Penn State made the official announcement that it will be playing Temple in football. Renewing that “old rivalry.” Even PSU beat writers had to deride them for it.

The addition of “old rival” Temple, which was announced by Penn State’s sports information office this week, to the Nittany Lions’ future schedules caused the tiniest of blips on the national college football radar (outside of the Temple campus itself), but to some Penn State fans, it is a sign that the team’s nonconference schedule isn’t getting any more demanding.
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Having the likes of Akron, Central Michigan and Kent State filling up September home dates didn’t help, either. But all of that might have been forgiven if, instead of the Owls (who have defeated or tied the Nittany Lions just four times in 35 tries), Penn State had added a certain team from the western part of the state to fill its first NCAA-approved 12th game.

So the logic went pretty much like this — If Penn State adds Pitt, no one talks about the schedule. If the Nittany Lions add Temple, they haven’t played anyone but patsies in years.

Patsies it is, then.

Some small note on the Pitt basketball non-con. The actual schedule hasn’t been released, but one date has been confirmed independently. Pitt will host Wisconsin on Saturday, December 31. In 2006, Pitt will go to Wisconsin. Pitt has an away game in Columbia, SC to play the Gamecocks. Other expected games: Duquesne, St. Francis (PA), Penn State, and Robert Morris. I’m not sure if Pitt goes to Richmond this year to play the Spiders.

Last year, Pitt had 11 non-con games. That means, Pitt has 4-5 more games to schedule. Somehow, I doubt they want to play Bucknell again.