Did Saquon Barkley just hammer Penn State?: "we didn't have [a rivalry]"
… yes, but he was just being honest
He was one of the greatest running backs in Penn State football history, so why would Saquon Barkley denigrate his alma mater?
That is what some Penn State fans are thinking as the first-round draft pick of the New York Giants makes his rounds of the media in preparation for his first season in the NFL.
Barkley was interviewed on Twitter by Whistle Sports, and one of the questions had to do with rivalries. In essence, he said that he was thrilled to be playing the Philadelphia Eagles as a member of the New York Giants because it would be a true rivalry. It also meant something more since he is from the Lehigh Valley area of Pa., north of Philly.
Here is the relevant text of his reply to the question of rivalries:
"Which team has a rival that dates back to 1933? That’s easy, NFL. The Eagles we go against? Oh, my God. Giants vs. the Eagles. Philadelphia is not so far where I’m from, so that game is like a homecoming game for me. Rivalry games add something to that game. And I gotta say that in college at Penn State, we didn’t have one. So, I’m happy to see that in the NFL.”
Why no rivals?
What constitutes a sports rivalry? Think of USC-UCLA on the West Coast, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State in the Midwest, Alabama-Auburn or Georgia-Georgia Tech or Florida-Florida State in the South. These are intense for a number of reasons. Note that all of them are in-state, though that is not necessary. It does increase the intensity. The Steelers-Baltimore Ravens rivalry has been intense over the years, though the Steelers really battled the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers during the 1970s.
The Giants-Eagles rivalry is intense, and this is because of the animus between the fans as much as the players.
Here is one definition of a sports rivalry. “A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, but not directly related to the formal sport and the practice thereof. This pressure of competition is felt by players, coaches, and management, but is perhaps felt strongest by the fans.” Often, in very intense rivalries, a trophy is awarded every year.
Ohio State-Penn State
For a rivalry to exist, the two teams and their fans have to have intense feelings. Younger Penn State fans think that Ohio State is their rival, but the truth is, OSU looks at the Nittany Lions as more of a bother, a nettlesome opponent that they have to deal with, but really do not care about one way or the other.
One Penn State alum who lives in Ohio posted this on his blog a few years ago: “This is the easy winner for me. I live in Ohio. I work with Buckeye fans, am friends with several and I even married one. I was at the last 2 wins in Columbus and I promise you that is a smile that doesn’t easily wipe off. Problem with this rivalry is that we are NOT theirs and we will never be. OSU considers Michigan to be their #1, 2 and 3 rival and that just pisses PSU fans off even more.” Yes, it will forever be Ohio State-Michigan. It is not in-state, but the rivalry has been intense for many years.
For a rivalry to exist, both sides have to regard it as a rivalry. When I was in high school, a small one called Lilly-Washington, our rival was Gallatin, just about eight or nine miles to the north. Some goofy students, not players, would go to the opposing town and write graffiti on the railroad bridges that went through town. It was nice to have a rival, but both sides felt the same way. That is not the case with any of Penn State’s opponents in the Big Ten, and while the late Coach Joe Paterno, who engineered Penn State’s entrance into the Big Ten without any input from the university, said that new rivalries would develop, more than two decades later, there are no really intense rivalries there.
Teams
In the Big Ten East, Penn State has Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, and newcomers, Maryland and Rutgers. There is not one rival there for the Nittany Lions in any sports. Even the others, in the west, have no rivalries with PSU: Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.
So desperate they brought in Rutgers and Maryland
The Big Ten was so desperate to infiltrate the East Coast/New York media market that they added Maryland and Rutgers a few years ago. Neither has proved to be much of an addition in any sports. Yes, Rutgers is in New Jersey, but it is pitiful, especially in football. They could not recruit a quality ACC opponent or a team like the University of Connecticut, which has won national titles in basketball and would have been a great draw. Instead, the Huskies went to the American Atlantic Conference, which is where Temple ended up. Temple would certainly have been a better draw, especially in basketball. The football program has been improving, too.
Pitt-Penn State was once a great rivalry
According to Tim Panaccio, who wrote “Beast of the East: Penn State vs. Pitt,” in 1982, “Once considered one of the most important college football rivalries north of the Mason–Dixon line, ‘this intrastate rivalry was deemed the biggest annual game for both schools for a large part of their histories’.” The 1981 game was considered one of the greatest wins in Penn State history, one that knocked off a top-ranked Pitt team quarterbacked by the legendary Dan Marino.
What I remember about the 1981 game was the intense feelings on both sides of the fans of the two teams in the high school where I was teaching. It was great for the state, great for college football, and it leant credence to being a great rivalry.
Why did the rivalry end? Vengeance
I detailed this in a post a few years ago. [http://hce1947.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-history-lesson-real-reason-that-penn.html]
In short, Paterno powered his way into the A.D.’s job in the 1980s, and as such, he proposed to the then basketball Big East that it become an all-sports conference. It was a good idea, but the Big East was then a powerful and up-and-coming basketball power.
Pitt A.D. Ed Bozik was one of those who opposed it, along with Boston College and Syracuse, and it failed. Paterno never forgave the Big East, and particularly those three schools. So, when they joined the Big Ten, Paterno had an excuse to end the rivalry. Pitt was interested in a football conference, but not an all-sports one. That ended the rivalry, just vengeance.
Even the Pa. state legislature attempted to bring back the rivalry because they understood how much it meant to the state. Nothing could budge Paterno, who made excuses. That was sad.
Pitt football program weak since 1980s
However, Pitt has not done much to make themselves an attractive opponent, either. The Pitt program has suffered from the demolition of Pitt Stadium after the 2000 season. When the school was considering doing this, the administrative study wrote, “Great facilities are the key to attracting the country’s best recruits and creating a consistently successful football program that will bring pride to students, alumni, and the public. Playing in the best football stadium in the country will lead to higher game attendance at home games, which will bring more revenue to invest back into the entire athletic program.”
Today, that seems like a joke. For example, according to Panther-lair, “From 1973 until 1999, Pitt’s average attendance was 40,902. In 2000, they average 40,866 at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000, and they have averaged more than 46,000 fans at Heinz Field.
Those numbers are deceptive. They indicate the number of tickets sold, not how many fans are in the seats. At some home games, Heinz Stadium, which has a capacity of 68,400, appears to have less than half of that filled. How can you recruit top athletes without filling your home stadium with regularity?
There appears to be no chance for a stadium to be built on campus, and students appear to be disinterested in attending home games at Heinz Field, which requires them to secure transportation to it.
In addition, and I did not research this closely, Pitt has finished in the Top 25 in the national rankings in football only once since the demolition of Pitt Stadium [they are ranked 76th this season].
The Panthers are capable of upsetting very good teams, like Clemson and Miami in recent years. However, they are not a team that has national prominence right now.
Conclusion
For a rivalry to exist, both sides have to regard it as a rivalry. When I was in high school, a small one called Lilly-Washington, our rival was Gallatin, just about eight or nine miles to the north. Some goofy students, not players, would go to the opposing town and write graffiti on the railroad bridges that went through town. It was nice to have a rival, but both sides felt the same way. That is not the case with any of Penn State’s opponents in the Big Ten, and while the late Coach Joe Paterno, who engineered Penn State’s entrance into the Big Ten without any input from the university, said that new rivalries would develop, more than two decades later, there are no really intense rivalries there.
Teams
In the Big Ten East, Penn State has Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Michigan State, and newcomers, Maryland and Rutgers. There is not one rival there for the Nittany Lions in any sports. Even the others, in the west, have no rivalries with PSU: Illinois, Purdue, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin.
So desperate they brought in Rutgers and Maryland
The Big Ten was so desperate to infiltrate the East Coast/New York media market that they added Maryland and Rutgers a few years ago. Neither has proved to be much of an addition in any sports. Yes, Rutgers is in New Jersey, but it is pitiful, especially in football. They could not recruit a quality ACC opponent or a team like the University of Connecticut, which has won national titles in basketball and would have been a great draw. Instead, the Huskies went to the American Atlantic Conference, which is where Temple ended up. Temple would certainly have been a better draw, especially in basketball. The football program has been improving, too.
Pitt-Penn State was once a great rivalry
According to Tim Panaccio, who wrote “Beast of the East: Penn State vs. Pitt,” in 1982, “Once considered one of the most important college football rivalries north of the Mason–Dixon line, ‘this intrastate rivalry was deemed the biggest annual game for both schools for a large part of their histories’.” The 1981 game was considered one of the greatest wins in Penn State history, one that knocked off a top-ranked Pitt team quarterbacked by the legendary Dan Marino.
What I remember about the 1981 game was the intense feelings on both sides of the fans of the two teams in the high school where I was teaching. It was great for the state, great for college football, and it leant credence to being a great rivalry.
Why did the rivalry end? Vengeance
I detailed this in a post a few years ago. [http://hce1947.blogspot.com/2016/09/a-history-lesson-real-reason-that-penn.html]
In short, Paterno powered his way into the A.D.’s job in the 1980s, and as such, he proposed to the then basketball Big East that it become an all-sports conference. It was a good idea, but the Big East was then a powerful and up-and-coming basketball power.
Pitt A.D. Ed Bozik was one of those who opposed it, along with Boston College and Syracuse, and it failed. Paterno never forgave the Big East, and particularly those three schools. So, when they joined the Big Ten, Paterno had an excuse to end the rivalry. Pitt was interested in a football conference, but not an all-sports one. That ended the rivalry, just vengeance.
Even the Pa. state legislature attempted to bring back the rivalry because they understood how much it meant to the state. Nothing could budge Paterno, who made excuses. That was sad.
Pitt football program weak since 1980s
However, Pitt has not done much to make themselves an attractive opponent, either. The Pitt program has suffered from the demolition of Pitt Stadium after the 2000 season. When the school was considering doing this, the administrative study wrote, “Great facilities are the key to attracting the country’s best recruits and creating a consistently successful football program that will bring pride to students, alumni, and the public. Playing in the best football stadium in the country will lead to higher game attendance at home games, which will bring more revenue to invest back into the entire athletic program.”
Today, that seems like a joke. For example, according to Panther-lair, “From 1973 until 1999, Pitt’s average attendance was 40,902. In 2000, they average 40,866 at Three Rivers Stadium in 2000, and they have averaged more than 46,000 fans at Heinz Field.
Those numbers are deceptive. They indicate the number of tickets sold, not how many fans are in the seats. At some home games, Heinz Stadium, which has a capacity of 68,400, appears to have less than half of that filled. How can you recruit top athletes without filling your home stadium with regularity?
There appears to be no chance for a stadium to be built on campus, and students appear to be disinterested in attending home games at Heinz Field, which requires them to secure transportation to it.
In addition, and I did not research this closely, Pitt has finished in the Top 25 in the national rankings in football only once since the demolition of Pitt Stadium [they are ranked 76th this season].
The Panthers are capable of upsetting very good teams, like Clemson and Miami in recent years. However, they are not a team that has national prominence right now.
Conclusion
So Saquon is right, Penn State fans, and it is not going to change. The good thing is that you have a stadium that seats more than 100,000 fans. The bad news is that if you are relying on Sandy Barbour to lead the refurbishing of Beaver Stadium, good luck. She could not even balance a check book in her previous gig.
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