2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football
2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football
Tangerine Bowl champion
Tangerine Bowl, W 34–19 vs. NC State
Conference	Big East Conference
Record	7–5 (4–3 Big East)
Head coach	Walt Harris (5th season);
Offensive coordinator	J. D. Brookhart (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Paul Rhoads (2nd season)
Base defense	Multiple 4–3
Home stadium	Heinz Field

2001 Big East Conference football standings

Team	W		L	W		L
No. 1 Miami (FL) $#	7	–	0	12	–	0
No. 14 Syracuse	6	–	1	10	–	3
No. 18 Virginia Tech	4	–	3	8	–	4
No. 21 Boston College	4	–	3	8	–	4
	4	–	3	7	–	5
Temple	2	–	5	4	–	7
West Virginia	1	–	6	3	–	8
Rutgers	0	–	7	2	–	9

# – BCS National Champion $ – BCS representative as conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 1	6:00 p.m.	East Tennessee State*	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA		W 31–0	47,919
September 8	1:30 p.m.	South Florida*	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA		L 26–35	39,542
September 27	8:00 p.m.	No. 1 Miami (FL)	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA	ESPN	L 21–43	57,224
October 6	2:30 p.m.	at Notre Dame*	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	NBC	L 7–24	80,795
October 13	12:00 p.m.	Syracuse	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA (rivalry)	ESPN Plus	L 10–42	52,367
October 20	12:00 p.m.	at Boston College	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA	ESPN Plus	L 7–45	41,637
October 27	12:00 p.m.	at Temple	Veterans Stadium Philadelphia, PA		W 33–7	12,859
November 3	12:00 p.m.	No. 12 Virginia Tech	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA	ESPN Plus	W 38–7	55,585
November 10	1:30 p.m.	at Rutgers	Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, NJ		W 42–0	13,520
November 24	12:00 p.m.	at West Virginia	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Backyard Brawl)	ESPN	W 23–17	44,407
December 1	1:30 p.m.	UAB*	Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA		W 24–6	40,855	^[1]
December 20	7:30 p.m.	vs. NC State*	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Tangerine Bowl)	ESPN	W 34–19	28,562
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Roster

2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
OL	`77`	Bryan Anderson	Jr
WR	`80`	Antonio Bryant	Jr
OT	`75`	Matt Morgan	Fr
RB	`32`	Lousaka Polite	So
TE	`83`	Kris Wilson	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB	`5`	Torrie Cox	Jr
LB	`51`	Gerald Hayes	Jr
DE	`57`	Bryan Knight	Sr
DB	`19`	Shawntae Spencer	So
DB	`25`	Ramon Walker	Sr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P	`36`	Andy Lee	So

Head coach

Walt Harris

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Coaching staff

2001 Pittsburgh Panthers football staff

	Coaching staff Walt Harris – Head coach Bob Junko – Assistant head coach/defensive tackles J. D. Brookhart – Offensive coordinator/Wide receivers Paul Rhoads – Defensive coordinator/secondary David Blackwell – Linebackers Curtis Bray – Defensive ends Bryan Deal – Recruiting coordinator/Specialists Tom Freeman – Offensive line/run game coordinator Bob Ligashesky – Tight ends/Special teams Shawn Simms – Running backs			Support staff Chris LaSala – Assistant Athletic Director/football operations Matt Williamson – Recruiting Assistant Sean McGowan – Graduate assistant Bob Ando – Graduate assistant			Strength and conditioning staff Buddy Morris – Strength and conditioning coach Chad Hutsko – Assistant strength and conditioning coach

Team players drafted into the NFL

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL club
Antonio Bryant	Wide receiver	2	63	Dallas Cowboys
Ramon Walker	Defensive back	5	153	Houston Texans
Bryan Knight	Linebacker	5	165	Chicago Bears

^[2]

Notes

The December 1 game against UAB was a makeup of games that were postponed due to the 9/11 terror attacks cancelling all major sporting events for one week.

References

^ "Surging Panthers land Tangerine Bowl bid". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 2, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "2002 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.

[1] "Surging Panthers land Tangerine Bowl bid". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 2, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

[2] "2002 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.

[1]

[2]

Pittsburgh Panthers football
Venues	Recreation Park (1898–1899) Exposition Park (1900) Schenley Park (1901) Coliseum (1902–1903) Exposition Park (1904–1908) Forbes Field (1909–1924) Pitt Stadium (1925–1999) Three Rivers Stadium (2000) Acrisure Stadium (2001–present) UPMC Rooney Sports Complex (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Duquesne: City Game Notre Dame Old Ironsides Penn State Syracuse West Virginia: Backyard Brawl
Culture & lore	Panthers "Hail to Pitt" "Pitt Victory Song" Marching band 2007 Backyard Brawl Highest-scoring game
People	Head coaches All-Americans NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
National championship seasons in bold