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September 3, 2012

1-AA Losses In the Last Five Years

Filed under: Football,History — Chas @ 3:04 pm

When you have plenty of time, but no wi-fi, there is only so much you can do. I did, however, have the handy-dandy Phil Steele College Football Preview Guide to keep me entertained. Pitt was #15 on his list of most improved teams for this year! Guessing that won’t be mentioned next year when he talks of his accuracy.

It did allow me to look over the schedules of teams over the past five years and how many BCS programs have lost to 1-AA teams in that span. Time to look at the factoids gleaned.

From 2007-2011, a 1-AA team has beaten a BCS team 11 times.

Nine teams, however, account for those 11 losses.

Minnesota and Duke account for 4 of the losses.

North Dakota State accounts for two 1-AA wins: Minnesota and Kansas

So does Richmond, but both wins came against Duke.

Average margin of loss: 5.545 points. Highest: 13. Lowest: 1.

Two teams that lost to 1-AA teams made a bowl that year: Michigan and Virginia Tech.

The man for whom Paul Chryst named his dog, Mike Riley, is on the list.

There are ten different coaches who lost to 1-AA teams from 2007-2011. Four of them are still coaching at that school (Frank Beamer, VT; Jerry Kill, Minnesota; Dave Cutliffe, Duke; Mike Riley, Oregon St.)

The Big East was the only BCS conference without a 1-AA loss from 2007 until Pitt.

I’m not including Temple’s 27-24 loss to Villanova in 2009 since Temple was in the MAC at that point.

The ACC leads all conferences with four losses to 1-AA teams. (So really, you could argue that Pitt was just trying to fit in to the ACC a little early).

One coach has managed to fail upward after losing to a 1-AA team. Gene Chizik lost to Northern Iowa while coaching Iowa State and still got hired by Auburn.

Here’s the list of games by year:

2007

Big 10, Michigan-Appalachian St., 34-32, Lloyd Carr the HC: retired at end of 2007 season.

Big 12, Iowa St.-Northern Iowa, 24-13, Gene Chizik the HC: Hired by Auburn after 2008 season.

2009

ACC, Virginia-William & Mary, 26-14, Al Groh the HC: fired at end of 2009 season.

ACC, Duke-Richmond, 24-16, Dave Cutliffe the HC: still employed by Duke.

2010

SEC, Ole Miss-Jacksonville St., 49-48, Houston Nutt the HC: fired after 2011 season.

Big 10, Minnesota-South Dakota, 41-38, Tim Brewster the HC: fired after 2010 season.

Big 12, Kansas-North Dakota St., 6-3, Turner Gill the HC: fired after 2011 season.

ACC, Virginia Tech-James Madison, 21-16, Frank Beamer the HC: still employed by VT.

2011

Big 10, Minnesota-North Dakota St., 37-24, Jerry Kill the HC: still employed by Minnesota.

ACC, Duke-Richmond, 23-21, Dave Cutliffe the HC: still employed by Duke.

Pac-12, Oregon St.-Sacremento St., 29-28, Mike Riley the HC: still employed by Oregon St.





Wardapalooza, Oliver Luck already had Holgerson before forcing Stewart’s resignation. Pedersen was to find this out as Holgerson was his first contact. His 2nd contact was Golden whom he found out Miami already had sewn up.

He then contacted the likes of Sumlin and Graham, only to find out their salary demands were way too much (turned out that Wanny was quite the bargain!)

He then finally ssttled on Callahan …. er, I mean Haywood.

Comment by wbb 09.04.12 @ 1:39 pm

At some point reality smacks you right in the face and wakes you up. Saturday we all got our smack. Its time to remove the rose colored glasses and admit that Pitt is an average football program (AT VERY BEST). Pitt Football (players, coaches, staff, administration) are basically a bunch of losers that breed losing. The first step in recovery is admitting the truth and facing reality. Honestly, when was the last time the Pitt football team won a meaningful game with something on the line??? We are losers ladies and gentlemen and Saturday was just the dose of reality we all needed. I am hopeful that someday this curse can be lifted and Pitt can once again compete but honestly after YSU bitch slapped us on Saturday does anyone think thats going to happen any time soon??

I will watch the rest of the season and probably every season after that but its time to lower our expectations and accept the fact that a trip to Birmingham every three years in January isn’t so bad.

Comment by Coach Ditka 09.04.12 @ 1:45 pm

@Dr Tom, unfortuneatly yes it does.

Just as nations in the past have lived and died by their leadership, so too does Pitt football. When you have an AD who wrecked Nebraska and has gone through 4 different coaching hires without any improvement in 2 years, he needs to go.

The only way to put pressure on Nordy is to not go to games and get him to fire Pederson.

This is the exact same reason the pirates have been this way for years. Poor ownership and leadership.

Comment by anonymouspitt 09.04.12 @ 2:00 pm

But keep going-keep supporting these guys with no commitment to winning.

Comment by anonymouspitt 09.04.12 @ 2:04 pm

wbb, I meant WVU was in the same situation in that they weren’t happy with their current coach who had some success and was moderately successful. Clearly, the process afterwards sucked.

I honestly don’t think Pederson had a choice in the matter and that Wanny had to be fired. I will always believe that the off the field issues including the SI story were the main reasons he was fired.

I wouldn’t say Pitt are losers. Literally, like 4 plays over the course of the past 3 seasons from 3 straight Big East titles and 3 straight BCS games. I think with Chryst, Pitt will turn into the Wisconsin of the ACC, consistently beat the teams they are supposed to beat and be competitive against everyone else. I’ll take that every year.

Comment by Wardapalooza 09.04.12 @ 2:06 pm

HbgFRANK you said it was time for wanny to go becuse he had a team that was totally uninspired in there play.
i dont disagree with you but waht did we get in are last game a team that was totally uninspired in there play.

just like wannys that does not meam i want chryst
gone one game is not a good judge.

but there better be someimprovement on thur becuse
even bad players can try hard give it all they have that is what i want to see yes penn state lost to ohio but they played hard and never quit that is what i want.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.12 @ 2:07 pm

wardapalooza, this is exactly what Im talking about, rationalizing the losing:

“I wouldn’t say Pitt are losers. Literally, like 4 plays over the course of the past 3 seasons from 3 straight Big East titles and 3 straight BCS games.”

Lets face the facts, we couldn’t win the weakest conference in the country despite having the best recruits. We couldnt beat a fluke Cinci team on our home field with a huge third qtr lead. That is what losers do, they lose…we lost! And for christ sake we just got a beat down from the penguins in our home opener. open your eyes.

Comment by Coach Ditka 09.04.12 @ 2:13 pm

If there is such thing as the ‘death penalty’, Pitt has received a slower and more painful self-imposed ‘life sentence’.

It’s very unfortunate that the only thing I want out of the program is to LIMIT embarrassing losses…oof.

Comment by Cool Hand Nuke 09.04.12 @ 2:13 pm

I’m not rationalizing. Losers are teams like Duke and Indiana that never win and never come close. Losers don’t come close to conference titles. Pitt is more mediocre and underperforming than anything. Does mediocre and underperforming suck? Yes. But I’m not going to call Pitt players losers. Many make the NFL and are successful. It is just a matter of having the right coach to make sure the players succeed. Hopefully, Chryst is that guy. I’m just not going to judge a new coach based on one game in which a thin team was already thinner due to last minute suspensions. I’m just being realistic.

Comment by Wardapalooza 09.04.12 @ 2:25 pm

Wardapalloza, if Pitt played in the Big Ten we would be exactly like Duke and Indiana. We barely made bowl games playing in the weak ass big east. And the rationalization that 4 plays and we would be in 3 straight BCS games is non sense. We were in those positions beause we didn’t make hundreds of other plays along the way. For example, Yes, you could say in the Cinci game we were one botched field goal away – technically one play. But the reality is what about the numerous blown plays that let cinci score and win?, what about the dozen or so other plays that allowed them to even get back in the game in the first place? Losers collapse when the game is on the line.

Comment by Coach Ditka 09.04.12 @ 2:33 pm

Stoosh i did not mean that i think chapman is
a bad QB i was just showing steve s a point that he had not thought of or did not know.
if you read his post you will see what i was doeing.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.12 @ 2:35 pm

Comment by Joe D 09.04.12 @ 2:50 pm

Wardapalooza, If Pitt had scored 2 more pts vs Cincy in 09 and/or 3 more pts vs Uconn in 010, that SI story wouldn’t have mattered. Yes, Wanny would have been warned to clean it up but he defiitely wouldn’t have been fired — remember, there was by no means a trend of bad behavior prior to 2010, so it wasn’t an onging thing.

Comment by wbb 09.04.12 @ 2:51 pm

Comment by Get the Glory 09.04.12 @ 3:04 pm

Whoops

Comment by Get the Glory 09.04.12 @ 3:04 pm

Good article. Spanked, but so did a lot of teams. At least he gave the Pitt fans a break,

(they were pessimistic, and it was immediately justified!) LMAO!!

Comment by Dan 09.04.12 @ 3:12 pm

here is a curious stat: PA has nearly a million more residents than Ohio yet Ohio has had a substantial higher number of D1 recruits than PA for past several years … not even close. PA HS football has been definitely on the decline.

I keep telling everyone here that the declining Western PA FB market, playing in an FB conference with limited exposure, in addition to sharing the city with a beloved NFL franchise spells nothing but trouble for Pitt FB … and you cannot measure the program by late 1970s standards.

At least Wanny, as long as he was putting players in the NFL, would always get attractive recruits.

Comment by wbb 09.04.12 @ 3:18 pm

This was an uggly uggly loss. Thin team ? I don’t know how a D-1 team can lose to an FCS team, let alone get spanked.

Die hard pitt fan.. but its getting much harder to believe. I swear somebody made a deal with the devil in 1976….

Comment by Snala The Panther 09.04.12 @ 3:22 pm

I thought this blog increased its writing staff…

Comment by Get the Glory 09.04.12 @ 3:26 pm

Wbb and wanny did recruit high ranking QB one 5
star and four 4 stars the fact that 4 out of the
5 sucked is not the coachs fult .
becuse you dont know till they play.
i thought wanny a bad game day coach but i did not
want him fired.
and as Wbb said he should not have been fires unless they had a good coach locked up to take his place like WVU did.
so that is on are AD who i do think sucks a big one.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.12 @ 3:28 pm

Bottom line…

Pitt’s offense was good enough to win even with the two fumbles.

A couple of YSU stops and a couple of more possessions and the points are there.

The BIGGEST PROBLEM on defense was no so much the defensive calls although they were a problem (surprise fourth down TD pass included.

It was Huxtable being duped into playing some players (more than a few) who showed either a complete lack of ability or lack of desire to make a play.

Watching the replay, it would be hard to remember watching down D-linemen as slow and cumbersome as a group of guys wearing numbers in the 90s.

Donald also struggled to get free while being handled singlehandedly.

The one who seemed to get a little better as the game went on was 72 Lippert.

Seems ridiculous to bring strength and conditioning into question but it has to be questioned unless these guys just aren’t that talented.

Linebacker, same story different reason. Nothing to question here but an apparent lack of desire to make plays instead of just running around pursuing plays.

Isn’t there someone behind Gordon wlling to play with a motor and hit people instead of playing like a safety in run support?

Comment by PittofDreams 09.04.12 @ 3:42 pm

FRANKCAN,

Oh, I knew what you were getting at regarding Chapman. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.

I was just adding some context and discussion to it with the Palko and Rutherford points.

Comment by Stoosh 09.04.12 @ 4:10 pm

Stoosh i know wanny was a bad game day coach.
but as a recruiter i thought he did good even if outhers dont look at the QB one 5 star at least
four 4 star qb i dont think you can blame a coach
when 4 out of 5 suck you never know till they play.

i am upset as you all are but lets face it chryst
will get at least 3 years but the asst coachs they can be changed

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.12 @ 4:30 pm

OK….so were suppose to stop supporting the university we LOVE??…..This isn’t the Pittsburgh Piriates and Bob Nutting!!….You people can stay away and thats fine with me!!…college sports is suppose to be about passion and tradition…if you guys want to go support another team….leave this blog…go find another team….I can be disappointed with my panthers but I will never not support them…HAIL TO PITT!!

Comment by pitt-for-life 09.04.12 @ 5:01 pm

Six different head coaches in two years is never a measure of a successful football program, let alone much of anything in life. This team has no QB, which limits the offense and to top it off the oline is shaky, with a d line that’s shaky as well. Don’t blame Chryst he just inherited a mess given to him by Steve Petersen. I hope a lot of you realize that this isn’t USC, or Alabama where talent is already here. There are maybe 4 or 5 guys that are players and that’s it. This is going to take more than a few years.

Comment by Lou 09.04.12 @ 5:04 pm

Lou lets say you are right dont you think even a bad team should play hard the first game new coach you know give it evey thing they can.
for me it is not that they lost it is that they werent into the game did you see the side line were is the pride were is the giveing 100 percent even if you lose penn state lost but they tryed hard they gave it there all .
were was are balls are fire.

Comment by FRANKCAN 09.04.12 @ 5:15 pm

@ Coach Ditka, I take real offense to your accusation that Pitt football and Pitt football fans are losers. Right now this team is just a bunch of under achievers. You just wait until next year when Pitt joins the ACC, then we’ll show you what kind of losers we can be. Move over Duke, Pitt’s coming to town and is looking to take your place. Wait a second that didn’t come out right.

Comment by Dr. Tom 09.04.12 @ 6:04 pm

I don’t think the Pirates-Pitt comparisons are necessarily fair, because I do think the university has demonstrated a willingness (perhaps not to the degree that we’d all like) to invest money into the football program. But there’s really only so much they can do, given the budgetary constraints imposed upon the athletic department. Pitt isn’t Alabama or Texas or USC or Penn State, whose athletic departments basically have a license to print money. The school can’t spend money that it simply doesn’t have.

Comment by Swinging Gate 09.04.12 @ 6:58 pm

The article isn’t too bad for Pitt in general. He does ask the same question most are asking here which is How does Steve Pederson keep his job?He is mocking the administration and I expect that the longer this goes in the media, the worse it will be for Pitt. Can’t we just give the guy a “mustard parachute” and make him go away! It’s getting to be a national embarassment!

Only Jody would look at an article with a “Forde” time associated with it….

Comment by dhuffdaddy 09.04.12 @ 7:24 pm

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