Pitt To Be In ACC Coastal Division
by oaklandzoo12 on Feb 3, 2012 1:35 PM EST
in Pitt Athletics
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PrintThis week was the ACC's winter meetings and today, we got news on future ACC schedules. Whenever Pitt and Syracuse join the ACC, Pitt will be in the Coastal Division with Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Duke, and North Carolina while the Orange will be in the Atlantic Division with Boston College, Maryland, NC State, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Florida State.
The football schedule will consist of nine conference games. Each team will play all the other teams in their respective division and three cross-over opponents. For the cross-over opponents, each team will play their primary cross-divisional rival and two rotating opponents. The rotation will be in a six-year cycle, allowing for each school to play every other ACC school at least twice. Pitt's Atlantic Division rival will be Syracuse.
In basketball, the ACC is moving to an 18-game conference schedule with one primary rival. Pitt's primary rival will be the Maryland Terrapins, so we will play the Terps every year twice. The rest of the schedule will consist of 4 teams we will play twice, 4 teams we will play only at home, and 4 teams we will play only away. The schedule will run on a 3 year schedule so we will play everyone other than Maryland 4 times, 2 at home and 2 on the road. The schedule will also run the same way with women's basketball, a variation from the Big East where the men's side plays 18 conference games while the women's side only plays 16 games. All teams will be invited to the ACC Tournament, but the format has yet to be decided.
In regard to other sports, the ACC requires that each team plays other participating ACC schools at least once during the regular season. In addition, the ACC will now sponsor a championship in gymnastics with Pitt joining. The other participating schools will be North Carolina, Maryland, and NC State.
So what does everyone think? I don't think anyone was surprised by the football side, but basketball was a bit surprising. I doubt Maryland fans are happy that they have to give up a potential home game against their biggest rival Duke for a game against Pitt, but I think this was probably the best move the conference could have done.
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Atlantic/Coastal also applies for baseball, BTW...
…but since SU has no baseball program, I’m not sure what the ACC will do. Make LeMoyne an associate, baseball-only member (something the conference has never done)?
Anyway, this Terp fan looks forward to more basketball games with Pitt; we’ll learn if Mark and Brenda feel likewise.
Did not know that
Thanks for that. I’m looking forward to playing the Terps each season. It helps that Pittsburgh and Maryland/Baltimore area already have some professional rivalries (Steelers/Ravens, Pens/Caps). I would’ve liked for us to be permanent rivals in football as well, but can’t win them all.
Looking forward to the move, whenever it is
Cardiac Hill contributor
Very interesting
If there are 9 conference games in football, that means that there is only 3 non-conference games. And, since 2 of those conference games have to be cupcakes, this only leaves 1 non-conference competitive game. This means it is impossible for Pitt to play both WVU and ND every single year unless they move to just 1 cupcake game. You also have to figure Penn St. in all of this, since they are contractually signed with them in 2016 and 2017 if I’m correct.
And, since it appears all but certain that WVU will be in the Big 12 next year (ACC has already released a 10 game schedule for next year to the TV networks), the Backyard Brawl will most certainly take – at the very least – a very long hiatus – that is if it ever gets played again at all. It may just be too hard.
Just so many questions here with future Pitt scheduling. The ADs will really have to make some big choices here in the future with scheduling.
I think what ultimately happens
Is that Pitt will play both WVU and ND. Both games are just too big and I doubt Pitt wants to do to West Virginia what Penn State did to them. WVU just may not appear on the schedule for a while as both the Panthers and the Mountaineers schedules are filled until at the very least 2016.
Steve Pederson had a teleconference recently regarding the ACC announcement of the divisions and he said that Pitt and Syracuse are monitoring the WVU situation. If the Mountaineers get out early, Pitt and Syracuse will try and do the same (don’t put money on that though).
Cardiac Hill contributor
With the ACC moving to 9 (fewer weekends for non-conference games and one less non-conf game) and schools like Pitt and BC both trying to get on Notre Dame’s schedule, I doubt either Pitt-Notre Dame or BC-Notre Dame will be a yearly affair.
Seems more likely that Pitt and BC will rotate in and off Notre Dame’s schedule.
Right now, Pitt has 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
BC has 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Editor, BC Interruption
Yeah
I went over this in some detail in a post when Pitt said they were going to the ACC.
You can read it here.
One of the things I’ll miss about the smaller Big East is that it provided an opportunity for more non-conference games.
I think what we may see is two cupcakes/one good team in some years and two good teams/one cupcake in others. I personally don’t see the WV game as an annual contest as the school has put somewhat of a priority on ND.
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i wont miss the non-con games that we play
florida atlantic, maine, youngstown st, toledo,etc- the majority of our non-con games suck.. and the actual interesting teams that we do schedule- iowa, mich st, utah kick our ass so what fun is that? as long as we preserve at least every other year games with ND,WVU, and/or PSU i will be happy. i’d rather a tougher schedule with big games, if we lose we lose-you can keep the home and home with buffalo, i have no interest in that garbage.
Non-con
Pitt beat Iowa the last time they played before last year and they had Iowa beaten last season and choked the game away. Utah beat Pitt by 12 last year, but in 2010, the game went to overtime. Pitt’s also beaten Notre Dame several times recently and those games are almost always close.
The program has been extremely competitive in those types of games, so I’d totally disagree with your assessment that Pitt gets killed all the time playing against better programs.
But beyond any of that, I have a problem with scheduling a preponderance of big games. Sorry, but I’m not interested in Pitt going 6-6 every year just so I can see good teams come into town. Going to the ACC and playing teams like Virginia Tech, Miami, and Georgia Tech on a regular basis is enough for me. I’d rather see Pitt have at least a couple of cupcakes on their schedule and have no problem with a Notre Dame game along with an FCS school and a Buffalo.
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i guess i could live with one rivalry game per season
to be picked amongst wvu,nd, and psu and 1 mid-level like say a navy or butgers (for old time’s sake) and 1 cupcake. but for the record i think people get too caught up in wins that mean absolutely nothing and you end up with an uninteresting/meaningless slate of games to pad your team’s record. Can you say that you look forward to a game against maine with the same amount of enthusiasm as looking forward to a game against PSU or WVU? it doesnt come close- the big games and rivalries are what make college football so fun. i dont know i just cant agree with opting for cupcakes over real/meaningful football. we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one.
Games
Yeah, you’re definitely not alone in that rationale of thinking and you’re probably even in the majority. So I can understand where you’re coming from.
Scheduling big time opponents sounds fine and all, but I think after a few 6-6ish seasons, fans would get sick of it in no time and we’d be back to 1990s Pitt football.
Trust me, I don’t like playing a bunch of cupcakes, either. But the fact is that in a BCS AQ conference, there are several tough games already. All that Pitt fans are talking about right now is the fact that they’re going to the ACC and that’s ‘fun’. But Pitt will have to play Virginia Tech, Miami, and Georgia Tech every year. Then teams like Florida State and Clemson semi-regularly. And then to try to throw in three tough non-conference games? Sorry, I just don’t see the point of that.
Pitt may someday be able to play that kind of schedule, but right now, if they had to play in the coastal division, and then line up against WVU, Notre Dame, and Penn State, they’d walk out with a losing record or .500 at best. That, to me, isn’t fun. I’d be much more content with Pitt winning eight or nine games a year and getting to a decent bowl.
Non AQ teams have to schedule some tough non-con games. But even the best programs still have a couple of cupcakes a year. With only three opportunities, I wouldn’t feel bad at all if we had to play two each season.
We can disagree on it – it’s fine. Like I said, I think more fans think like you. But I fear that with that kind of schedule, there would be a lot of very average seasons ahead.
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My thoughts
OK, sorry for being away from this thread first of all. I posted this, and I did not have internet connection for the last two days. Let me explain by what I would “like” to see happen and then finish off with what I think will happen.
I would like Pitt to play both WVU and ND every year with 1 non-AQ team. WVU and ND are both exciting teams to play every year, and it would be a shame to see these games go. There is no question in my mind that ND will extend the contract with Pitt. It may not be immediate, but ND will extend their contract. with Pitt and WVU would also. Also, remember that Pitt will be playing Duke every year, which is basically the equivalent of a cupcake. And for that matter, you can throw Syracuse into there as well with their recent struggles, so that would be at-least two gimme games every year.
OK, so now to what I think will happen. As we all know, winning is at a premium right now in college athletics, and all AQ coaches want at-least two non-AQ teams. That said, Pitt will schedule 2 non-AQ teams every year. This means the other non-AQ team will be ND due to $$$, and that is the team they will continue to play as long as ND obliges. I think ND will oblige until around the year 2030 (just a guess here). After that, since it would have been an eternity since the last Backyard Brawl, your guess is as good as mine who will replace ND.
Like I said in my post, the ADs at Pitt and WVU will really have to buckle down and decide how much they really value the Backyard Brawl. It is too hard to read into the minds of Pederson and Luck and what they will do. It will be interesting to see what they do.
Non-Con
Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I think we’ll see two non-AQ teams on the schedule most years. But I do think Pitt will mix in a few years with two AQs instead.
The bottom line is that the nine games really don’t offer much in the way of flexibility for getting WVU/ND/Penn State on the schedule.
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Yep
Honestly, I think the ACC should have stayed at an 8 game schedule for the very reasons discussed in this thread. What the ACC could have done to take care of the problem of teams not playing each other in a long time (with an 8 game conf. schedule) is switch the same 3 teams from one division to another after every year. And then, the teams that switch would be guaranteed to play each other as a cross-divisional game once every three years if you get my gist. It would have worked out. Having only 3 non-conference games is just too few, because it doesn’t give you much flexibility. Oh well..
Not sure ACC is going to 9 game schedule
One of the reasons why the Pac 12 did was because they aren’t as many Div 1a schools on the West Coast so a lot of these Pac 12 teams have trouble getting those easy NC games. I don’t think the ACC will have that problem and for selfish reasons I hope we are able to have 4 nonconference games so we can always have 2 out of the 3 (ND, WVU, PSU) on our schedule every year.
I originally thought the ACC would go to 9, but after the SEC stated they were sticking with 8 and the Big Ten backed out of 9 with the Pac-12 scheduling deal, was thinking the ACC would just follow suit and stay with 8.
I think ultimately it came down to the fact that Pitt and Syracuse didn’t have a vote. I’ll bet if the two expansion schools had been allowed to vote, Pitt, Syracuse and BC would have voted against 9 to preserve an extra non-conference games against the northern schools like Penn State, West Virginia and Notre Dame.
I don’t think FSU and Clemson cared much for 9, either, as it just adds another hurdle to making the BCS.
Editor, BC Interruption
yep totally missed the 9 games being announced
I thought it was still up in the air. My bad.
Not sure that its a great move but hey it beats playing in the BIg Least
by JCBucs on Feb 4, 2012 7:00 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Ain't that the truth
Hmm…would you rather have to travel across the country once a season to play at San Diego or on the Smurf Turf OR would you rather stay on the East Coast and get to play Virginia Tech every season and possibly play Florida State?
Cardiac Hill contributor
It's already a done deal
The ACC announced today that they are going to a 9 game schedule, so it’s already done on that front. I see ND being the annual game for $$$ and the fact that it’s always a national game. Maybe WVU gets a couple of 2 year contracts along the way, but the days of playing them annually are over.
I think you're right about that
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Yes, I agree
unfortunately. Like CY said recently, I do think you will see WVU sprinkled in there a few times, but this 9 game announcement from the ACC all but does the Backyard Brawl in on a yearly basis. In the end, college football is all about money and wins, and that spells 2 cupcakes + ND every year. The national exposure is just so much more with ND than WVU.
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