I wanted to include this in my last post on the non-con, but was limited by time (mainly the end of Sesame Street). I have no doubt how Pitt will spin the schedule: it must be taken as a whole. That Pitt has such a difficult conference schedule, that it justifies lining up nothing but patsies. I just hope they don’t try to claim this as they did last year:

“By far, it’s the most difficult schedule we will play in my five years here,” Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon said. “The Big East will again pose a tremendous challenge. I’m excited about our non-conference schedule as well. We’re bringing in teams from three of the major conferences — the ACC, SEC and Big 10. I doubt there are many schools nationwide who can say that.”

The other problem for Pitt with this schedule is that there is no margin for a loss on this schedule. Even against Memphis or South Carolina. Those (and maybe Richmond) will be the only good RPI games. Lose any of those games and everyone will and should question the team.