A day for celebration and remembrance of what hard work and sacrifices both our Citizens and Citizen-Soldiers have made to make and keep the United States of America a free and vibrant democracy. I appreciate what has taken place before us and before today and with my circle of family, friends and acquaintances – including each and every one of you readers – I know we’ll keep the USA on an even keel for centuries to come.
So… If we are remembering stuff, then take a break from the scrambled eggs, grilled bratwurst and mashed potatoes I know every red-blooded American is eating for their 4th of July meal (at least that’s what we did at our German Grandma’s house when I was a kid) and take a minute to review some of the past and glorious Big Game victories Pitt has had in the last 19 years…
Let’s time travel back to Walt Harris’s tenure at Pitt and see what he, and our following HCs, have done when faced with Big Games on a national stage. Here are the matches as determined by me to have the label “Big Games ” which were mostly when our opponents had Top 25 rankings either on the day of the game or at the end of the season (as in lats year’s PSU win).
For a holiday treat and because you are great Pitt fans I linked a ton of info in the chart below. The actual scores of the games are linked to the box score and the “Opponent’s Gameday Rank” column has either articles about the game or some videos I thought were fun to watch… Grab a beer and Enjoy!!
| Year | Head Coach | Opp. Gameday Rank | Final Score | Opp. Final Ranking | Record vs Ranked teams |
| 1997 | Walt Harris | #22 Miami | 21-17 | NR | |
| WH | #19 VT | 30-23 | NR | 2-3 | |
| 2001 | WH | #12 VT | 38-7 | #18 | 1-1 |
| 2002 | WH | #3 VT | 28-21 | #18 | 1-3 |
| 2003 | WH | #5 VT | 31-28 | NR | 1-1 |
| 2004 | WH | #24 ND | 41-38 | #17 | |
| WH | #21 WVU | 16-13 | NR | 2-0 | |
| 2007 | Dave Wannstedt | #23 Cincy | 24-17 | #17 | |
| DW | #2 WVU * | 13-9 | #6 | 2-0 | |
| 2008 | DW | #10 USF | 26-21 | NR | 1-2 |
| 2011 | Graham | #16 USF | 44-17 | NR | 1-1 |
| 2012 | Paul Chryst | #13 VT | 35-17 | NR | |
| PC | #21 RU | 27-6 | NR | 2-2 | |
| 2013 | PC | #24 ND | 28-21 | #21 | 1-1 |
| 2016 | Pat Narduzzi | NR PSU * | 42-39 | #7 | |
| PN | #3 Clemson * | 43-42 | #1 | 1-1 |
I’ll pick my three favorites (highlighted in bold) and then you all can chip in with yours in the comments section.
pittpov.com 