Pitt has been there, done that

Both Pitt and Utah will be navigating on relatively unfamiliar ground when they square off in… Both Pitt and Utah will be navigating on relatively unfamiliar ground when they square off in Sun Devil Stadium for the 34th annual Tostitos Bowl on New Year’s Day.

The Utes (11-0) will be making their debut in the Fiesta Bowl, a debut shared by head coach Urban Meyer, who is coaching his last game before heading to Florida. While the Panthers (8-3) have been to the Fiesta Bowl before, the last time the Panthers won in Tempe was before most of the current players were born.

The Panthers are making their fourth trip to the Fiesta Bowl, currently owning a 1-2 mark in the bowl. It is the first January bowl for the Panthers since their 1984 Fiesta Bowl appearance. A number of Pitt greats, like Dan Marino and Tony Dorsett, have been involved in the annual game, now-turned Bowl Championship Series bowl.

Pitt’s first trip to the Fiesta Bowl was a blowout loss to Arizona State in 1973. It was Pitt’s first bowl appearance in 17 years, much to the satisfaction of Coach Of The Year Johnny Majors. Tony Dorsett scored an early touchdown for the Panthers, but the hometown Sun Devils shut Pitt out for the rest of the game, forcing seven Panther turnovers to ruin Dorsett’s 100-yard day.

In 1979, the Panthers defeated Arizona 16-10 on Christmas Day. Dan Marino, then a freshman, threw the decisive touchdown — a 24-yard strike to Ralph Still — in the third quarter to help the Panthers end the season on a 10-game winning streak. Kicker Mark Schubert booted three field goals for Pitt.

Pitt reached the Fiesta Bowl five years later in 1984, but fell at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes. Panther quarterback John Congemi completed a school-record 31 passes for 341 yards, but the Buckeyes scored late to win 28-23. Ohio State scored with 39 seconds remaining to earn the win.

So while uncharted territory for all of Utah’s program, the same thing can be said for the recent Pitt football program. The matchup also pairs the first ever team from a non-BCS conference in Utah with a team that just won its first Big East title in Pitt.

A national audience will watch when the game kicks off on Jan. 1 at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.