Good timing article considering all topic on the Board! David Jones an OSU Grad & Fan is a very good Sports Journalists.
EXCERPT:
Now, can you say that either Penn State or Nebraska have true rivals in the Big Ten? Well, kind of. PSU and Ohio State share a border. So do Nebraska and Iowa. But it's highly doubtful that those rivalries will ever match what Pitt-Penn State and Oklahoma-Nebraska once were.........That includes the Atlantic Coast Conference. You would think from a rivalry standpoint, the ACC would have wanted West Virginia aboard when it expanded in 2003 and 2013. The Mountaineers are right next door to Virginia Tech and fit in geographically. But once the ACC had Pitt aboard, WVU was superfluous to its aims. Why invite both when one pretty much taps the same market and includes a major city? At that point, Syracuse and Louisville made more sense. They expanded the ACC's cable revenue and footprint in a way that sparsely populated West Virginia without a major urban center simply could not.And yet, is there any Big Ten game that will match the Pittsburgh contest for Penn State fans? Is there any ACC game Pitt fans will be more excited to see? Will West Virginia fans be more pumped for Oklahoma or Texas in November than they would be if they could see their Mountaineers play Pitt or Penn State?
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo..._like_penn_state-pitt.html#incart_river_index
EXCERPT:
Now, can you say that either Penn State or Nebraska have true rivals in the Big Ten? Well, kind of. PSU and Ohio State share a border. So do Nebraska and Iowa. But it's highly doubtful that those rivalries will ever match what Pitt-Penn State and Oklahoma-Nebraska once were.........That includes the Atlantic Coast Conference. You would think from a rivalry standpoint, the ACC would have wanted West Virginia aboard when it expanded in 2003 and 2013. The Mountaineers are right next door to Virginia Tech and fit in geographically. But once the ACC had Pitt aboard, WVU was superfluous to its aims. Why invite both when one pretty much taps the same market and includes a major city? At that point, Syracuse and Louisville made more sense. They expanded the ACC's cable revenue and footprint in a way that sparsely populated West Virginia without a major urban center simply could not.And yet, is there any Big Ten game that will match the Pittsburgh contest for Penn State fans? Is there any ACC game Pitt fans will be more excited to see? Will West Virginia fans be more pumped for Oklahoma or Texas in November than they would be if they could see their Mountaineers play Pitt or Penn State?
LINK:
http://www.pennlive.com/pennstatefo..._like_penn_state-pitt.html#incart_river_index
