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rivalry scale, filling the Nittany Lions' customary end-of-season slot on or near Thanksgiving Day. The two Big East schools hyped the game as "The Back- yard Brawl" – fittingly, since the cam- puses are separated by only 75 miles of mostly country roads, hills and woods – and often attracted national TV cover- age. But in 2011, another realignment earthquake struck the major confer- ences. Pitt and Syracuse broke away from the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, while West Virginia was invited into the vast Big 12, which stretched from Texas to Colorado. The Backyard Brawl ended on Thanksgiving Day 2011, but it was resuscitated last September with the announcement of a four-game series from 2022-25. Still, the Backyard Brawl was never as bitter as Pitt's annual fracas with the Nittany Lions. Like Penn State in the Big Ten, the Panthers are without a natural rival in the ACC. They really do need each other. Both sides have long memories Of course, a large segment of Nittany Nation doesn't care about Pitt as a rival, either. To a whole generation of Penn State fans, the rivalry with the Panthers is like the Civil War – ancient history. Just don't tell that to the players or fans with roots in western Pennsylvania. Even though the two teams haven't played since 2000, both sides have play- ers and fans with long memories. "Penn State fans are still crowing about one of the all-time victories, that glorious 48-14 come-from-behind wal- loping that humiliated Dan Marino and the previously number one Panthers in November 1981 in their own decrepit Pitt Stadium," I wrote in 2005. Still true. For Pitt, one of its most satisfying victo- ries was in 1959 when a mediocre 5-4 Panthers team upset the once-beaten Lions led by Heisman Trophy runner-up Richie Lucas, 22-17. In a recent golf match between former players of both teams promoting the PGA's National Open at the Oakmont Country Club in suburban Pittsburgh, the golfers reminisced about the old ri- valry. They specifically recalled the 1983 game most had played in that had what remains the most controversial ending in the 96-game series. Favored Pitt was 8-2 and already had clinched a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. De- fending national champion Penn State was struggling to attain bowl eligibility after opening its season with three con- secutive losses before bouncing back to win seven of its next eight. The Nittany Lions could not hold a 21-10 lead early in the second half, and with 1:15 left in the game, a 23-yard touchdown pass had thrust the Panthers ahead, 24-21. Penn State tried to rally, but the game seemed to end when D.J. Dozier stepped out of bounds at the Pitt 15-yard line after a 4- yard gain on a reverse with the score- board clock showing "00:00." Hundreds of gleeful Pitt fans swarmed onto the field as some Penn State and Pitt players headed for the dressing room. But a ref- eree signaled that the game wasn't over, and it was mass confusion for several minutes. The officials began clearing the field, and as Joe Paterno sent out his field goal team, Pitt called a timeout. The some 60,283 spectators in the stadium – in- cluding me, my wife, and two friends from Pittsburgh who were rooting for Pitt – as well as the national TV audi- ence, wondered what was happening because there was no explanation given to the media or stadium announcer in the press box. The cause of the confu- sion was a penalty that had been as- sessed three plays earlier. With 21 sec- onds remaining and Penn State facing first-and-10 at the Pitt 40-yard line, a Nittany Lion lineman had jumped off- side before the snap and the Lions were penalized 5 yards. Six seconds were added to the clock following the penalty, but the scoreboard clock could not be reversed. The referee informed Paterno and Pitt coach Foge Fazio, but apparent- ly no one in the press box knew about the timekeeping discrepancy. So when Dozier went out of bounds, the Lions still had time for one more play. When play resumed after the timeout, Penn State's field goal team lined up in a trick formation with eight men on one hash mark and the snapper, holder and kicker at the other hash mark. It was de- signed to fake the kick on a quick snap and have holder Doug Strang, the start- ing quarterback, run into the end zone. However, Pitt quickly adjusted to the formation, and Nick Gancitano kicked a 32-yard field goal to tie the score, a re- sult that put Penn State in the Aloha Bowl in Hawaii. Paterno admitted that it was the first time he had ever played for a tie. Pitt fans were furious, and the way the game ended intensified their deep loathing for Penn State and especially Paterno. Shane Conlan remembered the scene: "The [Pitt players] were all leaving like, 'Yeah, we won,'" gibed the All-America linebacker and College Hall of Famer in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette following the Oakmont outing. "Then they had to come back and we kicked a field goal to tie it." Tony Recchia was Pitt's punter in that game, and it's one of the reasons he wants to see the rivalry resumed on the field. "It's big for western Pa.," Recchia said, "for our program and their pro- gram. I think [the rivalry going away] was a really negative thing that hap- pened to the players in western Pa." Marino is still rankled by that embar- rassing 1981 game. A few days after the Oakmont gathering, he joined Recchia at a Panther Club Scholarship Fund cere- mony. "Why wouldn't Penn State want to play us?" Marino told Jerry DiPaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "To me, it would make sense. … We just have to beat them the next four years, and they definitely won't renew it." 'Our neighborhood battle' No one wants to see Pitt and Penn State play annually more than E.J. Borghetti, Pitt's talented executive asso- ciate athletic director for media rela- tions. E.J. is a throwback to the leg- endary Beano Cook, who held the title of Pitt sports information director from 1956 to early 1966. They couldn't be more different in appearance, personali- ty and style, but with the commonality

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