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Penn State Football Dropping ‘Unrivaled’ Moniker, Declares First Half Its Rival

Penn State may be returning a large portion of last year’s Big Ten Championship team, but one part will be quite different: its tagline hashtag. At his first media availability of the spring on Wednesday, head coach James Franklin declared that Penn State is no longer #PSUnrivaled.

And it isn’t because the Nittany Lions will have company in the preseason top-10 rankings with Ohio State and Michigan or because Pitt is coming to Happy Valley in September, so Pat Narduzzi put your head back down.

Franklin redacted the common misconception that Penn State doesn’t have any rivals to note that its one rival is its first half team.

The new hashtag will promote the black shoes, basic blues brand of Penn State football as #PSUniquelyRivaled.

For years, Penn State has been known (hated?) for distinguishing itself from the rest of college football by attaining success with honor and not giving any team the pomp and esteem of being regarded as the Nittany Lions’ rival. Now, they are finally admitting that they, like the common folk Buckeyes and Wolverines, have a rival.

If there were one team that put the Nittany Lions at odds to win games this season, it wasn’t the abysmal Minnesota team that led 13-3 at halftime or the Michigan, Wisconsin, and USC teams which buried Penn State alive out of the gate. It was the team on the other side of the ball.

Since Penn State has never had a formal rival, how the team approaches this novel situation will be interesting to see. When asked how he would prepare for a rival he will have to face 12 times this season, Franklin responded as characteristically as ever, showing that while hashtags come and go, he is constant, and so are his hackneyed press conference answers.

“We’re going to treat them like any other opponent and just focus on the job at hand. Don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves,” he said. “I’m not even thinking about Pitt or Ohio State. All season it’s going to be first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half, first half first half, first half, first half, first half, first half.”

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About the Author

Anthony Colucci

Anthony Colucci was once Onward State’s managing editor and preferred walk-on honors student who majored in psychology and public relations. Despite being from the make-believe land of Central Jersey, he was never a Rutgers fan. If you ever want to know how good Saquon Barkley's ball security is, ask Anthony what happened when he tried to force a fumble at the Mifflin Streak. If you want to hear the story or are bored and want to share prequel memes, follow @_anthonycolucci on Twitter or email him at [email protected]. All other requests and complaints should be directed to Onward State media contact emeritus Steve Connelly.

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