JoePa, to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, on the possibility of renewing the Penn State-Pitt rivalry:
“Financially, we have to have seven home games. Now, if Pitt would say tomorrow that we’ll play twice up at your place and once down here … The last time we came to Pitt, they charged more money for our game than any other game.
“I’d love to play, but we have to think about some things in our place. We’re going to play Virginia, Nebraska, Notre Dame. We have fans all over the country now, and they all want to see us in intersectional games. Saying that, I was with Dave Wannstedt, Marty Schottenheimer and Foge Fazio [at the Big 33 game press conference] in Hershey last week. That was the topic sentence … I love Pittsburgh, but we have economic things we have to consider. We’re going to try to raise a billion dollars. We have to go to California to see people. We have to make a presence in a lot of different ways. I personally would like to have a home-and-home series with Pitt, but I don’t think it’s realistic right now.”
This is a familiar refrain, of course. It made more sense before the regular season grew to 12 games. You have four home conference games every year. You can play Pitt, a big intersectional game and two stiffs every year, and as long as either Pitt or the intersectional is at home, that’s seven home games. I don’t see why that would be hard to arrange.
A cynic, of course, would suggest the real reason Joe doesn’t want to play Pitt is that he wants to play three stiffs a year, not two.
Speaking of Ray Fittipaldo reminds me of a time last season when I wished I had a blog. Remember the pass interference call that all but decided the Penn State- Minnesota game last year?
I was standing on the sidelines, and the play happened right in front of me, and I thought, and wrote, that it was definitely interference. I didn’t see this video, on which it looks like an obviously brutal call, until a couple days later. This led to me being called a Penn State homer by readers for the first time ever (I’ve been called a Penn State hater hundreds of times…).
Anyway, after the game I went to dinner with a group of writers, and we talked about the call. Everybody at the table hammed and hawed (It could have gone either way, a tough call to make in that situation, etc.) except for Fittipaldo and I, who both thought it was clear interference.
Now take a look at that video, and stop it just before the ball arrives. See the tall guy standing there in jeans and a black polo shirt? That’s Ray Fittipaldo. See the guy standing next to him in a sweater and dark pants? That’s me.
You can say we’re nuts, but you can’t say you had a better look at it than we did.
From PSU’s sports-info department:
The Sporting News has selected Penn State linebacker Dan Connor as a pre-season second team All-American and recognized six Nittany Lions on their All-Big Ten teams.
Anthony Morelli is not on the all-conference team, but is on the cover of The Sporting News’ college football preview’s regional edition. TSN has Penn State ranked No. 15 in its pre-season Top 25. The magazine ranks the Nittany Lions’ loyal and enthusiastic fans as the best in the Big Ten.
Safety/social director Anthony Scirrotto also made the first team, and is rated the No. 5 strong safety in the nation by TSN.
On the second team: CB Justin King, LB Sean Lee, WR Deon Butler and WR/kick returner Derrick Williams. King is rated the top cover cornerback in the Big Ten by TSN and the No. 10 cornerback in the nation.
The Sporting News ranked Penn State’s wide receivers unit No. 2 in the nation, with the linebackers and secondary rated No. 4.
Uh… Justin King is the best cover corner in the Big Ten, but just second team all-conference? Okey-dokey.
