Stop lying and schedule Pitt

At his weekly press conference, Joe Paterno talked about everything, from TE Andrew Quarless to the Penn State kicking game, Buffalo to... Pitt? That's right, the old question came up, again. Will Penn State ever play Pittsburgh? According to Paterno, not in his coaching lifetime.

Look, I wasn't around the Penn State program long enough to enjoy the Nittany Lions' most hated rival. I've only come to love this school since Larry Johnson exploded for 2015 regular season yards. But I do know what the rivalry means to this institution, Pitt and the entire state of Pennsylvania.

College football needs Penn State versus Pitt. College football has descended into a 120-team (not including the many, many, many I-AA opponents still on schedules) clusterf*ck, where every one of those teams (at least those in the "in crowd," i.e. the BCS conferences) are constantly trying to impress the voters, while still avoiding the challenges of a quality schedule. What ever happened to playing teams regardless of whether or not it was a guaranteed win?

In an age when good, old rivalries like PSU/Pitt, Texas/Arkansas and Miami/Florida are few and far between, fans are constantly missing out on what college football should be. What separates college and professional football? No, not the money. Trust me, college football makes plenty of that. No, not the playoffs. Although, it's not a bad idea.

It's the tradition. That's all it's ever been. College football has been played since 1869, decades before professional teams hit the field. What's special about bowl games? Not everyone gets to go? No, because there are way too many freaking bowls now. But they are unique in that they have been played for far longer than the Super Bowl. In fact, I bet if you went up to people on the street, they wouldn't realize that the Super Bowl just means "really, really, amazingly, freaking awesome 'bowl' game."

Anyone in Penn State's athletic department, who tells you that there's no chance to play Pitt, is a liar. The most common excuse is that Penn State could not get enough home games if a home-home series with Pitt were played. In the words of Eric Cartman, that... is... bullcrap!

I leave you with this. The following is an outline of the next three seasons. I only know the Big Ten schedule until 2010, so I didn't go further. Regardless, I felt these three years proves my point well enough.
2008---------------------2009---------------------2010
Coastal Carolina-------Eastern Michigan------TBA (Home, Pitt – great opener)
Arkansas St.------------Syracuse----------------@Alabama
@ Syracuse-------------Temple------------------TBA (Home*)
TBA (Home, Pitt)----------Iowa--------------------@Iowa
Illinois------------------@Illinois---------------Illinois
@Purdue----------------TBA (@Pitt)-----------TBA (Home*)
@Wisconsin------------Minnesota--------------@Minnesota
Michigan----------------@Michigan-------------Michigan
@OSU ------------------@Northwestern-------Northwestern
@Iowa------------------OSU---------------------@OSU
Indiana------------------Indiana-----------------@Indiana
MSU--------------------@MSU-------------------MSU

*These dates should be home games. I'd love to see more eastern rivals, like WVU or Maryland, but it's more likely they would be cupcakes. Still, this all proves it can be done.