Pitt/Ole Miss in Discussions to Start Series
Some interesting future Pitt football non-conference schedule news emerged this afternoon.
Despite already having two other Power Four opponents scheduled, On3Sports College Football Insider Brett McMurphy tells PSN that Pitt is having discussions with Ole Miss about scheduling a 2-game series. This series would start next season on September 5th and would be the opener for both teams.
The return game will take place in 2030 with Ole Miss making the return trip to Pittsburgh.
This potential game next season would be the first ever-ever regular season game between these two programs. Back in 2012, Pitt and Ole Miss played in the Birmingham Bowl. This will be only the 7th time ever that Pitt has traveled to take on an SEC opponent in the regular season.
Pitt athletic director Allen Greene’s history with Ole Miss no doubt plays a role in this news as Greene has worked at Ole Miss twice- assistant athletic director from 2009-2012 and Senior Deputy AD from 2022-23.
Scheduling a game with Ole Miss would obviously be huge news for Pitt considering Lane Kiffin’s program has won 10+ plus three times in the past four seasons.
It’s also interesting for a number of reasons starting with the fact that Pitt already has 2026 non-conference games scheduled with Wisconsin (in Ireland), Central Florida and Miami, Ohio.
Would the Wisconsin game stay on the schedule or does Pitt intend on playing three Power 4 opponents in the non-conference portion of their schedule? The two-game series with Wisconsin is scheduled to start next season in Madison with the second game in 2027 being played in Ireland.
If Ole Miss is added, I would imagine that this game with Wisconsin in 2026 will not be played.
A couple of other things to consider is that will the ACC join the SEC and start playing nine conference opponents? If so, one of these non-conference games will be going away.
Also, could Pitt be scheduling this challenging non-conference slate in order to boost its TV ratings with the new ACC revenue distribution formula?
One other fun note, in his early season 2025 College Bowl Game predictions, On3 Sports Brett McMurphy is forecasting Pitt to take on Ole Miss in the Duke Mayo Bowl on January 2nd. If that happens, these two programs could end the 2025 season and start the 2026 season by playing each other.
