College football 2018 championship week thread

We've seen it at Pitt, where it was common to get 47,000-48,000 for a game against a regular ACC opponent. Now they're fortunate to get 40,000 in a Heinz Field that's been expanded from 62,500 when it opened to nearly 70,000. Doesn't sound like a lot, but that's a damn near 20 percent drop. There are rumors swirling that Pitt is exploring a new stadium in the next 10 years (they should have never tore down the old one, but I digress), which I think would help because Heinz is simply too damn big.

 

Whatever. We all owe Ohio State a debt of gratitude for knocking Michigan and Harbaugh out of the playoff picture. For that reason alone, they’re winners!

Eat shit, Harbaugh.

 

There's a big tarp in Oakland that isn't going to be needed soon.

 

Every season is different, but the formula never is. SEC teams get a mulligan (to even consider a two-loss Georgia team was a joke), but everyone else better be unbeaten, or not have a loss by more than one TD.

And we'll never know if Ohio State could beat Alabama this year, since it won't get the chance.

 

Pitt is always going to be an outlier in the ACC. No common geography, no history with anyone in that league except BC and Syracuse. Why would anyone in Pittsburgh get excited about playing Georgia Tech or Wake Forest? I've heard the series are being re-started piecemeal, but you don't even have a historical rival like PSU or WVU on the docket every year any more.

It will never happen but a Big East football conference of Pitt, WVU, Temple, Syracuse, BC, UConn, UMass, Rutgers, Buffalo and Maryland is probably a better fit for all those schools instead of being all split up in various conferences. They'd all certainly draw better, except for maybe WVU, which at least gets Oklahoma or Texas at home every year.

 

Not sure history is all that much in Ohio State's favor in this argument. It did beat Alabama (by 7) and then Oregon in 2014-15, but the last (and only other) time it was in the playoffs, it lost 31-0, the year after Michigan State lost 38-0. Going back a ways, it was 1-2 in the BCSCG, winning in 2OT and losing by 27 and 14. Despite all the complaints over the years about how many SEC teams get invited, those teams have shown they belonged, going a combined 5-2 in the playoffs and 8-1 in the BCSCG against teams from other conferences.

 

The ACC is the best possible landing spot for Pitt. Most of our alumni are up and down the east coast in Del-Mar-Va, Atlanta and Florida. We have absolutely nothing in common with big land grant schools in the Big 10 and the road trips aren't nearly as attractive. Where you want to go: Atlanta, Miami or Charlottesville or Goddam Iowa City, West Lafayette or New Brunswick? And if we aren't drawing big for schools like UNC and Virginia what the hell makes you believe they're coming for UConn and Buffalo?

I'd rather be an outlier in the ACC than the charter member of some hodge-podge piece of crap like the AAC.

 

The Big East was a perfectly viable football conference before Miami set the bailout precedent. BC football and (especially) basketball have essentially vanished from this town's sports consciousness since the school went to the ACC.

 

The ACC really came hunting at an opportune time in 2002-2003, with Miami at the top of its game, Virginia Tech and West Virginia nipping at their heels and Pitt, BC and Syracuse working its way into the mix.

 

I'd rather be an outlier in the ACC than the charter member of some hodge-podge piece of crap like the AAC.

Well you're getting your wish. And a steady diet of Albany, Rice, Youngstown State, Villanova, etc., and no games against WVU.

 

Part of the advantage of going to a low-tier bowl game is the extra practice time. At what point does that kick in, and are you effectively penalized by an earlier bowl? Take Tulane or Arizona State, for example, who were slotted into Dec. 15 bowls. So they only get an extra 20 hours of week of practice this week and next, while Alabama, Clemson, etc. get a full two weeks of extra practice beyond that? And do you get the extra practice time upon becoming bowl-eligible, or do you have to formally accept a position in the bowl? Arizona State, Eastern Michigan, Tulane, etc. didn't play this weekend. Were they allowed to just keep practicing, or did they have to take last week off?

 

Newsflash: Our fans don't care about WVU. No one was heartbroken when those trash throwing, couch burning clowns were taken off of the schedule. Aside from one or two years when both teams were in the top 25 the average attendance for WVU was about 48,000. Notre Dame and PSU move the needle with this bunch. You're competing with the Steelers and Penguins for attention. If you think playing games on the Ocho on a Friday night against Temple, Maryland and UMass is moving the needle in Pittsburgh, you're wrong. Had they not been invited to the ACC and been relegated to the Bounce House Conference you'd been able to move games to a vacant lot.

What Pitt needs isn't a downshift; it needs to hire competent people. The ACC Coastal is nothing more than the 2001 Big East. There's no reason this program can't contend for the division once every few years. Hell, they won it this year, and sneeze at it if you like, the bottom line is they went 6-2 in conference and didn't slip in through the back door. No one expects them to be Clemson or Florida State, good Lord if Duke can maintain competitive football in this league, so can Pitt.