Unpopular Opinion: Penn State Football Should Not Play Pitt Annually

Reason 3– Ruining a Playoff Opportunity

If I still haven’t convinced you that Penn State shouldn’t play Pitt annually in football, here’s the strongest evidence I can provide.  And it couldn’t be more painful to talk about (and if any Pitt fans are still with us, here’s your chance to gloat).

September 10th, 2016:  Pittsburgh Panthers 42, Penn State Nittany Lions 39

I’m not going to recap that game (like, ever) but we all know that if that late deep pass was caught, Penn State would have escaped Pittsburgh with a win.

But why was that win so important?

If Penn State wins that day, they would have played in the College Football Playoff.  Now, no one knew that then. In fact, the season got far worse after a truly awful injury-riddled loss at Michigan.

But after an overtime win against Minnesota and the ‘Block-6 win’ against Ohio State, Penn State went on a run to win the Big Ten Championship.  But despite likely being one of the best four teams in the nation, Penn State was left out of the College Football Playoff for one loss Pac-12 Champion Washington.

Now, Penn State lost their bowl game that year (the classic vs USC in Pasadena) so it’s not likely they would have won the National Championship that year, but the team was good enough to play for it.  The simple fact is, if Penn State had scheduled Villanova or Lehigh or Penn State Altoona or my high school friends, the Nittany Lions would have made the College Football Playoff.

And there it is, it’s truly that simple.  If Penn State had scheduled an easier opponent, they make the playoff.  And because beating Pitt doesn’t move the needle, there’s simply no point to put little brother on the schedule every year. The risks just outweigh the rewards for Penn State in this matchup.