Penn State’s schedule may not have room for a Pitt reunion anytime soon, but the conversation around bringing back the rivalry is clearly not going away.
That much was obvious last week at conference media days, where Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi once again took the bait on the topic and made his case without hesitation. Narduzzi said he had texted Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft, though Kraft still hadn’t “hit me back” yet. Even so, Narduzzi kept pushing the idea, saying that “we'd love to get it going” again against the Nittany Lions.
He didn’t stop there. Narduzzi said he’d be willing to treat Penn State as a 13th game if that’s what it takes.
“We'll play them right now,” Narduzzi said. He also told Atlanta station 680 The Fan that the ACC is better than the Big Ten.
His broader point was the one he’s made for years: college football should keep its old rivalries alive whenever possible. “I'd love to do it, especially with the way college football is changing, to bring back those rivalries if you don't have one,” Narduzzu said. “We'd love to play Penn State, we'd love to play West Virginia every year if we could.”
Penn State and Pitt last met in 2019, finishing off their most recent four-game series. Since then, there hasn’t been much sign of another short-term renewal, especially from Penn State’s side. James Franklin has generally preferred a lighter non-conference approach and has leaned on the Big Ten schedule to carry the load.
Still, Franklin has left the door cracked open when the fit makes sense. “To me it needs to be an even exchange and it needs to make sense,” Franklin said in 2023 on the Penn State Coaches Show.
“But I think our [athletic directors] should get on the phone and work it out. I’ll tell them that it’s important to you, and we’ll see if it makes sense for both programs.”
That exchange also fits the current calendar: Franklin and Narduzzi will see each other again when the Hokies host the Panthers in October.
There may be a little more openness around the idea now from Penn State’s side, especially with Campbell in the picture. Campbell played his first season of college football at Pitt in 1998 before transferring to Mount Union the next year, and he’s said he understands what rivalries mean to the sport.
“What makes college football really great is rivalries,” he said earlier this year.
Campbell also remembered the feeling of seeing Penn State come into Pitt Stadium during that 1998 season. “One of the greatest memories of my life was when Penn State comes into Pitt I think after a long drought of games and played at old Pitt Stadium,” Campbell said.
“We're warming up for the game, I’m sitting on the sidelines, and I see Joe Paterno, LaVar Arrington, Courtney Brown running out to Pitt Stadium. And I said, 'Holy cow, this is bigtime.'
It’s ingrained in my head for the rest of my life, and it was one of the great memories I’ve ever had.”
That at least sounds like a coach willing to talk about the idea. And with Beaver Stadium’s renovation scheduled to be finished in 2027, Penn State has another reason to think about which old rival would make the best showcase for the updated building.
For now, the Nittany Lions’ non-conference slate is already set for the near future. Penn State opens the 2026 season against Marshall on Sept. 5 at Beaver Stadium, then goes to Temple the next week at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. After that, the next open date on the non-conference schedule doesn’t arrive until 2029.
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Penn State, though, does not sound especially eager to treat the matchup as a priority. Matt Campbell has been focused on building team culture and appears more concerned with the bigger competitive picture than reopening a series the Nittany Lions have controlled for years. The teams have not met since 2019, Penn State owns the series edge, and the longer the gap grows, the more the debate shifts from nostalgia to whether either side really sees the same value in bringing it back. [Read more 🡒]