Paul Zeise has it today. Before he even gets to the Q&A, he gives an overview of what he has seen from all sides of the ball. Lots of good stuff. I will excerpt one thing.

Q: Why doesn’t Pitt schedule an odd number of games with Penn State and let Penn State have the first home game in the series so that Penn State will get an extra game in the series and it will in turn give Pitt a leg up when it comes time to renegotiate the contract? …

ZEISE: Oh, boy. I’m going to say this in bold caps so that there is no more misgivings about what Pitt will do with Penn State – PITT IS NOT GOING TO ACCEPT ANYTHING LESS THAN A 1-FOR-1 HOME-AND-HOME WITH PENN STATE. Period, end of discussion. Nor should they. Pitt’s program does not need Penn State to survive, in fact, much to the dismay of the Penn Staters – Pitt’s program has thrived ever since they stopped playing Penn State. It is a disgrace that these two teams do not play every year. But Pitt is not a desperate program. They have a big enough stadium that the game would make financial sense for any big-name team coming to Pittsburgh. If Pitt played Penn State, it would be a nationally televised game. There is no reason these two teams can’t play every year. But Pitt should not and will not play the game unless it is treated as Penn State’s equal. Penn State is not superior to Pitt and therefore should not receive any special treatment. What will be interesting will be the spin coming out of Penn State now that there is a 12-game schedule allowed starting in 2006. There is no excuse now – especially since Penn State’s original excuse was going to be that the Big Ten is just going to add a ninth conference game. From what I am told, that is not likely to happen, meaning Penn State will have four non-conference games to fill each year.

That doesn’t mean Pitt and Penn State aren’t talking (probably about playing after Paterno is gone), they are talking to a bunch of teams, but Penn St. won’t happen until it is the right way.