Jimmy started a conversation that Coach Pat should augment together. Barnes and Barbour, as well as Barron & Gallagher! Whether beaten or winning Penn State and Pitt playing together helps each other and I would include WVU too!
Article & Link:
Penn State's Franklin Says Extending Series With Pitt 'Open For Discussion',
Penn State coach James Franklin on Thursday returned to Western Pennsylvania, where he spent considerable time in his youth. Franklin's father was from the Hill District, and an aunt lived in the Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood. After a morning stopover in Altoona, Franklin exited the bus on Day 3 of the Coaches Caravan and took a tour, which included visiting his aunt's house.
“It was cool,” he said. “I probably hadn't been there in 30 years. I come back to Pittsburgh all the time, but to actually go to some of those places I hadn't been to in a long time was really cool.” Naturally, when Franklin later met with reporters in Cranberry, the first question concerned the revival of the Pitt-Penn State rivalry. The teams are scheduled to meet four straight seasons starting in 2016.
“I think people are excited about it, especially in this region,” he said. That's a game that was set in stone before I arrived. There's a lot of history and tradition with it. ... In a lot of ways there's some really good arguments you could make why it makes sense.”
So Franklin is all for keeping it going, right? Not necessarily.
“It's open for discussion,” he said. “In the past, and historically, there's been reasons why the game hasn't been played. I think Pitt could probably make some arguments from its perspective. I think Penn State could make some arguments from their perspective.”
As for scheduling in general, Franklin was more definitive. With the Big Ten going from eight conference games to nine in 2016, home-and-home matchups with presumably attractive opponents will become more rare.
“Every odd year you're gonna have a hard time (with five conference road games). If you do home- and-homes, you're gonna have a hard time getting home games.”
Franklin, starting his second season as coach, said he has studied the scheduling issue. “I guess, to me, the most important thing to the fans and to the alumni and everybody is to give us a chance to win the Big Ten championship and make it to the playoffs,” he said.
“You can look at the teams that have consistently won, because that's what we're trying to do. People say, how do you teach your team to win? By winning. As much as you possibly can.”
He added, “Everybody needs to understand, including our fans, that there's a difference between a seven-game conference schedule, which it used to be, and an eight-game conference schedule, which it used to be, and now a nine-game conference schedule and the Big Ten saying you're not allowed to play I-AA institutions.”
Bob Cohn is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bcohn@tribweb.com or via Twitter@BCohn_Trib.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/college/pennstate/8307744-74/franklin-conference-game#ixzz3ZYQrjcWC
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Article & Link:
Penn State's Franklin Says Extending Series With Pitt 'Open For Discussion',
Penn State coach James Franklin on Thursday returned to Western Pennsylvania, where he spent considerable time in his youth. Franklin's father was from the Hill District, and an aunt lived in the Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood. After a morning stopover in Altoona, Franklin exited the bus on Day 3 of the Coaches Caravan and took a tour, which included visiting his aunt's house.
“It was cool,” he said. “I probably hadn't been there in 30 years. I come back to Pittsburgh all the time, but to actually go to some of those places I hadn't been to in a long time was really cool.” Naturally, when Franklin later met with reporters in Cranberry, the first question concerned the revival of the Pitt-Penn State rivalry. The teams are scheduled to meet four straight seasons starting in 2016.
“I think people are excited about it, especially in this region,” he said. That's a game that was set in stone before I arrived. There's a lot of history and tradition with it. ... In a lot of ways there's some really good arguments you could make why it makes sense.”
So Franklin is all for keeping it going, right? Not necessarily.
“It's open for discussion,” he said. “In the past, and historically, there's been reasons why the game hasn't been played. I think Pitt could probably make some arguments from its perspective. I think Penn State could make some arguments from their perspective.”
As for scheduling in general, Franklin was more definitive. With the Big Ten going from eight conference games to nine in 2016, home-and-home matchups with presumably attractive opponents will become more rare.
“Every odd year you're gonna have a hard time (with five conference road games). If you do home- and-homes, you're gonna have a hard time getting home games.”
Franklin, starting his second season as coach, said he has studied the scheduling issue. “I guess, to me, the most important thing to the fans and to the alumni and everybody is to give us a chance to win the Big Ten championship and make it to the playoffs,” he said.
“You can look at the teams that have consistently won, because that's what we're trying to do. People say, how do you teach your team to win? By winning. As much as you possibly can.”
He added, “Everybody needs to understand, including our fans, that there's a difference between a seven-game conference schedule, which it used to be, and an eight-game conference schedule, which it used to be, and now a nine-game conference schedule and the Big Ten saying you're not allowed to play I-AA institutions.”
Bob Cohn is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bcohn@tribweb.com or via Twitter@BCohn_Trib.
Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/college/pennstate/8307744-74/franklin-conference-game#ixzz3ZYQrjcWC
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