Penn State vs. Pitt
- Thread starter Alphalion75
- Start date
How could I forget that fierce war that's been fought since the early 90's my bad, divided many a household in Pa and Michigan, lolYou mean you don't like the Land Grant trophy?
As grotesque as the physical Land Grant Trophy is:
From 1993 to 2010, PSU and MSU played every year.
PSU won 13 of 18. In control of the series, but not completely one-sided.
After a three-year hiatus, they again played every year from 2014 through 2023.
PSU and MSU split the series 5-5.
Total of 18 for PSU, 10 for MSU.
Keeping that as the end-of-year game would have been the simple and obvious choice - but someone (Was that at PSU's request? Or was it the Big Ten Commissar's office? IDK) decided to not do that.
The only options within the Big Ten for PSU's end-of-season game were (and remain) rotating among: MSU, Rutgers, and Maryland (everyone else has a end-of-year game on the books). Rotating among those options is ludicrous, for a program of PSU's supposed stature.
Going outside of the Big Ten doesn't present a huge slate of upgrade options - but at least a few. The big boys of the SEC are out of the question - they already have big rivalry games. Of those that would be available Pitt being the most obvious and easiest choice. Notre Dame would be wonderful - and while a full on "every year" deal is unlikely (IMO), getting them on the slate for the occasional 2 or 4 game set should be at least a reasonable consideration for both programs (ND playing the likes of Stanford as a finale is not exactly great for them either). Also some opportunities with a few of the decent Big 12 and ACC teams.
Plenty of room for upgrade, obviously. Just need a leadership team that wants to prioritize decent football games over cupcake wins.
There is, and for decades has been, a certain arrogance in a large part of our fan base, that we are far superior to Pitt in virtually every way. The hubris is unwarranted.
In sports, we have generally been better in football, Pitt in men's basketball. We won a National Championship in women's volleyball last year but Pitt has made the last 4 National Semifinals and are currently ranked 4th. Pitt has had better baseball teams, we have had better wrestling squads.
To me, what really matters is academics, and there, in the latest US News rankings, Pitt is ranked #69 and Penn State is ranked #59. In global rankings, Pitt is #52 and Penn State is #91 for the 2025-2026 "Best Global Universities". Not much difference either way.
The bottom line is both are quality schools with solid sports programs.
Should we play them in football every year? Yes. We should play them in virtually every sport every year.
As an aside, my wife is a Pitt grad. I am a Penn State alum. Both of us hold advanced degrees from other schools that I will not name, but both are rated superior to both Pitt and Penn State. Hers, an MBA, mine in Law.
Sadly, my wife is not as smart as I am. She married me and I married her. Trust me. I got the far better end of that deal.
In sports, we have generally been better in football, Pitt in men's basketball. We won a National Championship in women's volleyball last year but Pitt has made the last 4 National Semifinals and are currently ranked 4th. Pitt has had better baseball teams, we have had better wrestling squads.
To me, what really matters is academics, and there, in the latest US News rankings, Pitt is ranked #69 and Penn State is ranked #59. In global rankings, Pitt is #52 and Penn State is #91 for the 2025-2026 "Best Global Universities". Not much difference either way.
The bottom line is both are quality schools with solid sports programs.
Should we play them in football every year? Yes. We should play them in virtually every sport every year.
As an aside, my wife is a Pitt grad. I am a Penn State alum. Both of us hold advanced degrees from other schools that I will not name, but both are rated superior to both Pitt and Penn State. Hers, an MBA, mine in Law.
Sadly, my wife is not as smart as I am. She married me and I married her. Trust me. I got the far better end of that deal.
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Replace Pitt with “Maryland” and you’d get virtually the same talk. Why not just play the Terps every year to end the season?There is, and for decades has been, a certain arrogance in a large part of our fan base, that we are far superior to Pitt in virtually every way. The hubris is unwarranted.
In sports, we have generally been better in football, Pitt in men's basketball. We won a National Championship in women's volleyball last year but Pitt has made the last 4 National Semifinals and are currently ranked 4th. Pitt has had better baseball teams, we have had better wrestling squads.
To me, what really matters is academics, and there, in the latest US News rankings, Pitt is ranked #69 and Penn State is ranked #59. In global rankings, Pitt is #52 and Penn State is #91 for the 2025-2026 "Best Global Universities". Not much difference either way.
The bottom line is both are quality schools with solid sports programs.
Should we play them in football every year? Yes. We should play them in virtually every sport every year.
As an aside, my wife is a Pitt grad. I am a Penn State alum. Both of us hold advanced degrees from other schools that I will not name, but both are rated superior to both Pitt and Penn State. Hers, an MBA, mine in Law.
Sadly, my wife is not as smart as I am. She married me and I married her. Trust me. I got the far better end of that deal.
Nailed it in my opinion.
Where Do Penn Staters Move After Graduation?
Not only is literally everyone at Penn State from "right outside of Philly," ALMOST everyone also works "right outside of Philly."onwardstate.com
Unsurprisingly, not only is literally everyone at Penn State from “right outside of Philly,” ALMOST everyone also works “right outside of Philly.” More than 19 percent of Penn State graduates move to the City of Brotherly Love’s metropolitan area.
It is true, however, that many on the non alums in the Philly area don't care about PSU at all, and many even resent PSU. Anyone who can stomach Philly talk radio will confirm that. Still, overall PSU has a lot of support in the Philly area.
Because I count dozens of Pitt grads as friends, business associates, or family members. I count one from Maryland. There is a natural, in state, rivalry with Pitt that does not exist with Maryland.
By the way, we have played Maryland 48 times in football and they have won 3. Pitt has beaten us 43 times to our 53. That alone is reason enough. We want a competitive rivalry.
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Excellent post.There is, and for decades has been, a certain arrogance in a large part of our fan base, that we are far superior to Pitt in virtually every way. The hubris is unwarranted.
In sports, we have generally been better in football, Pitt in men's basketball. We won a National Championship in women's volleyball last year but Pitt has made the last 4 National Semifinals and are currently ranked 4th. Pitt has had better baseball teams, we have had better wrestling squads.
To me, what really matters is academics, and there, in the latest US News rankings, Pitt is ranked #69 and Penn State is ranked #59. In global rankings, Pitt is #52 and Penn State is #91 for the 2025-2026 "Best Global Universities". Not much difference either way.
The bottom line is both are quality schools with solid sports programs.
Should we play them in football every year? Yes. We should play them in virtually every sport every year.
As an aside, my wife is a Pitt grad. I am a Penn State alum. Both of us hold advanced degrees from other schools that I will not name, but both are rated superior to both Pitt and Penn State. Hers, an MBA, mine in Law.
Sadly, my wife is not as smart as I am. She married me and I married her. Trust me. I got the far better end of that deal.
I know many more Terps fans than Pitt fans (do Pitt fans really exist? Most graduates I have met from that school don’t even really care about the sports there). So that’s just a geography thing based on where you live. And I’d expect games against Pitt going forward to be no more competitive than games against UMD - both are middling programs.
There was about a decade where Pitt was comparable in strength to PSU - other than that it’s been no comparison been PSU and Pitt in the decades since WWII.
I'm 80 years old, and I don't want to ever see us play Pitt (unless it's a bowl). Just too much hate from both sides!
It's fascinating since you describe "hate" and my experience has only been "apathy" between both "sides" - that assumes you can even find a Pitt grad who cares about their team. We played a 4 game series with Pitt in the recent past, were those games any more interesting that playing West Virginia or Syracuse? Not in my experience or from talking to others.
I don't see hate 67. In my circles I see a lot of mutual respect, but if there is hate, is it any worse than Alabama/Auburn, Oklahoma/Texas, or Michigan/Ohio State?
Fwiw in NEPA the PSU/ND game was bigger. There are a lot more fighting Irish fans in my neck of the woods thin there are pit fences. I guess it's about 100 to 1 or more.
I hear this all the time... Pitt is irrelevant...but Nevada, Villanova, and every other OOC game is terrific? Strength of schedule is a factor....and Pitt is relevant to the ACC and a P4 team. Added reason is PSU will now need to compete with CJF at Va Tech for recruiting....another ACC ream.
If Pitt will play at Beaver Stadium as a guarantee game without playing in Pittsburgh then sign them up to play every year forever. Otherwise, it's a meaningless comparison.
Those games aren’t about interest, they’re about bringing in money and not needing to travel to their place.
I understand the money side of it but scheduling 3 uninteresting OOC games is just a rip-off for the season ticket holders. May as well just have 3 open dates.
And playing Pitt brings national, and recruiting, interest to the game. Playing FIU and Nevada does neither.
If it was Pitt or Nova of course we'd all want Pitt. Those aren't the only options.
Ahh the 1940's. Great decade in which to be born. A fellow traveller.
"National"? I feel like you must be talking about a different school. No one outside out Western PA would give a crap about PSU playing Pitt. It's literally no different in terms of media attention than PSU playing Maryland or Rutgers.
Since the Sandusky fiasco, what I've experienced is hatred.
BoT manufactured the hatred to protect friends, family and BoT idiots associated with TSM.
This, from a 2019 media article after the final game in the series. What is amazing to me is that nearly all those viewers were apparently from Western PA.
"Last Saturday’s Pittsburgh-Penn State college football game averaged a 2.1 rating and 3.20 million viewers on ABC, marking the day’s highest rated and most-watched Noon ET game. Penn State’s win, which peaked at 4.2 million viewers from 3:45 PM ET through the conclusion, edged Ohio State-Indiana on FOX “Big Noon Saturday” (2.0, 3.05M).
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Those aren't meaningful numbers really and just reflect a ranked PSU team playing a (random) Power 5 conference team. PSU/WVU had 3.7M viewers in 2023. There's no reason to think any neutral person nationally cared about that game being a "rivalry" to spurn any viewership above what it would be for any generic PSU game against a mid tier ACC/Big 12 team.