Two years after Pitt pompously boldly declared that it would no longer schedule home-and-home games with Group of Five programs, the Panthers had a 180º change of heart.
Only two seasons ago, with Pitt football making an unexpected return to the AP Top 25, Pittsburgh athletic director Scott Barnes ascended his golden high horse to make this pretentious declaration:
“We will not continue to play home-and-home with Group of Five schools. We will play them at our place as part of our scheduling plan. We will not play home-and-home.”
Ho ho! Pitt, who shares digs with the Steelers at Heinz Field, doesn’t even have its own football stadium. This lead to me arrogantly thoughtfully calling for a G5 boycott of Pitt Panther games. (I was peeved, okay?) Since then, Barnes has bailed on Pittsburgh for Oregon State, presumably leaving whoever is in charge to rethink things.
Of course, one can argue that Pitt (8-5 last year) continues to stand by its principles by maintaining that by playing UCF the Panthers are not conceding a home game to a Group of Five Program at all.
Whatever. Anyway, thanks for not being jerks anymore, Pitt. Boycott’s over.
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