Finally, I can experience the rivalry
I’ve never really known.
The Pitt-Penn State football series
revival is something I’ve been asking for since the moment I stepped foot in The Pitt News office on the campus of
the University of Pittsburgh.
As a 2005 Pitt graduate, I unfortunately
just missed out on the rivalry from a football standpoint. A year prior to my
arrival on campus as a freshman in 2001, the two rival schools played their 96th and last scheduled meeting, a 12-0 win for Pitt at Three Rivers Stadium.
After that, the rivalry went silent.
Then-Penn State coach Joe Paterno wanted three home
games to one road game in the series, and Pitt understandably declined, thus ushering in the hiatus that has lasted 16 years.
Now, after the long slumber the series comes back Saturday, and I will finally get to sit down and root for Pitt like I have never done
before.
Admittedly, for me, it will be
weird.
I grew up in the Philadelphia region as a Penn State fan and many of my
high school friends left for Happy Valley after graduation.
Hell, even I wound up in Happy Valley
upon my graduation from Pitt. After having been the Pitt football beat writer
for two years at The Pitt News, I went on to be the beat writer for Penn State football for
the next two years.
Over that four-year stretch of covering
both Pitt and Penn State, I saw Big East and Big Ten titles, a Heisman Ceremony and BCS bowls for
both schools.
I got the chance to cover history.
What I didn't get to do was cover one of the most historic rivalries in all of college football, and I left Happy Valley wondering what it’d be like to see the two schools come together once
again.
Saturday, I will find out, and fortunately, the series is set to go for
at least four years through 2019, so I’ll get another three chances to enjoy the game that should be on the schedule every year.
Just whatever you decide to do — I’m
speaking to you Pitt and Penn State administrators — don’t let another 16 years
go by without playing.
I'm not asking you to do it for me; I'm asking you to do it for the history.
Respect the game. Respect the series. Respect the rivalry.
Respect the game. Respect the series. Respect the rivalry.
Hail to Pitt,
Jimmy Johnson
The
Pitt News '05
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