-Pitt ranks 7th among Division IA schools with 49 consensus
All-Americans.
-Pitt has a two hour football pre-game radio show and an hour of post-game
coverage. Then there is another hour long call-in show. There are approximately
19 radio stations that carry Pitt programming in the state.
-Tyler Palko returns for his 3rd season as Pitt’s starting
quarterback. Palko is ranked 5th all-time in passing yardage for the
Panthers. Last season he threw for 2,392 yards with a 57% completion percentage.
He also had 17 touchdown tosses against 9 interceptions.
-The Panthers return 4 of their starting offensive linemen.
-On defense two-time All Big East linebacker, H. B. Blades, returns for his
senior year. Blades led the entire Big East Conference last year with 121
tackles-13th nationally. The defense also boasts first team All Big
East cornerback, Darrelle Revis.
-Pitt returns 13 starters from last season.
-Paul Dunn, Pitt’s offensive line coach, coached at Cincinnati for two years
(1994-95) under Rick Minter.
-Cincinnati area players on the Pitt roster include Eric Thatcher (DB) of
Moeller, Javani Chappel (DB) of Trotwood-Madison, and Chris Vangas from
Chaminade-Julienne.
-The Pittsburgh roster includes 53 players from Pennsylvania and 21 players
from Florida, only 10 are from Ohio.
-Pitt has a nice mix of conferences in its non-league schedule-Virginia
(ACC), Michigan State (Big Ten), The Citadel (Southern Div. IAA), Toledo (MAC),
Central Florida (C-USA).
-Pitt’s final two games are at home against West Virginia and Louisville
respectively.
-The Panthers play Notre Dame in alternating home and away games for eight
consecutive years starting in 2008.
-Pitt’s record last season was 5-6 with five of those losses coming on the
road. Notre Dame was the only home loss and drew 66,451 fans to Heinz Field. The
only other home game to draw over 36,000 was Youngstown State with a crowd of
43,135. Their smallest crowd last year was Cincinnati with 30,343 fans.
-Last year, Pitt’s average starting field position against Cincinnati was the
42 yard line. Conversely, Cincinnati’s average starting field position was their
own 26. The Panthers blocked a punt and recovered it at the Bearcat 6 yard line,
eventually scoring a touchdown, and Darrelle Revis returned a punt 79 yards for
another TD. The final score was Pitt 38-Cincinnati 20.
-With defensive-mined Dave Wannstedt as the Panther head coach, Pitt was
2nd in the country in pass defense last year.
-Dan Marino is 2nd to Alex Van Pelt in career passing yards.
-Tony Dorsett is 1st in career rushing yards, and Curtis Martin is
6th on the list.
-Hugh Green is 2nd to Arnie Weatherington in career tackles.
-Pitt is 5-0 all-time against Cincinnati. The only game closer than last
year’s was a 21-14 Bearcat loss in 1921.
-Two Panthers heard their names called in last year’s NFL draft. Charles Spencer (OL) was a 3rd round pick of the Texans and Bernard (Josh)
Lay was taken in the 6th round by the New Orleans Saints.
-The last Pitt football player to be taken in the first round of the NFL
draft was Larry Fitzgerald in 2004 by the Arizona Cardinals. In 1981 and 1983,
the Panthers had three players taken in the first round. In 1981, Hugh Green
(LB), Randy McMillan (FB) and Mark May (OT) were taken, and in 1983, Jim Covert
(OT), Tim Lewis (DB) and Dan Marino (QB) were selected.
-Pitt is 6th in the NCAA for national championships in football
with 9 titles, but only one (1976) came since World War II. Notre Dame leads
with 17 national championships.
-Pittsburgh has appeared in 24 bowl games with a 10-14 record. From
1975-1983, the Panthers appeared in 9 straight bowls. Their most recent
appearance was a 35-7 loss to Utah in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in 2004. Last
year’s losing record broke a string of 5 consecutive bowls for the Panthers.
-This game will be televised on ESPN2. Pitt is 3-11 in games broadcast on
ESPN2, losing to both Ohio University and Rutgers last season on the network.