Pitt, Syracuse to meet at Yankee Stadium in 2023
College football is returning to Yankee Stadium, and it won’t be for just the Pinstripe Bowl.
Pittsburgh and Syracuse will face off at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Nov. 11 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the first college football game played at the original Yankee Stadium. That game, which also featured Pittsburgh and Syracuse, took place on Oct. 20, 1923. Syracuse emerged with a 3-0 victory.
“While we can’t bring back Babe Ruth, who hit the first home run at the original Yankee Stadium in 1923, we can bring back Pitt and Syracuse to celebrate 100 years of college football at the home of the Yankees,” said Mark Holtzman, Yankees vice president of non-baseball sports events.
The meeting between the Orange and the Panthers was previously a scheduled home game for Syracuse. Syracuse will now have six home games in 2023 instead of seven.
"This game is 100 years in the making and will celebrate a milestone anniversary in a historic venue," Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack said. "The unique circumstance of a centennial anniversary, coupled with six strong opponents scheduled to visit the JMA Wireless Dome, will make this year's home schedule an impactful experience for our student-athletes and continue a longstanding partnership with the Yankees organization. I look forward to our fans giving us a tremendous home field advantage in Yankee Stadium, just as they have in all our previous trips."
Syracuse has played at Yankee Stadium 10 times in program history — six times at the original stadium and another four at the new stadium. That includes the loss to Minnesota in the Pinstripe Bowl on Dec. 29.
For Pitt, next season’s trip will mark the fourth time in program history it will play at Yankee Stadium. The Panthers played twice at the original Yankee Stadium and then faced Northwestern in the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl at the current one.
While Yankee Stadium has hosted the Pinstripe Bowl since 2010, the last FBS regular season game to take place at Yankee Stadium came back in 2018 when Syracuse faced Notre Dame. Since then, there was an Ivy League game in 2019 (Dartmouth vs. Princeton) and a Division III game in 2022 (Ithaca vs. SUNY Cortland).
“Yankee Stadium has a rich history of hosting college football games and we’re proud to add this game to its tradition,” ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said.
Pitt is coming off a 9-4 record in 2022 while Syracuse went 7-6 despite starting the season with six straight victories. Pitt and Syracuse have squared off on an annual basis since 1955 and that will continue even as the ACC transitions to its new 3-3-5 scheduling model.
With divisions now eliminated, each ACC team will play three primary opponents every season and face the other 10 teams twice during a four-year cycle, once at home and once on the road. Pitt and Syracuse are primary opponents in the new scheduling setup. Pitt also has Boston College and Virginia Tech as primary opponents. Syracuse has Boston College and Florida State.
The full 2023 ACC football schedule is set to be revealed on Monday at 7 p.m. ET on ACC Network.
