Freiermuth, Pickett Continuing Pitt-Penn State Rivalry with Steelers

In Kenny Pickett’s four full seasons as Pitt’s starting quarterback, he participated in the Pitt-Penn State rivalry twice, losing to the Nittany Lions both times.

Second-year Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth was on those Lions squads, that won 51-6 at Heinz Field in 2018 and 17-10 in Happy Valley in 2019. Pickett’s career mostly took off after that, as he led the Panthers to an ACC title and a top-15 finish in 2021 before becoming the Steelers’ first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft

But Freiermuth doesn’t sound like he’s going to let Pickett forget about his 0-2 record against Penn State any time soon. When Freiermuth was wearing a microphone for practice this week, he tried — and largely failed — to get a reaction out of Pickett by brining up their rivalry games.

“Have you ever beat Penn State?” Freiermuth asked him. “I’m serious. It’s a serious question.”

“We get it, you’re mic’ed up, bro,” Pickett responded.

@steelers Muth on the mic 😂 #patfreiermuth #steelers #nfl #micdup #fyp ♬ original sound – Pittsburgh Steelers

Continuing the Pitt-Penn State rivalry in the Steelers’ locker room is something of a tradition at this point. Then-Steelers running back James Conner and Marcus Allen wagered on the result of the 2018 game, which resulted in Conner wearing a Penn State jacket to practice the following week.

Pitt beat Penn State once in the four-year series between the teams that ran from 2016-19, winning at Heinz Field in 2016. The Lions won the last three and have six of the last eight games. Despite the teams being located just a few hours apart and having played 100 times in their history, no future games are scheduled in the series.