Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 47. Pittsburgh
Pound for Pound the most talented football program
HOLY CRAP PITT WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MANY GOOD PLAYERS. Just in the span of this series, since 1983, they’ve had NFL Hall of Famers CB Darrelle Revis, DE Chris Doleman, and RB Curtis Martin. They’ve also had future NFL Hall of Famers DT Aaron Donald and WR Larry Fitzgerald. We also just narrowly missed a whole host of other Hall of Famers—if we extend the time period back to the 1970’s, we also include QB Dan Marino, RB Tony Dorsett, LB Rickey Jackson, OT Jimbo Covert, and OG Russ Grimm. Even further includes Mike Ditka and LB Joe Schmidt. Pitt is tied for the 4th most NFL Hall of Famers with 10, behind USC (14), Notre Dame (14), Michigan (11), and tied with Ohio State (10). Once Donald and Fitzgerald have been retired for 5 years, they’ll surpass Michigan to take the 3rd spot (most likely tied for the 3rd spot, because of Tom Brady for Michigan). The cutoff of this list hurts Pitt more than almost any other team, because from 1976-82, they had 6 top 10 finishes in 7 years, while they’ve had 0 top 10 finishes from 1983-2022.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 10 | Pittsburgh | 2021 | 30.78 | 11-3 |
| 13 | Pittsburgh | 2009 | 27.477 | 10-3 |
| 18 | Pittsburgh | 2008 | 21.058 | 9-4 |
| 20 | Pittsburgh | 2002 | 20.324 | 9-4 |
| 16 | Pittsburgh | 1983 | 19.087 | 8-3-1 |
| 22 | Pittsburgh | 2022 | 15.748 | 9-4 |
| 22 | Pittsburgh | 1987 | 15.313 | 8-4 |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | 1989 | 14.268 | 8-3-1 |
| 28 | Pittsburgh | 2016 | 13.378 | 8-5 |
| 37 | Pittsburgh | 2015 | 9.495 | 8-5 |
| 33 | Pittsburgh | 2010 | 8.57 | 8-5 |
| 28 | Pittsburgh | 2004 | 7.821 | 8-4 |
| 41 | Pittsburgh | 2003 | 6.517 | 8-5 |
| 39 | Pittsburgh | 2000 | 2.511 | 7-5 |
| 47 | Pittsburgh | 2018 | 1.256 | 7-7 |
| 45 | Pittsburgh | 2019 | 0.622 | 8-5 |
| 47 | Pittsburgh | 2001 | 0.603 | 7-5 |
| 55 | Pittsburgh | 2013 | 0.363 | 7-6 |
| 42 | Pittsburgh | 1988 | -0.032 | 6-5 |
| 43 | Pittsburgh | 1986 | -2.12 | 5-5-1 |
| 46 | Pittsburgh | 1991 | -4.091 | 6-5 |
| 58 | Pittsburgh | 2020 | -4.639 | 6-5 |
| 54 | Pittsburgh | 2006 | -5.209 | 6-6 |
| 46 | Pittsburgh | 1985 | -6.919 | 5-5-1 |
| 63 | Pittsburgh | 2007 | -8.841 | 5-7 |
| 65 | Pittsburgh | 2011 | -8.984 | 6-7 |
| 63 | Pittsburgh | 2005 | -10.742 | 5-6 |
| 73 | Pittsburgh | 2017 | -10.92 | 5-7 |
| 70 | Pittsburgh | 2014 | -11.004 | 6-7 |
| 59 | Pittsburgh | 1997 | -11.152 | 6-6 |
| 73 | Pittsburgh | 2012 | -14.406 | 6-7 |
| 69 | Pittsburgh | 1999 | -14.884 | 5-6 |
| 71 | Pittsburgh | 1984 | -19.626 | 3-7-1 |
| 75 | Pittsburgh | 1990 | -21.904 | 3-7-1 |
| 79 | Pittsburgh | 1994 | -26.99 | 3-8 |
| 83 | Pittsburgh | 1996 | -28.738 | 4-7 |
| 87 | Pittsburgh | 1993 | -32.797 | 3-8 |
| 94 | Pittsburgh | 1995 | -39.636 | 2-9 |
| 96 | Pittsburgh | 1992 | -41.804 | 3-9 |
| 99 | Pittsburgh | 1998 | -43.392 | 2-9 |
+------+------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 21491 (47th)249-228-6 record
3 conference titles
8-14 bowl record
15 consensus All-Americans
117 NFL players drafted
You know it’s been rough for Pitt when Pat Narduzzi and Dave Wannstedt make up 4 of your top 6 seasons in a 40 year stretch. No shade to either of them—I just expected more from Pitt than just two 10+ win seasons. They’ve been steady though, making 22 bowl appearances, and have won 3 conference titles in the last 20 years (2004, 2010, 2021). Also JESUS PITT, 15 consensus All-Americans? I can’t get through all of them in detail, so I’ll just list them. When we get to the 20+ consensus All-American teams, I’ll have to really squeeze them in. The AAs are OL Bill Fralic (1983, 1984), DL Tony Woods (1986), OL Randy Dixon (1986), RB Craig “Ironhead” Heyward (1987), OL Mark Stepnoski (1988), P Brian Greenfield (1990), WR Antonio Bryant (2000), WR Larry Fitzgerald (2003), DT Aaron Donald (2013), AP Quadree Henderson (2016), DL Rashad Weaver (2020), DL Patrick Jones II (2020), WR Jordan Addison (2021), and DT Calijah Kancey (2022). I’d love to go in depth on each of these guys, but it’s too much. 117 NFL players drafted is the second most we’ve seen so far, with the most notable being Donald, Revis, Fitzgerald, Chris Doleman, Curtis Martin, RB LeSean McCoy, Stepnoski, OG Ruben Brown, Fralic, DT Tony Siragusa, WR Tyler Boyd, Ironhead Heyward, P Andy Lee, and 17 total first round picks.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1998 (2-9 overall, 0-7 Big East)
Coach Walt Harris had just won Big East coach of the year in 1997, leading Pitt to their first bowl game in 8 years. However, they’d fall off a cliff in 1998, going 2-9 and finishing last place in the Big East. They won their cupcake games, beating Villanova and Akron, but didn’t beat a single Power 6 team. They at least performed admirably in some of them, only losing 13-20 to rival #8 Penn State, 21-25 to Rutgers, 33-34 to Temple, and 15-23 to Boston College, but were marred by huge losses to rivals such as 14-52 to West Virginia and 28-45 to Syracuse. Future NFL 3rd round pick and humanitarian RB Kevan Barlow was just a sophomore at the time, leading the team in rushing with 533 yards and 4 TD. CB Hank Poteat was 1st Team All-Big East with 6 interceptions, and was also an eventual 3rd round pick. Future Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell was a lineman on the team, but had seen enough, transferring after just 1 season to Mount Union, where he became a Division III All-American DL. The 1998 season was an anomaly for Walt Harris at Pitt, who’d have only have one other losing season from 1999-2004.
5. 1983 (8-3-1, Independent)
I mentioned earlier that the cutoff for this series really hurts Pitt, finishing in the AP Top 10 in 6 out of 7 years from 1976-82. But still, at this point Pitt was churning out All-Americans and Hall of Famers. A few were on this 1983 team, most notably OT Bill Fralic. Fralic was voted to the 1st Team of ESPN’s All-Time All-American team in 2019, and it was well deserved. Fralic was so dominant that he finished 8th in Heisman voting in 1983, and 6th in 1984. Some sources say he was the inspiration for the creation of the “Pancake Block” stat. Future NFL Hall of Fame DE Chris Doleman was also on this team, and Fralic and Doleman would go 2nd and 4th overall, respectively, in the 1985 NFL Draft. 1984 5th overall pick DT Bill Maas was also on this team. C Jim Sweeney was a 3rd Team All-American. Again, just loaded top to bottom. Oh yeah, they played some football games too. Despite being ranked in the top 3 for most of 1982, Pitt entered 1983 unranked. They got up to #16 after a 2-0 start with a 13-3 win over Tennessee and 35-0 win over Temple, but would immediately lose to Maryland and #7 West Virginia. A 6-0-1 run through the rest of the regular season included wins over Florida State, Syracuse, #18 Notre Dame, and a tie with Penn State. A 23-28 loss to #14 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl finished their season at #18.
4. 2002 (9-4 overall, 5-2 Big East)
WR Larry Fitzgerald was just a wee freshman, but he couldn’t be stopped. In a 12-14 loss to #20 Texas A&M in week 2, Larry burst onto the scene, catching 10 passes for 103 yards. He wouldn’t truly become the best player in the country until 2003, but he still had a dominant year with 69 catches for 1005 yards and 12 TD. A 5-2 start to the year mostly came against a weak schedule, but saw impressive defensive play from Pitt and close losses to #20 Texas A&M and #8 Notre Dame. A pivotal 19-16 OT win over Big East contender Boston College (9-4 in 2002) kept Pitt in the hunt for the conference title. The unranked Panthers headed to Blacksburg to play #3 Virginia Tech, having upset the #12 Hokies last year 38-7. Pitt still had their number, winning 28-21 in a major upset, moving into first place in the Big East. A showdown late in the season between #17 Pitt and #1 Miami (FL) was one of the deciders for the title, with Miami taking it 28-21. A follow up loss to WVU in the Backyard Brawl finished Pitt’s regular season at 8-4. Fitzgerald had 5 catches for 88 yards and a TD in a 38-13 win over Oregon State in the bowl, Pitt finishing the season at #19 and third place in the Big East. Fitzgerald would go on to have a near-perfect 2003 season, finishing 2nd in Heisman voting by just 128 points, winning the Biletnikoff Award, and winning the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award.
3. 2008 (9-4 overall, 5-2 Big East)
I’m a little bit surprised to see 2008 Pitt all the way up here. After all, they opened their season losing to Bowling Green 17-27 at home, falling from #25 to…unranked. Bowling Green wasn’t even that good, going 6-6. But Pitt went on a very underrated 5 game stretch of wins in hindsight, beating MAC champion Buffalo, 9-4 Iowa, Syracuse on the road, #10 South Florida on the road, and 8-5 Navy. #17 Pitt would fall to 2-5 Rutgers, but that same Rutgers team was in the middle of a 7 game win streak to finish the year 8-5. A wild game between 5-2 Pitt and 5-2 Notre Dame saw Pitt survive on the road 36-33 in 4OT, and a blowout win over Louisville set up #20 Pitt at #19 Cincinnati to take control of the Big East. Cincy did enough to get the win, but Pitt finished very strongly. Down 7-15 to Pat White and West Virginia, who were looking for revenge after a huge upset loss in 2007, RB LeSean McCoy scored 2 touchdowns in the 4th quarter to win 19-15 and send the Mountaineers home empty for the second straight year. Pat White may have been 4-0 in bowls, but he was just 2-2 in the Backyard Brawl. Pitt finished 2nd in the Big East by blowing out 7-4 UConn 34-10, holding UConn’s QBs to just 6 of 31 completions for 80 yards, 0 TD, and 5 INT. In the Sun Bowl, #18 Pitt and #24 Oregon State engaged in one of the worst bowl games of all time, with OSU winning 3-0 on a 2nd quarter field goal.
Pitt’s QBs combined for just 10 TD and 14 INT on the year, with the offense primarily being led by NFL 2nd round draft pick RB LeSean McCoy, who had 1793 yards and 21 TD from scrimmage. Backup RB LaRod Stephens-Howling was a 7th round pick. LB Scott McKillop was a 1st Team All-American and the Big East Defensive POTY, leading the conference in tackles for the second straight year with 137 with 4 sacks and 13.5 TFL and 2 INT.
2. 2009 (10-3 overall, 5-2 Big East)
It all came together in 2009 for Pitt. Some publications had them as the Big East favorite, while others had them closer to the middle. It took a while for Pitt to get respect from the voters, opening with a 3-0 record, the only semi-impressive win over Navy, but then losing to NC State. It would take a Friday night win on ESPN over Rutgers, improving to 6-1, for Pitt to finally crack the Top 25. #20 Pitt scored a huge 41-14 win over 5-1 South Florida to move to 4-0 in the Big East and up 6 spots in the BCS rankings. Things were gearing up for Pitt vs #5 (at the time) Cincinnati in the last game of the season for the conference title. #14 Pitt walloped Syracuse, moving all the way up to #8 with an 8-1 record. They could smell the BCS. A 27-22 win over Notre Dame improved the Panthers to 9-1, their best start since 1982. But after two straight years of Pitt upsetting West Virginia, it was WVU’s turn, beating #8 Pitt on a 43 yard FG with no time left. Pitt fell to #14, but was still playing Cincinnati in a winner-take-all game for the Big East title and a spot in a BCS bowl. In one of the best games of the 2000s, Pitt jumped out to a 31-10 lead before losing just 44-45. So close to glory. A last second FG against 8-4 North Carolina gave Pitt the 19-17 win in the Meineke Car Care Bowl and their first 10 win season since 1981. The AP Poll voted them #15 to end the year, the highest since 1982.
Despite Cincinnati finishing 12-0 in the regular season and Pitt 9-3, Pitt was arguably the most talented team in the Big East, not just that year but one of the most talented teams in the 2000s for the conference. 10 Pitt players made 1st Team All-Big East, the most in the conference. The super freshman RB Dion Lewis was the Big East Offensive POTY, earning 2nd Team All-American with 1799 rushing yards and 17 TD. The 6’5 future NFL 1st round pick WR Jonathan Baldwin had 57 catches for 1111 yards and 8 TD. The speedy TE Dorin Dickerson was a 1st Team All-American, catching 49 passes for 529 yards and 10 TD. DE Greg Romeus and DT Mick Williams shared the Big East Defensive POTY, combining for 13 sacks and 15.5 TFL.
1. 2021 (11-3 overall, 7-1 ACC)
Had to be 2021 as the best. QB Kenny Pickett had a Joe Burrow-esque rise in 2021, going from throwing 38 TD 24 INT COMBINED in his first 3 seasons as a starter, to throwing 42 TD 7 INT in 2021. Clemson was the overwhelming favorite to win the ACC title, receiving 125 of 147 media votes to win. Pitt received 0 of the 147. In fact, they were picked just 4th in the ACC Coastal, so competing for the conference title was a stretch. In week 2, Pickett started to heat up, throwing for 285 yards and 2 TD in a 41-34 win at Tennessee. A random 41-44 loss at home to Western Michigan the following week wasn’t Pickett’s fault, who threw 6 TD. A 5-1 start got Pitt to #23, hosting unranked Clemson, who had a disappointing 4-2 start averaging just 14.8 PPG against FBS opponents. They weren’t any better against Pitt, who won 27-17. That would be Clemson’s last loss all season. Pitt, with a manageable schedule remaining and Pickett as one of the Heisman favorites, had some talk of them making a playoff run, but an upset loss to Miami (FL) shut that down quickly and they fell to 6-2. Pitt won out though, going 10-2 in the regular season and making the ACC championship game. Against #16 Wake Forest in the title game, Pickett fake slid for a 58 yard rushing TD and threw for 2 TD in a 45-21 win, their first true conference title (with tiebreakers included) since 2004. Pickett sat out the Peach Bowl, and Pitt lost to #10 Michigan State 21-31 to finish 11-3 and #13.
I should’ve given more credit to him above, but WR Jordan Addison was the best receiver in the country, winning the Biletnikoff and earning consensus All-American honors with 100 catches for 1593 yards and 17 TD. Pickett was a 1st Team All-American and won the ACC Offensive POTY, ACC Player of the Year, and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, also finishing 3rd in Heisman voting. DT Calijah Kancey, a 281 lb DT that runs a 4.67 40 yard dash, was 1st Team All-ACC and a 3rd Team All-American, notching 7 sacks and 6.5 TFL. The awards kept coming, even on special teams; LS Cal Adomitis was a 1st Team All-American and won the Patrick Mannelly Award given to the best long snapper. WR Tre Tipton, who was buried on the depth chart, won the Disney Spirit Award for his mental health advocation and overcoming adversity himself.
5th Quarter
How would you rank the top 5 Pitt seasons? With all the great players they’ve had, who would you say are the top 5 players (in college) since 1983? If the 2009 Pitt team beat Cincinnati, how would they have done in a BCS bowl? Why did Pitt have such a great run in the late 70’s/early 80’s then not do much since? Is their #47 ranking and being just the 12th ranked ACC team in this list fair? Who deserves credit for the origination of the “pancake block”, Bill Fralic, Orlando Pace, or someone else? Which opponent do Pitt fans miss most from the Big East? What’s Pitt’s most satisfying win since 1983?
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