we should have won. I remember the field being very slick after they closed the roof and our players (especially Kevan Barlow) had quite a few slips. That team was probably the most fun to watch in all of my time going to Pitt games (when they were on) until this year. Beating PSU and WVU at home in the same year was special given our futility against the two in the previous few years.
 
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CaptainMurphy said:
I'm going to have to go with games I witnessed or attended. Obviously the 76 and 82 games were the best.

Top 3 since the mid-90s:
'02 Insight Bowl - it felt like we were finally starting to arrive as a major power ('03 squashed that notion)
'01 Tangerine Bowl - with the way we started that season, beating a good NC State team (led by Phillip Rivers) was pretty remarkable
'09 Car Care Bowl - nice way to wash a little of the bitter taste out of our mouths from the way we ended the season. It was the peak of the Wanny years as far as end of season rankings and wins go. (#15 and 10)

Worst:
'03 Tire Bowl - bad way to send off Rod and Larry. Lousy end to an underwhelming season.
'08 Sun Bowl - just awful
'04 Fiesta Bowl - everyone in the media talked about how we were going to get boat raced in the game. And we did. Sad end to the Walt years.

Honorable Mention Bad Bowls:
The '14 Armed Forces Bowl was terrible but I had written that team off and was excited to start fresh with Narduzzi. I saw that as a further indictment of the departing caching staff.
The '97 Liberty Bowl was pretty deflating after the season we had but we were just happy to be there in many ways.
The '00 Insight Bowl is a game we should have won. I remember the field being very slick after they closed the roof and our players (especially Kevan Barlow) had quite a few slips. That team was probably the most fun to watch in all of my time going to Pitt games (when they were on) until this year. Beating PSU and WVU at home in the same year was special given our futility against the two in the previous few years.
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I think AB and Barlow both had 200 yard games at home against BC that year. If not 200, very close to it, if my memory serves me correctly.
 
TD_6082 said:
I think AB and Barlow both had 200 yard games at home against BC that year. If not 200, very close to it, if my memory serves me correctly.
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I'm pretty sure AB did, Barlow either did or was close I can't remember either. Of course Barlow that year also went for 272 and 4 TDs against WVU.
 
Pittx9 said:
I'm pretty sure AB did, Barlow either did or was close I can't remember either. Of course Barlow that year also went for 272 and 4 TDs against WVU.
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Barlow, when he was on the top of his game, was one of the most dominant Pitt runners I ever saw (since I came to Pitt in the mid-90s). He had the ability to bust through the line and just steamroll people like Conner does (except with a worse O-Line). He was feast or famine though....the two 200+ yard games were two of his 3 100+ yard games that year (and of his career here, I believe). Yet he still parlayed that into a 3rd round draft selection and a starting gig for a few years with the niners.
 
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I just can't include the Military Bowl or the Armed Forces Bowl – Whichever one it was, I always get them confused – as one of our worst losses because the game meant nothing.

To me, the game has to have hurt for it to have been a tough loss. That means there had to have been something at stake.

I wasn't elated before we gave up all of those onside kicks so I wasn't exactly devastated afterwards. I more or less just shrugged my shoulders and said to myself, "Yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's exactly how Pitt would lose this game."

Don't get me wrong, it was certainly a ridiculous way to lose a football game. However, I was over it 10 minutes later.

If the game did not mean anything in the lead up to it – And it didn't because there were like three or four threads on the game during the entire lead up to it – or as the Panthers we're dominating it for 55 minutes, it shouldn't only take on some degree of importance in the last five minutes when they fell apart.

That doesn't make any sense.

It was a meaningless game between two bad teams, one of which fell apart at the end. No harm, no foul.
 
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My list:
Best
1977 Sugar Bowl
1982 Sugar Bowl
1937 Rose Bowl

Worst
1930 Rose Bowl
1983 Cotton Bowl
1984 Fiesta Bowl

None of the recent losses and all these DotCom.com bowls and in all of these minor league games in major league cities means anything to me. They are just exhibitions.

We are way overdue to playing some meaningful bowl games again.
 
I'll stick to the era from 1973 forward.
Best victories were 1977 Sugar, the Gator Bowl win over Clemson the following year and the 1982 Sugar Bowl.
Worst losses were 1983 Cotton, that 3-0 stinker in the Sun and the collapse against Houston.
 
Ah yes, The tOSU Fiesta Bowl was a great game, but a tough way to lose.

The Bluebonnet Bowl was another disappointing loss, but a fun game to watch. I remember Ironhead having a big night. Does anybody know what that game was so poorly attended given they were hosting the Longhorns?
 
Dr. von Yinzer said:
I just can't include the Military Bowl or the Armed Forces Bowl – Whichever one it was, I always get them confused – as one of our worst losses because the game meant nothing.

To me, the game has to have hurt for it to have been a tough loss. That means there had to have been something at stake.

I wasn't elated before we gave up all of those onside kicks so I wasn't exactly devastated afterwards. I more or less just shrugged my shoulders and said to myself, "Yeah, that makes perfect sense. That's exactly how Pitt would lose this game."

Don't get me wrong, it was certainly a ridiculous way to lose a football game. However, I was over it 10 minutes later.

If the game did not mean anything in the lead up to it – And it didn't because there were like three or four threads on the game during the entire lead up to it – or as the Panthers we're dominating it for 55 minutes, it shouldn't only take on some degree of importance in the last five minutes when they fell apart.

That doesn't make any sense.

It was a meaningless game between two bad teams, one of which fell apart at the end. No harm, no foul.
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With this line of thinking only the 1977 Sugar Bowl meant something. Why did this mean nothing? Why did the 3-0 loss I the Sun Bowl mean something? All bowl games outside the playoff mean about the same. Did this years bowl mean more than that one? If so why?

This bowl was the worst bowl loss every, the quality of the team or the season doesn't justify it being off the list. Meaning something wasn't part of the OP criteria.
 
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