Throwbacks are what make Pitt it

Forgive me for being bold, but I think somebody has to say it: Pitt’s football team looked… Forgive me for being bold, but I think somebody has to say it: Pitt’s football team looked like the best one in the entire country Saturday. Hands down.

But it had little — actually, absolutely nothing — to do with the Panthers’ 41-0 mauling of an undersized, overmatched and overwhelmed Youngstown State squad that afternoon. The Penguins were, after all, a I-AA squad that Pitt should not only expect to beat, but to pound into submission, given the location of the game and the talent on this Panther team.

I am talking about how the Panthers actually looked as they rolled up 528 yards of offense on that sunny afternoon. The thousands who attended the game dressed as empty seats missed Pitt looking like Pitt Saturday, as the team wore the classic uniforms from the ’70s and early ’80s on Throwback Day.

Sporting the script “Pitt” on their helmets, Wanny’s bunch stormed out of the tunnel and, for the first time in years, looked like the team the logo claims to be. Not only did the uniforms look spectacular, but they restored Pitt’s identity, something that has been lost in the shuffle of new colors, new logos and new uniforms.

Everybody got into it on this day. The marching band formed the script log on the field with the signature dotting of the “I” that only nostalgic Pitt fans would think to cherish. The players were also noticeably excited about their new threads, especially their offensive leader.

“I don’t want to get in trouble by saying this, but I wish we could go back to the old uniforms,” quarterback Tyler Palko said after the game. “Those things were sweet. It gets back to the down-and-dirty days of Pitt and what Pitt’s really about.”

If Palko is to “get in trouble” for wanting to restore Pitt’s lost and misshapen identity, if he is to be berated for wanting to bring back one of the most unique and identifiable uniforms in all of college football and if he isn’t supposed to want to look and feel like the team he grew up watching and came to love, we should all be punished. We should all want these uniforms and the old logo back.

We should all want to be Pitt again.

I’m not from the Pittsburgh area, so I didn’t grow up with these uniforms or the old Pitt logo, but I now wish that I had. Saturday was the first time I felt like I saw my school run out of that tunnel and look like what I knew Pitt once was. Until Saturday, I just didn’t know what I was missing. I can only imagine what older fans, who actually remember these uniforms, must have been feeling as their Panthers looked right for the first time in decades.

I, for one, am going to have a hard time looking at Pitt march around the field with the “new” uniforms and “new” logo, both of which were adopted last spring. And I’m sure I am not the only one.

So many were excited to see the Panthers move back to a “Pitt” logo on the helmets, but that number pales in comparison to the number who took joy in watching their school actually represented on the field Saturday. The win was nice, and the look on Wannstedt’s face after finally collecting his first win at the helm was even better, but to see the blue and mustard yellow march up and down the field was enough to forget about the fact that this team needed to prey on a I-AA team just to get in the win column on the season.

While in actuality it was simply a promotional day, I can’t help but see it as a malicious tease. The Panthers will go back to their “new” uniforms and “new” logo Friday night, but after seeing the genuine product appear on a what I see as a “real” Pitt team last weekend, I don’t think I will be able to take it.

These uniforms need to be kept, and not just because Pitt is 1-0 in them this season. For as long as I have been on campus, I haven’t felt like Pitt has an identity. The student body has been divided, fan support has been lackluster and signs of tradition are hard to come by.

This would be a step in the right direction to correcting all of that. Students should take pride in the fact that Pitt is one of the storied programs in the country and they should want to see their team get back to that level. What better constant reminder than one of the most distinguished uniforms in all of college football? We can’t let this be a one-game event, just like Pitt’s period of football excellence can’t have been a one-time thing.

Work for these uniforms. Start petitions, write letters — do whatever it takes. It is, after all, your school and your team — shouldn’t you be able to recognize it?

Geoff Dutelle is the sports editor for The Pitt News. E-mail him at gmd8@pitt.edu.