APPenn State and Pitt will be renewing their once long-time rivalry with a home-and-home in 2016-17, but a two-game series still isn’t enough for new Nittany Lions coach Bill O’Brien.
Speaking with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, O’Brien said he’d like to play the Panthers more often, preferably every year.
“I would love to see that game played on an annual basis,” O’Brien said. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for (Pitt coach) Paul Chryst and their program, and that’s a great rivalry.
“For the fans of Pennsylvania to be able to see that game every year, I think that’s pretty neat.”
The Penn State-Pitt game used to matter on a national scale. That’s not the case anymore, and following Pit’s entrance to the Big East (and Penn State to the Big Ten), the series ended in 2000 with a 12-0 win by the Panthers. Penn State leads the all-time series 50-42-4.
Still, I’m sure there are more than a few fans on both sides — or those who enjoy a certain nostalgia – that would like to see the game be played every year.
While I agree with Joe’s reasons for putting the screws to Pitt, Coach O’Brien is right, they should play every year and hey, it’s a fresh start for both programs.
And it kind of sucks for the guy, he’s locked in, for the next few years, to the scheduling decisions made by Joe and Curley. Now that the Alabama home and home is done, they have no OOC game against a national big-boy program for a helluva long time.
BTW Ben, I like your choice of picture for this article. It has to be Lavar. I was at that PSU/Pitt game in ’99. Lavar managed to get two personal fouls on one play in that one.
the best thing for Penn State is to not play any major powerhouses for a few years and re-establish winning into their program. And Pitt is no stellar program by any means. Im a huge WVU fan and our Pitt rivalry is one of the biggest and oldest in the country, yet that program is on a steep decline and their fanbase is a joke. ive been to the brawl the last 3 years and they dont even show up to their home games. $2 tickets at the gate.
the best thing for Penn State is to not play any major powerhouses for a few years and re-establish winning into their program. And Pitt is no stellar program by any means.
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You don’t re-establish winning into your program by beating Temple, Akron, and Syracuse (with all due respect to Temple, Akron, and Syracuse). And i never said Pitt is a stellar program, but playing them every year, with a national power program also on the schedule, is a helluva lot better than what we have on the horizon.
Finding positives in a loss in a loser mentality, but the fact that PSU played Alabama tougher than any other team on their schedule, except for the regular season loss to LSU, does more for the kids on the team than whipping Eastern Michigan (with all due respect to Eastern Michigan).
Generally speaking, I would like to see the NCAA pass legislation eliminating football games between FBS and FCS schools. Those games really dilute the quality and integrity of college football. I can’ t condone any FBS school playing an FCS school.
As a Penn St. fan, I would love it if Penn St, Pitt and Temple agreed to play one another every year for a Trophy much like Army, AF and Navy play for the Commanders-in-Chief Trophy. I think that would be great for Pennsylvania football and hopefully would keep more PA high school players within the state.
I would also like to see Penn St. play one decent regional opponent … Maryland, WV, Syracuse, Rutgers, BC, e.g. Then as a fourth non-conference game play someone outside of the Northeast or Midwest. The future Big 10/Pac 12 agreement will solve that one it looks like.
If that would happen then I think Penn St. football would return to the national stage.
I’d love to see the rivalry renewed as my wife is a PSU alumni while her aunt and her family are all Pitt fans.Makes for interesting reunions.
Pitt will want to play all the games at Pitt like they did in the 70′s! And PENN STATE STILL BEAT THEM!
Bring on those pedophile protecting pansies from Penn St.
I would love to see them play again but darn things must be really bad at PSU if they are talking about doing a home and home series with Pitt.
No offense to Pitt, but before the scandal playing Pitt did nothing for PSU recruiting or a possible BCS berth.
Um, am I missing something. Penn State plays on a big stage, it’s called the Big 10. If you want to be critical of coaching, play calling and the recent disaster, that is fine. Sadly, and ironically, coaching, formations and play calling will get better with Joe gone. I think they pick up VA Tech for two years before or after Pitt. Add Pitt it is great for the team and program; however, quit trying to prop up a program to “hit the bigs” when it is already there.
Add Pitt, great for the program. Show me any other big time programs shopping for talented opponents as non-conference games
State will be back!
Gripless, I am sorry, I could point to numerous programs who have scheduled at least one big-time opponent in non-conference play. Penn St.’s future schedule is void of any Top 10 or 20 program. The non-conference sched after this year is very weak.
You could say they just played Alabama two years in a row, but those games were originally supposed to be played back in ’07 and ’08, I believe and scheduled almost 10 years ago.
A few years ago, I personally spoke with Tim Curley about scheduling a game against Hawaii in Honolulu. He said they had actually discussed that and the school was open to the idea, however, JoePa nixed it. Didn’t want to deal with the travel and playing a 13th game. Now, I fully realize Hawaii is no power, but it was a chance for Penn St. to take the program outside of the Northeast and Midwest and to shake things up a bit.
PSU needs to show they are willing to play big time opponents and travel a bit in doing so. Their scheduling has gotten very stale. Temple fine, Pitt fine, Syracuse fine, Rutgers fine, but then add in some big time opponent for the 4th game.