The rivalry between Penn State and Pitt hasn’t played out on the gridiron since 2019, but that hasn’t stopped the schools’ fanbases from chirping at each other.
In a post that isn’t confirmed to be a dig— but will be perceived as such by portions of each fanbase—, PSU wished the Twitter world a happy ”412 day.”
412 is Pittsburgh’s area code, and naturally, the city recognizes that every April 12 (4-12).
Penn State’s post is of a graphic depicting a generic player holding a “We Are” flag while standing on Pittsburgh’s famous Roberto Clemente Bridge. Now, for most people, there’s no way of knowing if the tweet had anything to do with the Pitt-Penn State rivalry. Pittsburgh is less than three hours from State College, and the city has a wide Penn State alumni base. But, there’s no doubt fans who believe that there was intended shade behind the post, especially in light of recent recruiting events.
Quinton Martin, a high-end four-star who is the top player in Pennsylvania from the ‘24 class, committed to Penn State last Friday. Martin joins Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s Anthony Speca, another four star, in Penn State’s Class of 2024. In the ‘23 Class, Penn State signed four-star Ta’Mere Robinson (Brashear High School) and three-star Lamont Payne (Chartiers Valley). Historically, Penn State has also gotten good and even great players from western Pennsylvania, such as LaVar Arrington (North Hills), Paul Posluszny (Hopewell) and, more recently, Joey Porter Jr., who is likely to be a first-round pick in this month’s draft.
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— John Clark (@johnrclark12) April 12, 2023
Another sign that psu and Franklin are taking over W-PA. Heard Franklin started having dinner at the Duquesne club when in town. Duz has notoriously held his recruiting dinners there cuz of the blueberry cobbler
— Mikey Steaks (@sanfordstan56) April 12, 2023
Penn State would rather play Akron and Ball State than Pitt because they know they have a good chance of losing to Pitt. #weak
— Scooter Thomas 🏴☠️☠ (@RadicalWarlock) April 12, 2023
https://t.co/6aHSatQAtq pic.twitter.com/DwIaujRdaX
— Sigarette Smoke 🌹 (@dkviper) April 12, 2023
As fun as digs— real or perceived— are, fans of both teams, for the most part, would rather see the teams duke it out on the field. PSU leads the all-time series 53-43-4, but the teams have only played five times in this millennium.
