Pitt to play Youngstiown State

[FALCON FLIER]

Just read that the University of Pittsburgh will be playing Youngstown State on Sept 24. Why would a BCS school that played in a BCS bowl game open with a Division II school. It seems to me if Pitt has any aspirations to play for a national championship sometime in the near future they would have learned the lesson of Auburn and not scheduled a Division II school.

I know BG has played Pitt both home and away in the past but do you think we are getting so good as an opponent that it will become next to impossible to get any quality teams to come to the Doyt even with 2 and even 3 for 1's. It can understand BCS teams being willing to go to Ohio U and Western Michigan because they know they will overcome any home field advantage these schools may have. But Toledo has been able to attract some pretty attractive non-conference opponents to play there, and have had some pretty good success on the field.

[TG1996]

Is Y'town St. Division II now? Or I-AA still?

I think its the whole MAC "Top 4" or so that are causing the scheduling issues you bring up. Pitt went into Toledo and lost, Miami(OH) has been hanging with and beating teams at home of late, and the same with NIU to an extent. While BG hasn't had any of these teams at home, they've played some top teams very tough on the road, and when it comes to a home date, we likely get lumped in with the teams that have posted the big wins at home as a "dangerous place to visit". (Dangerous in a different way that Bancroft Tech is a dangerous place to visit, though.)

[BelieveNBG]

Krebs has already stated in a radio interview that it is already impossible to get BCS schools to come to our site. They know just how good we already are. UT, NIU, and Miami aren't having any luck in that department either.

[UK Peregrine]

Why would a BCS school that played in a BCS bowl game open with a Division II school? It seems to me if Pitt has any aspirations to play for a national championship sometime in the near future they would have learned the lesson of Auburn and not scheduled a Division II school.

Because they played Division I-AA Furman last season and still made a BCS bowl game. So it doesn't really matter who the schedule as their 11th game.

[UK Peregrine]

BTW, Pitt beat Furman at home by overcoming a 17-point deficit to win by 3pts in overtime. And this team was worthy of a BCS game, so why not schedule Youngstown State.

[Lord_Byron]

From a gate receipt aspect, the chance that a few thousand people drive the 60 miles from Youngstown is a lot more feasible than people attending from Furman, Citadel or any other 1AA (given that they want to play a 1AA).

It also makes sense for both programs, YSU goes against a BCS, and Pitt has shown that as long as they can win the Big Least they get in a BCS bowl.

Also, it doesn't hurt recruiting in the steel valley for either school.

[GoGriz]

BTW, Pitt beat Furman at home by overcoming a 17-point deficit to win by 3pts in overtime. And this team was worthy of a BCS game, so why not schedule Youngstown State.

It is funny you mention this because it has been recently discussed on the Egriz.com message board. It appears that Furman contacted Pitt to see if they would play them this year again and the Pitt said no dice to it.

Here is the link to the thread. It is a funny read.

http://www.egriz.com/GrizBoard/viewtopic.php?t=7718

[Flipper]

I saw Furman play a time or two on cable (fox sports digital is great). They have a pretty good team. I think they'd be competitive in the MAC and probably favored in the Sunbelt (based on what I've seen of directional Texas State)

[BelieveNBG]

While BG hasn't had any of these teams at home, they've played some top teams very tough on the road, and when it comes to a home date, we likely get lumped in with the teams that have posted the big wins at home as a "dangerous place to visit".

Actually, the last home game we had with BCS school was Missouri in 2002 and we absolutely killed them at our place. I am sure that sent a strong message to other likely contenders.

[kdog27]

I saw Furman play a time or two on cable (fox sports digital is great). They have a pretty good team. I think they'd be competitive in the MAC and probably favored in the Sunbelt (based on what I've seen of directional Texas State)

And YSU sucks nowadays. A much easier win for Pitt. I saw YSU play last year. They are pathetic and seem to get worse every year.

[Schadenfreude]

Youngstown State is Division I-AA, not Division II.

And this sucks.

[Warthog]

Youngstown State went downhill after they stopped cheating, that is, when Tressel left.

[Falconfreak90]

Pitt sucks and so does YSU. I remember back in the 90's when I worked in Ytown radio, all these Penguin fans used to say YSU would win the MAC every year. Umm.....yeah. Try winning the Gateway Conference ONCE.

Pitt...