Pitt football will return to the Bronx this season to play Syracuse at Yankee Stadium
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Pitt is going back to the Bronx, N.Y., to meet Syracuse at Yankee Stadium and commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the first college football game played at the original “House That Ruth Built.”
The game will be played between the long-time rivals Nov. 11.
“We look forward to celebrating this significant anniversary involving Pitt, Syracuse and the Yankees,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement. “This is an incredible milestone in college football and we appreciate the cooperation of our tremendous partners to make this a special opportunity for our student-athletes, programs and fans.
“Yankee Stadium has a rich history of hosting college football games and we’re proud to add this game to its tradition.”
Pitt lost to Northwestern in the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, 31-24, and defeated Army there, 7-6, in 1962.
Looking to accomodate its graduates on the East Coast, Pitt played three other games in the New York/NewJersey area, including Syracuse in Shea Stadium in 1964, the year it opened, and Army and Rutgers in the Meadowlands in 1977 and 1981.
Pitt and Syracuse played the first game in the original Yankee Stadium on Oct. 20, 1923, a 3-0 Syracuse victory in the last season Pitt was coached by the legendary Pop Warner.
The original Yankee Stadium was built in 1923, rebuilt in 1976 and replaced with a new Yankee Stadium in 2009. The World Series has been played there 40 times.
Syracuse is 7-3 in 10 previous football games at either Yankee Stadium. The historic venue has been home to a college postseason bowl game since 2010, and an ACC team became part of that partnership in 2014.
Syracuse won the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl in 2010 and is 2-1 all-time in the game.
Pitt and Syracuse have played every year since 1955, with Pitt holding an all-time 43-32-3 edge, including a five-game winning streak. The schools will continue to meet each year as designated primary opponents in the ACC’s new 3-5-5 scheduling format that will be instituted this year and eliminate the Coastal and Atlantic divisions.
Over the next four seasons, each team will play three primary opponents annually and meet the other 10 ACC schools twice during the four-year cycle, once at home and once on the road. Each team will face all 13 conference opponents home and away at least once during the four-year cycle.
The remainder of the ACC schedule will be revealed on a two-hour special on the ACC Network from 7-9 p.m. Monday.