Pitt AD Wants to Renew Penn State Football Rivalry

PITTSBURGH -- Pitt Panthers athletic director Allen Greene has made plenty of strong statements in his short time as the leader of Pitt's athletic programs. That being said, none have been nearly as strong as his comment made leading up to Pitt taking on Duquesne.

Greene took the time pregame to state his intent to put Penn State back on the football schedule.

“We’re trying to get Penn State here. I’m hoping at some point in time they’ll want to RESPOND to us and get the series back.” Greene said per Andrew Filipponi of 93.7 The Fan.

The two teams have not played since the 2019 season, when the Panthers lost their third straight game in a 17-10 loss. The last time the two teams played consistently was from 2016-2019, a series which Penn State won the final three of after Pitt defeated a Penn State team that was widely considered to be left out of that season's College Football Playoff due to that loss.

There are certainly positives and negatives from both sides as to whether to schedule the game or not.

From the Pitt point of view, a Penn State game is seen as largely a positive as they either deliver a large upset that could bolster a possible College Football Playoff resume, or they lose to a team that is likely to rank towards the top and the loss is seen as "not that bad". The only real issue comes if they lose by a significant margin, which would cause the team perception to plummet.

From the Penn State point of view, their resume for a top seed or berth into the College Football Playoff could be ruined by a loss to Pitt, entirely dependent on where Pitt ends up finishing record-wise. At the same time, Penn State currently begins their schedule with Nevada, FIU and FCS Villanova, so they could certainly play a higher caliber non-conference schedule with little detriment.