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Penn State was the most important non-ACC team at the conference's media days last week.
Of course Virginia Tech coach James Franklin's past was an unavoidable topic during his session.
And then came Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, who faced his (more than) annual question about reviving the Penn State-Pitt rivalry.
With the question in mind, Narduzzi said he texted Penn State Athletic Director Pat Kraft, who hadn't "hit me back" yet.
But, repeating his stance for years, Narduzzi said that "we'd love to get it going" again vs.
the Nittany Lions.
He did so with his usual bravado, adding that he's willing to play Penn State as a 13th game.
"We'll play them right now," Narduzzi said.
As an aside, Narduzzi told Atlanta station 680 The Fan that the ACC is better than the Big Ten.
"I'd love to do it, especially with the way college football is changing, to bring back those rivalries if you don't have one," Narduzzu said.
"We'd love to play Penn State, we'd love to play West Virginia every year if we could." Penn State last played Pitt in 2019, the end of their most recent four-year series with no follow-up in sight.
Neither Franklin nor Kraft appeared particularly interested in putting together a short series, particularly Franklin, who had his own sharp views on non-conference scheduling.
Basically, Franklin's model was to keep it light and let the Big Ten schedule do the lifting.
Though Franklin did politic properly about the game.
"To me it needs to be an even exchange and it needs to make sense," Franklin said in 2023 on the Penn State Coaches Show.
"But I think our [athletic directors] should get on the phone and work it out.
Ill tell them that its important to you, and well see if it makes sense for both programs." (Fittingly, Franklin and Narduzzi will renew their rivalry when the Hokies host the Panthers in October.) However, there could be some loosening on the rivalry from Penn State's perspective, particularly with Campbell in charge.
Campbell played his first season of college football with the Panthers in 1998, though he didn't have a great experience and transfered to Mount Union the following year.
Still, Campbell agrees with Narduzzi in one respect.
"What makes college football really great is rivalries," he said earlier this year.
During that 1998 season, Campbell was a Pitt freshman when the Nittany Lions visited the Panthers.
He recalled watching with awe as Penn State entered the stadium.
"One of the greatest memories of my life was when Penn State comes into Pitt I think after a long drought of games and played at old Pitt Stadium," Campbell said.
"We're warming up for the game, Im sitting on the sidelines, and I see Joe Paterno, LaVar Arrington, Courtney Brown running out to Pitt Stadium.
And I said, 'Holy cow, this is bigtime.' Its ingrained in my head for the rest of my life, and it was one of the great memories Ive ever had." Sounds like a coach at least open to a conversation about playing Pitt again.
The Panthers are just one of several long-time rivals that Penn State should consider playing again, particularly with the Beaver Stadium renovation scheduled for completion in 2027.
What better way to showcase the revitalized venue than with a rivalry game.
In the meantime, Penn State opens the 2026 schedule against Marshall on Sept.
5 at Beaver Stadium.
The following week, the Nittany Lions visit Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Penn State's next open date on the non-conference schedule is in 2029.
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Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network.
He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.
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