As most of you know, Penn State and Pitt will be playing a football game against each other this Saturday for the first time in 16 years. For two teams that were once season-ending rivals this is a pretty big deal. In college football proximity and familiarity breed contempt.
Some of that neighborly love re-emerged with a blogger’s idea to print ‘Joe Knew’ T-shirts—a reference to a massively false narrative (Fact: Louis Freeh’s and others’ claims were debunked and deemed not credible by the actual prosecutors using actual evidence).
Penn State fans condemning that shirt as classless should recall the ‘Shitt on Pitt’ shirts from the ’70s and ’80s. As a kid I remember a fan wearing one asking my father Joe Paterno for an autograph. He read the T-shirt and said ‘Only if you get rid of that shirt — be better than that.’
This rivalry was once as fiercely contested as any—think Alabama-Auburn, Ohio State-Michigan, late November hate-fests.
It was more than a game to some. In 1976 only Penn State stood in the way of Pitt’s undefeated season. Joe Paterno and some players received death threats.
At halftime in a 7-7 game the locker room phone rang. The caller told them Joe shouldn’t come out after halftime. He may have wished he hadn’t. Pitt coach Johnny Majors moved Heisman Trophy running back Tony Dorsett to fullback, a strategic move to allow him to run north-south that sparked a 24-7 Pitt win. It was the Panthers’ first-ever victory over a Joe Paterno-coached team (Pitt’s record vs Paterno-coached teams was 7-23-1).
After Majors left, Jackie Sherrill became the head coach, intensifying the rivalry on the field, the recruiting trail and personally — lasting for years even after Sherrill left.
But years later, after Sherrill was done coaching, Joe invited Jackie and his wife to a Penn State game and a post-game dinner at the house. After dinner they went downstairs to watch football. My four-year old son ended up sitting next to Sherrill.
I saw them and went upstairs laughing.
‘Dad,’ I said ‘If I’d told you 25 years ago your grandson would be in your house watching football with Jackie Sherrill you probably would’ve thought I was crazy.’
Joe smiled and said ‘This I have to see.’
During the Sherrill years at Pitt the recruiting battles and on-field games were heated. That era saw both teams ranked No. 1 in the country. In 1981 Penn State went to No. 1 Pitt and fell behind 14-0 after one quarter. As Pitt neared a potential 21-0 lead, Penn State’s Roger Jackson made a diving interception in the end zone. Penn State went on a 48-0 run to win 48-14.
Great rivalries have moments that create lasting memories. For Pitt fans there was the 1976 game, an interception to stop a late Penn State drive in 1980, and the win in 2000 the last time the two schools played.
I was coaching then, and on our way into Three Rivers Stadium we saw at least a half dozen moons (it was NOT nighttime). When we walked onto the field the students chanted at Joe Paterno so he headed to the student section and greeted the surprised Pitt students. He had a big smile on his face. He relished these games.
For Penn State fans there was the 1981 game, but also the 1978 17-10 win when Mike Guman converted a 4th and 1 for the go-ahead TD. There was a failed Pitt two-point try to tie the game in 1977. The officials had to brush away the snow on the field at Pitt Stadium to see the goal line. The 1982 win, the 1985 31-0 pasting at Pitt are some of many memorable Penn State wins.
The height of the rivalry was a 19-game stretch from 1968 through 1986. Eighteen times one or both of the teams entered the game in the National Top 10 rankings (Penn State 12 times, Pitt six times).
The teams combined for 20 top 10 finishes (Penn State 14, Pitt 6) and three national titles (Penn State 2 Pitt 1). Penn State went 14-4-1 in that stretch.
During that time Penn State led an effort to create an Eastern all-sports conference that would’ve locked in this rivalry forever. At the 11th hour it fell through partially because Pitt joined the Big East for basketball only (there was no Big East Football conference then).
This rivalry had close games, national rankings and bragging rights, but there were fights too. In the 1986 Penn State win some early-game scuffles grew into a late-game fight clearing both teams’ benches.
In 1989 as time expired Penn State safety Sherrod Rainge’s game-saving interception return ended in a tackle on Pitt’s sideline. A fight broke out with everyone from both teams involved in a fairly lengthy melee.
After that game I was walking through Oakland where Pitt’s campus is located and bought a T-shirt with Joe Paterno’s head on a Turkey’s body and it said ‘Penn State Feast of the East.’ I still have that shirt.
This past winter when I guest lectured at a class in Pitt’s Katz School of Business I considered wearing the shirt but passed. (It still fits.)
One regret about this Saturday’s game is I wish it was being played at the old Pitt Stadium. The team busses would drop us off outside the stadium and we’d walk up the last stretch of ‘Cardiac Hill’ past Pitt fans who always greeted us warmly. The locker rooms were cramped and it was old school.
When they decided to tear Pitt Stadium down I remember Joe Paterno regretting Pitt’s decision. He recounted Pitt’s tradition of historic games and legends that played there, men whose ghosts still lingered… Dorsett, Marino, Fralic, Ditka, Green, Sunseri, Ironhead … the list goes on and on.
It was respect, an acknowledgement that in our nearest and fiercest rivals we are pushed to find our true measure. Even years later Joe Paterno wanted to get Pitt into the Big Ten so the two teams could renew their season-ending rivalry as conference foes. It did not happen.
So we are left with a four game series that will pass into history before we know it. It may not match the intensity of those long-ago November games but when it ends the memories and the heroes will join the proud history of this rivalry.
All great rivalries are based in true disdain for the other team… but they also have an element of mutual, if grudging, respect.
I saw that first hand just last year.
In January 2015 the NCAA restored Penn State’s vacated wins in a lawsuit settlement. That night I was in Pittsburgh at an event honoring local high school players and former Penn State assistant Tom Bradley who was put into their Hall of Fame, joining previous Penn State honorees Joe Paterno and Franco Harris.
The current head coaches from both Penn State and Pitt got up to speak as did former Pitt head coaches Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill. When Sherrill got up to speak, surprisingly, he was the only one to mention the day’s news.
‘There is someone here tonight that hates the NCAA more than I do — Jay Paterno. His family is doing something that I haven’t gotten to do yet: take the NCAA to the woodshed. I’m glad Joe Paterno and Penn State got those wins back.’
In a room mostly filled with Pitt fans, everyone applauded. I’ll never forget that classy show of respect.
Saturday will be a fun day. Despite the new stadium and a lot of changes over the years (a corporate sponsor and silly ‘Keystone Classic’ moniker) it is still Penn State-Pitt, ‘The Battle of Route 22’.
If you pause to listen you’ll hear them… whispers of long passed ghosts as they watch what was once the annual measuring stick for two proud programs.
I know I’ll hear them and for one afternoon grasp being young again, bundled up in late November for that game that once defined a season.
