Cat fight: State senator calls for renewed Pitt-Penn State rivalry

For Pennsylvanians, Sept. 16, 2000, marked the end of an era.

It was on that day that the Pitt and Penn State football teams last played each other. But despite the Panthers’ 12-0 victory, a once-storied state football rivalry was lost.  

Nine years since the teams’ last face-off, Pennsylvania state Sen. John Wozniak, D-Cambria, is now calling upon Pitt and Penn State athletic administrators to rekindle the century-old football series.

“I think the time has come for both schools’ administrators and athletic directors to spare us the excuses and get this game back on the schedule,” Wozniak said in a news release two weeks ago. “I will offer to facilitate discussions leading to resuming this once-great football rivalry.”

The famed Pitt-Penn State football series began in 1893, with a 32-0 Penn State victory in State College, Pa. To date, the Nittany Lions lead the 96-game series 50-42-4.

In his statement, Wozniak called the series “one of the greatest college football rivalries in the nation” and cited constituent pressure as a major reason why he’s pushing university administrators to resume the game. This marks his fifth annual call to re-instate the dormant football rivalry.

E.J. Borghetti, a spokesman for the Pitt athletics department, echoed the senator’s desire to resume the football series — but only conditionally. 

“We have repeatedly expressed our desire to contribute to a series with Penn State,” he said. “What we do not desire, and would not accept, is an unbalanced series in terms of home games.”

He said that popular football rivalries should be played annually and rotate home fields to give neither team an advantage.

Penn State assistant athletics director Jeff Nelson said the university would not comment at this time. 

Charles Tocci, a spokesman for Wozniak, said the series originally began as a contest between the two largest collegiate sports programs in Pennsylvania: Pitt and Penn State. Through the years, though, the series grew into a nationally-celebrated event.

“It used to be on par, and sometimes even bigger” than other famous national collegiate football rivalries, said Tocci, citing Miami-Florida State, Georgia Tech-Georgia and Purdue-Notre Dame as examples.

Tocci said that the games created great interest among fans, garnering sold-out stadiums and nationally-televised gameday broadcasts. 

“It was basically something that fans and alumni looked forward to year after year,” he said. “It lasted over a century, and it just seemed like a shame when it ended.” 

As a graduate of Pitt at Johnstown and father of a current Penn State student, Wozniak said that his reasons for pushing to resume the football series are partially personal. 

More importantly, he said, the football series has a large economic impact for Pennsylvania residents.

“The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania funnels a lot of money into Pitt and Penn State, and I think most of these people, including taxpayers … would like to see [the football teams] play each other,” he said.

Wozniak added that rival gamedays used to attract fans nationwide, creating a weekend-long burst in local hotel, restaurant and merchandise sales.

“It [was] a tremendous economic boom,” he said. “Millions of dollars exchange[d] hands, so a lot of people [were] happy.”

In his years of pressuring university administrators to re-instate the game, though, Wozniak’s campaigning has made little progress.

He said that he spoke with both Penn State President Graham Spanier and Pitt’s Chancellor Mark Nordenberg — who “seemed more conducive to [the idea]” — about the possibility of resuming the rivalry. Still, Wozniak urges them to meet and discuss the games together.

And if such a meeting can’t happen, Wozniak said he will encourage Gov. Ed Rendell to become involved in the issue.

“He’s got the bully pulpit,” said Wozniak. “Maybe his influence can’t hurt.”

Pitt alumnus Steve Clapper said that while he disagrees with state government interference, he would like to see the Pitt-Penn State rivalry continue.

He graduated from Pitt with a bachelor’s degree in mining engineering in 1983 — the same year as Pitt football star Dan Marino — and remembers the days when Pitt football was consistantly nationally-ranked.

Clapper said that the in-state rivalry intensified football excitement around campus.

“There was a certain electricity in the air,” he said of Pitt-Penn State gamedays. “Anytime you get two big schools like that in the same state, someone is going to want the bragging rights. I would love to see that rivalry get going again.”

A recent editorial in the Johnstown Tribune Democrat, Wozniak’s hometown newspaper, criticized the senator for focusing on football rather than the Pennsylvania state budget, which is more than two months overdue.

Despite the pending budget, Wozniak said the Pitt-Penn State rivalry remains a priority.

“The world doesn’t stop because the budget doesn’t pass,” he said, adding that would be “absolutely ludicrous and outlandish” to not pursue other legislation until the state budget is approved.

“That’s like saying I can’t even walk and chew gum at the same time.”