Pitt's good fortune runs out in abnormal season
But he now knows the awful truth: The opponent, inevitably, was too strong.
Pitt played eight games over two months before Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech was postponed out of respect for covid-19 concerns.
Considering what has happened across college football all season — 59 games have been postponed or canceled, high-profile coaches Paul Chryst and Herman Edwards have contracted the coronavirus and there’s talk of pushing back the College Football Playoff — Pitt was fortunate to get this far.
Many Pitt players remained diligent, living in self-imposed, virtual bubbles, staying off campus as much as possible. They wanted desperately to have a normal season.
But there’s nothing normal about 2020. Nearly a quarter-million Pennsylvania residents have been infected by the coronavirus that claimed more than 9,000 lives statewide. How long could Pitt, with an enrollment of almost 35,000 people, walk that tightrope without falling?
So, what’s next?
Pitt will be off Saturday for the second time in three weeks. Its game at Georgia Tech has been rescheduled for Dec. 12, if it’s played at all.
That game in Atlanta will be two weeks after Pitt’s previously scheduled finale at Clemson. Getting to both places will require confinement during two two-hour airplane rides.
A winning season could be at stake for Pitt (4-4, 3-4 ACC). But will playing football in the midst of an ever-worsening pandemic be worth the risk?
Will players from both teams, who have seen two Pitt stars and 31 others opt-out, ask themselves that question, especially if the NFL is in their future?
Disrupting the flow of a season was one of Narduzzi’s worst fears, especially with his team hoping to build on the 41-17 victory at Florida State that broke a four-game losing streak.
But only extraordinary circumstances would force any team to postpone a game. Unfortunately, this was one of those times.
It’s happened at Pitt on only five previous occasions over the past 102 years.
• In 1918, the Spanish Flu compelled the university to play the entire five-game season in November. Georgia Tech was added to the schedule at the last minute to create some semblance of a true season.
• A snowstorm in 1950 dropped a record 27.4 inches on the region and postponed the Penn State game from Nov. 25 to Dec. 2. The game was moved from Pitt Stadium to Forbes Field, and Penn State won, 21-20.
• The Pitt/Penn State game of 1963 was postponed from Nov. 23 to Dec. 7 after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated the day before in Dallas. Pitt was 7-1 and on its way to one of its best seasons of all-time, but the best bowls were afraid to wait. Those fears turned out to be unfounded after the Panthers defeated Miami and Penn State to finish 9-1, but Pitt stayed home for the holidays. The 22-21 victory against Penn State was the only game played in December at Pitt Stadium.
• In 2001, a game against UAB, scheduled for Sept. 15, was delayed nearly three months by the 9/11 attacks.
• In 2004, Hurricane Frances forced Pitt’s game at USF to be moved from Sept. 6 to Dec. 4.
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Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.
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