Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1022948
P R E G A M E R E P O R T P E N N S T A T E @ P I T T T I M E 8 P . M . , S E P T . 8 | T V A B C PITT FACTS COACH Pat Narduzzi (Rhode Is- land, '90) COACH'S RECORD 22-17 overall, 14-10 Atlantic Coast Conference, in four seasons at Pitt; career record: same 2018 RECORD 1-0 RECORD VS. PSU Pitt trails the all-time series against the Nittany Lions, 51-43-4. MOST RECENT MEETING Saquon Barkley and Mike Gesicki scored two touchdowns apiece, and Marcus Allen made 12 tackles, including Penn State's first safety in seven seasons, as the Nittany Lions defeated the visiting Pan- thers, 33-14, on Sept. 9, 2017. GOOD NEWS Pitt has won its past two meetings against Penn State in Pittsburgh. The Panthers defeated the Nittany Lions 12-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000 and 42-39 at Heinz Field in 2016. BAD NEWS The Panthers haven't won three consecutive home games against Penn State since 1944-46, when they defeated coach Bob Higgins' Nittany Lions 14-0, 7-0 and 14-7. DID YOU KNOW? Even with the series having been revived only intermittently since Penn State's entry into the Big Ten, the Nittany Lions have faced Pitt more than any other team in col- lege football. The Lions and Pan- thers have played 98 times. Penn State's next-most-frequent rivals are Syracuse (71 games), West Vir- ginia (59) and Penn (47). M A T T H E R B | M A T T @ B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Many people assumed that James Franklin was throwing some shade at Pitt when he said after Penn State defeated the Panthers, 33-14, last year at Beaver Stadium that the victory over his program's longest-running rival felt no dif- ferent than any other win. "There are a lot of individual things that I could talk about, but most im- portant is that we're 1-0 this week and we were able to get a win," he said. "That's what this was for us. I know last year, for their win, it was like the Super Bowl, but for us, this was just like beating Akron." THE BEST OF ENEMIES Longtime antagonists PSU and Pitt resume their rivalry Pitt defen- sive end Rashad Weaver chases Trace McSorley during the Panthers' visit to Penn State last season. Now a redshirt sophomore, Weaver had one of Pitt's five sacks last week against Al- bany Photo by Steve Manuel 1 S E P T E M B E R 5 , 2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M