The Pitt Panthers did not have a good game at home last night. They lost to Rutgers 62-39. Not quite the Orange Bowl variety blowout. But I would think this has to be more shocking than the results of the Mountaineers last football victory. I know I had to follow this link a few times to believe it myself.

Pitt was basically out everythinged last night shooting 21% from the floor and being out rebounded 51-35. The Panthers usually wait until the tournament to fall apart. But facing that inevitability, they may have just decided to just cut to the chase early this year.

We have obtained secret footage of Pitt's shootaround yesterday and can say that we are not nearly as surprised. Unfortunately our hidden camera was damaged during the brick session and may be beyond repair. Which is an assumption you may make about Pitt too, I guess. Charlie Sheen calls this winning.

We all have our own traditions during this time of year. Those special things that let us know it's Christmas time. For some, it's the first snow of the year. Or the sound of the Salvation Army bells. Whatever it is, it's that thing that warms your heart just a bit with memories of Christmas past.

For current Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson (I use the word current loosely as calls for Pederson's head are ramping up as I type this.), Christmas traditions have an entirely different meaning. It's a sad time for Pederson as he always seems to find himself firing and hiring football coaches. Some beloved, some just a flash in the pan, and some were thrown out of the pan before the fire was even lit. The process leaves very little time for true meaning of Christmas. Or something even loosely based on Christmas. Probably the closest thing he gets to a warm feeling this time of year is right after he takes a shot of his favorite bourbon. Because the Panther may not be vicious, but it has a hell of an evil stare.

At least he was up front about it, right?

It's still Pitt week, and as we get prepared to hate Pitt for perhaps the last time this decade, it's a good time to look back at some of the classic battles we've had over the last 104 editions.  We've had some great ones, and we've had some...forgettable ones.  We all have stories upon stories of the great wins against Pitt over the years.  It's such an intense rivalry, where you can seriously throw out the records, that some of WVU's greatest and most memorable moments in football have come against Pitt.

Ok, maybe I stole this from the Pitt blog Cardiac Hill.  Or maybe they pre-emptively stole it from me.  Either way, we present to you Great Moments in WVU-Pitt Football History, starting with the one and only Pat White:

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VOTE FOR THE PITT YOU HATE MOST!!!

The Hall of Hate is for a truly despicable Pitt that is worth hating for the ages. Vote for the Pitt you hate most.

Last Editon's Relegation:  Pitt

• Pitt (7 weeks in a row)
• Pitt (4)
• Pitt (2)
• Pitt (1)
  

This Week's Additions:

Pitt - from Jack Fleming's Mom:

"Son, that's Pitt. You hate Pitt now. You hate Pitt tomorrow. You hate Pitt until the day you die. After that, you will hate Pitt for eternity."

Methodology:

Lowest vote total gets Pitt relegated/eliminated from the big board.  Lasting 11 weeks in a row gets Pitt an entry into the Hall of Hate.  It's your votes and nominations for Pitt that count.  Get to voting and post your nominations for Pitt in the comments section (if a previous nomination of yours didn't get picked up, try again).  Creative and recommended nominations for Pitt are more likely to be posted on the board.  Make your nominations for Pitt known below!!

We all know Pitt.  We all hate Pitt.  We all know that Pitt eats shit.  But, this being Pitt week and potentially the last time the Panthers and Mountaineers meet in the Backyard Brawl in football for some time, we thought it might be nice to actually take a few minutes and appreciate the good things that Pitt has accomplished throughout the years.  A chance to bury the hatchet, so to speak, if even temporarily.  

I mean, take a look at the Wikipedia outline for Pitt football.  This is a program that can claim...well...somewhere between 9 and 17 national championships, depending on what records you're looking at because records of seasons played before the start of the Second World War are a little fuzzy.  Notice any patterns here?

1.1 The early years (1889-1902)
1.2 Rise to power (1903-1914)
1.3 Pop Warner years (1915-1923)
1.4 Jock Sutherland years (1924-1938)
1.5 Failed policy (1939-1954)
1.6 John Michelosen years (1955-1965)
1.7 A turn for the worse (1966-1972)
1.8 A major change (1973-1981)
1.9 Drop in stature (1982-1991)
1.10 Another downturn (1991-1996)
1.11 Wide receiver U. (1997-2004)
1.12 A Pitt Man (2005-2010)*
1.13 High octane (2011-present)**

* - Translated: building a porous "wall" around Western Pennsylvania, failing to reach a BCS bowl, and continually efforting to "run faster."

** - Translated: 5-5 against the worst major conference schedule in the history of recorded sports.

So, with that, let's take a look at Pitt's recent triumphs in the BCS era and in March Madness after the jump:

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