The Pitt athletics department recently announced that the football team’s season opener… The Pitt athletics department recently announced that the football team’s season opener against South Florida will now be played on Labor Day, and will be part of a national ESPN/ABC doubleheader.

Athletics director Jeff Long originally stated that the game would not be moved from its initially scheduled date, Sept. 4, because it would inconvenience Pitt fans who had already made travel arrangements, and it would allow the coaching staff only four days to get ready for the home opener against the Ohio University Bobcats.

But after ESPN offered Pitt a new deal, which could end up paying the University almost half a million dollars, and also guarantees that the Oct. 16 game against Boston College will reach a national audience, Long decided that it was in Pitt’s best interest to make the switch.

The Panthers will now play no fewer than six nationally televised games.

And thank God for that.

With this team and this home schedule, the University desperately needed something to base a marketing campaign around.

Think about the position Pitt was in a year ago.

The team’s home schedule featured games against Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Miami and Syracuse. That’s not mentioning the fact that the team boasted a number of proven standouts, including one future Heisman Trophy runner-up, and a gang of NFL prospects.

The coaching staff has been faced with the task of replacing key players on both sides of the ball, including quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver, fullback, offensive tackle, punter, defensive end, linebacker and cornerback.

As tough as it will be to replace all of the departed players, the athletics department had an even tougher assignment in finding a way to market this team and its home schedule. And six nationally televised games is the next best thing to actually playing high-profile opponents.

But even with all of the television time the team will have, how many people really want to come out and see games against Ohio University, Furman and Rutgers? The Furman Paladins are only a Division I-AA program. Paladin, in case you were interested, literally means a knightly or heroic champion. But I would venture to say that Pitt fans will not find anything knightly or heroic about the Furman team.

Now I know it’s not Pitt’s fault that it’s stuck with a game against Furman in the middle of its schedule. When Miami and Virginia Tech jumped the Big East ship, it left a serious void in all of the other Big East schools’ immediate schedules.

The Panthers really only have two big home games next season — Nebraska and West Virginia. The national spotlight being put on the game against Boston College might boost attendance, but for next year’s team, there is really only one way that it can bring attention to itself. The Panthers are going to have to go out and do it the old-fashioned way. They’re going to have to win ballgames. They’ll have to win early, and they’ll have to win big.

There will be nothing to complain about when the rankings come out this summer and Pitt does not sniff the top 25. This is a team full of unfamiliar names and faces, and did I mention that still no starting quarterback has been named? Any respect given to this Pitt team will have to be earned.

There are a few things this team can simply not afford to do. Pitt cannot lose to South Florida like it did at Heinz Field back in 2001. And if the Panthers come out and play lackadaisical football and struggle to beat Ohio like they did in 2002, people will turn theirbacks on this team quicker than you can say, “FireWaltHarris.com.”

All of the national exposure could end up being a great thing. The team could boost its popularity by taking advantage of the national spotlight, and playing better than anyone could have expected.

Things could also go in the other direction, and the national attention might end up being a nightmare. It all depends on how the team performs on the field. On paper, last year’s team was far more talented and experienced, but as the old saying goes: “The games are played on grass, not paper.”

No one knows exactly how good or bad this team will be next season. With so many new players, it’s simply impossible to know, but while looking over the schedule, there are at least two absolute truths.

If Pitt does not go into the Nebraska game unbeaten, there is no way the game will sell out. The students and the people of Pittsburgh will lose interest immediately. And if the Panthers are not in the running for a Big East title when they travel to Notre Dame before coming home to face WVU on Thanksgiving, people will already be looking ahead to basketball season.

It’s tough being a college team in a professional sports town. The Steelers will always be the No. 1 team in the city of Pittsburgh, regardless of their record. It takes more than a Tire or Tangerine Bowl to draw a crowd in this city.

The good news for Pitt is that, with the departure of Miami, it has a realistic shot at a Big East Conference title. The bad news is that the Panthers will likely have to defeat the Mountaineers, which is something that they have been unable to do the last two seasons.

Ryan Walker is the sports editor of The Pitt News and can be reached at [email protected].