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Pitt-Penn State add two more games to their rivalry

Pitt and Penn State will extend their original agreement of two games with Penn State to four.

US PRESSWIRE

It has been announced today that Pitt and Penn State will add an additional two games to the agreement made last year to play in 2016-17. Pitt and Penn State will now meet every season from 2016-2019. The University of Pittsburgh released the information this morning about the agreement. All four games in the series will be held in early September, and likely be each school's primary non conference game.

There is no need to point out the history of this game. It means a lot to plenty of people throughout Pennsylvania and the entire country. The teams have met 96 times throughout history, with Penn State holding a slight edge 50-42-4. The teams have not met since 2000, when Pitt beat the Nittany Lions 12-0.

The game will have a different feel for obvious reasons. Longtime Pitt nemesis, Joe Paterno, has passed away, and both schools have had an interesting couple of seasons to say the least. The sanctions levied against Penn State will hit them hard in the coming years, and it is hard to predict how it will affect the football program long term. Pitt has had a wild coaching shuffle for being a power conference team, and it is unknown how Pitt will fare with new coach, Paul Chryst,

Any way you look at it, Pitt and Penn State are playing again. The two biggest institutions in the state should always play each other, like almost every other state does. This game will obviously generate a lot of interest, and will have sold out stadiums for all four games. Pitt has had documented attendance problems, but they are starting to creep into Happy Valley as well. It is obviously a positive sign that the two teams have a mutual interest in playing the game, and it is heading in the right direction to be an every year type of thing.