Resuming Pitt series, RE: Dan Connor comments

Poz and Sean Lee weren't enough?  I think Bradley's got western Pa. pretty much under control.

Those of you looking down your nose at Pitt might be interested to know that from 2000 - 2006, Pitt's won/loss was 50-35 while Penn St. was 46-38.  Both programs went to one BCS bowl in that time span.

Besides that, re-read my original post.  I was talking about West Virginia.  They're getting players from Western Pa., and they've had a better team the last few years.  You have to look beyond the star players, I believe there are two starters from western PA on WVU's O-line.  Depth is important too.  Connor's comments make me believe that the opportunity to play in one's hometown is a factor in recruiting.

I've been to a few games in this series (including the last one) and it's very frustrating for me that this series isn't played anymore due to the pig-headedness of the Penn St. athletic department.  With a 12 game schedule there's just no reason not to play this game, especially with the flotsam that keeps showing up on the schedule.

As much as we would like to we can't erase 2000-2004 from the record books, and I think the struggles from those seasons illustrate my point.  You lose like that when you don't have enough talent, and we weren't getting enough talent at a time when we couldn't tell certain recruits that they'd have fun playing in their hometown, like Dan Connor did this weekend.  In shiny new Heinz Field no less.

As for national recruiting:  If Penn St. were playing at Heinz Field every other year, which gets much prime-time national exposure because of the Steelers, they could tell recruits that, not only do you get to play at Paternoville with 110,000 fans, you'll also play a game or two at the same Heinz Field you see on Monday Night Football, thus playing into every recruit's dream of playing pro.  Off the top of my head I can't think of another college that could make that kind of offer.

Mock the Big East all you want.  They were 5-0 in bowls last season. (Really.) For reference the Big 10 was 2-5 with their two flagship teams getting torpedoed.  Maybe a few years ago they weren't that good, but right now they're as good as any other conference.  Although one little fantasy I have is breaking up the Big East:  Pitt, WVU, and Louisville to the Big Ten and the rest to the ACC or Conference USA.

Watched the HBO special on the OSU-scUM rivalry last night -- a pretty good show, actually -- and it made me feel jealous, more than anything, because we don't have that kind of thing anymore.  There's a bloodlust there that makes that game fun and interesting even to people who generally don't like either team.  Say whatever you will, but two things are obvious to me -- (1) there's no bloodlust with Sparty, and there won't be, because there's no reason for it (does anyone care about the "Land Grant" bragging rights?); and(2) there's ALWAYS going to be bloodlust with Pitt -- or at least by Pitt towards us.  If the series renewed, I can't believe that we'd be disinterested anymore.

I agree with Mike and the others who say that renewing the Pitt series wouldn't really do anything to improve our recruiting (and that there are more fertile sources to be worried about than W. Pa.).  But I'm from PGH, and I'm tired of hearing Pitt fans moan about how this game isn't played anymore.  I'm actually more tired of hearing about 12-0, but that's mostly our doing -- if we'd have played every year since 2000, 12-0 would be a distant memory.  What exactly could they say when Heinz Field looks like the Linc did in PHI last week?

We're sort of anchorless right now in terms of a rivalry -- the scUM series is what it is, but they're not really interested, and tOSU's the same way.  Sparty's not a rival, period.  We need to get the Pitt game back on the schedule -- those kind of games are what makes college football fun, not games against the eastern halves of IL and MI.  

To tie back into what Connor said -- he obviously enjoyed playing at "home."  The Temple game probably didn't mean much to him in terms of being a rivalry, but I think that's where the Pitt game has an even bigger effect -- you don't think guys like Poz and Lee and King (and Morelli, who dumped Pitt) would appreciate the bragging rights involved there, on top of the "home" game?  If our program is headed in the "right" direction and Pitt's isn't, I see no downside to getting this game back on the schedule.  (Tim Curley & Co., feel free to be inspired...)

...simply because I think it would make for a good football atmosphere each year.

Let's put all the crap about who needs the game more, conference superiority, and two-for-ones aside.

The game should be renewed because it would be a fun game to play every year.

I hear a lot of Pitt fans say that we need to move on from PSU.  Bull.  Games against ND, Miami and Virginia Tech are all great, but none of those teams pique the interest of the Pitt fanbase like Penn State.  Only the WVU game comes close, but even that I think would pale in comparison to an annual Pitt-PSU matchup.  It would sell out every year here in Pittsburgh.  That's the game that Pitt fans would circle on their calendars every year, no matter who else was coming to town.  Pitt fans would travel to Happy Valley, and I know PSU fans will travel here.

I know PSU is more focused on the Big Ten.  I know that Michigan and Ohio State are probably considered bigger games by the PSU fanbase.  But even still, a Pitt-PSU game would still be among the top three matchups on the PSU calendar every year.

And let's face it...Pitt is still on the radar of the PSU fanbase.  I've heard PSU fans initiate discussion of this matchup just as often as I've heard Pitt fans do the same.  PSU fans still take unsolicited shots at Pitt just as Pitt fans do at PSU (I've seen it in some of the threads posted here, and with some degree of frequency).  PSU fans keep just as much of an eye on how the Pitt program is doing as Pitt fans do with PSU.

I'm not saying it's a rivalry anywhere near the scope of what it used to be.  But it's a game worth playing because the interest will be there year in and year out on both sides.  It still is and will continue to be a hot topic among both fan bases.

I'd much rather see that than some ho-hum stale atmosphere that you'd get with a home game against the likes of Eastern Michigan, Grambling, Buffalo or Temple.