Last week’s announcement about Duquesne being Pitt’s season-opening opponent at Acrisure Stadium to start the 2025 college football season generated a lot of buzz on the Bluff.
During a halftime interview at the Duquesne-St. Joseph’s basketball game on Wednesday, Dukes athletic director Dave Harper admitted he was hoping to get “The City Game” against Pitt back into existence on the basketball court as well.
“I tried to get a basketball game, but they’re not doing it,” Harper said with a smile on SportsNet Pittsburgh. “We’ll try. But I know they have a scheduling challenge too. I’m appreciative of that because of the challenges and everything else that they’re in with other conferences. We’d like to play it. We’re here. If they want to play us, we’ll, obviously, be willing.”
For now, then, regenerating the intra-city football rivalry for the first time since 1939 will have to suffice. And that’s created significant excitement for many of the WPIAL players on the team already.
“It’s a great thing,” defensive back Antonio Epps said last week. “Getting to play Pitt is definitely going to be a fun experience. I’m from Pittsburgh (South Allegheny High School). I’ve never actually played in Acrisure Stadium. This would be my first time ever playing in that stadium. I couldn’t be any more excited. I’m sure some other guys from the WPIAL are pretty excited about that too. There’s a great opportunity to play a team that’s 10-15 minutes away from us and to have a lot of people who are local come out and watch that game.”
Head coach Jerry Schmitt, a 1978 Keystone Oaks alum, is looking forward to coaching a game against Pitt as well.
“It’s special for me, growing up here in Pittsburgh,” Schmitt said. “All those (Pitt) guys — Dan Marino, Tony Dorsett, Bill Fralic — I followed and watched all those guys in grade school and high school and college and as a young coach. I’ve been over to so many (Pitt) spring practices, watching and learning as a young coach and seeing legendary players and coaches through that program.”
The challenges for Duquesne in this game are many. They are a school from the FCS ranks tasked with playing-up against a team from a Power-4 FBS program. That’s nothing new for Duquesne. In recent years, Schmitt’s teams have played the likes of TCU, Florida State, West Virginia and Boston College in games similar to this one.
The results have been predictable. The average score in those four contests has been 51-14.2. But Schmitt says the players still get something of value out of those experiences.
“It’s a great opportunity for our young men to go and play at that level, to compete, to play in some of the venues, and play against some historically, traditionally great programs,” Schmitt said. “Just to be able to play at that level and compare themselves and go challenge themselves. Everybody wants to get better. We get better by playing good people and playing above your level.”
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For his part, graduate student defensive lineman A.J. Ackerman says the returning upperclassmen on the Dukes’ roster should have enough experience to draw upon from those contests and be prepared for what the Panthers have to offer on Aug. 30.
“Depth is something you can feel on the field,” Ackerman said. “Maybe you play a (FBS) team, and they just have more guys ready to go. (The opponent) not being as tired as you may feel, you have to push through that.”
Also, the economic windfall for Duquesne’s program makes the challenges on game day worthwhile.
“It does have a good financial benefit to it. That’s kind of the model at our level. It’s a model at a lot of levels.” Harper said. “Even at the higher levels, people get bought. We’re fortunate. We try to pick games where the kids can have a great experience. We went out to Hawaii and went to Florida State. So a number of those experiences are things that will stick with those kids for the rest of their lives.”
Duquesne has often turned these road trips into getaways for donors and alumni. Those junkets have been entertaining when they’ve traveled to unique destinations such as Florida, Hawaii (2018, ‘22), Boston and Texas.
But the stroll to the North Side will be enjoyable in its own way for Dukes fans, family and alumni to see their school play in the city’s biggest venue that also houses their FBS opponents and the NFL team in town.
Ackerman, an Elizabeth Forward alum and native Steelers fan, says he and some of his fellow WPIAL alumni will savor this chance as much as those big road trips.
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“I was never a part of any WPIAL championships. So I never got to play at Acrisure,” Ackerman said. “It’s a first for me. That’s what is exciting about it. TCU, Florida State, Boston College — they have all been exciting and fun. But the locality of this game is going to make some guys push more than others.”
Duquesne (8-0-1) won that contest in 1939 (21-13) when the Panthers (5-4) were ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press Poll. It’s been a long-dormant winning streak. But one worth putting on the line for all the benefits of playing Pitt to open the season.
Listen: Tim Benz and Jerry Schmitt discuss the Pitt-Duquesne 2025 college football season-opener