And so it begins. Pitt officially kicked off its “rivalry” week with Penn State today when head coach Pat Narduzzi announced the Panthers’ practices will be completely closed off from the media and there will be no player interviews leading up to the highly anticipated game this week.

Narduzzi shuts down players this week. No talking to media, practice totally closed.

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 5, 2016

Narduzzi: "I want to be the only voice."

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 5, 2016

Narduzzi’s attempts at explaining his logic weren’t really convincing, either, and it’s starting to backfire:

Narduzzi said he was not afraid of his players giving bulletin board material to #PSU. "I just don’t want any distractions."

— Alan Saunders (@ASaunders_PGH) September 5, 2016

Narduzzi's thought process is to not make a distraction by not letting players speak but yet creates a distraction doing just that.

— Darian Somers (@StuffSomersSays) September 5, 2016

https://twitter.com/fugimaster24/status/772830430382977024

Instead of trying to be the “only voice” for 112 student-athletes, maybe it would be a better idea for Pat to spend more time talking with his wife, apparently:

Narduzzi said he doesn't have much contact with James Franklin. He said he doesn't talk much to his wife this time of year.

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) September 5, 2016

If you can’t make it to Heinz Field this Saturday (or if you’re Narduzzi’s wife who’s probably out of the loop) you can catch the game on ESPN. Penn State and Pitt face off for the first time in 16 years at noon.