The 2006 Pitt football schedule has been released (hat tip to Joe T.). That makes sense because the Big East released the entire schedule (hat tip to Kevin B.).

Date —– Opponent —————— Time

Sept. 2 —- Virginia —————— TBA

Sept. 8 (Fri.) – at Cincinnati* (ESPN2) – TBA

Sept. 16 — Michigan State ———- TBA

Sept. 23 — The Citadel ————— TBA

Sept. 30 —- Toledo ——————– TBA

Oct. 7 —— at Syracuse* ———— TBA

Oct. 14 —- at Central Florida ——– TBA

Oct. 21 ——- Rutgers* —————- TBA

Oct. 28 ——— OPEN

Nov. 4 ——— at South Florida* —– TBA

Nov. 11 ——– at Connecticut* ——- TBA

Nov. 16 (Thurs.) – West Virginia* (ESPN) – 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 25 ———- Louisville* ———– TBA

Only 2 ESPN games at this point. Having a disappointing season and debut last year will do that.

Let’s see, yup, Pitt keeps the tradition going again. If any of the High Holy Days fall on a weekend, there must be a home game. Rosh Hashanah starts Friday evening, September 22. Perfect. At least it’s only The Citadel.

As far as the BE schools as a whole, the ongoing ghettoization on the ESPN family continues. Only two games get on ESPN or ESPN2 on a Saturday. Both on the final day of the season, December 2: UConn @ Louisville and Rutgers @ WVU. Otherwise they are Thursday (4) and Friday (2) match-ups. Though, according to the release:

There are a minimum of two additional ESPN or ESPN2 telecasts and four ABC telecasts still to be determined.

With games against Virginia and Michigan State, Pitt has a chance for one of those 6 slots. Louisville has as good a shot with games against Miami (FL) and K-State

WVU will be televised 5 times on the Mouse channels and Louisville 4 times. USF and Syracuse make 0 appearances at this time.