Fun and Games for PITT in the ACC?...

[Slaton10]

Interesting article in the Pittsburgh Tribune about our friends in the Burg!...they really thought things would be better in the ACC???...who has gotten the last laugh in this one!..

From Bob Rossi who covers the Panthers.......

A college football game was played in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. Did you notice?

Umm.......no.

It's a fair question because there wasn't even a half-capacity crowd at Heinz Field

And this is something new??

This game should have felt big, certainly bigger than it did. Thursday night contests represent the unofficial opening kickoff to college football weekends. Pitt unveiled its football schedule Jan. 22, and everybody knew then that ESPN was bringing its cameras to town, looking for sights and sounds unique to the city's university.

Excitement was not an unreasonable expectation.

Really??...you think waaay to highly of your Pittsburgh Panthers!!

Instead, stadium parking lots featured plenty of vacant spaces only 90 minutes before Pitt hosted its first Thursday night game since 2011.


Good selling point to recruits and their family's...hey if you go to Wv you will sit for 3 hours to get out of the parking lots after a game...here at Pitt your home in 15 minutes!!!

Dan Marino could have jaywalked across Tony Dorsett Drive without notice. Ruben Brown, Pitt's returning legend for the contest, probably did.

Heinz Field resembled a “Gold Out” because of all the empty seats. Dozens decided to watch from the end-zone upper bleachers. Five people were seated in Section 516 at the start of the opening quarter. None of the 271 sections were packed.

The students showed strong, but they had to feel embarrassed. Their football team appeared abandoned in its home. That makes for a bad night no matter the result.




It is a lousy state of affairs when even the good fails to inspire confidence, but that is the sad way of Pitt football.

Just hand this to a potential recruit!!!! What does a guy like Gibson have to say??...






The opponents won't sell many more tickets, at least not the ones from the ACC Coastal division. If it feels like a mix of the old Big East and the best of the ACC basketball schools that's because it is a mix of the old Big East and the best of the ACC basketball schools.

Could it be anymore telling of how the grass isn't always greener on the other side when you make a knee jerk move to a conference that was a self promoting power conference that never was or ever will be??


Pitt doesn't have a football problem. Pitt football has a positioning problem. Fix that, and nights like Thursday will look a lot different.

College football is about everything that Pitt football isn't: atmosphere, emotions and connection. There was none of that at Heinz Field. There won't be the next time Pitt plays at home, either.


Seriously...we should hire Bob Rossi to recruit Western PA for us!!!

 

[DCWV4life]

WVU and Notre Dame are the only two teams that fill that stadium when it comes to college football.

 

[bbwvfan]

The ACC is a freakin' joke.

Not only is it the weakest of the Power 5, it is one of the poorest conferences in fan support of home games and CCG's.

Mitch Vingle had an interesting look at the Big 12's home attendance today…

So to better gauge success, one must figure the percentage of capacity filled.

“That’s the better number to show the program’s strength,” Wells said.

Ranked that way, Kansas State is No. 1 (106 percent of listed capacity filled), followed by Oklahoma (104), Baylor (102), Texas Tech (99), Iowa State and TCU (97), WVU (95), Texas (93), Oklahoma State (89) and Kansas (70).

- See more at: The Charleston Gazette | Mitch Vingle: Look at WVU numbers now

Mitch stated that after the BU game, WVU's percentage will rise to 97%.

I guess more people are interested in Big 12 football. Glad we're apart of a similar passionate fan base…

 

[WVUDAD]

They have lost their main rivals in psu and wvu, sPitt never had much of a rivalry with VIP, and without their own stadium have struggled to fill Heinz from when it was built. SPitt needs WVU and WVU needs sPitt, We can still mostly fill the stadium as WVU is the only game in town, the sPitt fans are also going to Steelers games, and they have a much stronger tie to the Steelers.

 

[bbwvfan]

Here is a look at the ACC numbers thru September…

Again… the ACC is a joke conference…

A post-September look at ACC football attendance | InsideTheACC

Look at those percentages. To think we have fans who'd prefer WVU being in the ACC…

 

[Anotherwvufan]

They have lost their main rivals in psu and wvu, sPitt never had much of a rivalry with VIP, and without their own stadium have struggled to fill Heinz from when it was built. SPitt needs WVU and WVU needs sPitt, We can still mostly fill the stadium as WVU is the only game in town, the sPitt fans are also going to Steelers games, and they have a much stronger tie to the Steelers.

WVU does not need SPitt. Note 95% capacity for us. SPitt becomes more irrelevant every year. It hurts their program more than us not to have us to fill up Heinz field once every two years.

 

[WVUDAD]

Another, I posit that WVU does need more local rivals back on the schedule, that is the reason that Luck has been reaching out to PSU, VPI, etc, most people who are WVU fans care much more about cuse, sPitt, PSU, UMD, than most B12 teams. Just like last night, I watched the VPI-sPitt game with much more interest than any B12 game not involving US.

 

[Anotherwvufan]

Another, I posit that WVU does need more local rivals back on the schedule, that is the reason that Luck has been reaching out to PSU, VPI, etc, most people who are WVU fans care much more about cuse, sPitt, PSU, UMD, than most B12 teams. Just like last night, I watched the VPI-sPitt game with much more interest than any B12 game not involving US.

Local rivals are nice to have but not necessary as noted by our 95% stadium capacity. We are sold out for Baylor, if it were cuse coming, we would have empty seats. I don't know what qualifies you to know what most people who are WVU fans care about...you live in Ohio, never come to games and constantly rag on the administration and coaches.

I watched parts of the VPI Pitt game also and was very bored and disappointed with the play of both teams. Not too interested in bad football playing in a half empty stadium in a regional rivalry.

 

[DrPhil58]

Thanks for posting. I kind of figured the BIG 12 would be better than the ACC. Wow! Miami is really low this year and I see only one game that will be near to full capacity (FSU on 15 Nov).

 

[DCWV4life]

You need more excitement in your life if you watched that game last night with any kind of excitement....get over it already. Big 12 games are way more exciting and they have some relevance to our TEAM.
Plus the game sucked, to average teams looking like crap.

 

[WVUDAD]

I like defensive football, watching a linebacker knock the slobber out of a running back beats the video game football game any day. I, unlike some others on here, love great defensive play, I feel that defense is the more reliable way to win. Many times I see a great offensive team fall to a great defensive team in big games. I do not call people names or put them down because of the kind of game they prefer. The quartet likes offense, fine, I prefer defense, big freaking deal.

 

[Slaton10]

You need more excitement in your life if you watched that game last night with any kind of excitement....get over it already. Big 12 games are way more exciting and they have some relevance to our TEAM.
Plus the game sucked, to average teams looking like crap.

LOL Brother!!..I couldn't sleep last night woke up at 1:30 and turned the TV on and there was a replay of the game!!..that put me back to sleep in oh...10 minutes!!

 

[Slaton10]

Here is a look at the ACC numbers thru September…

Again… the ACC is a joke conference…

A post-September look at ACC football attendance | InsideTheACC

Look at those percentages. To think we have fans who'd prefer WVU being in the ACC…

And the ACC is happy having a Wake Forrest in the conference drawing 28k vs having Wv in??

 

[Slaton10]

I like defensive football, watching a linebacker knock the slobber out of a running back beats the video game football game any day. I, unlike some others on here, love great defensive play, I feel that defense is the more reliable way to win. Many times I see a great offensive team fall to a great defensive team in big games. I do not call people names or put them down because of the kind of game they prefer. The quartet likes offense, fine, I prefer defense, big freaking deal.

Until they move the hash marks in the field is always going to be in wider than it needs to be..and its going to be tough for the way these offenses play to shut them down...even the pro's have issues and they have closer hash marks....

 

[Slaton10]

Another, I posit that WVU does need more local rivals back on the schedule, that is the reason that Luck has been reaching out to PSU, VPI, etc, most people who are WVU fans care much more about cuse, sPitt, PSU, UMD, than most B12 teams. Just like last night, I watched the VPI-sPitt game with much more interest than any B12 game not involving US.

Honestly unless your local rivals are in the same conference its just another OCG on the schedule..it will never decide anything really...it will never have the same flavor..

 

[DCWV4life]

Name a team that is winning with defense these days? Closest thing I could think of is LSU when they came to Morgantown....news flash they lost the title game.

I kind of see the problem now you relating defensive football with inept football....now it is all coming together.

 

[GoldRusher]

I like defensive football, watching a linebacker knock the slobber out of a running back beats the video game football game any day. I, unlike some others on here, love great defensive play, I feel that defense is the more reliable way to win. Many times I see a great offensive team fall to a great defensive team in big games. I do not call people names or put them down because of the kind of game they prefer. The quartet likes offense, fine, I prefer defense, big freaking deal.

I like a good balance and agree 100% on defense giving you a great chance to win. That said, welcome to the Big12 brother. I LOL at the thoughts of these defensive minded teams that look great in other conferences going up against these Big12 teams week after week. Could you imagine Iowa or Michigan State or LSU or Florida and I might even argue Florida State in this conference week after week after week before they could recruit what they would need? All due respect to them, they DO have some great players but.... no chance at being at the "elite" level until they adapted.

 

[DBAR4WVU]

I will admit, I was disappointed that WV didn't get an invite to the ACC - but knew that the bias against us ran deep in the old guard ACC teams and that they would never agree to include WVU in their plans. I am afraid that even us winning a National Championship wouldn't change their minds.

I also complained about the lack of regional opponents and how the travel would negatively impact our team and especially our fans in being able to attend the games away. And I think there has been evidence of both impacts, especially in our FB and BB teams lackluster performances at times.

But - after 2 1/2 seasons and some humbling losses, WV seems to be hitting it's stride. Everyone around the country agrees that the B12 is # 2 in strength behind the SEC. The ACC is absolutely the weakest of the Power 5. Other than FSU, no one else has done much. Most of the season - only FSU has been ranked. Compare that to the B12 Top 25 rankings.

So WVU is better off in the B12 and gets to play meaningful games week after week. In time, more fans will see that and will support the move as best for our school, our teams, our fans and our state. Playing the best makes you better. As our days in the BE proved, no matter how good you are - playing weak teams does not earn you respect on a national level. The ACC is chock-full of weak teams, that's why Notre Dame has hitched it's wagon to the ACC. It's gets the benefit os conference bowl and television alignment without all of that pesky risk of losing to better teams.

 

[DBAR4WVU]

I wanted to add that WVU has already played 2 Top-5 (at the time we palyed) in conference rivals this season and depending on where TCU and K St land in the rankings, may play a 3rd and 4th. Anyone out there (who is in their right mind) forsee there ever being 4 top 5 teams in the ACC in a single season?


Sorry, I was laughing so hard I fell out of my chair.

 

[DCWV4life]

Well maybe we won some fans over with that defensive performance...compared to that great game on Thursday we gave up less yards than one team and just a few more than the other and we played a team with a offense.

Baylor had 24 negative plays coming into the game, had 14 yesterday, 3-16 on third down, 0-2 on 4th. Held to 261 yards under average, held to 35 pts less than average, held to under 100 yards rushing....all while losing top two CB's!!!