Former Pitt Panther Dan Marino is making the rounds in western Pennsylvania, and he had something to say about the revival of the Penn State-Pitt series
It took a long time for in-state foes Penn State and Pittsburgh to come to terms on a new series on the football field. After years of avoiding each other for whatever reasons you choose to hang your hat on, Penn State and Pittsburgh announced a two-game series to be played starting this season. Soon enough, the two schools tacked on two more games to the agreement to create a four-game series alternating between schools as host sites.
The revival of the in-state rivalry is sure to fire up some emotions from those attached to either school that had some history with the series. Among those is former Pitt quarterback Dan Marino, who is in western Pennsylvania to present a Pitt scholarship. Of course, that led to a question about the upcoming series, and Marino suggested it is a series that should be played every year.
“Why wouldn’t Penn State want to play us?” Marino said Wednesday, according to Jerry DiPaola of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “To me, it would make sense.”
Count me as one who agrees with Marino. As I have said before, with both the Big Ten and ACC requiring their members to schedule at least one game per season against another power conference opponent, Penn State and Pittsburgh could easily lock up a long-term scheduling deal with an alternating home-and-home series. Getting those in charge at each school to come to that agreement, however, would be a challenge as this series has shown us all before. Each school scheduling non-conference games so far in advance also becomes a problem.
Marino also had this to add…
Marino on Pitt/PSU renewal beyond current 4 years: "We just have to beat them for the next four years and they definintely won't renew it."
— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) May 4, 2016
Well, in fairness, Marino is probably right. Penn State would have nothing to gain by renewing a series in the event they lose all four games, or perhaps even go 1-3. And odds are this may end up being the end of the line for the series for an undetermined amount of time. And depending on how old you are, you may or may not want to see the series extended beyond four years. Those who grew up with the rivalry may wish to see more of it down the line, but if you grew up in the 1990s, you probably have next to no emotional investment in the series.
To counter Marino, would Pitt be eager to renew a series if Penn State happened to win the next four games? Probably not.
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