Well guys, as we all know, it's natural for us Oregon Staters to make friends. Other then when we play Oregon, we have some of the kindest fans in the country. We are passionate more about our team then we are hating whoever we are playing, which I think is the case for a lot of fans these days. So I gave Pitt a chance.
I saw a lot of Pitt bashing over at Black Shoe Diaries, Penn St's blog, but I figured it was due to the whole "in-state rivalry" thing. But it's worse. Pitt fans are some of the most arrogant that I have come across yet. Granted, it's the internet idiots that I encountered, but PSU fans have assured me that it is the same across the board. So, given all this, I have decided to write 5 reasons to hate Pitt: starting with #5.
#5. Dave Wannstedt
This Mike Riley wannabe not only sucks as a coach, but how nasty is that 'stache? He coached in the NFL, and had very little success (82-86), and was canned twice. Mike Riley has only been canned once. After going 9-3 this year, Wanny has his record at Pitt up to 25-22, which we all know is a solid record in the always tough Big East conference. And again, look at that STACHE! Remind anyone else of another child-molester lookin' fella that we hate?
#4. Their campus
We Oregon Staters love a wide open, college-feel for our campus. This is not the case for Pitt. Looks an awful lot like Gotham City doesn't it? Where are the trees? Where are the pretty buildings? Nice smog. Our campus is so much better.
It has no college feel to it. College towns are so much better. Oh you know what else their campus doesn't have? A football stadium. Which brings me to....
#3. They play in an NFL stadium!
A stadium of 65,000, that they only get 50% full. Sure, a lot of fans do the whole "color out" stuff, but nothing quite beats a Pitt Yellow Out! Either there is nobody there, or their fans are disguised as seats. Hmm. And we thought our attendance was bad..
#2. LeSean McCoy
They think he's better then Quizz. Honestly, they do. Now, he does have a QB rating of 108, which is 108 points better then Quizz's. But honestly, they are equals. Both average just under 5 yards a carry. Both are good receivers out of the backfield. Now, McCoy boasts 10 more TDs than Quizz. But 10 of his 21 came against Buffalo (3), Navy (3) and Rutgers (4). He had a whopping 71 yards on 23 carries against Bowling Green, and against Louisville, he rushed 17 times for an insane 39 yards. The guy is good. I'll give him credit; but he doesn't show up every game. Quizz does. And McCoy has yet to face a defense like us (say what you will, 694, yeah blah blah blah). Pitt doesn't run a smoke-and-mirrors offense. They will run him pro-style, and we all know what happens when a team runs a pro-style offense against us: 27-21
And finally, the #1 reason to hate Pitt:
#1. December 26th, 2002. The last time we lost a bowl game.
The #23 ranked Panthers took it to us in the Insight.com Bowl, 38-13. That year, Larry Fitzgerald was doing his best Mike Hass impersonation, catching everything that went to him. They took it right to us though. Steven Jackson had only 34 yards on 19 carries, arguably his worst game as a Beaver. Derek Anderson didn't have a good outing either, completing only 21 of his 45 pass attempts. We rushed for a total of 8 yards that game. This year, it's going to be different. We are going to come out firing. And you better believe we are going to score more then 13 points this time.
Thanks to all the Penn Staters for help in finding reasons to hate Pitt. And thanks to all the readers of Building the Dam. It is much appreciated. Keep coming back during basketball season, as the team is improving, and myself and Jake will be covering every game. GO BEAVS!
(photo credits: assets.espn.go.com, media.scout.com, oregonstate.edu)