Pitt and Penn State were always known as a great rivalry, but the two teams haven’t faced off in 15 years. That will change in 2016 when the Lions head to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers on September 10th.
Penn State leads the all time series 50-42-4. That included two 0-0 ties and 20 shutouts by the Nittany Lions. The rivalry will be fun to start up again in 2016, but it’s more than just on the field that makes this a great story.
When James Franklin became head coach at Penn State his motto was “Dominate the State” which means PSU will control recruiting in Pennsylvania. Obviously, Pitt, seeing themselves as a power school don’t agree with that. In the 2015 recruiting cycle, Pitt landed the #1 player in the state, Jordan Whitehead, but Penn State landed 6 out of the top 10 in the state. This year the recruiting buzz in the state has been around two players, Miles Sanders and Damar Hamlin, both from the Pittsburgh area. Sanders is one of the top running backs in this cycle and he committed to PSU last July and Pitt has done everything in their power to get him to flip( which pretty much means their fan base tweets at him that Pitt is it( even tho it’s not) Hamlin on the overhand is uncommitted, but his top three seems to be Pitt,Penn State, and Ohio State. In my opinion, he’s going to OSU, but he will be in Happy Valley this weekend for Lasch Bash so we’ll see how that goes. Hamlin called out Pitt fans earlier this summer saying it’s always Pitt fans saying crazy things. A Pitt fan said that if Hamlin doesn’t go to Pitt, he and his family should be shunned from the city…man talk about being rude. He’s a 17 year old kid like people need to realize that. Anyway, Pitt fans have been coming up with slogans like “Stay Home to put on for your city” Penn State fans counter with” When you put on for your city but your city doesn’t put on for you”. Pitt’s average attendance in 2014 was roughly 48K.
Pitt fans also love calling Franklin a used car salesman, yes he was one before getting into football, but it’s pretty irrelevant and just another way they think they’re getting at Penn State. First year Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi tweets “Pitt is it” when they get a commit.. Pitt fans say that that is the real thing and when Franklin tweets “We Are… Better” is copying.. HOW CAN FRANKLIN BE COPYING IF HE’S BEEN A COACH LONGER!!!!! Yes it’s only a year but seriously people don’t think. 2017 recruiting class will bring more Twitter fights with guys like Lamont Wade and Paris Ford both from Pittsburgh, but as of right now, for the 2016 cycle Penn State has the #8 class while Pitt is somewhere in the 60s. We’ll see how things go in 2016 but as for right now, I’d say Penn State is owning this rivalry.
Just remember: Pitt isn’t it
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