On a cool spring morning in May, University of Pittsburgh head football coach Pat Narduzzi had just finished a recruiting meeting in the Steel City. After he walked the prospective collegiate player to the front door of the state-of-the-art training facility that the Panthers share with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Narduzzi began the trek back to his office, first passing Tony Dorsett’s 1976 Heisman Trophy in the main lobby. From there, the architect of the Pitt football program for the better part of the last decade made his way down a hallway, the walls of which told the story of just how significant Pitt’s history on the gridiron has been for more than a century.

One wall includes photos of every Pitt player to earn All-America honors, and it leads to an area that features a decade-by-decade chronology of the football team’s accomplishments.

When he finally got back to his wing, Narduzzi picked up a few notes off his desk and walked out to a balcony.

“This gives you a true feeling of Pittsburgh,” Narduzzi said as he looked down onto the large grass area containing football fields on which the city’s professional and college teams practice, sometimes simultaneously. “This is a pretty special place to just take it all in.”

Narduzzi wasn’t only talking about the fields but also the mountain range that provides a picturesque background, along with a working train and a steel mill.

On a much warmer day in upstate New York this past summer, Dino Babers had just come off the practice field on the campus of Syracuse University. Like Narduzzi, Babers’ path to his office required a long walk through a lobby in the school’s football facility that showcased a rich tradition.

When Ernie Davis won the 1961 Heisman Trophy, he became the first Black player to do so, and the award he was given all those years ago is displayed just a few steps from the entrance to Babers’ office. A statue of Jim Brown, the Syracuse icon who many still regard as football’s greatest player of all time, is also nearby.

“There are always debates about who the greatest player in each sport is,” said Babers, who took over Syracuse’s football program before the 2016 season. “But I don’t know if those arguments happen in football that often. Everybody says Jimmy Brown. My dad always told me that there was no one better than Jimmy Brown. He would bring home highlights to make me watch. I wasn’t sure if I agreed with him at first, but the more I watched, the more I realized that Brown was not only powerful, but also graceful and beautiful.”

The scenery in Syracuse is emblematic of a city whose passion for sports rivals that of Pittsburgh. While the Steel City has three teams in the major professional sports -- the Penguins, Steelers and Pirates -- along with the collegiate teams at Pitt and nearby Duquesne, Syracuse devours all things Orange with the same vigor.

Marshall Street, located in the heart of the city, is usually packed with students and Syracuse fans when school is in session. There are popular taverns and restaurants along the street, but what stands out are Manny’s and Shirt World, each of which has thousands of items on their shelves and clothing racks all dedicated to Syracuse sports.

From one end of Marshall Street, the JMA Wireless Dome -- originally named the Carrier Dome -- is in view. The sea of orange in the two merchandise shops is no doubt a unique sight, but it pales in comparison to what fans see on fall Saturday afternoons in the home of Syracuse’s football team.

“The Dome is our house,” Babers said. “The atmosphere is electric. There are 50,000 people all wearing orange in the Dome for football games. You’ve got 50,000 people determined not to let the other team hear what’s going on in there.

“Syracuse can either be considered a big town or a little city. When we have a home game, everyone is involved. The Dome is in the middle of our campus. Every time our students walk to their classes, they see the Dome. When they get the opportunity to fill it up, that’s what they do. It’s a special thing, especially considering that not many other schools have their football stadiums on campus.”

Long before Brown took the field at Syracuse -- and decades prior to the Carrier Dome opening in 1980 -- the running back’s alma mater took on Pittsburgh in the first football game ever played at the old Yankee Stadium a century ago. Six months after Babe Ruth christened the Stadium with an Opening Day home run on April 18, 1923, Syracuse defeated Pitt, 3-0, on Oct. 20.

Over the next eight-plus decades, the original Yankee Stadium hosted some of the most historic college and professional football games, including the 1958 NFL championship between the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts. And, soon after the current Stadium was built, the Pinstripe Bowl became a new winter tradition in the Bronx.

This November, Pittsburgh and Syracuse will once again converge in the borough, across the street from where The House That Ruth Built stood, for a matchup celebrating the 100th anniversary of football at Yankee Stadium. The 3:30 p.m. contest on Nov. 11 will be a “home” game for Syracuse, and for the school’s director of athletics, John Wildhack, the idea of coming to the Big Apple during the regular season was too good to pass up.

“I had a conversation with [Yankees executives] Mark Holtzman and John Mosley during the ACC spring meeting in 2022,” Wildhack said from his office at Syracuse. “When they brought up the 100th anniversary of the first football game at Yankee Stadium, I asked them who played in that game. When I realized that it was Syracuse against Pitt, and that the same matchup was a home game for us in 2023, it quickly led to more conversations. I knew this game would have historical significance and would bring us to the greatest venue in North American sports. It all added up like it was meant to be. I felt like it was a once-in-a-century opportunity.”

Mosley, who played for Notre Dame in the early 1980s, has worked diligently to bring compelling football games to Yankee Stadium for more than a decade, and the Syracuse-Pittsburgh tilt was one that he and his colleagues truly coveted.

“We always look for games that match up with Yankee Stadium,” said Mosley, the Yankees’ director of college football development. “This was one that we thought would be perfect, from a historical perspective and because it would bring two teams with great traditions to Yankee Stadium.”

When Babers found out about the plan, he embraced it.

“History has always been my favorite subject,” the 62-year-old coach said. “That 3-0 game in 1923 took place a long time before I was born, and I’m old. I like home games in the Dome, but when I heard about the opportunity to celebrate such a historic event at Yankee Stadium, I was in.”

Narduzzi’s enthusiasm about the game matched that of Babers, for a wide-ranging list of reasons. During Narduzzi’s college years, the former University of Rhode Island linebacker spent the summers with his parents in northern New Jersey. At that time, Narduzzi’s father was a coach at Columbia University in New York City.

“The first thoughts I had were about coming to New York again,” said Narduzzi. “My mother has lived in Teaneck, N.J., since we moved there in 1985, and I spent a lot of time in New York City. I would ride my bike over the George Washington Bridge, down through Morningside Park and all the way down to Fifth Avenue to work construction in the summers. So, just being back in New York City is always great.

“The second thing that came to mind was that it’s a Syracuse home game, and we don’t have to play in the Dome this year.”

The task of getting Syracuse to give up a home game within the loud confines of the Dome was something that Mosley knew would be challenging from the beginning of the process.

“There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle,” Mosley said. “It’s really difficult for teams to pull a home game out of their city, especially that late in the season. Syracuse really had to think about it. When you take into account that this would be a conference game, in this case between two ACC teams, it made it even more difficult.”

Wildhack weighed all the factors before getting on board with a November home game about 225 miles from Syracuse.

“I would not have done this if it was going to take us below six games at the Dome,” he said. “But an opportunity like this to grow our brand, which we are trying to do, is something you have to do. Occasionally, you have to do something unique and creative in order to grow your brand. That’s what we are doing in the No. 1 media market in the world.”

In addition to the centennial celebration, the game brings two captivating teams to the Bronx.

Since Narduzzi took over at Pitt in December of 2014, the Panthers have played in six bowl games, including the 2016 Pinstripe Bowl. The team’s 20 combined wins from 2021 to ’22 were the most for the program since 1981 and ’82, which were legendary quarterback Dan Marino’s junior and senior seasons. With Marino on hand, the 2021 Panthers, then led by current Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, reached their high-water mark, defeating Wake Forest in the ACC championship game.

“Things go in circles,” said the 57-year-old Narduzzi. “Pittsburgh won back when Tony Dorsett and then Dan Marino were here, and they fell off for a while after that. But we’re back now; we’re closing the circle. There’s a lot of excitement around Pitt football. We have had 14 guys drafted by NFL teams in the last three years, which is the most in the ACC, and we expect to make the [College Football Playoff] in the near-future.”

Narduzzi’s 63 wins at Pitt (through Sept. 15) trailed only Jock Sutherland, who led the Panthers to 111 victories over 15 seasons beginning in 1924.

“That consistency means everything,” Narduzzi said. “As a leader and head football coach of this team, it’s your reputation. My family sacrifices a lot for what I do for a living. But the reason that I took this job was to bring Pitt back. I had the opportunity to go to Michigan State a few years ago, but I wanted to finish the job here. I want my legacy to be here.”

From her office on campus, Pittsburgh’s director of athletics, Heather Lyke, shared her confidence in Narduzzi.

“He’s a fantastic leader and has provided continuity,” Lyke said. “He has a really strong continuity with his coaches. He’s a people person, and people matter to him. It’s not just about the history anymore. When we won that ACC championship, all of the fans and students started to focus on what is going on now. There’s a whole new history being written under Coach Narduzzi. Players are getting drafted under his direction, and there’s a connection between them and the players who are still here. To have Kenny [Pickett] do what he did in college and then stay in Pittsburgh has really been impactful. Players coming out of high school are realizing that if they want to play at the next level, this is a place where they can develop into that. The important thing is getting your brand into the conversation, and Pat has helped us do that.”

Some 350 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Babers has revamped Syracuse’s football program. Although he is still seeking his first ACC title, Babers has led the Orange to two postseason appearances, winning the Camping World Bowl in 2018. That season, he led the Orange to a 10-3 record and coached his first game at Yankee Stadium, falling to Notre Dame, 36-3. Last year, Babers guided Syracuse to seven regular-season victories before losing the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl to Minnesota at Yankee Stadium.

“He’s a great football coach,” Narduzzi said about Babers. “He’s a great leader of young men, and more than all of that, a great person. He’s real, and that’s a quality that you don’t find in every college coach.”

Looking back on the steady improvement that Syracuse has made over the last three seasons, Wildhack believes that the team is finally in position for a sustained run of success.

“What we did last year was really important,” he said. “We went 5-7 in 2021 and lost two games on the last play. Last year, we went 7-6 after starting 6-0. We had a tough loss at Clemson, and we were beset with injuries across the board. But getting into a bowl game was a good stepping stone for this season. We always want to be good enough to play a 13th game, and we have a lot of returning players along with great leadership. Our depth is better than what it was last year, and it’s something that we really worked hard on. I’m excited about the potential that this team has. The ingredients are there for us to put together a few really good seasons in a row.”

On and off the field, both coaches are familiar with each other, having matched wits on the gridiron in each season they have been at the helm of their respective teams. In recent years, Narduzzi’s Panthers have dominated the series between the schools, which have played each other in every season since 1955. But even though he has a 6-1 record against Babers, Narduzzi feels that the number of games between the teams makes for a most competitive atmosphere.

“Playing a team every year makes the games more intense,” Narduzzi said. “Win or lose, the tables can turn quickly if you’re not prepared. It’s no different than the Yankees and the Red Sox. It’s always going to be a rivalry regardless of what their records are in a given season. It’s going to be an intense game either way this November. It’s going to be a battle, a heck of a game.”

While Syracuse’s 3-0 victory over Pitt in 1923 was the lowest-scoring matchup in the series history, the initial tilt between Babers and Narduzzi was just the opposite. On that November afternoon in 2016, Pitt outscored Syracuse, 76-61. In the fourth quarter of that classic, seven touchdowns were scored.

Both coaches left the field disappointed in their inability to stop the opponent -- at all. But the ridiculousness of what transpired actually spurred a bond between Narduzzi and Babers.

“He was upset, and so was I,” Babers said. “I was the only person that could really understand why he was so upset after that game, even though they won. I think that our friendship started there.

“These days, our conversations about football are short. He’s a defensive guy, and I’m an offensive guy, so when it comes to football, we usually agree to disagree and then move on. But he’s Italian, and I have an Italian first name, so I guess it makes sense that we have such a close friendship!”

The greatness that has come through both football programs is indisputable. Syracuse played its first football game in 1899, and since that time has taken the field in 27 bowl games, including the Cotton Bowl following the 1959 regular season. In that historic contest, Ernie Davis led his team to victory over Texas, capping off an 11-0 season.

Although that game clinched Syracuse’s lone national championship, what Davis did on Jan. 1, 1960, said more about his character and what his school stood for than it did about football greatness.

“The racism that Ernie had to endure when they went down to Texas to play in the Cotton Bowl is unimaginable today,” Babers said. “But he and his teammates did it with grace. To see someone who was so gifted and talented break the racial barrier with that Heisman Trophy is as inspirational as any story in sports.

“The ways that Syracuse was progressive in the 1950s and ’60s really stands out in our school’s history. They were tolerant of things up here that weren’t allowed throughout the rest of the nation. Having Ernie Davis, then Jim Brown and Floyd Little, an ambassador of collegiate and professional football, this school can stand alone on its football tradition.”

Pittsburgh is known for hardworking people, most notably the steel workers who gave the city its famous nickname. The Steel City’s love for football runs deeper than the three rivers that cross through Western Pennsylvania’s biggest city. Lyke, a native of Canton, Ohio -- where professional football was born and where the Pro Football Hall of Fame has stood since its inception 60 years ago -- took over Pitt athletics in 2017. She was immediately moved by the dedication to football in Pittsburgh.

“When I came to Pitt, I saw the pride and community connection that fans have with the football teams,” Lyke said. “Pittsburgh has an incredible football history. The fans in Western Pennsylvania go to high school games on Friday nights, Pitt games on Saturday and Steelers games on Sundays. If you’re a football fan, this is the city to live in. Pittsburgh is called the ‘City of Champions’ because they’ve won more Super Bowls and national championships than most places.”

The Panthers claim nine national titles in their 134-year history, the most recent coming in 1976. Although he didn’t win one, Marino, who grew up within walking distance of the university, gave the city arguably its most exciting four-year span of football. From 1979-82, Marino led Pitt to a 42-6 record and victories in the Fiesta Bowl, Gator Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The Steel City’s favorite son, who went on to play 17 seasons for the Miami Dolphins, is one of 10 Pitt players to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“When you look at the guys who have come from here and gone on to not only play in the NFL but become legends on that level -- Dan Marino, Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Larry Fitzgerald and Darrelle Revis, among others -- it’s the pinnacle of pinnacles,” Lyke said.

Only time will tell if any of the players who take the field Nov. 11 end up in Canton someday. But, for now, there will be a celebration in the Bronx as two programs steeped in tradition -- Syracuse and Pitt -- kick off the next century of college football at Yankee Stadium.

Alfred Santasiere III is the editor-in-chief of Yankees Magazine. This story appears in the October 2023 edition. Get more articles like this delivered to your doorstep by purchasing a subscription to Yankees Magazine at www.yankees.com/publications.