From Joe Starkey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

[Obliviax]

Anyone who thinks the Pitt program is ahead of PSU's they are smoking crack. I am not and have never been a Pitt hater. But it is pretty clear about the programs. just look at the stands. At the end of the day, this is the only real barometer of the health of the program (and Pitt tickets are 1/10th the cost of PSU tickets plus in a lot more accessible location)

 

[doctornick]

They would have beaten Illinois.

End of argument.

Penn State would have beaten Western Michigan.

End of argument.

 

[wilbury]

They would have beaten Illinois.

End of argument.

How do you figure? Western Michigan beat Pitt but lost to Ball State by 25 points. Pitt isn't exactly a world beater.

 

[PSU621]

In ten.years, Pitt will be nothing.

Pretty much "nothing" now.

 

[BBHorn86]

They would have beaten Illinois.

End of argument.

Yet they lost at home to Western Michigan... a middle of the road MAC team! Give me a break idiot.

 

[jbenedict]

Starkey states some truth about wins and losses the last two years and Franklin leverages these poor numbers into 75 million dollars. How did this happen? Although, this season is an outlier for the Pittiots. I would venture to say it will be sometime until the idiots have a season like this again.

 

[shelley]

They would have beaten Illinois.

End of argument.

Would they have beaten Auburn or Wisconsin? There is no argument. Just facts. PSU played a top 10 schedule, Pitt top 40.

 

[bdgan]

"Not long ago, it appeared that Penn State had lapped Pitt as a program. That is no longer the case. James Franklin is 11-10 in his past 21 games against major college competition and 8-9 in the Big Ten over the past two seasons.

You might want to get your own house in order, sir. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but just because 100,000-plus show up to games doesn’t mean your program is nationally relevant. Penn State and Franklin are sliding badly."

Boom. Eat that Franklin Worshippers.

No excuse for Franklin to be 11-10 in their last 21 games. That said, how many top 10 teams has Pitt played this year?

 

[RGWhirly]

823 must be a Pitt Spitter! In addition to being a jerkoff.

 

[Choochburg]

At least it will be fun to watch their fans get their hopes up.

All three of them.

 

[PSUQBKeeper]

Pitt is pretty good this year but its a special year with a veteran quarterback (who many fans wanted gone lol) and a weak ACC schedule

don't hold your breath on them staying in the upper part of the top 25 after this

 

[Psugo823]

No excuse for Franklin to be 11-10 in their last 21 games. That said, how many top 10 teams has Pitt played this year?

I don't care about Pitt. The story here is Franklin and his substandard won loss record.

 

[Psugo823]

823 must be a Pitt Spitter! In addition to being a jerkoff.

And you're a 5 year old child.

 

[bdgan]

I don't care about Pitt. The story here is Franklin and his substandard won loss record.

We agree on that. I'm just saying that Pitt's record this year is inflated by a very weak schedule.

 

[step.eng69]

Ahhh yes when readership and online subscriptions is down lets troll the largest and most active fan base in the country for clicks to show the boss you are still relevant.

I would believe the "key words" as being not relevant.

 

[Woodpecker]

I don't care about Pitt.

Wait, didn't YOU start this thread about a Pitt writer criticizing Penn State football in comparison to Pitt?

 

[Ian]

Pitt has 13 Super Seniors, 13 5th year Seniors, and 1 Senior. They will go back to mediocrity next season.

I suspect Duzzi will do very well with transfers in 2022 just like Sparty did this year!

 

[gptakba]

Penn State would have beaten Wester

Lol not happy about the extension but Starkey is a clown. Pitt would be MD at best in the big ten.

Bingo

 

[12345q]

Bingo

Bingo

 

[12345q]

they will have their chance to do so in their bowl game ha,ha

 

[YorkCoLion]

823 is a moron closet pitter

51-6

 

[EPC FAN]

I suspect Duzzi will do very well with transfers in 2022 just like Sparty did this year!

We shall see.

 

[BUCKSCOUNTYLION]

The real question is what would Pitt's record be if they played PSU's schedule?

Yea, they are having a good year for a couple of reason's.

One being they have a 5th QB who had developed into a good Pro prospect.

Two, they play a truly weak schedule.

Three, they basically struck lightening in 2021.

Next year they will be back to normal and as always a weak, weak schedule.


Where PSU had to deal with Iowa, OSU, Wisky, MSU on the road, Auburn & Michigan at home.

Who in the whole fn country had a tougher schedule than that???

Pitt played a ton of softies, including a lousy Clemson team. What would PSU's record be if they played all those softies??

Pitt would have went 5-7 or 6-6 with PSUs schedule this year....and that is beating Illinois with a 5-7 or 6-6 record. They lost to Western Michigan who Ball State beat by 25. PSU handled Ball State.

 

[bvillebaron]

"Not long ago, it appeared that Penn State had lapped Pitt as a program. That is no longer the case. James Franklin is 11-10 in his past 21 games against major college competition and 8-9 in the Big Ten over the past two seasons.

You might want to get your own house in order, sir. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but just because 100,000-plus show up to games doesn’t mean your program is nationally relevant. Penn State and Franklin are sliding badly."

Boom. Eat that Franklin Worshippers.

When does Narduzzi give out the snazzy keychains clown?

 

[HailToPitt725]

Pitt would have went 5-7 or 6-6 with PSUs schedule this year....and that is beating Illinois with a 5-7 or 6-6 record. They lost to Western Michigan who Ball State beat by 25. PSU handled Ball State.

Penn State lost to Illinois who Virginia beat by 28. Pitt beat Virginia.

The transitive property game is ridiculous because we each can cherry-pick data points that “prove” our team is better. At the end of the day, you are what your record says you are.

 

[BUCKSCOUNTYLION]

Penn State lost to Illinois who Virginia beat by 28. Pitt beat Virginia.

The transitive property game is ridiculous because we each can cherry-pick data points that “prove” our team is better. At the end of the day, you are what your record says you are.

And Pitt's High School schedule does tell you much!

 

[Little J]

Penn State lost to Illinois who Virginia beat by 28. Pitt beat Virginia.

The transitive property game is ridiculous because we each can cherry-pick data points that “prove” our team is better. At the end of the day, you are what your record says you are.

All you have to consider about the respect for Pitt as the ACC champ is who they play in their bowl game. A third place team in the BIG east division. Seems about right to me.

 

[HailToPitt725]

And Pitt's High School schedule does tell you much!

Well thank goodness Penn State wasn’t on our schedule, or else it’d be even easier!

All you have to consider about the respect for Pitt as the ACC champ is who they play in their bowl game. A third place team in the BIG east division. Seems about right to me.

C’mon LJ, that’s the best you got? The committee did us a disservice by paring us with the 10th ranked team for our NY6 game?

You can do better. I wish @mikemauti42 was here for this, it’d be a lot more fun. I hope all is well with him.

 

[mikemauti42]

Well thank goodness Penn State wasn’t on our schedule, or else it’d be even easier!


C’mon LJ, that’s the best you got? The committee did us a disservice by paring us with the 10th ranked team for our NY6 game?

You can do better. I wish @mikemauti42 was here for this, it’d be a lot more fun. I hope all is well with him.

All good here. Since you asked for my opinion, here it is. Pitt had a very nice year by Pitt standards. It only took a 5 year starting qb (who is great)in one of the worst conferences I can remember in my lifetime. It also took 3 + teams imploding in the final minutes by fumbling snaps when they were about to win the game. Virginia, UNC, and Tennessee(interception). Basically Pitt had a lot go their way this year which is great for their fans. When you make it to the ACC championship and your opponent is Wake Forest what more is there to say.

As for Starkey’s column of next year and beyond, these two programs are not close. Pitt would be Maryland in the Big 10. Actually, Maryland probably recruits at a higher level. They would struggle to stay .500. Is Pitt ranked 60th in recruiting right now? My guess and it’s probably a good one is Pitt plummets back to reality next year and loses to Western Michigan on the road and finishes 6-6 or 7-5. Cherish this season @HailToPitt725 it might be another 40 until it happens again

 

[BUCKSCOUNTYLION]

Well thank goodness Penn State wasn’t on our schedule, or else it’d be even easier!


C’mon LJ, that’s the best you got? The committee did us a disservice by paring us with the 10th ranked team for our NY6 game?

You can do better. I wish @mikemauti42 was here for this, it’d be a lot more fun. I hope all is well with him.

 

[HailToPitt725]

All good here. Since you asked for my opinion, here it is. Pitt had a very nice year by Pitt standards. It only took a 5 year starting qb (who is great)in one of the worst conferences I can remember in my lifetime. It also took 3 + teams imploding in the final minutes by fumbling snaps when they were about to win the game. Virginia, UNC, and Tennessee(interception). Basically Pitt had a lot go their way this year which is great for their fans. When you make it to the ACC championship and your opponent is Wake Forest what more is there to say.

As for Starkey’s column of next year and beyond, these two programs are not close. Pitt would be Maryland in the Big 10. Actually, Maryland probably recruits at a higher level. They would struggle to stay .500. Is Pitt ranked 60th in recruiting right now? My guess and it’s probably a good one is Pitt plummets back to reality next year and loses to Western Michigan on the road and finishes 6-6 or 7-5. Cherish this season @HailToPitt725 it might be another 40 until it happens again

He’s alive!! Good to hear from you. Hope you’ve had a good holiday season.

 

[mikemauti42]

He’s alive!! Good to hear from you. Hope you’ve had a good holiday season.

I mean you could have at least provided a rebuttal for calling me out

 

[HailToPitt725]

I mean you could have at least provided a rebuttal for calling me out

Fair enough. For starters, Wake Forest was our ACC Championship opponent because we already beat Clemson in the regular season.

As for the conference itself, I think it’s stronger now than where it was a few years ago. It was awful in 2018 when it was pretty much Clemson and then everyone else. Heck, we represented the Coastal Division as a 7-win team. We have more “depth” now (four top-20 teams) but lack an outstanding team that is in CFP contention. Clemson could return to that level next year and Miami might become good again with the type of investment they’re making right now.

I think what will decide where the program goes after this season is if we can hit the transfer portal hard and land some “plug and play” guys. We had a lot of success doing that this season and, combined with a weak non-con schedule, allowed us to break the proverbial glass ceiling. I’m not ashamed to admit the schedule was easy. No one will remember that ten years from now; they’ll only recall the 11-win season and conference championship. Just my opinion.

 

[mikemauti42]

Fair enough. For starters, Wake Forest was our ACC Championship opponent because we already beat Clemson in the regular season.

As for the conference itself, I think it’s stronger now than where it was a few years ago. It was awful in 2018 when it was pretty much Clemson and then everyone else. Heck, we represented the Coastal Division as a 7-win team. We have more “depth” now (four top-20 teams) but lack an outstanding team that is in CFP contention. Clemson could return to that level next year and Miami might become good again with the type of investment they’re making right now.

I think what will decide where the program goes after this season is if we can hit the transfer portal hard and land some “plug and play” guys. We had a lot of success doing that this season and, combined with a weak non-con schedule, allowed us to break the proverbial glass ceiling. I’m not ashamed to admit the schedule was easy. No one will remember that ten years from now; they’ll only recall the 11-win season and conference championship. Just my opinion.

Clemson was a shell of itself this year. We will agree to disagree about the conference. Do you really think Wake or NC state are very good or are they just a product of getting wins vs poor competition. In any P5 conference teams will get ranked just based off of how many losses they have compared to others. It does not make it a quality team.
Pitt may or may not have beat Penn State this season. Penn State’s strength is defense. Pitt’s was offense. Both teams other units were pretty poor. I think Penn States receivers would match up pretty well with that secondary though. I do think Pitt will crush Michigan State be a of the matchups. Do I think Pitt would be sitting at 11-2 if they played @wisconsin, Auburn, @iowa, @osu, vs Michigan? Not even close. Those matchups physically take a toll on your roster
Nice season for Pitt but the stars aligned perfectly and I highly doubt they will again for a long time

 

[BBG65]

I listen to 93.7 frequently and Starkey is not the sharpest stick in the shed. He's a pure city boy working for Pitt's flagship station. Having said that, Pitt had a heck of a season with 15 super seniors and a super, super senior at QB. Next year will be a rebuilding year for them and their top to bottom talent isn't that good.

 

[Brutus99]

The real question is what would Pitt's record be if they played PSU's schedule?

Yea, they are having a good year for a couple of reason's.

One being they have a 5th QB who had developed into a good Pro prospect.

Two, they play a truly weak schedule.

Three, they basically struck lightening in 2021.

Next year they will be back to normal and as always a weak, weak schedule.


Where PSU had to deal with Iowa, OSU, Wisky, MSU on the road, Auburn & Michigan at home.

Who in the whole fn country had a tougher schedule than that???

Pitt played a ton of softies, including a lousy Clemson team. What would PSU's record be if they played all those softies??

Pitt is a 4 point favorite vs a 10-2 B10 team in the Peach Bowl. Vegas has a much higher regard for Pitt than you do. I trust Vegas when it comes to deciding who the better teams are. Penn State would be an underdog to Pitt on a neutral field in 2021.

 

[YYZ86]

Penn State lost to Illinois who Virginia beat by 28. Pitt beat Virginia.

The transitive property game is ridiculous because we each can cherry-pick data points that “prove” our team is better. At the end of the day, you are what your record

Once wver

Pitt is a 4 point favorite vs a 10-2 B10 team in the Peach Bowl. Vegas has a much higher regard for Pitt than you do. I trust Vegas when it comes to deciding who the better teams are. Penn State would be an underdog to Pitt on a neutral field in 2021.

Once every ten years or so Pitt has a better season and team than PSU. If I was a Pitt fan, I hope I would be self aware enough to not go to a PSU website to discuss the outlier instead of the rule. Good luck against MSU.