Rivalry is good for college football, but the top two FBS programs in the state of Pennsylvania – Penn State and Pittsburgh – have not played since 2000.
That will change in 2016, and assistants from both sides are doing their best to up the stakes.
After picking up a commitment from Coatesville, Pa., three-star safety Jay Stocker on Wednesday night, John Peterson, Pitt’s new offensive line coach, fired off a tweet that surely caught the attention of the folks in Happy Valley.
It didn’t take for Penn State offensive line Herb Hand to respond by listing Penn State’s accomplishments in year one under James Franklin.
Hand is one of the more Twitter-savvy coaches in the country, so he finished it off with a "drop the mic" GIF from Saturday Night Live.
Well played.
Hand didn’t stop there, however. Thursday morning, he tweeted out a photo with Penn State’s two trophies from the season – a Croke Park Classic victory over UCF and a Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College.
The Nittany Lions were 7-6 in 2014, while Pitt finished 6-7. The programs aren’t too far apart, but Penn State currently has the edge in in-state recruiting. Of Rivals’ top 20 recruits in Pennsylvania for the class of 2015, Penn State has commitments from seven recruits. Pitt has four.
We’ll be eagerly awaiting a response from the Pitt side. If not, we can wait until the rivalry resumes on the field in Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, 2016.
For more Pittsburgh news, visit Panther-lair.com.
For more Penn State news, visit BlueandWhiteIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
