PSU AD eyes more friendly Pitt rivalry

Last season, Pitt and Penn State faced each other in football for the first time since 2000. The teams are set to face each other each year through 2019. After that, there’s at least a six-year hiatus.

Penn State athletic director Sandy Barbour, who spoke after coach James Franklin Wednesday at the Omni William Penn Hotel at the Pittsburgh stop of the Penn State Coaches Caravan, said she has yet to have discussions with new Pitt athletic director Heather Lyke about scheduling games beyond 2025.

“We’ve had the congratulations, welcome to the state of Pennsylvania, and we both know we’ll get to that conversation,” Barbour said.

Barbour said Penn State’s “Power Five slot” is scheduled for six years after 2019, when Pitt and Penn State will play the 100th game of the rivalry.

The Nittany Lions will travel to Virginia Tech in 2020, play host to Ball State in 2021 and travel to Auburn in 2022. Penn State has a home-and-home with West Virginia in 2023 and 2024 and plays host to Virginia Tech in 2025.

Barbour added that she will have continued discussions with Lyke about keeping behavior between the two fan bases friendly in the lead-up to the games. Barbour previously spoke with former Pitt athletic director Scott Barnes before the game last year, when Pitt fans put together a blog and offered to sell T-shirts that read “Joe Knew,” a reference to the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

“Obviously, other than the outcome for us last year, it was a pretty exciting football game,” Barbour said. “I wish our fan bases could treat each other with a little more respect, and that’s something that Scott and I were working on, and I know that Heather and I continue to work on as well. It’s a great state for college football.”

The new norm

Earlier this week, the Collegiate Commissioners Association approved a new 72hour early signing period for Dec. 20-22 for prospective student-athletes.

Franklin said he expects the majority of high school athletes to sign during the early period, with the first Wednesday of February becoming more of a makeup date for prospects who missed the initial period.

“I don’t think it’s going to have as dramatic an effect as probably people think because we’re really only talking about a month or so,” Franklin said.