The mysteries of Pittsburgh

It's no secret that Pittsburgh is trying to make a big push for recruiting New Jersey as of late. They've actually been RU's top recruiting rival for several years now running, even more so now that Ralph Friedgen's tenure at Maryland is nearing an end and Al Groh is no longer UVA's head coach.

Now, that linked MaxPreps article has some issues and oversights. Pitt will probably beat RU for Jameel Poteat and sign other NJ prospects, and RU will win out for some of the recruits mentioned in the linked piece. Rutgers doesn't go after every top prospect in New Jersey, just like Pitt sees fit to go outside Pennsylvania state borders at times. (The really interesting thing is the assertion that while Jeff Hafley seems to get all of the credit, Tony Wise is actually Pitt's South Jersey recruiter.)

This phenomenon is being exacerbated this year by what's seen as a bad recruiting class in Pennsylvania, and a very good class in New Jersey. I'm confident that Rutgers will do well and would just rather leave it at that, and see where the chips end up falling. Pitt has gotten the better of Rutgers in some classes, and Rutgers cleaned up two years ago when Coach Schiano could sell playing with Tom Savage.

Wannstedt and his staff have always made recruiting their top priority (hence their loaded roster), and Rutgers doesn't regularly recruit Western Pennsylvania, so of course they're going to get more kids from our backyard than vice versa. It's cyclical and always shifting, and one day every fan sitting at home will be having entirely different arguments about brand new issues. Rutgers vs. Pittsburgh is a fair fight between peers, and one that's probably going to determine Big East football standings for the near future.

Just one request though: is it possible for both sides to you know, act like we've been here before? Pitt has a lot to offer, as does Rutgers, both offering good academics and football trending upwards. I'm sure errant idiots are going to Pittsburgh fan forums and acting like jerks, but they're a minority. Everybody else doesn't care and just wonders why the hell these morons from Panther Lair and Panther Digest keep popping up on Scarlet Nation and Scarlet Report and acting like entitled, delusional twits. The feeling is probably mutual; but not by any means accurate in either regard. Let's just agree to get back to more important priorities, like hating those arrogant bastards in Happy Valley.