Joe Juliano has been a member of our sports staff since 1985. His current beats are Penn State football, college basketball with emphasis on Villanova, golf, and the Penn Relays. A graduate of Temple University, he also worked for 10 years with United Press International, the last seven as Philadelphia sports editor.
Brown's run marked the second-longest by a Penn State player that didn't result in a touchdown, but his teammates kidded the former high school sprint champion for being caught from behind.
The Panthers had two chances to tie or go ahead in the fourth quarter but the Nittany Lions fashioned a goal line stand at the 1 that led to a missed field goal, and batted down a Hail Mary pass at the gun.
The game came down to the fourth quarter, where Pitt chose to go for the field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 1 and saw Alex Kessman’s kick clang off the left upright with just under 5 minutes to play.
The offense needs to work out the kinks from last week's win over Buffalo, but their defense should control a Panthers' team that has not impressed offensively.
The two teams will play for the 100th time on Saturday. There is no game scheduled for the next five years. Penn State coach James Franklin said any future game has to "make sense for both parties."
The Nittany Lions coach still reminded everyone that the 100th meeting of the intrastate rivals is just like any other week in terms of preparing for the next opponent.
