Pat Narduzzi continues to make headlines, this time blaming James Franklin entirely for the Pitt-Penn State football rivalry being in a state of flux.
If you give Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi a platform to talk, oh, he will talk, alright...
Narduzzi is not afraid to say anything in front of a microphone. The man will put his name on it, 100 percent. He appeared on The PM Team with Poni and Mueller on 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh this week, explaining why the two Power Five schools in Pennsylvania don't play each other on the football field all that often. These rivals last met in 2019, but have only played each other four times this century...
Once again, Narduzzi held absolutely nothing back. The man is completely fearless in front of a mic.
It is a shame that Pitt and Penn State don't play annually, but there are reasons why it is the way it is.
Pat Narduzzi blames James Franklin for Pitt-Penn State rivalry demise
Although I am not the one to tell you why this rivalry has been so historically acrimonious, it kind of always has been, in all honesty. Pitt's biggest rival is West Virginia, but the Panthers haven't played the Mountaineers regularly since the last wave of realignment in college football over a decade ago. Penn State may hail from the Big Ten, but they were a national independent program for years before this.
I think a big reason that Penn State doesn't want to schedule Pitt annually is because the Nittany Lions don't feel like they have to. They play nine conference game a year in the Big Ten, as opposed to the eight Pitt plays in the ACC. Penn State is every bit the national power blue-blood, whereas Pitt shares a stadium with the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers. This rivalry really only benefits one program...
See, Penn State would be better served picking up, I don't know, West Virginia in the non-conference, a school that already plays a full nine-game conference schedule, and makes it a point to always have something interesting scheduled in its other three. Frankly, it is not like it would be with putting Pitt on the schedule, as big brother has to pull little brother along. It sucks, but I understand the optics here.
Furthermore, I don't think we're going to get Pitt-Penn State with any greater regularity until some other far more notable rivalries such as the Backyard Brawl become annual staples in our sport once again. While I would love to see Pitt play WVU and Penn State annually in the non-conference, it doesn't leave much wiggle room to build a 12-game schedule out otherwise. It only gets four games.
Narduzzi has every reason to go after Franklin like this, but once again, Narduzzi is solving nothing.
