By Dave Biddle, Special to Nittany Network

July 28, 2009

CHICAGO – There is no disputing that Ohio State’s No. 1 rival will always be Michigan.

But there is also a budding rivalry between Penn State and the Buckeyes that seems to grow every year. The Nittany Lions share a state border with only one Big Ten school: Ohio State. Many of Penn State’s players have said the Buckeyes as their chief rival.

The Big Ten has tried to force a Michigan State-Penn State rivalry, to no avail. Why didn’t that work? Well, first of all you can’t make a rivalry happen; they naturally develop. Secondly, MSU views Michigan as its No. 1 rival, and as mentioned, many from Penn State view OSU as its top rival.

But where does legendary Penn State head coach Joe Paterno come down on the matter? Well, he won’t go as far as calling the Buckeyes his biggest rival. But he did have some interesting comments on what has turned into a yearly bloodbath between his Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes.

“There’s too many (good teams in the Big Ten) to call them No. 1, but it’s a good rivalry” Paterno said. “And people forget we played Ohio State before we joined the league. We beat them a couple times and they beat us. Right now, Akron (first game of the 2009 season) is our big rival. I can’t get too much into that stuff. If I start doing that stuff, I’m going to get other people mad at me (laughing). But, obviously when we get to Ohio State it’s going to be a big game. But Iowa is going to be a big game and we play them early. Michigan State is going to be a big game for us.

“So, it’s a league and there are good teams we have to watch out for all over the league. Now, if you would ask me who has been the dominant team in our league the past four or five years, I’d say Ohio State. They’ve been right there every year. Jimmy (Tressel) has done a great job.”

(Yes, there is only one coach in the Big Ten that can get away with calling coach Jim Tressel, “Jimmy.”)

Paterno talked more about the OSU-Penn State dynamic. In addition to sharing a state border, there are kids from from Ohio playing for PSU and kids from Pennsylvania playing for OSU (at the top of the list are quarterbacks Daryll Clark and Terrelle Pryor). Also, the Big 33 game draws attention each summer.

“I wish we could keep Ohio out of Pennsylvania,” Paterno said with a grin. “No, you make a good point. And people probably don’t realize that Columbus is only about 150 miles from Pittsburgh. And Akron and Youngstown and places like that are only about 150 miles from State College. You can get from State College to Youngstown in less than three hours; Cleveland less than four hours.

“There are so many good football players in Ohio and in Pennsylvania and obviously we can’t take them all. We feel like if we do our homework, we should be able to get a couple good players out of Ohio each year. The same way with them: They should be able to get a couple good players out of Pennsylvania. And some years we don’t need a particular position, so we might not recruit a kid even though he’s a good football player.

“So, that will not change. Ohio will come into Pennsylvania and take some good kids and hopefully we’ll be able to go into Ohio and get some good kids.

“Those are two of the best states for high school football in the country.”