Connelly: This year’s YSU-Pitt game has plenty at stake

Youngstown State vs. Pittsburgh can hardly be considered one of college football’s great rivalries.

However over the last eight days, next year’s season openers for each school certainly became a lot more intriguing.

Their last meeting came on Sept. 1, 2012 at Heinz Field, where the Penguins spoiled then-new Pitt head coach Paul Cryst’s debut with a 31-17 win. It was also YSU’s first victory over an FBS program in school history.

In an ironic coincidence — or cruel twist of fate, depending on who you ask — the Panthers will host the Penguins in what will be two Youngstown-born coaches’ debuts at new schools.

Bo Pelini, a 1986 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School, was named football coach at Youngstown State on Dec. 18 after five consecutive years without a trip to the postseason for the Penguins under Eric Wolford.

Pat Narduzzi, a 1985 graduate of Ursuline High School, was introduced at Pittsburgh on Friday after four consecutive 6-6 seasons for the Panthers.

Both schools have struggled in recent years to draw the crowds they grew to expect and that’s in large part because the fans haven’t seen a product on the field they became accustomed to. Support and success work hand in hand and both Pelini and Narduzzi have been around long enough to know that.

Which is why the game on Sept. 5, 2015 means so much to both coaches and programs.

I don’t think there’s any doubt that Narduzzi and the Panthers need a victory more, for the sole fact that Pitt is a FBS in a power five conference. But Pelini can do himself a lot of favors by taking the Penguins into Pittsburgh and playing a competitive game.

When asked if there’s an arms race between Youngstown-area coaches to see who’s the best, Narduzzi laughed it off — for now.

“Hey, I’m just trying to win a football game,” Narduzzi said, drawing chuckles from the crowd. “There’s no competition, unless it’s in an opener with Pelini or Stoops or something like that — maybe that happens.

“But there’s no competitions. I’ve got a relationship with the Stoops brothers and also Bo, so there’s not a competition.”

However it hasn’t always been like that, as Narduzzi pointed out before finishing his answer.

“There was competition in high school, when it was Ursuline vs. Mooney, but that’s been long, long gone,” Narduzzi said. “For some people it never ends and for some people it does.

“For me that ended a long time ago, so there’s really no competition to see who the best is, because every year it’s somebody different.”

The former Michigan State defensive coordinator has gotten a taste of Youngstown State football with recent early-season meetings. Narduzzi’s Spartans got the better of the Penguins in both meetings (55-17 in 2013 and 28-6 in 2011), but he understands the magnified meaning next year’s game will have.

“It’s always a tough game, because I grew up being a Penguin,” Narduzzi said. “I played for Youngstown State so it’s always one of those games you look at.

“I’ve got a lot of love for Youngstown, Ohio, but they’ll be an opponent so it’ll be a fun game.

“I wish Bo Pelini a bunch of luck there.”

Head-to-head, Pelini’s Nebraska teams and Narduzzi’s Michigan State teams were 2-2, since the Cornhuskers’ move to the Big Ten.

While it’s difficult to quantify results directly to coaches, Pelini’s teams found more success against Narduzzi’s defenses than most, averaging 25.5 points per game — coincidentally the exact number of points allowed by Pitt’s defense last season.

Kevin Connelly is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at kconnelly@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Connelly_Vindy.