Penn State

Pat Narduzzi Throwing Shade at Penn State is Comical

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jul 23rd, 2024 · 12:35 PM EDT

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45 seconds of Pat Narduzzi blathering:

#Pittsburgh HC Pat Narduzzi on the recent renewal of the Backyard Brawl.

“At Pittsburgh, we embrace rivalries. We’d love to play Penn State, if they’d play us.” pic.twitter.com/mAvUxdlou7

— Penn State Nittany Lions | Happy Valley Insider (@PennStateRivals) July 23, 2024

Does anybody else hate how college football coaches speak to the media, or, in general, human beings that aren’t their players? It’s like a lecture and not a press conference. They can’t seem to shift gears. It’s like they’re in this “I am in charge, I am the figurehead” mode and they don’t know how to come out of it. James Franklin does the same thing.

But anyway, you know what else makes a rivalry? Competitiveness. Penn State is 10-2 against Pitt since 1989 and Pat Narduzzi is 1-3 against the Nitters since taking over in Yinzerville, so I guess in his mind that means the teams should continue to play every year.

They actually did up until 2000, with a gap between 1992 and 1997, then the game stopped being scheduled because Pitt went to the Big East and PSU went to the Big 10. Same thing happened with the West Virginia/Penn State game, which was played up until 1992 and wasn’t revived until last year, when the two teams got each other on the out of conference schedule.

In a perfect world, geographic rivalries would continue to be played and actually mean something. But the fact of the matter is that Pitt and WVU have not been competitive against Penn State. In Pitt’s case, most of their Penn State wins took place during the leather helmet, and we’ve only beaten Penn State nine times total. We totally suck against them, but get another shot at home to begin the 2024 season.

PSU, meantime, is trying to get over the Michigan and Ohio State hump. They’re aiming for the College Football Playoff in a re-aligned Big 10 that also includes Oregon and USC. They’ve been sitting at the big boy’s table for many years now, so scheduling Pitt and WVU is like Pitt and WVU scheduling Youngstown State and Marshall. If Pitt and WVU win, they were supposed to win. If they don’t, it’s a huge upset and big embarrassment. And you’d need the lesser schools to have good seasons to improve your strength of schedule and validate putting them on the calendar in the first place.

Narduzzi just seems like a doofus. This guy is 65-60 going into his 10th year at Pitt. He was 3-9 last year with wins against Wofford, Boston College, and Louisville. Kenny Pickett, James Conner, and Jordan Addison are long gone, and even when they were around they found ways to lose ridiculous games, like Western Michigan at home. Narduzzi wants absolutely nothing to do with Penn State. They would lose by 5 touchdowns or more. James Franklin vs. Pat Narduzzi is the Super Bowl of doofuses.

Plus, the only reason those “rivalry” games kicked ass is because Penn State and West Virginia fans filled up the stadium. They needed real fan bases to show up in Pittsburgh. Without WVU and Penn State, Pitt home games draw less than the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

WE ARE!