https://triblive.com/sports/the-long-strange-football-history-of-pitt-syracuse-and-its-getting-odder-by-the-year/
The long, strange football history of Pitt-Syracuse. And it's getting odder by the year.
Saturday marks the 75th college football game between Pitt and Syracuse. And one word sums up the history of this series.
Weird.
It’s one of the strangest, goofiest rivalries in terms of historical trends that you will find.
Just look at Syracuse’s three most recent trips to Heinz Field.
2020 … Pandemic. No fans. Enough said.
2018 … There’s a 75-minute weather delay. Syracuse blows a 14-point lead. Pitt blows a 10-point lead. Syracuse blows two different leads in the fourth quarter. And then Pitt wins in overtime.
2016 … Pitt outguns the Orange 76-61, setting the record for the highest-scoring regulation game (137 total points) in FBS history. The teams combined for 47 points in the fourth quarter alone.
That’s just recently. The oddities of how the series momentum has twisted go all the way back to the 1960s.
From 1957-1968: Syracuse wins nine of 12.
From 1973-1983: Pitt wins 11 in a row.
From 1984-2001: Syracuse goes 16-1-1.
From 2002-2019: Pitt has gone 15-3.
Furthermore, even when Syracuse has beaten Pitt during this recent stretch, it has been by an eyelash.
One of the three victories was in double overtime (38-31 in 2004). The Orange pulled out a 14-13 victory in the Carrier Dome in 2012. And SU squeaked out a 27-24 victory in 2017.
On Oct. 13, 2001, Syracuse won at Heinz Field 42-10 — it was the first trip to the brand-new stadium. That was Syracuse’s last win in Pittsburgh and the last time it managed to beat Pitt by more than a field goal.
Overall, the series is fairly close. The Panthers hold a 40-32-3 edge. But it never feels that close when you look at numbers such as the ones listed above.
Syracuse play-by-play man Matt Park joins me for a look at the bizarre nature of this rivalry on Thursday’s podcast. We also discuss the state of Syracuse’s program. It’s in Year 5 under Dino Babers, a former Panthers assistant coach.
We also get into some struggles for Orange quarterback Tommy DeVito, some shakeups along the Syracuse offensive line, their opening loss to North Carolina, the latest on Carrier Dome reconstruction, and the challenges of remote play-by-play during the pandemic.
Listen: Tim Benz and Matt Park discuss the bizarre nature of the Pitt-Syracuse rivalry
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