The “Pitt Special” no longer will be a surprise, but Pitt and UCF plan to get together again this decade after the schools announced a home-and-home football scheduling agreement Thursday.
Pitt will serve as host Sept. 12, 2026, at Acrisure Stadium. The teams will meet again Sept. 15, 2029, in Orlando, Fla.
The teams have met twice previously in Orlando: a 52-7 Pitt victory in 2006 and a 45-14 Panthers loss in 2018. The most recent meeting Sept. 21, 2019, in Pittsburgh was noteworthy on two fronts.
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• Pitt’s 35-34 victory at Heinz Field (now Acrisure) ended UCF’s 27-game non-bowl winning streak.
• The Panthers famously scored the decisive touchdown with 56 seconds left on a fourth-down gadget-play pass thrown by wide receiver Aaron Mathews to quarterback Kenny Pickett. The play called for running back A.J. Davis to take a direct snap and flip the football to Mathews. Meanwhile, Pickett navigated through goal-line traffic and acted like a blocker before getting open and making a 3-yard touchdown catch.
The play came to be known as the “Pitt Special,” a nod toward a similar play called the “Philly Special” that helped the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII in 2018.
