PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The add of four games to the Backyard Brawl keeps a rivalry chapter open while closing the book on another. The Backyard Brawl lives, while Pitt-Penn State is dead.
Oh, I hear the harumph. The ‘what are you talking about’? The ‘it will be back’. The ‘I still hate Pitt/Penn State’. Your hatred is something you can do nothing about. The teams don’t play each other in either of the two major college sports. There are no plans to play each other either.
Since 2000, Pitt and Penn State have played football four times. They have only played basketball eight times, the last scheduled matchup (meaning non-preseason tournament or ACC/Big 10 Challenge) was 2005. Meanwhile, the Mountaineers and Panthers continue to play in both men’s basketball and football.
The rivalry is dead. The only people keeping it alive are those in their 30s or older who are telling stories of what it was.
The tales of Dan Marino’s 1981 season ruined after a 14-0 lead at Pitt Stadium. Penn State’s FBS Championship hopes ruined by a Pitt upset in 2016.
We’re not going to revisit why they don’t play, that story has been told. Each side has their reasons. Whatever side you are on, you’ll likely be partial to your school colors story line. Truth is it’s a dead rivalry. You can’t have true animosity for a team you don’t play, at that point it’s just jealously or pettiness.
They aren’t the first old-school rivalry to end. Oklahoma-Nebraska was a staple. A heated matchup as treasured on a national basis as Nittany Lions-Panthers. It’s gone. So is this one.
Some of those rivalries try to live on, but as great as it will be to have the Backyard Brawl, the truest rivalries are same conference, final game of the year.
Would 13-9 really hold the same meaning if it were played in September? Here’s guessing the schools end up in a future conference where that can be revisited.
For now, if you are a recent college graduate or younger, Pitt-Penn State is a summer fling that ended for all of the wrong reasons. The sides have moved on and so should you.