Pittsburgh–Syracuse football rivalry
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The Pittsburgh–Syracuse football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Pittsburgh Panthers and Syracuse Orange. It began in 1916 and has been played every year since 1955.[1] The Panthers and Orange were both Eastern football independents for most of their history but have shared the same football conference since 1991 when the Big East Football Conference was formed from Eastern football independents. Pitt is the second most played for Syracuse and Syracuse is the third most played opponent for Pitt. Sharing membership in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) since 2013, the Panthers and Orange have since played 70 times against each other with Pitt leading the series 36–31–3.[1][2] The two schools also enjoy a rivalry in other sports, most notably men's basketball.
History
Pittsburgh led Syracuse 25–18–3 before the two football programs were in the same conference starting in 1991 and have been in the same conference ever since.
Big East Conference (1991–2012)
Syracuse was a charter member of the Big East Conference, founded as a basketball prioritized conference in 1979 that did not sponsor football.[3] Pitt joined Syracuse as a member of the Big East Conference in 1982.[4] Both Pitt and Syracuse moved their football teams, both playing as Independents, into to the Big East Football Conference in 1991 when they and other football-playing members of the Big East, along with additional Eastern independent teams, decided to form a football conference under the auspices of the existing Big East Conference.
Since 1991, Pittsburgh and Syracuse have played twenty-two times while in the Big East until trouble started to rumble through the conference starting in 2005 with the "football" and "non-football" schools of the conference, led to instability in the conference. Several schools left the conference for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Big East became more unstable starting in 2011 when Pittsburgh and Syracuse submitted formal applications to join the ACC, which were accepted on September 18, 2011.[5]
Atlantic Coast Conference (2013–present)
Pittsburgh and Syracuse officially joined the ACC on July 1, 2013.[6][7]
Pittsburgh is placed in the Coastal division of the ACC and Syracuse is in the Atlantic division.[8] The teams of the ACC have a permanent inter-divisional opponent, where a team from the Atlantic division and a Coastal division will played annually which was added for traditional rivalries like the North Carolina–NC State football rivalry to continue annually despite not being in the same division. When Pittsburgh and Syracuse joined the conference they were each other's permanent inter-divisional opponent, so it would not alter any other team rivalries of the conference.
Game results
Pittsburgh victories are shaded ██ blue. Syracuse victories are shaded ██ orange. Ties are white.
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Series record sources: College Football Data Warehouse.[2]
References
- ^ a b Pittsburgh Panthers Athletics, Football renews old rivalry with Syracuse in new ACC era. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ a b College Football Data Warehouse, Pittsburgh vs Syracuse. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Crouthamel, Jake (December 8, 2000). "A Big East History and Retrospective, Part 1". SUAthletics.com. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
- ^ Hanley, Richard F (November 19, 1981). "Pittsburgh To Join Big East". Record-Journal. Google News.
- ^ "ACC Extends Formal Invitations for Membership to Pittsburgh and Syracuse - The Official Athletic Site of the Atlantic Coast Conference" (Press release). Atlantic Coast Conference. 2011-09-18. Retrieved 2014-07-24.
- ^ "SU, BIG EAST Reach Agreement for Orange to Move to ACC in 2013". Syracuse Athletics. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
- ^ BIG EAST Conference, University of Pittsburgh Reach Agreement on Pittsburgh Departure From The BIG EAST
- ^ "ACC sticks with 8-game schedule". espn. October 2, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2014.