The Pitt Panthers have their highest ranking in 20 years. Pitt is ranked #8 in the AP poll and #9 in the coaches poll. The computers don't have the same love, ranking Pitt #12. There was a lot of Penn State bashing by Pitt fans Saturday night, and rightfully so, but lets see how the season plays out. When the final rankings come out, will Pitt still be ranked higher? I doubt it. As a Penn State fan, I have no problem rooting for Pitt. In fact I probably root for Pitt 85-90% of the time. I will be a huge Pitt fan this Saturday. Pitt fans on the other hand despise Penn State. Most of the Penn State fans I know like watching Pitt so it must be a jealously issue with them. I tend to root for all the schools in my state unless they are playing a Big 10 school. The reason why Pitt is getting no love from the BCS? Look at their only loss. Pitt lost to NC State 38-31. NC State has 3 other wins. They are against Murray State, Gardner-Webb and a bad Maryland team. The Wolfpack also lost at home to Duke. Pitt's highest ranking in quite some some comes after beating Syracuse, the same Syracuse team that the PSU haters ripped Penn State for playing.
Now if Pitt wins out they will indeed go to a BCS Bowl, but that's a big if. Notre Dame, at West Virgina and 5th ranked Cincinnati await. Their schedule just got tough. There's all this talk about Penn State's weak schedule but Pitt has wins over Youngstown State and Buffalo. Not the best out of conference schedule and very comparable to Penn State's. Pitt's strength of schedule is 84 while Penn State's is 48. Something tells me the haters forgot to look that up. The Big East is not a better conference than the Big 10. Never will be. TCU just jumped Cincinnati in the BCS rankings. That's how much respect there is for the Big East. In fact this was the poll question on ESPN today:
As for Penn State, when will Darryl Clark show up for a big game? Ohio State had their way Saturday and Penn State's dreams of a return trip to a BCS bowl are now over. Maybe, just maybe, Pitt and Penn State can meet in a New Years Day bowl. Wouldn't that be nice?
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