At the end of the day, the Coaches Poll — or AP Poll — doesn’t really matter.
But James Franklin is one of the coaches to not rank Pitt in his final Coaches Poll of the season. And Narduzzi, to his credit, ranked Penn State ninth — which is the lowest ranking from any coach in the poll.
And somehow, they say romance is dead. How can you not be romantic about college football? If you ask either coach, they’ll brush you off. But we all know.
This is about the ‘rivalry that isn’t a rivalry’ between Pitt and Penn State.
The final Coaches Poll of the season featured Penn State at No. 7 and Pitt at No. 22 — PSU coming off a Rose Bowl win over Utah and Pitt coming off a Sun Bowl win over UCLA.
Franklin’s Top Five featured Georgia, TCU, Michigan, Ohio State and Tennessee while Narduzzi’s featured Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama, TCU and Michigan. Franklin ranked his own team sixth while Narduzzi ranked his 18th.
And oddly enough, Franklin ranked UCLA at No. 21, too. The same UCLA squad that lost to Pitt in the aforementioned Sun Bowl.
Penn State’s largely successful 2022 campaign featured a loss to Ohio State and Michigan, but it ended with a win against Utah in the Rose Bowl.
Pitt’s end-of-season ranking comes on the heels of a 5-0 stretch to end the season, knocking off then-No. 18 UCLA with an undermanned squad in El Paso to rebound following a 4-4 start.
Pitt-Penn State games resumed under the watch of Franklin and Narduzzi, beginning with a 42-39 Pitt win at Heinz Field in 2016 after almost two decades of inaction, but Penn State gained the upperhand over the next three meetings.
Penn State won matchups in 2017, 2018 and 2019 — capping the four game resurgence with a 17-10 win at Beaver Stadium in 2019.
The all-time history, dating back to a 20-0 Pitt win in 1915, is slightly skewed in Penn State’s favor. Pitt trails at a 38-41-4 deficit.
There is no current timetable for a Pitt-Penn State matchup in the future.
LOL James is a piece of work and petty
Penn State, playing for that bronze medal in the Big 10 East!
Really! UCLA beat Utah and Pitt beat them with our JV team. Grow up and be a professional, James! I do think PSU is a top 10 team – maybe not 9th. I have them at 6th or 7th (if Hooker is stayed healthy at Tenn).
H2P!!!
Very simply he does not respect Pitt and neither do their fans. He flat out hates Narduzzi. So this does not surprise me. He knew Pitt beat UCLA with 8 starters missing, but left Pitt unranked out of spite. This also validates why these polls are way too subjective and can be easily manipulated.
Yes, That’s why the coach’s poll is irrelevant. You would think they could keep their job professional. There should be some accountability, and if they are outside the other coach’s averages by too much or too often, they loose their vote for a time period. Too many spiteful votes. Can’t wait for a real playoff to actually play it out on the field like we should have for the last 75 years.
duzz and pitt fans hate PSU and Franklin so what.
True. There is no love lost. The difference is I respect the PSU product on the field. Good every year. Physical football. Pitt plays the same brand. That is why both teams beat very good Pac 12 teams. Franklin should have had Pitt ranked. He was being a douche.
not CJP’s job to have pitt ranked, it’s duzz’s job to have them ranked and he failed.
PSU has a repulsive history, and that’s why people from coast to coast despise the soda jerk school.
Seriously, typical State Penn pettiness. I don’t really care that milkdud didn’t rank Pitt, but to rank UCLA 18 and not rank Pitt at all shows typical State Penn pettiness.
“State Penn” and “milkdud”? Hypocrite much? Talk about petty
Yeah what about the gang banging in the PSU football program ?
Unlike milkdud’s outright pettiness, my statement is factual and true. Live with it. See, Pitt doesn’t allow gang bangers in the program, hence the use of State Penn. Milkdud is just obvious, don’t like it, don’t start it, didn’t learn that as a kid?
pitt allows woman beaters (as long as you just lift a bit heavier one week).
I love it, and will be here all day every day. So easy and fun
LOL… it is what it is 🤡 your boy James is a horses ass
excatly, if CJF is a horses ass, what does that make duzz?
Sorry Jane, what would make your weekend better? 24th ranking? I’ll make it happen for you
It looks like Narduzzi still has an axe to grind with Michigan……6th?
Also, Narduzzi has Tennessee at #4, which is higher than anyone else voted.
While Franklin not voting for Pitt as a Top 25 team and including UCLA was petty- even Neal Brown had Pitt in the Top 25- Narduzzi displayed pettiness as well.
Kind of meh to me. PSU clearly was a top 10 team so we could split hairs about whether they are 7-10. 6th was to high to me. Pitt was a little different … probably a top 25 team but I thought 21-22 was at the high end.
Simply put, Milkdud is a jackass
Keep playing for that bronze medal in Big 10 East!
James Franklin is without a doubt the most overrated coach in college football. Only Penn State would sign a coach who is guaranteed to finish no better than 3rd or 4th to a long term contract. He hates Pitt, big deal. Most of Pitt nation hates Franklin and PSU. Only the knuckleheads in “happy valley” (such a soft name – however very fitting for that team/area.) would agree that Pitt us unworthy of a top 25 slot. It makes the Nitters feel good about themselves.
multiple 11 win seasons, BigTen title. Nobody beats OSU and now Michigan. Not sure what your point is. Sorry you didn’t get that 22nd position in the final rankings.
Apparently TCU beats Michigan
Perhaps they will put the Franklin statue next to the Jerry and Joe monuments for a new generation of cultists to worship..
When you play that cupcake OC schedule yes you rack up the wins… give us a call when you beat anyone of same roster anyone please…tell them put a plug in it!!!!!
Jane, stick to womens sports. Schedules are made years in advance. Smack Auburn 2 years in a row. You should worry about Western Michigan or other awful losses then you might not cry about not finishing 24th. PSU will take the 11 wins, smashing Utah in the Rose Bowl and in the playoffs next year. Keep shooting for 24th place and the Sun Bowl
Dave, Utah lost to UCLA and Florida. What is the big deal about beating them. Their best player did not even play. How do you know that your boys will be in the playoff next year? They can’t get past OSU and Michigan. Just some valid points there for you. Dave, you are the PSU nub job commenting here. Are you expecting Pitt fans to kneel before you and the cult program?
Let me know when State Penn has the stones to schedule a perennial SEC power in OC, and quit with the WMU loss, it was one loss and State Penn has had those losses as well. Face it, State Penn and milkdud will never finish better than 3rd in the Big 10 because they’ll never have the same talent level as OSU and UM. Winning the Rose Bowl was meaningless, especially as it was a win over a team that UCLA beat, you remember them don’t you? As a reminder, that’s the team Pitt beat with their BACKUPS. But UCLA… Read more »
I’ll get right on that for you. Well, we’ve finished higher than 3rd and won the BigTen (if pitt was in the BigTen East you would battle rutgers for the perennial basement spot every year). keep your acc/jv wins and losses. Western Michigan, NC State, GA Tech… Don’t forget duzz tucking tail on 4th and 1 from the goal line and opting for the Kessman miss. What a bad coach, Franklin dominated him! When acc folds in a few years due to bad TV deal and FSU, Miami and Clemson leaving hopefully you can latch on with the AAC. BigTen… Read more »
do you know sh*tt hasn’t won a NY6 bowl game in 41 years. wow, what a jv program
OCSP…give it up man…you are obviously a Nitter troll…as much as I dislike your school, athletic teams, and cult like environment I have better things to do than troll PSU sites saying oh I don’t know 🤔James Franklin is possibly the most overrated coach ever 🤷♂️
Franklin is nothing more than a used car salesman. Smoke and mirrors, running up the score on low tier teams while the PSU cult worships their false gods.
I’m sure he really hates Michigan and Ohio State since he can’t beat them.
He’s beaten them both
Recently ? Last one I remember was a fluke win against OSU on a blocked FG run back.
Beat Michigan in 2020 and 2019. Beat OSU on a blocked field goal in our BigTen championship season. You can call it a fluke, kind of like DeSean Hamilton dropping a wide open touchdown that would have beat sh*tt
What would pitt do against Michigan and OSU on a yearly basis?
just stick to playing in a jv conference
Franklin is a perfect fit for Ice Cream U. He is both arrogant and repugnant.
and duzz is?
Franklin has a reason to diss Pitt, for every Ta’Mere Robinson, Pitt gets Jake Kradel, Nakhi Johnson, Elliott Donald and the list goes on and on. He just lost his backup quarterback and would have welcomed McMillon and Davis from the portal. Pitt is hurting his in state recruiting. Granted, he still pulls in a top ten class but with the assets he has, he should get EVERY in state target and isn’t. What was that boast he made?
Nakhi Johnson and Elliott Donald wouldn’t crack their rotation as PSU recruits national 4-5* You can have Cruce Brookins. Wouldn’t see the field at PSU. McMillon and Davis, both special teamers who couldn’t cut it in the SEC so they jump down to acc/JV competition. PSU- J’Ven Williams (5*) Ta”Mere Jameial Lyons London Montgomery Lamont Payne Joey Schlaffer He didn’t lose his backup QB, He lost his 3rd string who would never see the field since their are 5 and 4* ahead of him. Christian is an ok little player but no more upside than Patti. Certainly not a QB… Read more »
Are we talking about the same Johnson and Donald (along with Dorien Ford) that was on Blue White Illustrated’s Hot List for defensive linemen at the end of their recruiting cycle?
Remember when Derrick Davis Jr. was considered a PSU lean? Donovan McMillon also had a PSU offer.
I have a feeling that if PSU didn’t have Allar, you’d have a different outlook regarding Veilleux.
While I’m often are amused by your Pitt jabs, you’re displaying revisionist history when it comes to the current Pitt players mentioned.
wow, good knowledge of PSU recruiting, thanks for the reminder. We recruit 5* so even if they did come to PSU they wouldn’t beat out Chop Robinson (97 rating and 4th ranked edge rusher) or Dani Dennis-Sutton (98 ranking and 7th ranked DL)
I have a feeling if pitt didn’t have pickett they wouldn’t have won the acc/jv conference title
my jabs are always for amusement, it’s a game controlled more and more by big donors and NIL. It’s just so easy to get a rise out of people here (not saying you)
Oh, so Clemson is a jv team? Last I checked they’ve won a national title recently, when was the last time State Penn won one?
Seriously, a lot of team sign 4 and 5 stars every year, doesn’t make them special. Recruiting rankings are very subjective, and not an indicator of success at the next level.
eddie, you really need to lighten up.It’s just good natured shi*t talking. It’s so easy to get this board riled up.
The QB transfer came here because he wants the opportunity to be developed into an NFL prospect, which won’t happen at State Penn. Why any decent QB prospect would go there is beyond me,but we all know how that happens, don’t we State Penn “donors”?
what QB has duzz “developed”? Don’t say pickett, as it took him 6 years to do anything and he’s done nothing in the NFL (yet) I’d say Kerry Collins had an ok career. McSorey is still in the NFL Drew Allar is a 5* and top ranked QB recruit in his class. If, by “donors”, you mean NIL I’m sure he’s gotten some type of payment. If pitt isn’t realizing the NIL world then they will be forever recruiting low star 3* and unranked recurits then begging for people to come home. They can come back and play right away… Read more »
What about the gang banging at PSU ? Is that OK with chrome dome Franklin ?
women beating at pitt is good as long as you lift a big longer for a week
I doubt you’ll see State Penn resume the rivalry while POS Franklin is there. They don’twant to tale the risk of losing against Pitt, and for where Duzz has the program now, Franklin knows there’s a very good possibility of that happening.
who call’s it a rivalry? PSU certainly doesn’t. pitt wants so bad for PSU to pay attention, but not even close to being in the same league when you speak of football.
No one wants to be a rival of Ice Cream U. and why would they – Perhaps a Penitentiary can be their rival and that is all that is left after what happened. SMU never had a real rival ever again. Now that’s pathetic snow cone clown.
what the hell are you even talking about? shi*t begs for PSU to recognize their little brother but PSU has no time for jv programs. Why would they give pitt the only sell out in the Steelers stadium every other year?
Well, I know of at least one PSU fan boy out there that pays attention.
Hmm, let’s see. They have 99 times dating back to 1893, so that’s not a rivalry, especially against the only other Power 5 team in your state?
Go cluck somewhere else chicken little.
Thanks for the research but it’s not a rivalry. PSU is unrivaled. When you want to get out of that dirty city and come hang out in the fresh air with 108,000 other great fans let me know. I’ll get you a good seat to see a real football environment and program
Franklin is part of the Peterno-Sandusky lineage.
before you lie please tell me the link (and if you are going to insult the best coach in NCAA history, at least spell his name right). pitt graduate I guess.
I appears that Franklin has a chip on his shoulder regarding Michigan and Ohio State. I’ll bet he wears diapers for those games. Yep, he is a loser!
I thought duzz had a chip for Michigan? Your comedic chops are amazing, wears a diaper and then calls him a loser. Brilliant!
Best coach in NCAA history? You’re probably one these clucks that prays to his portrait every day as well. Get a clue, he’s nowhere near the likes of Bear Bryant, just as one example. There’s plenty more that rank ahead of him too.
Go back to your pagan prayer session.
Oh Reese, so misinformed. What’s a “cluck”? Did you try to insult me and mean “cuck”? Surely a pitt grad.
409!
AH, Franklin ranked PSU #7, the concession ranking for PSU. Not #6 as written in the article. ????