PSU Coach James Franklin Excited To Renew Rivalry With Pitt
STATE COLLEGE (KDKA) -- There's always excitement in State College for football season.
This year, on Sept. 10, Penn State and Pitt have a chance to renew their storied and intense rivalry, which was one of the biggest in college athletics at one point in time.
Penn State head coach James Franklin is looking forward to that game and another football season for his Nittany Lions.
Franklin says he has a lot of excitement for this upcoming season.
"It's really 'year one' in a lot of ways for us. That's the way we look at it. Nothing hanging over our heads anymore," said Franklin.
Penn State is not hampered by anymore NCAA sanctions from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. That's now in the past.
As for the future, Franklin thinks it's bright, especially after this year's recruiting class and the addition of new offensive coordinator, Joe Moorhead.
"Our first year, we couldn't go to a bowl until halfway through the season, we found out we could go. Year two, we still weren't back to the full scholarships. We were 65 scholarships that first year and 75 scholarships last year, so all those things are behind us now," Franklin said. "So, a lot of ways, it's year one, and then obviously the hires that we made. People are really excited about them."
It's also "year one" of the latest Penn State-Pitt rivalry.
KDKA's Rich Walsh: "How important is it to have a rivalry like Pitt-Penn State?"
Franklin: "I think the game, is how I'll describe it, the game that we're going to play with Pitt, and we have a four-game series, I think is awesome. I've talked to a lot of high school coaches in the state. There's a lot of excitement about it. I think it's really going to be good for this region. It's going to be good for the state financially; it's going to be good for the city of Pittsburgh as well as State College when the game is played here. It's going to be really good."
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The two schools will play for four years, and then it sounds like the rivalry will take another long hiatus.
"The problem is with scheduling, this schedule is set way before we got here and then schedules are set way after. So I think it's something people are interested in," said Franklin. "These four games starting this year are going to be interesting. I know we got a bunch of guys for the Pittsburgh area and they're excited. They've got a bunch of buddies that play there. But it should be a lot of fun."
Even though Franklin thinks the renewed rivalry will be fun, in his opinion, there's one thing it won't compare to this year.
"I'm 44-years-old now and running out of that stadium in front of fans; I think the second largest stadium in college football, the fourth largest stadium in the world, there's nothing like it. I can't imagine being 18-, 19-years-old doing that because at 44 it's an emotional experience every time I do it."