The short version of the sordid story is that Maryland’s president recently came from Iowa and it’s chancellor recently came from Ohio State (although he had a Maryland background). Maryland signed non-disclosure agreements covering its discussions with the Big 10, preventing any wider discussion in the Maryland community. The board meeting where the move was approved was held in violation of Maryland’s open meeting laws, and one board member (former Terp basketball star and US Congressman Tom McMillan) publicly complained that it was rammed through. Unlike every other conference realignment move, if it had been a more open process, it probably wouldn’t have happened.
Notre Dame provides the open dates, and the ACC office selects the teams. Every other ACC team is supposed to play Notre Dame at least once every three years, home and away at least every six. Notre Dame could probably play it’s in-conference rivals like Pitt and BC more often if they increased their commitment. That is, if Notre Dame agrees to play six ACC games a year, they could play BC and Pitt annually, and rotate four games a year against the other 12 ACC teams without a problem.
Yeah. Navy is the one untouchable game on ND’s schedule. I don’t care much for ND, but I respect that they have not forgotten what Navy did for them. They could easily toss Navy aside and very few people would complain. In fact, ND has taken a lot of hits for keeping them ON the schedule, since it is usually an easy win. But Navy should and will stay.
I assume Pitt will try to make VT a rival. They were once pseudo-rivals in the old Big East, before VT left for the ACC. But i don’t care one bit about VT. UVa is another school that could develop into a rivalry, but UVa has VT and Duke and UNC, I assume. Syracuse and Pitt have been playing since 1955 or so, so that’s the one school that has any real history left withi Pitt’s football program. But not many Pitt folks get worked up over Syracuse. There were two historic rivalries, and I’m afraid they are both gone now. WVU and Penn State. It is a shame. It is hard for me to imagine a football schedule without WVU on it. I have never recovered from the loss of Penn State, and it is the single biggest reason I have continued to stick pins in my JoePA voodoo doll. I will never forgive him for single-handedly killing the rivalry that meant so much to so many.
Like many, my family was split with Pitt and PSU alum, and we loved that game. Only a college game has that type of atmosphere. When PSU left, people tried to make WVU the big game, but it wasn’t the same. It had a century of history, so it did have some passion, but for me, Pitt-PSU was OSU-Michigan. Can you imagine those two schools never meeting on a football field again? I LOVED to hate PSU. And they LOVED to hate Pitt. But when PSU went to the Big 10, they got schools like OSU, Michigan, MSU etc, so their schedule never took a hit like Pitt’s did. We lost our “Kong”.
Thanks for the quick and dirty version. I had no idea. Personally, I liked Maryland in the ACC and was sad to see them go. They were a close geographic rivalry for Pitt, and that could have been a school where a real rivalry developed if given enough time. We’ll never know now.
As for ND, i hope Pitt gets to play them more frequently than the other ACC schools, but Pitt isn’t USC, so I doubt the Irish will do anything special to keep Pitt on the schedule.
<sigh>
Pitt’s college football schedule is boring to read. Playing Delaware, FIU, and Akron in their non-conference schedule does nothing for me, and their ACC opponents do little more.
I’d go back to an eight team conference with a seven-game schedule myself, but take a good look at Georgia Tech – very similar school to Pitt, same division, could become a great rivalry. And don’t expect the current arrangement with Notre Dame to last very long, I think Pitt will be playing them annually again soon.